Twitterville Talk #98

On Monday, April 29, 2013 Screen-Free Week begins continuing until the following Sunday.  Not watching television will be a snap but giving up Facebook and Twitter will not be so easy.  I know too much time is devoted to both, especially Twitter but the connections I've made with people are unbelievable, personally and professionally.  For Screen-Free Week I will not go to Facebook or Twitter except to leave messages about posts on my blog (once on Facebook and three times on Twitter) per day.  I will only be posting book reviews on my blog on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.  I will continue to check my favorite blogs because there I find some of the best reading. I will not miss the Ivan "hang-out" nor my first blog post on The Nerdy Book Club. This will be the last Twitterville Talk until May 11, 2013.  With all this extra time for reading there might be more giveaways here than usual.  Have a relaxing weekend.  Don't forget to take time for reading.



Last Saturday, author Linda Urban (A Crooked Kind of Perfect, Hound Dog True and The Center of Everything) wrote a post titled My Imaginary Board of Directors.  When she needs to make a decision she tries to imagine how these favorite people would guide her.  It's a great life exercise and would make for a terrific writing project.

Thanks to Linda Urban for this post and her tweet.


For all of us who have read and loved The One and Only Ivan this represents an amazing opportunity.



Mr. Schu moderated a panel at the International Reading Association last Saturday.  Caldecott Award winning illustrators, Marla Frazee, Chris Raschka and David Ezra Stein were on that panel.  This is a link to an abundance of resources on those three outstanding figures in children's literature.


Save this video for Earth Day next year!




I'm beginning to think Mr. Schu has some genetic link to book trailers.  This is this week's latest batch.













This is an amazing video made by Random House that showcases Newbery Award authors chatting.




The Teachers' Choices 2013 reading list has been released. To the first person who can tell me the title of the Tad Hills book on this list, I will send them a copy of that book. Please reply in the comments below or send me a DM on Twitter. (This title has been won.)

In case you missed the April @SharpSchu Book Club or want to read through all the great tweets again the archive is linked here.

Many, many thanks to teacher librarian, 2011 Library Journal Movers & Shakers, 2014 Newbery Award Committee member and blogger at Watch. Connect. Read. , John Schumacher for these tweets.






Teri Lesesne presented at the recent International Reading Association conference in San Antonio, Texas.  Her presentation, Can It Be Done? 100 Books in 100 Minutes has been posted at SlideShare. There are lots of good titles here.
To the first person who can tell me the first title in her nonfiction about animals section, I will send a copy of Leave Your Sleep by Natalie Merchant & Barbara McClintock (CD included).

Don't forget!  #titletalk is this Sunday at 8:00 PM EST  The topic is summer PD and reading plans.  The guest for this month is Teri Lesesne.


Thanks to Donalyn Miller, teacher and author of The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child, for these tweets.






Read as soon as you can for as long as you can; it's never too late.

Thanks to teacher and blogger at Reading Rocks!, Ryan M. Hanna for this tweet.





As a librarian you have to love a post titled 50 inspiring quotes about libraries and librarians.

Thanks to Lynda Mullaly Hunt, author of One for the Murphys, for this tweet.






Author Kate Messner was also a presenter at the International Reading Association conference this past weekend.  She is graciously sharing her two presentations, Research In Fiction and Reading & Writing Mysteries With Kids on SlideShare.

Many thanks to Kate Messner (Marty McGuire, Capture the Flag, Hide and Seek, Eye of the Storm, Over and Under the Snow) for sharing her work and for these tweets.




Who wouldn't want to go to any one of these libraries? The Most Playful Libraries in the World
To the first person who can tell me the main feature in the first library listed, I will send a copy of The Prince Who Fell From the Sky by John Claude Bemis (futuristic fantasy/science fiction) Please reply in the comments below or DM me a message on Twitter. (This title has been won.)

Thanks to Random House of Canada for this tweet.





Here is an excellent list per author/illustrator, Raina Telgemier, In Which I Recommend Some Graphic Novels
To the first person who can tell me the title of any of her recommended graphic novel titles for ages 8 and up, I will send a paperback copy of The Graveyard Voice by Neil Gaiman, the illustrated UK edition. (This title has been won.)

Thanks to teacher librarian and blogger at The Styling Librarian, Debbie Alvarez, currently working in Hong Kong, for this tweet.









Candlewick Press continues their celebration of We Believe In Picture Books! with this delightful video chat with John and Katherine Paterson.   Thanks for this tweet.








The winners of the Irma Black Award have been announced.

Thanks to the winning author, Michelle Knudsen (Big Mean Mike) for this tweet.
To the first person who can name one of the honor books on this list I will send a copy of Herve Tullet's Press Here.  Leave your answer in the comments below or send me a DM on Twitter. (This title has been won.)





I don't know how many of you are fans of Andrew Lane's Young Sherlock Holmes books, but his new title, Lost Worlds,  outside this series looks really exciting.

Thanks to Macmillan for this tweet.



Head on over to the Comics Are Great! for the Astronaut Academy Day! prizes.  You could be a winner.

Thanks to Colby Sharp, 4th grade teacher, half of the monthly book club chat #SharpSchu, half of the monthly chat #titletalk, one of the founders/moderators of the Nerdy Book Club and blogger at sharpread for this tweet. 







We lost one of the pillars of the children's literature community this past week, E. L. Konigsburg.  The following tweets are a tribute to the impact her presence made.

Thank you, E.L. Konigsburg, for turning every museum of my childhood into a realm of possibilities never before imagined. <3 Rest in peace.
— Jo Knowles (@JoKnowles) April 20, 2013

E.L. Konigsburg, 1930–2013 pwne.ws/11aRP2w
— Children's Bookshelf (@PWKidsBookshelf) April 21, 2013

“I think most of us are outsiders. And I think that’s good because it makes you question things.” E.L. Konigsburg nyti.ms/YI6e4R
— John Schu (@MrSchuReads) April 23, 2013 

My heart smiled a little today when I noticed a kid reading Mixed-Up Files. E. L.'s books will always live in our libraries.
— Colby Sharp (@colbysharp) April 24, 2013

Here are some of my favorite quotes and tweets from this week.

"Everything I do. I do for kids. Every book I read..." @mrschureads #ira2013
— Colby Sharp (@colbysharp) April 20, 2013

David Ezra Stein believes that the art in picture books is some of the best art out there. #ira2013
— Colby Sharp (@colbysharp) April 20, 2013

On Mon, schools across MA will resume. Teachers, thank you in advance for the work that will be done for our kids. studiojjk.com/preserve_wonde…
— Jarrett J. Krosoczka (@StudioJJK) April 20, 2013

How many points do you get for running over your mailbox? Just wondering. No particular reason…
— Adam Lehrhaupt (@Lehrhaupt) April 20, 2013

The best stories are the ones that make you feel and make you think--at the same time.
— Shelley Moore Thomas (@story_queen) April 21, 2013

True: I'm writing a new book of the original Greek myths in Percy Jackson's point of view. I'm having tons of fun with it. No pub date yet.
— Rick Riordan (@camphalfblood) April 21, 2013

“@kylenebeers: Reading lets me go places; writing lets me take others with me.#ira2013”
— Cynthia Alaniz (@utalaniz) April 21, 2013

I feel very lucky to be involved in the #kidlit community. It makes me a better librarian, teacher, thinker, reader, and person.
— John Schu (@MrSchuReads) April 22, 2013

I would like to thank my recent followers on Twitter. Also my less recent ones. twitter.com/paulozelinsky/…
— Paul O. Zelinsky (@paulozelinsky) April 22, 2013

It didn't take much convincing to get David Shannon to turn our Exclamation Mark into his most famous character. twitter.com/tlichtenheld/s…
— Tom Lichtenheld (@tlichtenheld) April 22, 2013

A conversation about a damaged book:Me: How did this book get wet buddy?Student: A tornado got it and threw it into the water.
— Stacy Ford (@ReadKennedyRead) April 22, 2013

Here's to 365 Earth Days! fb.me/NY0d2CUZ
— Peter H. Reynolds(@peterhreynolds) April 22, 2013

"Mr. Schu, I love this book so much. I’m going to hug it on the bus today." -Kindergartner
— John Schu (@MrSchuReads) April 23, 2013

Just got a sweet email from a 12 yr old writer: "I'm new to publishing and need an artist." She's saved up some money to pay me.
— Marla Frazee (@MarlaFrazee) April 23, 2013

A guy drew a picture on his children's lunch every day for 5 years and took pics flickr.com/photos/dlaferr… coolest thing ever.
— Terry Shay (@tjshay) April 24, 2013

I have written this before: Story is one of the most serious intruders into the heart.
— jane Yolen (@JaneYolen) April 25, 2013

I love when I give a student a hold notice and they look at it then scream"YES!!" When they realize it's in.
— Donna K. (@akgal68) April 26, 2013