MotherReader

With more than five hundred dollars raised with the charity raffle at KidlitCon, we gave two projects at Donors Choose a huge boost. Now with additional contributors, both DC school literacy projects have been fully funded! Here are the teachers’ notes to us:

Dear KidlitCon09,

I am most grateful for your generosity. My students will continue to develop their love of reading and curiosity with your gift. The picture dictionaries and thesauri will be a tremendous help in developing students’ vocabulary. The Washington D.C. books are going to provide additional support in teaching the third grade social studies standards whose focus is on our nation’s capitol.

Our library is in desperate need of additional books. The books will be a fantastic addition! We are looking forward to starting the new year with our book club with the Harry Potter series that you have provided.

With gratitude,
Ms. S.

That project, Literacy is Fun-damental, purchased Spanish language materials for a mostly immigrant classroom population.

Dear KidlitCon09,

There are few words that I can say that would be better than THANK YOU!, but I will try. I began teaching in Brooklyn, New York, after being a loan officer for a bank for eight years. My education process was so fulfilling that I wanted every student to have the opportunity that I have had. The first thing that I learned as a classroom teacher is that “IT ALL BEGINS WITH READING!” I have taught in many classrooms and the first question that I ask is, “What are we going to read?”

I was very disheartened when I learned that my current classroom had no library provided for it by the school system. I tried to provide books on my own and it became very expensive. One of my fraternity brothers has donated 75 books to my classroom, but we are still in need of more materials.

This donation of books will allow my students to begin to have the opportunities that I want for my students. I cannot thank you enough! My students will benefit from your generosity, and gain valuable learning experiences. I am sure we will keep in touch through the program and maybe even after. On behalf of my students, and myself, THANKS A LOT!

With gratitude,
Mr. S.

That project, It All Starts With Reading, funded a classroom library for a middle school in a high need area.

If you are inspired to continue giving, Adam Rex is currently running a mustache... thing for Donors Choose. You can also use the search feature at the site to find a project of interest or a school near you. Maybe you could include this charity in your holiday giving this year with a book for a friend, along with a donation to buy books for a classroom. Trust me, it’s a much better present than a gift basket from Meat N’ Things.

Here’s quick round-up of bloggers who’ve posted about KidLitCon09. I had hoped to stop by and comment at every post, but it looks like I’m heading off to help out my mom for a few days in a house without Internet. Keep me in your thoughts. Since I’m leaving Bill at home, if you post about the conference and comment here, he will update this entry. Because he’s all cool like that.

KidLitCon09 by:

• Abby (the) Librarian
  
• Biblio File
  
• Book Nut
  
• A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy
  (and here and here)
  
• Charlotte’s Library
  
• Confessions of a Bibliovore
  (and here)
  
• Dog Eared and Well Read
  
• Ellsworth’s Journal
  
• Galleysmith
  
• Gotta Book
  
• Jama Rattigan’s Alphabet Soup
  (and here)
  
• Jen Robinson’s Book Page
  
• Joan Holub
  
• Literate Lives
  (and here)
  
• Not Enough Bookshelves
  
• Read Write Believe
  
• Reading Tub
  (and here)
  
• Shelena Shorts
  
• Shrinking Violet Promotions
  
• Sonderbooks
  
• Under the Honeysuckle Vine
  
• Wendie’s Wanderings
  
• Wendy on the Web
  
• WriterJenn
  
• A Year of Reading
  (plus a special video here)
  

And that’s a wrap, folks. At least until Minneapolis.

In organizing the Kidlitosphere Conference, the one aspect that I really enjoyed working on was the charity raffle. In our previous two conferences, we had a charity component and I was excited to continue that tradition. As I talked to my teen daughter about the concept, we came up with the idea of gift baskets made up of donations from our attendees to put up for raffle. During the week, I pulled together baskets, bags, and boxes along with little “extras” for the prizes — pens, journals, candles, etc. My teen daughter crocheted decorative scarves and tiny book pillows to contribute.

On the afternoon of the conference, my husband brought in my daughters and two friends to pull the donations of the attendees into fun packages. I missed big parts of the last two sessions of the day to help, because it was a bit overwhelming. While we expected to make about ten baskets, we ended up with enough donations to make twice that many! It was tons of fun to put things together, though, and we got to exercise our creative juices in the process.

Before and during the cocktail hour, attendees looked over the prizes, bought raffle tickets, and put their tickets in bags for the ones they wanted to win. This picture is a pretty good summary, showing the tickets in one corner, the party bags to collect the tickets, the array of prizes, and the happy shoppers.

TeenReader was particularly fond of the Black & White Package, which featured a scarf she made, one of my homemade necklaces, bead jewelry made and donated by Maureen, and some super cool books. Her best friend and helper put her raffle tickets in this package and won — quite gleefully, I might add.

I loved the Read to Me Package (even if the kid’s shirt appears to say “Ead to Me” in the photo), which included a shirt donated by Terry, book pillows crocheted by my daughter, a tin of hot chocolate I bought at Ross, and numerous books to share with a child. I’m trying desperately to remember who won that, so please let me know. You can also see a bit of the Halloween Basket, which featured a painted basket, a stuffed black cat, a box, and Halloween picture books.

My fifth grader worked very hard on the Holiday Package, which included books from Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It also had snowman soap, candles, and a wooden candlestick. (Liz, this would be some of the “stuff from my home,” as opposed to the stray socks you supposed I threw in the mix.) My daughter convinced Jen to put her raffle tickets in for this prize and she did in fact win it.

With all this talk of winning, I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, because before the winning there was the dinner. It was a lovely chance to celebrate the day of fun and relax with friends. My husband took pictures of every table, and I’ll post them to Facebook later if anyone wants to grab them. (Unfortunately, my camera isn’t great in dim light so they aren’t stellar.) I will share one representative picture of lovely ladies Laura Lutz, Caroline Hickey, and Sara Lewis Holmes. Don’t they look happy?

After dessert, my husband and the girls drew raffle tickets and gave away the prizes. I’d love to know more of the winners, if you’d care to leave your name in the comments. I do remember Tricia winning the Bearport Bear donated by Bearport Publishing and Greg winning the Electric Company bag donated by PBS. Many of our attendees donated books and journals and jewelry and more, which gave us an amazing raffle! We ended up collecting $550 for our two selected projects at Donors Choose! They haven’t reached their goals yet, so you can still contribute to Literary is Fun-damental and It All Starts with Reading. Tell them that KidLitCon sent you!

After everything was done, we stopped for a group photo. Again, not the best camera for the job but a fun reminder of a wonderful day.

The conference weekend continued for some with an evening at the hotel bar, a Twitter-talk/post-game breakfast, or a stop at Hooray for Books! for an author signing party. For some of us, it included all three. Overall, I was glad I got to spend so much time with so many amazing people over the weekend. It was an awesome event and I’m honored to have played a part in it.

So much so that I’ve signed on for another year. Not organizing in its entirety this time, but as consultant, promoter, and registrar for KidLitCon10, which will be in Minneapolis and will be headed by Brian Farrey of Flux and Andrew Karre of Carolrhoda Books! Welcome to the team!

Thanks to everyone for helping, speaking, donating, supporting, and most of all coming to KidLitCon09!

(Oh, I’m still collecting posts for a Round-Up tomorrow and I’d love to know more of our raffle prize winners. Cheers!)

Saturday morning, the day of the Kidlitosphere Conference, and several kind souls were stuffing folders while I greeted attendees and pushed the breakfast buffet. The buffet did not reach my goal of looking “ravaged by wolves” (btw, that is a band name), nor was I able to persuade people to stuff their pockets with bacon, but it was a great start to the conference. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

I started the meeting proper off with my session The Blogger Within: An Interview with Your Inner Blogger. I’m quite proud of this session, which involved only six questions and two homework assignments, thus I will repeat it here. You will only need to supply the three-minute pauses between questions to give yourself time to answer:

1. Why are you blogging?
   
   
2. Who do you see as your audience?
   
   
3. What is unique to you that you can bring to your blog?
   
   
4. Where would you place your blog within the larger community?
   
   
5. When will you schedule time to check back on your blogging mission?
   
   
6. How do the answers to these questions support or change what you are doing now?

Your homework: Look at the last six months of your blog and choose five posts that you like the most and five posts that represent your blog the best. What do they show you about your passions, interests, direction, and style?

Second homework: Put a date on your calendar to look at these questions again.

Good, huh? Next I worked with Michelle of Galleysmith on Building Your Blog: Best Practices, Ideas, and Tips. I talked about Purpose (which I’d already covered in that exercise above), Passion, and Professionalism. Later I came back with Participation and Perseverance, which completed my mastery of the Five Ps. Passion referred to writing what you love, supplying quality content, and channeling your voice. Professionalism touched on giving credit, disclosing relationships/products, avoiding conflicts of interest, watching your online behavior, and having responsible review policies. Participation involved going outside your own blog to be involved in the community with comments, memes, links, and events. Perseverance is, you know, “steady persistence in a course of action or purpose, especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.” (Thanks, Dictionary.com.)

Michelle did the heavy lifting on this session with topics of Involve/Engage Audience, SEO, Social Media, Marketing, and Design. We’ll post her much fuller notes on KidLitosphere Central soon, but for now check out Liz’s summary at Tea Cozy.

The next sessions were split for book reviewers and authors. Liz also has a good writeup of the book reviewers’ part, and Sara Lewis Holmes has notes from her author session. I attended the first session and took some notes, but honestly my mind was occupied by the coming visit of the Federal Trade Commission representative.

Speaking of which, the FTC session was covered throughly at Galleysmith and Tea Cozy. It was picked up by GalleyCat and Publishers Weekly, where I talked to author and conference attendee Sue Corbett about the whole FTC vs. Book Blogger Death Match. I’m going to save my final thoughts on the topic for a separate post, but I’ll say now that it was amazing to have FTC representative Mary Engle talk to us, and it raised the profile of the conference and our community.

Lunch was on our own, and I took the opportunity to sit quietly for a bit and dip my toes in the #KidlitCon Twitter stream, which later was tied up nicely by Greg Pincus.

The Meet the Author session came next and gave me a chance to mix and mingle with many more people. Simon Pulse provided author Elizabeth Scott with gift bags of her books Living Dead Girl and Something, Maybe. Sharon Hancock from Candlewick Press brought ARCs of many books, though I only took the leftover copies of The Ask and the Answer and Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots. (I later gave one copy of the first to our hotel housekeeper, who has a teenage boy.) Joan Holub signed a copy of Shampoodle for my three-year-old niece and Shelena Shorts signed a copy of The Pace for, well, me. I brought my own copy of Operation YES for Sara Lewis Holmes to sign, and now it’s first on my list of books to read when I have a brain again. I also grabbed Laurel Snyder to sign last year’s Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains after waxing poetic about her new book — which I did not have with me — Any Which Wall. I managed to grab an ARC of Paula Chase’s Flipping the Script and received a copy of Wendie Old’s The Halloween Book of Facts and Fun. I was excited to talk to Candice Ransom and meet Ellsworth — who has a totally weak handshake, by the way. I didn’t take nearly enough pictures, but fortunately Jama Rattigan did.

Okay, this is getting really long. It was a fuller day than I thought. Oh, and that picture above was Elizabeth Scott and me. Moving on.

Greg Pincus talked to us about Social Media and connection and showed us slides on our laptops. (So, I didn’t spring for the $1,000 LCD hook-up — sue me.) During the next two sessions — Authors, Publishers, Reviewers (and ARCs): A Panel Conversation and Coming Together, Giving Back: Building Community, Literacy, and the Reading Message — I was distracted with some “Being in Charge of the Conference” things, so I missed big parts of both. I’ll provide links to summaries as I find them. Sorry.

I was going to plow through with this post into the cocktail hour and charity raffle and dinner and drinks, but now I’ll leave that for Part III. If you have a post about the conference, leave me a comment and I’ll be rounding up at the end of the week. Of course, I’ll continue to accept comments about KidLitCon itself or even my awesomeness.

The weather sucked. I think we can all agree on that. It didn’t affect much at KidLitCon except for the scheduled Library of Congress tours, where the rain made for bad traffic and delayed arrivals of our out-of-town guests. It also made some of our DC natives look outside and decide against trudging through the rain to join us at a local institution. It was a shame, because those who came for the tours were all blown away.

It did start out slowly, with a tour guide who preferred to give great detail on a piece of artwork rather than give us time with the original Thomas Jefferson Library. But we still enjoyed walking the halls of the Jefferson Building, peering down into the impressive reading room, and strolling past the Gutenberg Bible. The real stuff began when we went to the Children’s Literature Center. There, Jacqueline Coleburn showed us some rare children’s books from the collection. We saw a first edition of The Wizard of Oz, original sketches by James Marshall for Fox Be Nimble, and an early primer book.

It was hard to take good pictures without the flash (which might hurt the books over time), so I didn’t take many photos. I’m partial to this children’s book from the 1600s, which is A Token for Children: Being an exact account of the conversion, holy and exemplary lives and joyful deaths of several young children, by James Janeway. Joyful deaths. Yep, they don’t write them like they used to. Click on the picture to enlarge if you don’t believe me. (Though it should be said — and was said by our host — that such books were made to help in accepting death, since so many children didn’t live to adulthood.)

We also spent time walking around the Children’s Literature Center, which is a small library and research center as opposed to the holdings of every children’s book ever published. However, our host was kind enough to bring over a few of our KidLitCon attendees’ books for display. Here you’ll see Joan Holub along with some of her titles. Sara Lewis Holmes was excited to see her Letters from Rapunzel displayed as well.

Our group was also treated to a visit to see books from the Rosenwald collection of rare books. The curator of this collection, Daniel De Simone, had a display of several illustrated books starting from a title from the 1400s! Then, using the Aesop’s fable of the city mouse and the country mouse, he showed us the changes in woodblock printing and artwork over time and nationality. I believe the one in the photograph is from Italy in the 1500s. I know, I should have been writing that sort of thing down, but I was too mesmerized by these old, rare books right in front of me. I just found at least two more of the books we saw in the details of the Library of Congress exhibition. Our host was very knowledgeable about the collection and captivated us with the stories behind these rare books. We were all sorry to leave, and it’s possible that one of us hid behind a bookshelf where an old Charlotte’s Web was held.

After the Library of Congress tour, we went our separate ways, knowing we’d meet up again at dinner along with thirty or so of our blogging friends. We had two large table at Arlington’s Tortoise and Hare, quickly took over a third, and then proceeded to make more room on the corners and ends as bloggers continued to arrive. People were introduced around, and where the proper names might draw polite smiles the blog names often brought gleeful squeals. Biblio File! LibrariYAn! Miss Rumphius! The conversation was lively and loud, ending only when it looked as if we would soon be overtaken by a lively and loud band. The folks who weren’t quite done for the night headed to the hotel bar, for what Liz Burns would soon dub by the hashtag #drunkkidlitcon. But even though the topics of funny tweets, Girl Scouts, Facebook friends, and of course books seemed like they could go on forever, we did clear out at a reasonable hour, knowing that a special KidLitCon breakfast awaited us at 7:00 a.m. and that bacon wasn’t going to eat itself.

I’ll continue with the day of KidLitCon tomorrow. For now, leave me a comment if you’ve got a post about the conference and I’ll do a round-up at the end of the week.

I am hoping to write about KidLitCon later, but for now, a nap is in order. Quickly, I can say that it was amazing, wonderful, fun, educational, and many more positive adjectives. I am looking forward to reading everyone else’s posts, so I thought I’d leave this one as a placeholder — as you write about KidlitCon, leave the link in the comments and I’ll do a roundup later in the week.

Thanks to everyone who spoke, who helped, and who came. I had a great time with all of you and can’t wait to do it again...

Oh, hold up! I meant that I can totally wait to do it again. In a good way.

So guess what? A representative from the Federal Trade Commission is coming to KidlitCon to talk to us about the new regulations for bloggers! Now do you wish you were coming?

Well, you still can. Shoot me an email so I’ll know to expect you, and plan on attending the Kidlitosphere Conference only for $50. Total deal — especially if your kid’s soccer game is going to be rained out anyway. Email me at MotherReader AT Gmail DOT com.

Here’s the info, yet again and for the last time. The conference is open to bloggers, wannabe bloggers, and the blogger-curious, along with YA/Kidlit authors, illustrators, editors, and publishers. The meeting is at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and will cover:

• The Blog Within: An Interview With Your Inner Blogger
  
• Building a Better Blog: Best Practices, Ideas, and Tips
  
• Split Reviewer/Author Sessions:
  It’s All About the Blog: Approaches for Book Reviewing Bloggers
  It’s Not About Your Book: Writing Ideas for Blogging Authors
  
• FTC Regulations and You
  
• Social Networking with Gregory K.
  
• Authors, Publishers, Reviewers (and ARCs): A Panel Conversation
  
• Coming Together, Giving Back: Building Community, Literacy, and the Reading Message

There will also be a “Meet the Author” time during the day, where writers and illustrators can share their books.

I’ll be checking in online, but will mostly be occupied with, you know, the conference for a few days. Hope to see you there.

This is about the time I usually get Conference Envy. You know what I mean, that feeling that everyone is going to this really cool event and you’re missing out because you couldn’t decide if you should put another activity on your schedule, but now it seems stupid that you opted to take on the dance rehearsal carpool again instead of asking your neighbor to do it so that you could do something for yourself for a change because Lord knows you DESERVE IT!

Or something like that. Perhaps instead you’re an author or editor realizing that the opportunity to present your new titles to forty book-reviewing bloggers isn’t something you should pass up in this dicey economy and saturated book market.

If you are experiencing Conference Envy after hearing about our Library of Congress tours, Friday night dinner, amazing conference panels, Meet the Author session, fun charity raffle, Twitter breakfast, and bookstore visit, well… I can still take a few more people for the Kidlitosphere Conference. Email me at MotherReader AT Gmail DOT com.

If you live in the area, and absolutely can’t make it Saturday, let me encourage you to come out to our author event at Hooray for Books! in Old Town Alexandria on Sunday, October 18th, from 1:00–3:00 p.m. Bring the kids. Bring the neighbor’s kids. Bribe a teen to join you. We’re going picture book to middle-grade first, and then tweens to teens second with:

1:00 p.m.
Cynthia Cotten presents Rain Play
Jacqueline Jules presents Unite or Die!
Sue Corbett presents Last Newspaper Boy

2:00 p.m.
Caroline Hickey presents Isabelle’s Boyfriend
Elizabeth Scott presents Something, Maybe
Paula Chase-Hyman presents Flipping the Script

Let people know about this wonderful chance to greet bloggers, meet authors, and buy books, all while supporting an independent bookstore and the Kidlitosphere Conference.

You can also join us in supporting Donors Choose for our KidlitCon09 charity, and specifically two projects at Washington, DC, schools — Literacy is Fun-damental and It All Starts With Reading!. If you’d like to send something for our charity raffle on Saturday, email me soon at MotherReader AT Gmail DOT com.

If you’re still reading because you want to be convinced to come to the KidLitosphere Conference, then I’ll remind you that the conference is open to bloggers, wannabe bloggers, and the blogger-curious, along with YA/Kidlit authors, illustrators, editors, and publishers.

The meeting is at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and will cover:

• The Blog Within: An Interview With Your Inner Blogger
  
• Building a Better Blog: Best Practices, Ideas, and Tips
  
• Split Reviewer/Author Sessions:
  It’s All About the Blog: Approaches for Book Reviewing Bloggers
  It’s Not About Your Book: Writing Ideas for Blogging Authors
  
• Social Networking with Gregory K.
  
• Authors, Publishers, Reviewers (and ARCs): A Panel Conversation
  
• Coming Together, Giving Back: Building Community, Literacy, and the Reading Message

There will also be a “Meet the Author” time during the day, where writers and illustrators can share their books. A fun dinner to mix and mingle is scheduled for 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. with the continuing party moving to the hotel bar. The registration fee for all of this — including the breakfast and dinner — is only $100. Can’t make the dinner? Email about a reduced conference-only fee.

Here’s who’s coming so far:

• Abby — Abby (the) Librarian
  
• Sarah — Archimedes Forgets
  
• Jennie — Biblio File
  
• Melissa — Book Nut
  
• Rachel — BookPikks
  
• Anamaria — Books Together
  
• Kim — Bugs and Bunnies
  
• Liz — A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy
  
• Charlotte — Charlotte’s Library
  
• Maureen — Confessions of a Bibliovore
  
• Carrie — Dog Eared and Well Read
  
• Amanda — The Fictionistas
  
• Michelle — Galleysmith
  
• Greg — Gotta Book, Happy Accident
  
• Lara and Julie — Grow Up with Books
  
• Jen — Jen Robinson’s Book Page
  
• Alicia —LibrariYAn
  
• Bill and Karen — Literate Lives
  
• Tricia — Miss Rumphius Effect
  
• Pam — MotherReader
  
• Alexa — Not Enough Bookshelves
  
• Gina and Ann — PBS Booklights
  
• Paula — Pink Me
  
• Laura — Pinot and Prose
  
• Terry — Reading Tub
  
• Wendy — Six Boxes of Books
  
• Sondy — Sonderbooks
  
• Dawn — Teaching with Picture Books
  
• Sheila — Wands and Worlds
  
• Jill — Well Read Child
  
• Wendy — Wendy on the Web
  
• Susan — Wizards Wireless
  
• Kelly — Writing and Ruminating
  
• Mary Lee — A Year of Reading

And authors and publishers including:

• Sally Anderson — Mother Goose Programs
  
• Pam Bachorz — Candor
  
• Ernestine Benedict — Reading Is Fundamental
  
• Mary Bowman-Kruhm — The Leakeys: A Biography; Busy Fingers; Busy Toes
  
• Tami Lewis Brown — Soar, Elinor!
  
• Paula Chase-Hyman — Who Are You Wit’? That’s What’s Up! Flipping the Script
  
• Susan Cheng — Tor Books
  
• Sue Corbett —Last Newspaper Boy in America, Free Baseball, 12 Again
  
• Cynthia Cotten —Rain Play, Some Babies Sleep, Fair Has Nothing to Do With It
  
• Moira Rose Donohue —Penny and the Punctuation Bee, Alfie the Apostrophe
  
• Tracey Daniels — Media Masters Publicity
  
• Dee Garretson —Escape from Camp David
  
• Olgy Gary —Children Come First
  
• Sharon Hancock —Candlewick Press
  
• Helen Hemphill —Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones, Long Gone Daddy, Runaround
  
• Joan Holub — Groundhog Weather School; Shampoodle; Knuckleheads
  
• Caroline Hickey — Cassie Was Here; Isabelle’s Boyfriend
  
• Sara Lewis Holmes — Letters for Rapunzel; Operation YES
  
• Jennifer Hubbard — The Secret Year
  
• Varian Johnson —My Life as a Rhombus, Saving Maddie
  
• Jacqueline Jules —Duck for Turkey Day, Unite or Die, No English
  
• Wendy Martin —Mother Goose Programs
  
• Diana Peterfreund — Tap & Gown, Rampant
  
• Wendie Old —To Fly; The Wright Brothers;
  
• Lisa Paul —Lands Atlantic Publishing
  
• Candace Ransom —Tractor Day, Giant in the Garden, Magician in the Trunk
  
• Jama Rattigan —Dumpling Soup, Woman in the Moon, Truman’s Aunt Farm
  
• Madelyn Ruth Rosenberg — Freelance writer
  
• Justine Rowden — Paint Me a Poem
  
• Marisa Russell — HarperCollins
  
• Elizabeth Scott —Something, Maybe; Love You Hate You Miss You; Living Dead Girl; Stealing Heaven
  
• Wendy Shang — Freelance writer
  
• Shelena Shorts —The Pace, The Broken Lake
  
• Laurel Snyder — Any Which Wall; Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains; Inside the Slidy Diner
  
• Sarah Sullivan — Passing The Music Down; Root Beer and Banana; Dear Baby: Letters from Your Big Brother
  
• Amy Thomas — Burning Money

Writing that KidlitCon09 was only ten days away just made my heart do a little jumpy thing in my chest.

I can still take a few more people for the Kidlitosphere Conference, though I can’t guarantee your dinner choice. I can, however guarantee an amazing time filled with interesting people and illuminating sessions. Or maybe illuminating people and interesting sessions. Either way. We’ll be setting aside some time to talk about the new FTC regulations and what they may mean for book bloggers along with the greater publishing industry. Being next to Washington, DC, it’s not out of the question that we may get someone official to talk to us. In any case, we’ll be discussing the topic and hopefully coming up with some answers — or even better questions.

I’m excited to announce that we do have an author event at Hooray for Books! in Old Town Alexandria on Sunday, October 18th, from 1:00–3:00 p.m. If you are in the DC area and can’t attend the conference, but would love to meet some of the people, come on down! Bring the kids. Bring the neighbor’s kids. Bribe a teen to join you. It’s going to be a great time. We’re going picture book to middle-grade first, and then tweens to teens second with:

1:00 p.m.
Cynthia Cotten presents Rain Play
Jacqueline Jules presents Unite or Die!
Sue Corbett presents Last Newspaper Boy

2:00 p.m.
Caroline Hickey presents Isabelle’s Boyfriend
Elizabeth Scott presents Something, Maybe
Paula Chase-Hyman presents Flipping the Script

Please let people know about this wonderful chance to greet bloggers, meet authors, and buy books, all while supporting an independent bookstore and the Kidlitosphere Conference. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon?

Well, this is going to get interesting.

The Federal Trade Commission has come up with its final guidelines on regulating endorsements and testimonials, which will indeed affect bloggers. The first hint of the problem is in the title of the report itself, which specifies endorsements and testimonials.

But book reviews are not advertising endorsements or testimonials, are they?

Ah, I answer that question with another question. Have you noticed how freely the word review has been thrown around the blogosphere, especially in the pitches by companies? Have you wondered how one “reviews” a bookshelf or swingset or tungsten rings?

You see, the businesses were very savvy about this coming development and hoped to tie the issues together by linking the word review to what are obvious endorsements being paid for in product. I’ve been watching this going on with the mommy bloggers and gritting my teeth, while remaining hopeful that the FTC would know the difference between a review and an endorsement. I talked about it here in July, saying, “Book blogs are likely to stay under the radar because we’re not pulling in the numbers of readers and because there is a longstanding tradition of books being sent out for review in newspapers and journals.”

I may have been wrong. Mostly in making the assumption that the FTC would address this issue with, um... intelligence. The eighty-one page final guidelines have only caused more questions that the FTC doesn’t seem to define or understand. I saw it through my book blogger eyes, but niche groups everywhere have questions and concerns, as shown in this article from Wired.

But as a book blogger, I’m very concerned that Richard Cleland of the Bureau of Consumer Protections had this to say in a conversation with Ed Champion about getting books for review:

“You can return it,” said Cleland. “You review it and return it. I’m not sure that type of situation would be compensation.” If, however, you held onto the unit, then Cleland insisted that it could serve as “compensation.” You could after all sell the product on the streets.

Yeah, because we all know the street value of Find My Feet.

Chasing Ray has a wonderful post about how this would look to the publishers. In case you’re wondering, Not Good. There is no way that book bloggers would want the responsibility and expense of returning books with a receipt so they couldn’t be declared as income. There is no way that the publishers would want the responsibility and expense of tracking those returned books. It’s illogical that I could receive dozens of books from a publisher, but only have to declare as “income” the one that I review — because I’ve now endorsed it.

In fact, it’s the idiocy of this concept along with the long tradition of print media receiving books for review that gives me hope. Because the guidelines as written and as they want to be applied to book bloggers are just too stupid to exist. That said, they won’t disappear by us not talking about them. We do need to make some noise. Bloggers are good writers, obviously, so dash off a letter to the FTC, your congressman, the local paper. Your publisher.

Galleycat has been turning out a lot of information on this new development, but we can’t let Ron Hogan and Ed Champion go this alone. And I’m not just talking about bloggers. Publishers, editors, and authors had better make their case too, because the FTC regulations as they are being interpreted could shut down a source of book reviews and interviews just as newspaper reviews are in a death spiral. Publishers may have thought that the FTC had nothing to do with them, as evidenced by the fact that they are not noted as having submitted comments to the proposed regulation (page 3). Big mistake, because this is going to be an issue for all involved parties, and we can’t let it be left up to people completely ignorant of how the publishing industry works to determine how it’s going to work from now on.

Now, the bright spot is how completely relevant KidLitCon09 seems right now — especially our panel about the relationships between bloggers, authors, and publishers. There’s still space available. Register now and be part of the conversation.

The Cybils nominations started today, and as the organizer for the Fiction Picture Book category, I’ve already processed more than thirty titles! I haven’t made more than a few submissions myself because other people have been naming my favorite books. But that’s really fine with me, so long as we’re getting quality books in the judging. The process is so smooth this year, thanks mostly to the database design of Sheila Ruth. Now when you nominate a book, you can see immediately if it is already on the list. The nominations are contained in a nice little box, so you can scroll through them and you can see the book covers. If all this weren’t enough, the nomination form feeds right into the form for the organizers and panelists so we can keep track of the titles. Excellent!

At Booklights today, I have a recap of the National Book Festival, information about the Cybils, and some blog highlights from Banned Books Week. I already have a comment on the banned books aspect, which is making me wonder whether I should have censored my post. Oh, the irony.

KidlitCon09 is coming together quite nicely, with a list of about eighty participants, including representatives from Candlewick, Tor Books, and HarperCollins. On Friday, we have tours scheduled at the Library of Congress, the main building and the children’s center. I already have about thirty people ready to meet for dinner that evening near the hotel. Saturday, October 17th, is filled with interesting sessions, a Meet-the-Author time, a cocktail hour, a nice dinner, and a charity raffle. Sunday is looking like an informal Twitter breakfast and a field trip to the independent bookstore Hooray for Books, located in charming Old Town Alexandria, where I am working on a book reading and signing session. It’s going to be a great weekend that you should not miss.

Besides, after this Washington Post article about the importance of online marketing of your own book and Cheryl Klein’s post about how she signed Sara Lewis Holmes because of her blog, you have to ask yourself if you can afford not to invest in learning more about blogging, social media, and online presence. Register now.


Edited to add text of Booklights post:

1. National Book Festival
I packed my pockets with tissues and cough drops, and went to the National Book Festival on a chillly, rainy day certain to exacerbate my cold. Totally worth it. The fifth grader and I went to the Mo Willems signing, while the teens tried for Rick Riordan's autograph waiting in a line that defied description. After missing out on his signature, the teens went to his author session early to make sure they didn't miss that too. The fifth grader and I went to see Mo Willems' presentation.

My daughter was picked to go up on stage and read/act the book Today I Will Fly, with her as Piggie, Mo's daughter Trixie as the dog, and Mo as Gerald the elephant! My heart was bursting with pride as my daughter turned in a wonderful performance for a packed house, and now we can't wait to see the webcast on the National Book Festival site.

The whole bunch of us also saw Jeff Kinney, who was delightful, funny and truly humble, and Rick Riordan, who shared the news of his upcoming books. Patrick Carmon talked about his new titles along with The 39 Clues Series. Judy Blume held the crowd mesmerized just by being there. My whole story is available in at MotherReader in two parts.

2. Banned Book Week
With everything I've got on my plate this week, I've let others carry the online efforts for Banned Book Week. Fortunately, they've done a wonderful job. While a Wall Street Journal op-ed questioned whether you can even call a book banned in this country, Colleen Mondor wrote a reply at Chasing Ray that amounts to the world's most eloquent Yes. My good friend Lee Wind has a exceptional two-part interview with authors of challenged books. A letter posted last year at MyLiBlog (and tweeted by Neil Gaiman this year) offers an incredible answer to a patron who wanted a picture book removed from a public library. I also can't help returning to the Banned Books Week manifesto, a jarring poem of Ellen Hopkins, "Burn every word to ash. Ideas are incombustible."

3. The Cybils

Nomination season has begun for the 2009 Cybils, also known as the Children's and Young Adult Blogger's Literary Awards. If you have a children's or teen book that you loved that was published in 2009, you can nominate it at the Cybils site. You can submit one book per genre, and nominations are accepted from today through October 15th. At that point, a panel for each genre reads, analyzes and discusses the books to come up with a shortlist of finalists on January 1, 2010. Then a second round of judges take those books and in the course of a month an a half come up with a winner for each category. With all the genres and judges and rounds, the Cybils involves many bloggers in the KidLit and Young Adult online communities making it a festival season for book lovers. This year I'll be the organizer and a panelist for the Fiction Picture Book category, so I'll be bringing you lots of the best picture books over the next few months. Of course, you don't have to look just to me. Check out the Cybils page for reviews of great titles across the genres.

Today for Nonfiction Monday, I need to mention a publisher that is providing fun, interesting, educational, and high-quality nonfiction titles to children. They are also providing this ah-dorable stuffed bear for our charity raffle at the Kidlitosphere Conference. He’s huge and cuddly, and my kids already don’t want to part with him. But someone at KidlitCon09 will win Bearport along with a few new titles from the Bearport catalog.

One title that I I will not be parting with is Miniature Horses, because, well... look at it! Horses playing soccer in the living room! How cute is that? This title is one of the new series of Peculiar Pets, which features ferrets, iguanas, and potbellied pigs.

Miniature Horses talks about the features and history of the breed, along with their needs as pets. The text is perfect for elementary school readers, and no one will be able to resist the pages of wonderful pictures of tiny horses. Like all Bearport nonfiction, the book features a glossary, bibliography, and fast facts. Now, I love minis so much that I took the whole family to the wildly overpriced — yet insanely cute — Land of Little Horses, so I was completely enchanted with the book. And totally not parting with it even for charity.

Hold it. Perhaps I should back up on the charity thing. At each conference, the host selects a cause and we have a raffle to raise money. The prizes are donated by authors, illustrators, publishers, and bloggers. This year I’ve turned to Donors Choose for our charity, and specifically to impoverished Washington, DC, schools. At this point I’ve selected two proposals to fund. I picked Literacy is Fun-damental because they need Spanish language books, which are hard to pick up at a discount or at a local book sale, and because the picture of the kids is soooo cute. I picked It All Starts With Reading! because they need titles for teens, and the picture of the empty bookcase is soooo sad.

If you aren’t coming to KidlitCon09 and would like to make a donation to these programs, we welcome your contribution. If you are wondering if there is any way to send books directly to these schools, I welcome you to investigate that and get back to me. If you would like to donate items for our raffle, please contact me at MotherReader AT gmail DOT com — especially if you have something besides books. I’m planning on sharing some of my MotherReader original recycled paper jewelry. Yes, it’s just as delightful as it sounds.

Nonfiction Monday is hosted today at Bookends, the Booklist Online blog.

For authors, illustrators, editors, and publishers in the area of children’s and Young Adult literature, the KidLitosphere Conference on October 17th in Arlington, Virginia, offers an incredible opportunity to learn more about online reviewers, blog book tours, blog writing, and social media. Participants will also talk to forty book reviewing bloggers one-on-one about their books in a Meet the Author session. The dinner gives everyone a chance to socialize, talk, network, and collaborate. And all for a low $100 registration fee that includes breakfast and dinner.

Featured sessions for authors/illustrators include:

• It’s Not All About Your Book: Writing Ideas for Author Blogs
  
• Social Networking for Fun (and Profit?)
  
• Building a Better Online Presence with Blogging
  

And several more sessions in the 8:00–5:00 p.m day. Attending authors will have the opportunity to set up a table and show their books to bloggers and promote fall titles. The small conference size allows for more chances for interaction among attendees.

Registration has been extended, so for more information and to register visit the conference page. Discount hotel rates are also available.

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Special Bonus: Feel free to use this badge on your own sites to help get the word out!

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!

Okay people, it’s go time. There is only ONE WEEK remaining to register for the KidLitosphere Conference on October 17th in Washington, DC, and to seal the great rate offered by the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel.

ONE WEEK!

Many have registered, but there is still room for more. Now I understand about procrastinating — more than you’ll ever know. I understand about weighing costs — says the currently unemployed library person. I understand about wondering if it will be worth it — having flown across the country to attend the Portland conference.

If you’re procrastinating, I’m giving you a deadline of one week. After that I can’t focus any more energy on registration and have to turn my attention to the conference itself. So, the time to sign up is pretty much now.

If you’re weighing the costs, I’ve broken down some of the expenses here. I think you’d be hard pressed to get blogging sessions, networking time, and a nice dinner for $100 anywhere else but here.

If you’re wondering whether it will be worth it, I can only assure you that I haven’t talked to anybody after the two other conferences I attended who left without feeling that it was a fantastic experience. And in that vein, I’m going to introduce a meme to make the rounds of previous KidLitosphere Conference attendees. Please pass it on.

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Why did you decide to attend the KidLitosphere Conference?

I went to the first one that Robin Brande started by suggesting that it would be fun to get together. Then we thought that if we going to get together, we might as well share some ideas in sessions. And if we were going to share some ideas, then wouldn’t it be great if authors showed their books? It was amazing. After that I was sold on the next one, even knowing it was across the country, because it was so exciting to meet these bloggers and authors in person.

Who was most like their blog? Who was least like their blog?

In Jen Robinson I found the same kindness and generosity that I also find in her blog. Elizabeth Bird had the same quirky humor and great storytelling that I see in Fuse#8. Colleen is just as opinionated as she is on Chasing Ray (in a good way). Both Adrienne and Farida were both quieter than I would have thought from their blogs, but extremely delightful.

What surprised you at the conference?

I remain surprised that the KidLitosphere is the first book blogging group to my knowledge that has been able to pull together conferences like these. Knowing that makes me want to work harder to support our own community. I have to mention my biggest moment of surprise at the Portland conference was when a gentleman stood up and talked to the group at the first session and it was well-known author Eric Kimmel.

What will you always remember about the last conference?

Lee Wind. How many people will say that? He was a model for how one should approach a conference. He had notes, he met everybody, he networked, he created new initiatives, he made more friends in one weekend than I have in twenty years. I’m sorry that he isn’t able to attend this year, because no one should have to miss the Lee Wind Experience — soon to be a ride at Busch Gardens.

Did you blog about the conference?

Yes, right here.

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I’ll tag five of the blogs featured in the shortlists of the Book Blogger Appreciation Week: Jen Robinson Book Blog; Fuse#8; Seven Impossible Things; Chasing Ray, and I’m Here, I’m Queer, What Do I Read?.

If you’re one of these bloggers, past on the meme. If you’re not one of these bloggers, go and vote in the Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards — not forgetting our other KidLitosphere nominees like 100 Scope Notes, Semicolon, Becky’s Book Reviews, BookDads, The Story Siren, Collecting Children’s Books, Guys Lit Wire, Maw Books, Shelf Elf, and me.

As folks return from their vacations, it’s time for a total reminder about the KidLitosphere Conference, taking place on October 17th, 2009, in Washington, DC. The conference is open to bloggers — and wannabe bloggers — in children’s and young adult literature — which includes YA/Kidlit authors, illustrators, editors, and publishers who blog or would like to blog.

The day starts with breakfast from 7:00 to 8:00 a.m, where you can catch up with old friends or meet new ones. The sessions go from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and will cover:

• The Blog Within: An Interview With Your Inner Blogger
  
• Building a Better Blog: Best Practices, Ideas, and Tips
  
• Split Reviewer/Author Sessions:
  It’s All About the Book: Better Book Reviews
  It’s Not About Your Book: Writing Ideas for Blogging Authors
  
• Split Reviewer/Author Sessions:
  Social Networking for Fun (and Profit?)
  
• Authors, Publishers, Reviewers (and ARCs): A Panel Conversation
  
• Coming Together, Giving Back: Building Community, Literacy, and the Reading Message (KidLitosphere Central/PBS/RIF/Literacy)

There will also be a “Meet the Author” time during the day, where writers and illustrators can share their books. A fun dinner to mix and mingle is scheduled for 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. with the continuing party moving to the hotel bar. The registration fee for all of this — including the breakfast and dinner — is only $100. It’s a total bargain.

We have tour of the Library of Congress scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon and a tour of the children's section at 3:00. On Friday evening, we’ll gather for dinner near the hotel around 6:00 p.m. Sunday’s expedition may involve a local DC bookstore, Politics and Prose. We're still working on the details.

Rooms are currently on hold at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel for the amazing rate of $109 a night. They will only be held until September 16th, and if our block is filled before then, that low rate may not be available.

It should be noted that the hotel is a mile from National Airport and free shuttle service is available. A Metro Station is on the same block, allowing travel to Washington in minutes. In fact, downtown DC is only two miles away. The hotel is right next to the Crystal City Shops and a few blocks from the upscale Fashion Center at Pentagon City. If you want more information about the hotel, visit the website of the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel.

The registration form is available at KidLitosphere Central. There are a limited number of spaces available, so please sign up soon. Here are some of the bloggers who will be coming to the conference:

• Abby — Abby (the) Librarian
  
• Sarah — Archimedes Forgets
  
• Jennie — Biblio File
  
• Melissa — Book Nut
  
• Rachel — BookPikks
  
• Anamaria — Books Together
  
• Kim — Bugs and Bunnies
  
• Liz — A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy
  
• Charlotte — Charlotte’s Library
  
• Maureen — Confessions of a Bibliovore
  
• Carrie — Dog Eared and Well Read
  
• Amanda — The Fictionistas
  
• Michelle — Galleysmith
  
• Greg — Gotta Book, Happy Accident
  
• Lara and Julie — Grow Up with Books
  
• Jen — Jen Robinson’s Book Page
  
• Alicia —LibrariYAn
  
• Bill and Karen — Literate Lives
  
• Tricia — Miss Rumphius Effect
  
• Pam — MotherReader
  
• Alexa — Not Enough Bookshelves
  
• Gina and Ann — PBS Booklights
  
• Paula — Pink Me
  
• Laura — Pinot and Prose
  
• Terry — Reading Tub
  
• Wendy — Six Boxes of Books
  
• Sondy — Sonderbooks
  
• Dawn — Teaching with Picture Books
  
• Sheila — Wands and Worlds
  
• Jill — Well Read Child
  
• Wendy — Wendy on the Web
  
• Susan — Wizards Wireless
  
• Kelly — Writing and Ruminating
  
• Mary Lee — A Year of Reading

And authors and publishers including:

• Sally Anderson — Mother Goose Programs
  
• Pam Bachorz — Candor
  
• Ernestine Benedict — Reading Is Fundamental
  
• Mary Bowman-Kruhm — The Leakeys: A Biography; Busy Fingers; Busy Toes
  
• Tami Lewis Brown — Soar, Elinor!
  
• Paula Chase-Hyman — Who Are You Wit'? That's What's Up! Flipping the Script
  
• Susan Cheng — Tor Books
  
• Sue Corbett —Last Newspaper Boy in America, Free Baseball, 12 Again
  
• Cynthia Cotten —Rain Play, Some Babies Sleep, Fair Has Nothing to Do With It
  
• Moira Rose Donohue —Penny and the Punctuation Bee, Alfie the Apostrophe
  
• Tracey Daniels — Media Masters Publicity
  
• Dee Garretson —Escape from Camp David
  
• Olgy Gary —Children Come First
  
• Sharon Hancock —Candlewick Press
  
• Helen Hemphill —Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones, Long Gone Daddy, Runaround
  
• Joan Holub — Groundhog Weather School; Shampoodle; Knuckleheads
  
• Caroline Hickey — Cassie Was Here; Isabelle's Boyfriend
  
• Sara Lewis Holmes — Letters for Rapunzel; Operation YES
  
• Jennifer Hubbard — The Secret Year
  
• Varian Johnson —My Life as a Rhombus, Saving Maddie
  
• Jacqueline Jules —Duck for Turkey Day, Unite or Die, No English
  
• Wendy Martin —Mother Goose Programs
  
• Diana Peterfreund — Tap & Gown, Rampant
  
• Wendie Old —To Fly; The Wright Brothers;
  
• Lisa Paul —Lands Atlantic Publishing
  
• Candace Ransom —Tractor Day, Giant in the Garden, Magician in the Trunk
  
• Jama Rattigan —Dumpling Soup, Woman in the Moon, Truman's Aunt Farm
  
• Madelyn Ruth Rosenberg — Freelance writer
  
• Justine Rowden — Paint Me a Poem
  
• Marisa Russell — HarperCollins
  
• Elizabeth Scott —Something, Maybe; Love You Hate You Miss You; Living Dead Girl; Stealing Heaven
  
• Wendy Shang — Freelance writer
  
• Shelena Shorts —The Pace, The Broken Lake
  
• Laurel Snyder — Any Which Wall; Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains; Inside the Slidy Diner
  
• Sarah Sullivan — Passing The Music Down; Root Beer and Banana; Dear Baby: Letters from Your Big Brother
  
• Amy Thomas — Burning Money