Carnival of Children’s Literature, No. 2: A Coney Island Adventure

Welcome to Coney Island! How was  the subway ride to Brooklyn? Although the amusement park doesn’t open officially until the second weekend in April, we are swinging the gates open wide today, and bloggers are everywhere. Come join the fun.

Ride by ride, let’s see who’s here.

 

Tea Cups

Semicolon (host of next month's carnival) considers poetry books, turning up some great resources, and illustrator Devas T. rants and raves and writes a funny poem himself. At Writing with a Broken Tusk, the author Uma Krishnaswami talks about judging an award for the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators. Incidentally, the winner is A Room on Lorelei Street, recently reviewed at the brand-new online magazine The Edge of the Forest.

Water Flume

Jump on, y'all! Start the day with a splash. A Fuse #8 Production, a nice new addition to the world o' blogs, can't resist Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! Tayari Jones, who wrote the grown-up novels Leaving Atlanta and The Untelling, names her favorite children’s books. Straight from Canada, there’s Farm School, who's mulling over the new Poetry Speaks to Children. A brave Kids Lit sure knows its beasts; see the post on Jack Prelutsky's The Dragons Are Singing Tonight. By the way, do you hear music in the distance? Could it be that crazy "Blogga" song? Take a listen. (I dare you not to laugh.) Art & Soul  lauds three big-name illustrators who spoke at the Mazza Museum of picture-book art.

Tilt-A-Whirl

With her novel Magic Lessons set to fly off the shelves, Aussie writer Justine Larbalestier wonders just how self promotery one should be. Two other young-adult authors (new ones!) are also on the Tilt-A-Whirl line: Paul Acampora (Defining Dulcie) talks about his date with Kate DiCamillo, and  Crissa-Jean Chappell offers a peak at the line editing of her novel. I see artist Ruth McNally Barshaw getting out her sketch pad, showing off  pictures of famous children's authors and illustrators. 

The Cyclone

Need I say roller coaster? Pop Goes the Library is right in front, hands in the air, providing some fine ideas about library funding for the kids' section. Who's that in the second car? Why, it's Bartography, and is he a fantasy guy or not? Read and see. Will the kiddos remember the toys, the outfits, the Mommy and Me classes? The Library Lady Rants thinks not, but they will cherish reading with mom and dad, she says. Picture-book stories of Korean Americans are on the mind of Sarah Park at sarahpark.com, and Big A little a ponders gender bias in kids' films.

Million Dollar Break Dancer

Are the rest of you inspired to try your own contribution to kid lit? The award-winning Pat Mora dishes up 20 tips for writing children's books. [UPDATED. Link to Pat Mora's tips: http://www.patmora.com/tips/ ] Book Moot smiles upon Gail Gauthier’s new novel, Happy Kid!, while Mother Goose is on the loose at pink sneakers n'at. Meanwhile at La Bloga, Gina Marysol Ruiz extols a beautiful bilingual ABC book. Carly's Book Reviews, from Northern Ireland, advises us on "How to Catch a Star." Volunteer-librarian/screenwriter/GottaBook blogger is on the fast track to becoming a "well-trained read-aloud guy."

Wonder Wheel

In a humorous bit of calculation, author Greg R. Fishbone adds up the word counts, dollar for dollar, of famous books. Dana Reinhardt's A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life hits the #1 spot on the chart at A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy. Mommy Brain savors From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Chicken Spaghetti and the whole second grade are reading books as they go 'round and 'round, and so is Wands and Worlds, who sings a song of Jim Dale and classic audio books.

Carousel

Hey, what's a carnival without Harry Potter? Quiet Bubble spots the boy wizard in Jackson, Miss. The Students for Literacy Ottawa group tells a tale of a sweet reading circle, and wouldn't you expect this ride is where you'd find Book Carousel (who considers the picture book Guji Guji)? On a shiny new blog, PJ Librarian pens a poetic Nancy Drew review at The Magic of Books. Reading Deborah Hopkinson's work, Cajun Cottage celebrates book studies and hands out some links for online book-study groups. Jen Robinson’s Book Page devotes a post to a sad but reassuring picture book by Annette and Jack Simon.

Closing Time

And so  it's time to leave Coney Island, but the fun's not over. We'll  stop by Children's Literature Central, a.k.a. Books of Wonder, in Manhattan, and we're going to eat (and read about) strawberries all the way home, courtesy of Here in the Bonny Glen, who launched the Carnival of Children's Literature last month. (Take a bow, Melissa.)

See you anon! Thank you to all of the contributors (volunteers, solicitees, gate-crashers), who made the Coney Island Adventure so much fun to put together: every single one of you wins the editor's choice award. Much appreciation also goes out to the Astroland amusement park for the photograph of the tea cups.

Next month the Carnival of Children's Literature moon-bounces over to Semicolon. April being National Poetry Month, the theme is poetry. Speaking of which, Lucie at Homeschool Diary ends the day in a lovely way with e.e. cummings.

The End.

Comments

[Chris Barton]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Susan, for putting this together. You did a great job.

What a fun way to start the week! I usually don't see my first whirling teacups until Thursday or so...

[Cay]

Kudos on a job well done, Susan!!! : )

[Sheila Ruth]

Wheee! I love it! You really did include whirling teacups! Great job!

[Susan]

You all are too kind.

[Becky]

Wonderful job, Susan, many thanks! Now where did I put my bathing suit...

[Kelly]

Bravo, Susan! Feels like summer!

[Tasha]

Wonderful carnival! Thanks for all your time and effort!

[Kim]

Oh, what fun! Great job!

[roz]

VERY COOL!!

[Janee]

Cool! Can I add "carny" to my resume now do you think?! :-P

[carly]

Did anyone else eat too much candyfloss? Can't wait till the next one!! Job well done and much appreciated!!

[NT]

Thanks for all the great links, witty writing, and the trip down memory lane, as I remember Coney Island from my youth!

[Susan]

Thank you for all the nice words, everyone.

Hey, NT! Meet me at the Wonder Wheel.

[Don]

What fun! Thanks so much, and a great idea.

[Happyheartsmom]

Wonderful carnival, bravo!! I'm sorry I missed this one, but hope to "catch a ride" on the next!!

[Kathryn Judson]

Thanks! Who knew there were so many of us who love reading about and writing about children's lit? I've linked.

[Liz B]

A wonderful job! Too many good things to imbibe all at once; I'm going to take my time and realy ejoy it. Congrats!!

[Sarah Louise]

The cotton candy was wonderful--thanks for a wonderful day at the carnival!!

[Jen Robinson]

What an amazing and fun carnival! I love the sense of whimsy and the kid-like excitement generated by the Coney Island theme. Thanks, Susan!

[Melissa Wiley]

Susan, this has been a blast. Wonderful job. Thanks for hosting!

[Susan]

Hey, everybody! Many many thanks for the nice words. The carnival was great fun to construct!

[Doc]

I have a weekly update of homeschool related carnivals on my site; I have linked Semicolon from the end of your posting, but the link now appears broken. Can you please email me an update for either a revised link or a new location? Thanks.

Doc

[Susan]

The Semicolon site was down for a couple of days but is now back up. Your link should be working again. If it isn't, you might get in touch with Semicolon. Meanwhile, thank you for listing the Carnival of Children's Literature and sending folks this way.

[Rolf - Audio Books Fan]

This is simply great! bookmarked for a nice trip with the kids next summer! Thanks!

[Trophies and Medals]

That looks great- especially the teacups they're very alice in wonderland