DadTalk

Discover the Best Children’s, Young Adult Books of the Year

For the last several months, I’ve been a widower … a blog widower that is. That’s because my wife, Anne, has been working hard with a team of literary aficionados on The Cybils, a blog dedicated to honoring the best children’s and young adult books of the year.

Today, the 2007 list is out. But I’m not going to tell you which books won. You need to go over to Anne’s blog and read this post here.

And if you get a chance, drop a comment thanking Anne, Kelly and the entire Cybils team for all their hard work. They’ve earned some thanks.

Book Review It’s Good to Be Bad

I reviewed this book for my wife’s site, Bookbuds.

Evil Genius
by Catherine Jinks
Harcourt Children’s Books

Evil Genius is a better-than-usual attempt at capitalizing on the Harry Potter phenomenon. In this version, Cadel Piggott, who is being raised by nasty, uncaring parents, is directed toward the Axis Institute, a school for criminals seeking world domination.

Cadel hopes to find acceptance at his new school, but intrigues – such as the rapidly declining student body – test the boy’s super talents. Along the way, Cadel learns about his father’s evil plans, a little humility and more importantly, about his true nature.

While the discovery process is fun, creative characters and complex subplots blow by without much clarity; it’s a wonder an adult, much less young adult, can follow without a scorecard. Worse, it’s hard to really like and identify with any characters in this 496-page book. Still, I can’t help suspect that Evil Genius will be enjoyed by bored, smart teenagers who dream of running the world. 

Stumble It!

A Series of Unfortunate Leaders The Bad Economy – With Apologies to Lemony Snicket

If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other blog post on the economy. In this blog post, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things are going on right now.

This is because not very many happy things were created by the Goofball Club. President Bush, Alan Greenspan and Angelo Mozilo were supposed to be intelligent leaders of their respective areas in government, the Fed and business. It turns out they were mostly just clueless charlatans, which here means people who pretend to more knowledge or skill than they possess. Instead, the Goofball Club has been leading us to economic misfortune, misery and despair. I’m sorry to tell you this, but that is how America is going.

Our nation’s misfortune began after Greenspan listened to the Bush Administration and dropped the short-term lending rate far below sensible levels. Their tomfoolery, which here means silly behavior, encouraged Angelo Mozilo and other financial leaders, to toss caution to the wind and give trillions of dollars to any borrower who wanted a home.

Cybils Announces Finalists in Kid’s Literature Contest More Categories to be Announced Next Week

Do you sometimes wonder what books you should buy for your children? My wife and I don’t have that problem, because Anne runs The Children’s & YA Bloggers’ Literary Awards.

What are the Cybils? A team of 90 writers and bloggers who slog through a year’s worth of children’s books picking out the best of the best. (Let me tell you, there are a LOT of books published each year.)

This week, Cybils announced the finalists in these categories:

• Fantasy/Science Fiction
• Fiction Picture Books
• Middle Grade Novels
• Poetry

On January 7, finalists for Graphic Novels, Non-Fiction Picture Books, Non-Fiction MG/YA and Young Adult Novels will be announced.

One of the odd conundrums since Anne started blogging about children’s books is her audience: highly educated authors and librarians. The odd part? Not many parents come to Cybils – or Anne’s other site – Bookbuds, in search of books for their kids.

Why would that be? In part, I think parents simply are unaware of these two blogs and others like it. After all, the decline of newspaper book review sections is a relatively recent phenomenon.

I also think it has to do with how the human mind works: book readers like to peruse the shelves of their favorite genres or get recommendations from friends or Oprah.

Of course, the big elephant in the room is parents themselves: many don’t buy books for their kids for reasons ranging from cost to language barriers. And let’s not forget other media such as TV and video games are stealing time away from reading.

Regardless of the reasons, it will take time to win the hearts of Americans. In the meantime, if you are wondering what books to buy for your toddler, preteen or teen, head over to Cybils for an amazing list of books.

And I’ll let you in on a secret: these books are so good, most adults will enjoy them too.

Sometimes the Image Tells the Whole Story

Holy crap, did someone really publish a book called Cooking With Pooh? What were they thinking? In all fairness, the full title is “Cooking With Pooh: Yummy Tummy Cookie Cutter Treats.”

Or does that make the whole thing funnier? I learned about this incredible book not from my wife’s blog, but from a blog at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which named Cooking With Pooh the World’s Worst Book Title.

Now that you’re done laughing, though, I investigated other books on the list, such as:

“Daddy Drinks Because You Cry”

and

“Curious George and the High-Voltage Fence”

And it seems they are from a list of books you will never see published, rather than true titles. But Cooking With Pooh is really on Amazon. I think the biggest disappointment will be for my wife, Anne, when she discovers “The Care Bears Maul Some Campers and are Shot Dead” is not a real book.

Decline in Pleasure Reading Hurts Americans, New NEA Study Finds

It recently dawned on me that two young children, hectic work schedules and my blog had eaten deeply into my fiction-reading habits.

With Young Adult fantasy novels filling up our bookshelves – in large part because of my wife’s blog – I embarked on my first reading binge in memory.

I started with the last two Harry Potter books before moving on to The Golden Compass, Evil Genius and the three Last Apprentice books. Even though I was staying up late at night, I was shocked to find myself energized by the novels.

I started feeling better about myself and have been able to work through some personal issues I have been facing with Seth, careers and myself. Reading fiction not only recharged my batteries, but I felt smarter and more confident after finishing these books.

Can reading fiction really improve your life? Yes, says the National Endowment for the Arts, which just released its latest report on how reading – or lack thereof – impacts Americans.

The report, Reading at Risk (pdf), finds English and math scores drop as Americans read less and less for pleasure, reports The New York Times.

Recalls Dunkin Donuts Glow Sticks, Skull Pails, Bookmarks, Puppet Theaters

Dunkin Donuts is in the hot seat after recalling 1 million Pink and Orange Glow Sticks for choking hazards, reports the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The Chinese-made sticks were given away free from September 2007 through October 2007 presumably as a Halloween trick.

The “sticks are not properly labeled to warn consumers that the cap and lanyard can detach, posing a choking hazard,” CPSC says. “Additionally, the lanyard poses a strangulation hazard to young children.”

It seems ’tis the season for Halloween recalls. Albert’s is recalling 55,000 Skull Pails Filled with Halloween Candy Mix because the paint on the eyes, nose and teeth of the skull contains excessive levels of lead. The skulls were sold from September 2007 through October 2007 and were made in China.

When you consider that lead poisoning causes brain damage, the toxic paint was appropriately advertised on a skull. (Sorry for the ghoulish humor; the whole thing really isn’t funny.)

Nominate Your Favorite Kids’ Books

Nominate Your Favorite Kids’ Books

My wife is at it again. Anne’s got this whole big contest thing going for the second year in a row. The contest, called Cybils, is all about children’s literature.

Anyone who can get on the Internet can nominate one favorite book in each of several categories:

• Fantasy/Science Fiction
• Fiction Picture Books
• Graphic Novels
• Middle Grade Fiction
• Non-Fiction: Middle Grade and Young Adult
• Non-Fiction Picture Books
• Poetry
• Young Adult Fiction

For more instructions, click here.

What does this mean for our household? Well, I get to cook and clean more.

And my kids seem extra excited about me getting home compared with the rest of the year. Something about “Dad, mom can’t hear us when she’s on the ’puter.”

But it’s all for the greater good. Take a look and you’ll see what I mean.

The Book Fair That Wasn’t

Since meeting my wife Anne nearly 10 years ago, we’ve had several constants: farmer’s markets, writing and books. I’d include sex, but those pesky kids …. Since I frequently talk about farmer’s markets and books, today I’ll discuss book festivals.

West Palm Beach, for example, had a small, indoor festival. It was quaint, but also had some unique vendors that made it worthwhile.

Los Angeles, though, puts on the real show. The sprawling May event covers a good chunk of the UCLA campus. The kids’ section is by far the largest venue, with bands playing at one end and storytellers at the other. The place is thick with happy kids and parents. (I suspect those vendors selling cotton candy and churros make the most money.)

Despite the knot of activity in the kids section, the overall book festival actually many, many times larger. It can take the entire day to peruse every stall. If you have a topic or issue, you will find it. This usually is a booth dedicated to L. Ron Hubbard’s books, for example. Cool science and political books line UCLA’s and USC’s stalls. You can find impenetrable policy tomes at the Rand stand. If you are seeking the mainstream, there is always the enormous Target, Borders and Barnes and Noble tents offering bargains.

Valentine’s Day Will Never Be the Same

Where is my wife this Valentine’s Day? Behind a computer … but for a good reason. Today Cybils announced the winners of the book contest Anne has been organizing with another blogger, Kelly Herold. Cybils, by the way, stands for Children’s and YA Bloggers’ Literary Awards. Try saying that 10 times fast.

So if you’re interested in buying books for your kids this year, jump on over and find out which are the best of the best. Then order a book from the site, which will help pay for the awards. You better, my nearly-over Valentine’s Day depends on it.

Next year, I’m hoping my wife will pick a holiday that is less romantic, like President’s Day.