5/26/10

HORACE MANN UPSTANDER AWARDS

THE HORACE MANN UPSTANDERS BOOK AWARD will be presented at Antioch University during the THIRD ANNUAL CHILDRENS LITERATURE CONFERENCE June 28th 2010. The event is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC but space is limited and you must register at the upstanders award link provided here.

"GIVEN ANNUAL TO AN AUTHOR OF CHILDRENS FICTION for grades K through 6th, THE HORACE MAN UPSTANDERS BOOK AWARD honors a piece of literature that exemplifies the ideals of social action, and therefore encourages young readers to become agents of change or "upstanders" themselves. An "upstander" is a person who recognizes injustice and acts in a way to right the wrong.

5/19/10

IS YOUR LIBRARY UNABLE TO BUY BOOKS DUE TO BUDGET CUTS?

Recently I checked to see if any of the books I suggested for purchase at my local library system had been. None were. (I am particularly dying to read THE TALENTED MISS HIGHSMITH (about a favorite writer of mine Patricia Highsmith) by Joan Schenkar. Ah well, there is near no money to buy any new books. If the library buys ONE copy of a book it will suffice and we can be put on an electronic waiting list for our turn to read it.

I WONDER IF THIS WILL FORCE READERS LIKE ME TO COME UP WITH FUNDS TO BUY MORE OF OUR OWN BOOKS or if DONATIONS to the LIBRARY of BOOKS will be taken more seriously and provide the library with books to be put on shelves and loaned out rather than books to be SOLD at library book sales?

5/12/10

Been Reading OPRAH by KITTY KELLEY

I've been reading " Ophrah" by Kitty Kelly... and I'll leave you to read it and learn what impact Oprah has had on book buying and getting books she and her staff have selected onto best seller lists... OK HERE IS A CLUE... the higher Oprah held the book - the closer to her BREASTS - the more copies sold.

5/10/10

BOOK EXCERPT: GRACE KELLY by DONALD SPOTO

page 139 C by Donald Spoto

"Terms like "lady," "genteel," "elegant," "patrician" and "reserved" were most often used to describe Grace - along with puns and plays on her first name. It's almost impossible to keep count of the number of articles, over thirty years, that were titled "Amazing Grace."

"At exactly the same time, Paramount's publicists helped journalists with their descriptions of Audrey Hepburn, who was routinely termed "elfin" (although elves are spiteful, malignant dwarfs), "gazelle-like" (despite the fact that gazelles are spotted antelopes), "coltish" (although colts are male horses) ; and, most often, "gamine" (which means a street urchin or a homeless waif.) With Audry and Grace, new vocabularies were needed for new styles, and the publicists pored over their dictionaries. In "real life," if Grace or Audry were seen in a restaurant or at a public event, there was quite literally a collective, audible intake of breath, it was the appearance of a goddess to mere mortals."