A summer reading list for kids, created by author James Patterson, has been launched on more than 850 Patch websites, according to a statement issued by Patch.com and ReadKiddoRead.com. The list is separated into four categories based on children’s ages and includes a short description of each book. According to Patch, children and parents will be able to share their thoughts on the books through their local Patch websites. Patterson’s list is meant for an eclectic assortment of young readers and contains everything from classics (To Kill a Mockingbird) to non-fiction (Seabiscuit) to fantasy (Eragon).
A Monster Calls has become the first book to win both the Carnegie Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal, both of which are presented by England’s Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. This is also author Patrick Ness’ second consecutive Carnegie Medal, an accomplishment only two other authors have achieved in the award’s 75-year history. The Kate Greenaway Medal was awarded to the book’s illustrator, Jim Kay. A Monster Calls is the story of a boy who is running from the reality of his mother’s cancer—as well as a real monster in his own backyard. The book continues a piece of a story written by author Siobhan Dowd, who died of cancer herself before she could finish it, according to a Publishers Weekly interview.
Yvette Jackson has won the American Library Association’s 2011 ForeWord Magazine Silver Book of the Year Award in the education category for her latest book, Pedagogy of Confidence. Ms. Jackson is the chief executive office of the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education, which issued a statement announcing the award. The panel of judges who grant the awards for the ALA is comprised of librarians and booksellers, who this year selected more than 200 winners among the 54 categories, according to the statement.
Your e-book is reading you, the Wall Street Journal writes. According to the article, publishers are tracking the reading habits of consumers using e-books. How quickly consumers read, how often they pause, whether or not they get bored and start to read another book instead—all these things, and more, are being tracked by publishers in the hopes of creating books that appeal even more to readers. What are the implications for education? Scholastic—which offers the well-known school book fairs—has already used information gathered from online games and message boards to shape one of its series, 39 Clues, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Educators can now read Corwin books and complete official assignments for graduate course credit. The program is called Read 2 Earn and is the result of a partnership between Corwin and California Lutheran University, a school accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. The writing assignment requires participants to write a synopsis of their chosen Corwin book, reflect on the author’s main themes and ideas, and analyze the challenges of moving those ideas from theory to practice. Participants will have to pay a tuition fee of $199 and have three months from registration to complete the writing assignment. A group of five education practitioners will grade the submissions.