Monday, October 22, 2007

We're getting used to it!

We waited 89 years for the 2004 win. This time we only had to wait 2. That's better. Easier on the heart. The Red Sox win the American League Championships and are back to the World Series!

Friday, October 19, 2007

Let it Snow!

Robert's Snow: For Cancer's Cure is sweeping the kidlitosphere. Check out this beautiful video on YouTube created by Sheri Goad of Goading the Pen.

Robert's Snow is an online auction that benefits Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Over 200 children's book illustrators have created art on individual snowflake-shaped wooden templates.

Please visit Robert's Snow and learn about Grace Lin and her inspiring story. Visit the blogs linked below daily to get an inside peek at the illustrators behind the wonderful snowflakes!

Monday, October 15, 2007

Blogging for the Cure

Robert's Snow is an online auction that benefits Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Over 200 children's book illustrators have created art on individual snowflake-shaped wooden templates.

Please stop by and view all the 2007 snowflakes here.

Monday, October 15

  • Randy Cecil
  • Michelle Chang
  • Kevin Hawkes
  • Barbara Lehman
  • Grace Lin
  • Tuesday, October 16

  • Selina Alko
  • Scott Bakal
  • Alexandra Boiger
  • Paige Keiser
  • Janet Stevens
  • Wednesday, October 17

  • Rick Chrustowski
  • Diane DeGroat
  • Ilene Richard
  • Brie Spangler
  • Don Tate

  • Thursday, October 18

  • Brooke Dyer
  • D.B. Johnson
  • Erin Eitter Kono
  • Sherry Rogers
  • Jennifer Thermes
  • Friday, October 19

  • Graeme Base
  • Denise Fleming
  • Jeff Mack
  • Jeff Newman
  • Ruth Sanderson
  • Saturday, October 20

  • Linas Alsenas
  • Theresa Brandon
  • Karen Katz
  • Judy Schachner
  • Sally Vitsky
  • Sunday, October 21

  • Matthew Cordell
  • Maxwell Eaton III
  • Roz Fulcher
  • Susie Jin
  • Susan Mitchell
  • Monday, October 22

  • Rose Mary Berlin
  • Christopher Demarest
  • David Macaulay
  • Mark Teague
  • Sharon Vargo

  • Tuesday, October 23

  • Carin Berger
  • Sophie Blackall
  • Erik Brooks
  • Marion Eldridge
  • Brian Lies
  • Wednesday, October 24

  • Sheila Bailey
  • Frank Dormer
  • Elisa Kleven
  • Jimmy Pickering
  • Consie Powell
  • Thursday, October 25

  • Margaret Chodos-Irvine
  • Julia Denos
  • Rebecca Doughty
  • Brian Floca
  • Friday, October 26

  • Margot Apple
  • Juli Kangas
  • Ginger Nielson
  • David Ezra Stein
  • Saturday, October 27

  • Sarah Dillard
  • Julie Fromme Fortenberry
  • John Hassett
  • Abigail Marble
  • Sunday, October 28

  • Barbara Garrison
  • Kelly Murphy
  • Ashley Wolff

  • Monday, October 29

  • Joanne Friar
  • Alissa Imra Geis
  • Diane Greenseid
  • Sean Qualls
  • Dan Santat
  • Tuesday, October 30

  • Bill Carman
  • Ann Koffsky
  • Gretel Parker
  • Matt Phelan
  • Stephanie Roth
  • Wednesday, October 31

  • Rolandas Kiaulevicius
  • Adam Rex
  • Shawna Tenney
  • Mo Willems
  • Thursday, November 1

  • Molly Idle
  • Melissa Iwai
  • Victoria Jamieson
  • Karen Lee
  • Diana Magnuson
  • Friday, November 2

  • Holli Conger
  • Sarah Kahn
  • Sylvia Long
  • Tracy McGuinness-Kelly
  • Jeremy Tankard

  • Saturday, November 3

  • Ellen Beier
  • Susan Miller
  • Wendell Minor
  • Judith Moffat
  • Hideko Takahashi
  • Sunday, November 4

  • Joy Allen
  • Robin Brickman
  • Lauren Stringer
  • Nancy Wallace
  • Monday, November 5

  • Anna Alter
  • Laura Huliska Beith
  • Cece Bell
  • Denise Ortakales
  • Tuesday, November 6

  • Carol Heyer
  • Joe Kulka
  • Steven James Petruccio
  • Carol Schwartz
  • Wednesday, November 7

  • Jeff Ebbeler
  • Scott Magoon
  • Connie McLennan
  • Julie Paschkis
  • Thursday, November 8

  • Genevieve Cote
  • Linda Graves
  • James Gurney
  • Matt Tavares

  • Friday, November 9

  • Susan Kathleen Hartung
  • Mary Peterson
  • Annette Simon
  • Melanie Watt
  • Saturday, November 10

  • R.W. Alley
  • Jeannie Brett
  • Daniel Mahoney
  • Amy Young
  • Sunday, November 11

  • Tim Coffey
  • Elizabeth Dulemba
  • Chris Gall
  • Amy Schimler
  • Monday, November 12

  • Jane Dippold
  • John Nez
  • Mike Wohnoutka
  • Liza Woodruff
  • Tuesday, November 13

  • Cynthia Decker
  • Jane Dyer
  • Gutierrez
  • Cecily Lang
  • Lee White
  • Wednesday, November 14

  • Timothy Bush
  • Peter Emmerich
  • Philomena O’Neill
  • Maggie Swanson

  • Thursday, November 15

  • Yangsook Choi
  • Mary Newell Depalma
  • Leanne Franson
  • Laura Jacques
  • Friday, November 16

  • Mary Haverfield
  • Lisa Kopelke
  • Salley Mavor
  • Greg Newbold
  • Elizabeth Sayles
  • Saturday, November 17

  • Paul Brewer
  • Wendy Edelson
  • Joan Waites
  • Aaron Zenz
  • Sunday, November 18

  • Annette Heiberg
  • Giles Laroche
  • Annie Patterson
  • Teri Sloat
  • Tuesday, October 2, 2007

    “What I did on my Summer Vacation” by Beach Pig


    Hi, everyone. My name is Beach Pig and though I look simply like a big, pink stuffed-animal in cool green sunglasses, beneath the surface I am a passionate poetry lover. So you can imagine how pleased I was last April during “National Poetry Month” to meet Karen Jo Shapiro , a lady who writes silly poetry for children. She liked me immediately (what can I say? I have charisma!) and invited me to do some poetry shows together in libraries, bookstores and schools around North Carolina. Since I really enjoy the beach, I was happy to be outfitted in a bathing suit, floppy pink sun hat, and water shoes- perched in my beach chair- while Karen Jo read aloud the title poem from her new book I Must Go Down to the Beach Again and Other Poems. (She read other poems too, but I’m, not the STAR of those).


    In June, Karen Jo and her family were going to travel to the Boston area, so I had the brilliant idea that we could do a little book tour in New England in which I would be the STAR. (I discovered I really like acting out poetry) We drove North in the Shapiro mini-van (Can you imagine? Me- Beach Pig, a lover of the outdoors- was squashed for hours in the back between suitcases and pillows. I passed the time daydreaming about lovely water sand, and sky). Our first event was at the Harvard Coop in Cambridge, MA. It was great! The book’s illustrator, Judy Love, joined us for the reading, and afterward there was a fun beach craft project with shells, and a snack of cookies and juice.


    Our next stop was Cape Cod! I love the seashore so visiting the delightful bookstore in Chatham called Where the Sidewalk Ends, was a real treat. (The owners- Joanne and Caitlin- were super nice to us). The kids were good listeners and they enjoyed coming up and touching my marvelous beach toys- a red toy boat with a string to pull it by, a bathtub duck, a yellow truck, and a plastic squirt toy for spraying). After the event we had a yummy Cape Cod style lunch and watched sea otters at the shore.


    I spent the 5th of July at the Wellesley Booksmith, although I had less to do than usual because the audience was small and mostly adults. (But we did get mentioned in Alison Morris’s Publisher Weekly blog, the Shelftalker!) A few days later, the Shapiro family was off to their annual vacation in Rangeley, Maine, and I was invited along to perform at the Rangeley Public Library. I must say, Rangeley Lake is a beach where the games and fun really do begin! I floated beneath the sky on my blow-up boat and basically enjoyed life. Oh, and I also OF COURSE entertained crowds at the library with my shows. We did two programs and lots of nice families came. In between the events, I got to sit on the front table in my beach chair and greet all the nice people checking out their books.


    So, now I am back in North Carolina, and as the school year begins for children all over the United States, I am inspired to do even more programs to get kids excited about poetry. Maybe this will be the year I’ll even write a poem myself. And before too much time goes by….I must go down to the beach again!

    Posted by Karen Jo Shapiro

    The Warehouse Sale

    Krystal found a new book!

    Every year, Charlesbridge opens the doors to its warehouse and lets the good folk of Watertown, Waltham, and surrounding areas to come and load up on children's books at rock bottom prices. But it's more than a savings, it's a fun Saturday morning. Charlesbridgians get to hang out in our play clothes and meet the little readers, and the little readers get to run around and play in our child-proofed warehouse and pick new books to take home. Some people load up on so many books, they're good until next year. It's a great opportunity for teachers to get plenty of new books for their classrooms without going broke.

    Everyone's welcome. So, if you're thinking about traveling to New England in September, put the Charlesbridge warehouse sale on your travel agenda.



    Our warehouse sale is this big!