MotherReader

With more than a hundred and fifty book blogger interviews noted so far at the Book Blogger Appreciation Week site, it’s no wonder that my blog reader is filling up so quickly! I’m seeing a bunch of bloggers from the kidlitosphere taking in part in this interview trade, which is wonderful. I’m getting a chance to find out about blogs that I didn’t know before, and I’m sure we’re introducing some KidLit and YA bloggers to other folks. What a great opportunity!

I had signed up for an interview partner, but wasn’t paying attention enough to realize that I hadn’t been assigned one. My bad. By the time I noticed that the interview thing was moving on, I was afraid to be that last idiot person in the meeting who comes late and doesn’t have their agenda and forces everyone to dig through their papers to figure out if they got two copies of the agenda instead of one or could someone share the agenda or it’s okay someone will make another copy but nevermind I’ll do without, but what are we talking about now because you see, I don’t have the agenda.

I suffer that person too much in my life to be that person.

So I’ll take a page from the book of Everything Distils into Reading and interview myself:

What’s one thing that you’d like other book bloggers to know about the kidlitosphere community?

Well, KidLitosphere Central for sure, which offers an access point to the blogs, resources, news, and events in the area of children and Young Adult Literature. I’d also let them know about KidLitCon, taking place on October 17th in the Washington, DC, area, which is open to people who write, illustrate, and/or blog in the area of children’s and Young Adult Literature. Oh, and about the upcoming Cybils nominations, which are awards to given to books and judged by bloggers — again — in the area of children’s and Young Adult Literature.

Um, that was three things.

Yeah, but since I’m writing the questions I thought that it would be okay.

That’s really taking advantage of the interview structure. No wonder no one wanted you as a partner.

That’s not what happened! There were a lot of people who wanted to participate and it’s perfectly understandable that some would have been lost in the shuffle.

Okay, if that’s what you want to think...

This interview is so over!

Maybe the wrong approach. Instead, enjoy the real interviews of and presented by our KidLit/YA bloggers at a number of sites including:

• Semicolon at Everyday I Write the Book and Everyday I Write the Book at Semicolon.


• Chronicles of an Infant Bibliofile at Books and Needlepoint and Books and Needlepoint at Chronicles of an Infant Bibliofile.


• Maw Books at Reality Bites and Reality Bites at Maw Books.


• The Story Siren at Mysteries in Paradise and Mysteries in Paradise at The Story Siren.


• Charlotte’s Library at Musings of a Book Addict and Musings of a Book Addict at Charlotte’s Library


• Book Nut at Bonjour, Cass and Bonjour, Cass at Book Nut.


• Abby (the) Librarian at Diary of an Eccentric and Diary of an Eccentric at Abby (the) Librarian.


• GreenBeanTeenQueen at Farm Lane Books and Farm Lane Books at GreenBeanTeenQueen.


• Persnickety Snark at Musings of a Bookish Kitty and Musings of a Bookish Kitty at Persnickety Snark.
  

Be sure to let me know in the comments if there are more KidLit or YA blogger pairs I should have noted.

If you’re a parent, you know of The Reading Game and have probably been forced to play along. Unsure? Maybe this will ring a bell: “Well, we can’t tear little Jacob away from the Harry Potter books. He’s sooooo advanced. What is your child reading?” Ah, yes — parental competition as practiced through one’s children. At Booklights, I talk about the only way to win The Reading Game, along with ways to help your child and your child’s teacher this school year. Head over and add your opinion. (And no, winning does not involve my trademark response of, “Oh, my girls are really into Balzac right now.”)

My special articles at ForeWord are done, but my relationship with this wonderful review site continues as part of their blog network. I believe they are still tweaking the format, but they’ll be pulling some blog posts over with a blog aggregrator, and MotherReader will be among them. That is, until they realize how I really write.

We’re continuing the last-week push for registrations for the KidLitosphere Conference, but are keeping it fun with a meme for past conference attendees. It has started to make the rounds at Jen Robinson’s Book Page and Finding Wonderland. Posts are on the schedule for Fuse#8, 7-Imp, and Lee Wind. You don’t have to wait to be tagged to participate — in fact, I’d prefer that you not wait. Because while we are sure to have a flurry of posts after the conference that makes people wish they could have gone, what we need now is a flurry of posts about such conferences that makes people decide that they will go. The conference will likely be in the Midwest next year, so East-Coasters especially won’t want to miss this chance. Register now.

There are two more days to vote for the awards for Book Blogger Appreciation Week. In the Kidlit category you are on your own to choose among Jen Robinson Book Blog, Fuse#8, Seven Impossible Things, Maw Books, and Shelf Elf. I won’t direct you there or in the YA Book Blog category.

But I will draw your attention to several kidlitosphere blogs that are showing up through the rest of the categories. Pop over and put in your vote for such blogs as Chasing Ray, I’m Here, I’m Queer, What Do I Read?, 100 Scope Notes, Semicolon, Becky’s Book Reviews, BookDads, The Story Siren, Collecting Children’s Books, Guys Lit Wire, Color Online, and me.

Oh, and the winner of the Hiccupotamus books from the MotherReader tour is Deliah. Hey there Deliah, enjoy your prize!

Today I’m guest blogging over at ForeWord, talking about library summer programs, reading lists, and prizes. Come by to talk about what your library does to promote reading in the summer. Share your thoughts on prizes as incentives for encouraging reading or trinkets that devalue the book experience. Or somewhere in between. How about reading lists? Does your area have required reading for summer or lists of suggested books? Head to ForeWord and unload your Summer Reading angst.

Today I’m also deciding what blog posts to submit for consideration for Book Bloggers Appreciation Week. It’s been very interesting going back over this calendar year of posts while thinking about what writing best defines me and my blog. Honestly, I’ve learned so much in forcing myself to select my favorites and get a good sampling of what I write. It was a great exercise in seeing what direction I’ve been taking, what books are driving my best writing, what features are filling my pages.

I realized how few book reviews I’ve been doing lately. Now, part of this was a conscious choice — I was feeling overwhelmed by keeping up with the books, and rather than let myself burn out, I backed off for a while. But I think I backed off from reviews more than I thought I had, which surprised me.

I stumbled on posts that I thought were great only to find that they had no or few comments, making me question whether I know what my readership is looking for. If I know what I’m looking for. And yes, along the way, I also cracked myself up with my own little bits of funny or whole posts.

With some new insight under my belt, I’m more excited than ever for the KidLitosphere Conference. I can’t wait to talk to other bloggers in person, and with more than 140 characters. I always come away energized and ready to try new things, and I’d highly suggest the conference to anyone in children’s or Young Adult literature who blogs or would like to learn about blogging. More information and the registration are available at KidLitosphere Central.