End-o'-the-Week Kid-Lit Roundup

Quick links from around the kid-lit blogosphere:

"The Wizarding World of Harry Potter." This week, the New York Times had an article with a bunch of new details on the upcoming Potter-inspired Universal Studios theme park, which "will open in the spring and allow visitors to tour Hogwarts, buy quidditch gear and drink butterbeer." Its three big rides are "Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey," "Flight of the Hippogriff" (a roller-coaster that simulates a hippogriff training flight), and "Dragon Challenge" (a Triwizard Tournament-esque high-speed roller-coaster). (via Educating Alice)

Margaret Mahy author interview. Prolific New Zealander Margaret Mahy talks to School Library Journal about the writing life. Her latest picture book, Bubble Trouble--"a giggling romp about a baby bobbing through the air"--recently won a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award.

Happy Birthday, Tomie dePaola! I've always had a soft spot for Tomie dePaola (especially his 26 Fairmount Avenue books), so it's a treat to see a "Three Kisses for Tomie" artist tribute celebrating dePaola's 75th birthday, organized by Jarrett Krosoczka. I think my favorite image is from Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! creator Bob Boyle:

(via Fuse #8)

Babymouse #11: Dragonslayer. Jen Robinson is always spotting fun books, and the latest installment in the Babymouse series--"full to the brim with creativity and fun"--looks to be no exception. Check out her review to learn more.

2010 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award nominees. The list of nominees for the 2010 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is up, including "authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and promoters of reading, working in various literary traditions and languages," with 168 nominees from 61 different countries total. This nearly million-dollar award is in its eighth year.

Three classic chapter books. I'm addicted to Pam's "Thursday Three" feature over at the PBS Booklights blog, and last week's installment had yet another trio of thoughtful recommendations--in this case, three classic chapter books "that practically beg to be read aloud, especially those where the reading level is a bit high for the intended audience": The World of Pooh, Jenny and the Cat Club, and the Paddington Treasury.

Harry Potter theme-park video. I couldn't resist learning even more about Universal's Harry Potter theme park, and thankfully 100 Scope Notes had this fun "fly-through" video:

--Paul

Comments

[scart kabel on September 21, 2009 at 02:53 AM]

Visitors "not-in-the-know" will be pleasantly surprised at what they find when they visit IOA.

Can you imagine someone who has never been to Universal stumbling on to Spider-Man for the very first time? Wow...I wish every time could be like the first time! Uh, when riding theme park attractions, I mean.