Top Shelf

Have you read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins? If you haven’t, put it at the top of your summer reading list! It’s the best book I’ve read in a long time and I’m dying to get my hands on the sequel, Catching Fire. It won’t be out officially until September, which is why I can really relate to the guy in the cartoon below. I’d do almost anything to get my hands on an Advanced Reader Copy!

The Hunger Games official web site

Have you seen the trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? Looks like lots of special effects and action. The movie comes out July 15. I’ll be there – will you?

Richardson ISD will be hosting their 8th annual Literary Festival on January 29, 2009 from 4:30-6:30.

This year’s festival features Sarah Weeks, author of more than 30 children’s & YA books, including So B. It, Regular Guy and Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash.

Events include a keynote by Sarah Weeks, booktalks of the current 2×2, Bluebonnet, Lone Star and Tayshas lists, author signing, and a book fair where books by Sarah Weeks and others will be available for purchase.

For more information, download the event flyer.

This trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be running before showings of Twilight this weekend. Enjoy!

This is part 2 of Teri Lesesne’s presentation at Region 10 on Monday.

On Monday, I was fortunate to be able to spend the whole day listening to booktalks presented by the master – Dr. Teri Lesesne of Sam Houston State University. Teri talked about books and reading to a rapt audience of teachers and librarians at Region 10. I think we all left amazed at the amount of reading/listening that she does, as well as her ability to recall in detail so many plots right down to individual character names. I also left with a list of books to read as long as your arm!

Here is part one of the slideshow from the presentation, which she shared in her blog today:

In addition to learning about all kinds of young adult books, I was also interested to learn about Teri’s experience with the Amazon Kindle. She even passed it around and let us look at it. If you’re not familiar, the Kindle is Amazon.com’s e-book reader. It can hold up to 200 books (or more with an SD card) and only weighs about

10 ounces! The screen is hard to explain, but it is just like reading on paper – no glare at all. There is also no backlight, so you can read it inside or in the sunlight. It includes a dictionary you can access as you are reading and a “clippings” feature where you can highlight passages and save them. This little gadget is definitely going on my Christmas list!

Jen Robinson’s Book Page blog reviews the fourth and final book in the City of Ember series, The Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne Du Prau. Sounds like another book that I need to put on my “to read” list!

Other books in this series are: The City of Ember (of course), The People of Sparks, and The Prophet of Yonwood.

Oh, and it you’re a fan of these books – there is a movie in the works, scheduled to be released October 2008. Watch the trailer here.

The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer has become a teen phenomenon. With a movie version coming out in December and the next and final installment, Breaking Dawn, set to debut in 10 days, Twilight fever is everywhere!

Last week’s Entertainment Weekly cover story called author Stephenie Meyer the “next J.K. Rowling” and featured the cast of the new movie. EW.com’s top feature of the day is a sneak peek at Chapter One of Breaking Dawn.

Somehow I don’t think the movie version will live up to the novel, but I’ll let you judge for yourself. Watch the trailers here.

Wow – I’m finding all kinds of stuff about popular books that are being made into movies today! USAToday has a first look at Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, due in theaters Nov. 21…