Pivotal Kids books

Meg Cabot bids farewell to ‘Princess Diaries’ series

Posted on January 5th, 2009 by

Author Meg Cabot says it’s “bittersweet” to end her Princess Diaries series. But she has more tween books on the way.

‘Forever’ yours on Tuesday

Meg Cabot tools around Key West on bicycles whose colors — pink, purple and turquoise — match the covers of her popular Princess Diaries series.
A new bike in a new color isn’t in Cabot’s future; her series about a reluctant teen royal is coming to an end. The last book, Volume X: Forever Princess (HarperTeen, $16.99), goes on sale Tuesday.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2009-01-04-meg-cabot_N.htm?csp=34

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Book - Guiness Book of World Records 2009

Posted on January 3rd, 2009 by

This year, we’ve created a revolutionary new design and filled it with more records than ever before. And the 2009 edition will have two gatefold spreads and over 20 pages of special records all with 3-D photos, which can be viewed with enclosed 3-D glasses!!

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more information

how to get the book for free

lesson plans and activities to go with the book

Tags: Guiness B, Guiness Book of World Records, kids activities, lesson plans // Add Comment »

Book - Emmy and the home for troubled girls

Posted on December 30th, 2008 by

by Lynne Jonell

Now, Emmy, a likeable mixture of Nancy Drew and Dr. Dolittle, is set to embark on a new adventure in a sequel, Emmy and the Home for Troubled Girls

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more about the book
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Tags: Ages 9-11, Emmy and the home for troubled girls, Lynne Jonell, kids activities, lesson plans // Add Comment »

Vale Douglas Keen:

Posted on December 22nd, 2008 by

Businessman whose Ladybird Books revolutionised children’s publishing

“Douglas Keen, the driving spirit behind Ladybird Books, was a publishing visionary and an inspired businessman. In the years following the Second World War, under his editorial direction, the series of children’s books became a household name. The Ladybird Key Words Reading Scheme alone sold 85 million copies, making Keen an important figure in promoting children’s literacy…. One title, The Computer, was used by the Ministry of Defence to introduce its employees to higher technology (although the books’ cover was plain, so staff would not realise they were learning from a Ladybird book). The same organisation later bought multiple copies of Understanding Maps to provide help with orienteering for the British Army during the Falklands War…. “

To see the full article by Nicholas Tucker: http://tinyurl.com/7n3dxz

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Michael Dirda on Robert Louis Stevenson

Posted on December 14th, 2008 by

Robert Louis Stevenson’s eternally fresh comic adventures

There comes a time in the life of any young reader when nothing but adventure will do. It is the time when the old classics — The Count of Monte Cristo, Journey to the Center of the Earth, King Solomon’s Mines — are suddenly the best stories in all the world. Which, of course, they are — with the possible exception of those that begin this way:

http://adjix.com/vp7t

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Review: The Dangerous Days of Daniel X

Posted on December 13th, 2008 by

Armed with nothing more than his unique powers, three not so imaginary friends, and his charming wit, Daniel sets off on whirlwind journey to kick some major alien butt.
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Tags: Ages 9-11, Dangerous Days of Daniel X, James Patterson // Add Comment »

Real Men Read at MN High School

Posted on December 12th, 2008 by

Reading isn’t just for girls. It’s cool. It’s very cool. In fact, at Spring Lake Park High School in Minnesota, all the boys know that real men read.

It’s hard to miss this slogan while walking through the school’s hallways. There you’ll find 35 large posters of men enjoying a good read. And these role models aren’t celebrities or authors—they’re real men who the students encounter every day. more » » »

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Book review - The Tale of Despereaux

Posted on December 8th, 2008 by

A charming story of unlikely heroes whose destinies entwine to bring about a joyful resolution.

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A spy in the house of Narnia

Posted on December 7th, 2008 by

When I was about 6, my father was in the midst of reading to me about Aslan the lion in C.S. Lewis’s “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” Aslan had been shorn and strapped to a stone table and killed, and then miraculously come back to life, when my dad stopped mid-chapter to ask, “Does this remind you of any other story?” I had zero religious training from my mixed-marriage parents, but I had had an elderly Slovak baby sitter who had ignited in me a temporary enthusiasm for the Baby Jesus. “Does this remind you of what happened to Jesus?” Yes! It did, as a matter of fact!

I don’t know if it is truly possible to recall moments of cognitive growth from 25 years ago. But the memory of this episode is very strong: http://adjix.com/ntft

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Hachette Rushing to Meet Meyer Demand

Posted on December 6th, 2008 by

Apparently shipping over 22 million copies of Stephenie Meyer’s four bestsellers has not been enough to keep the season’s hottest selling book in stock. With reports from several independent booksellers that all of Meyer’s titles have been difficult to get, publisher Hachette has confirmed that it has gone back to press for 7.5 million additional copies over the last couple of weeks for all of Meyer’s titles in all their different formats. An Hachette spokesperson said the publisher is working to turn around the reprints as quickly as possible to keep up with re-orders, and that Donnelley has been using as many as eight to 12 presses at one time to complete the job. Demand, said the spokesperson, has “blown away all expectations and sales forecasts.”

All the books have received a boost from release of the Twilight film, based on Meyer’s first book, and which has grossed $120 million in its first 10 days. read more

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