Prepare for Clifford’s 50th Birthday

Norman Bridwell’s Clifford Collection, a compilation of six stories originally published between 1963 and 1977 will be released on September 24, 2012 to celebrate the Big Red Dog’s 50th birthday. Also coming in September: Clifford’s BIG Birthday app for iOs and Android featuring three birthday-themed games.

Read more at SLJ News Bites where there are more links and activities. Canadian readers please note that the celebration webcast is not available in Canada, but the kit, with celebration ideas, reproducibles and lesson plans can be used to host your own party.

Other links:
PBS Kids Interactive Clifford
PBS Clifford Playlist on YouTube
Scholastic Canada Interactive Clifford
Scholastic Teachers Interactive Storybooks
Wikipedia: Clifford the Big Red Dog with full book list

Seeking New Favourite Authors for Yourself or Other Readers?

Literature Map is a wonderful tool to search for a new author to read while you wait for your favourite to publish their next book. It is also a great way to expand on a popular genre or type in your collection.

“You type in an author’s name, and the screen fills with names of many authors. The placement of each author is based on how similar the writing is to the author you typed. It is hard to explain because it is very visual. You can use it for all ages. It is a lot of fun to watch the author’s names move across the screen every time you type someone new in the box. ” (source)

This is a screen shot of the results of a search for Ellen Hopkins, a popular author with my high school students. Click the image to enlarge and then go to Literature-Map to try it for yourself. Pretty impressive.

Discovered at Tales From a Loud Librarian along with some other great online resources in the post “Need Help Selecting a Book?”

Charles Dickens: 58 years in 4.5 Minutes – Delightfully

February 7th will be Charles Dickens’ 200th birthday. Watch for the ‘net to be flooded with the sharing of his life and his gifts. As an admirer, I’ll be along for the party.

Graffiti Artists Find Inspiration in Literature

Alice in Wonderland, Leake St Cans Festival, London

Emily Dickinson, Ireland

Arthur Rimbaud, Paris, France

Clicking on the images will take you to their original sources.
Found at Flavorwire where there are 22 more pieces.

“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul and paints his own nature into his pictures.”
Henry Ward Beecher.

Literary Stamps

Aesop

Louisa May Alcott

Hans Christian Anderson

Jane Austen

Frank L. Baum

Michael Bond

Just a few examples from the beginning of a huge list of literary stamps from a great site of the same name.  I had no idea there were so many. Click on each image to go to the page of stamps created to honour that author.

Maira Kalman ~ Illustrator & Author

Clicking on the image will take you to the book’s description on Maira Kalman’s website. Her other books are here.

 “Maira Kalman was born in Tel Aviv and moved to New York with her family at the age of four. She was raised in bucolic Riverdale, the Bronx. She now lives in Manhattan.”

In the 2007 Ted Talk video embedded below “author and illustrator Maira Kalman talks about her life and work, from her covers for The New Yorker to her books for children and grown-ups. She is as wonderful, as wise and as deliciously off-kilter in person as she is on paper”. (Ted)