British historian and spy novelist Len Deighton -- the author of such familiar works as The IPCRESS File (1962), Funeral in Berlin (1964), and XPD (1981) -- turns 80 years old today.
Novel by Philip K. Dick Gets an Ending
Philip K. Dick’s last wife has reworked the novel he was working on when he died in 1982 and is publishing the book herself, The Guardian reported. http://adjix.com/e24r
 |
by Nick Bruel |
Kindergarten-Grade 3
Ostensibly about a cat that turns bad when her family runs out of her favorite food, this is really a clever alphabet book for kids old enough to appreciate the way words work. It will appeal to youngsters who like their stories more naughty than nice.
... more (including activities and lesson plans)
Blair Lent, who illustrated many books for children over his long career, died on January 27 at the age of 79. He won the Caldecott Medal in 1973, for The Funny Little Woman, and also won three Caldecott Honors. Lent was perhaps best known for his illustrations for Tikki Tikki Tembo, a Chinese folktale retold by Arlene Mosel and published in 1968. See more here
Winner: Guardian Children's fiction
 |
by Patrick Ness |
A dystopian thriller follows a boy and girl on the run from a town where all thoughts can be heard — and the passage to manhood embodies a horrible secret.
"Guard your heart - it will swell with compassion, it will be broken and it will pound with excitement and anticipation when you are done. "
"Patrick Ness is a first rate storyteller with a vivid imagination and he is a powerful literary talent that deserves paying attention to. For readers of all ages, this non-stop thriller will take you places you've never dreamed possible."
The Evolution of Katherine Lasky's One Beetle Too Many
The work on One Beetle Too Many (Candlewick, 2009) began more than 24 years ago, according to author Kathryn Lasky. "It's amazing that I haven't evolved into another creature," the author states, referring to the process of bringing her picture-book biography of Charles Darwin to fruition. In this title Lasky takes a complex theory—the theory of natural selection—and a complicated man, and makes both accessible to young readers. In many ways, the book's seeds were planted while she was working on her very first title, Traces of Life: The Origins of Humankind (Morrow, 1989), illustrated by Whitney Powell. But the release of Beetle in 2009 was perfectly timed, coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's On The Origin of Species. Here Lasky discusses her career-long fascination with the naturalist.
Can you talk a bit about how this project evolved, if you'll forgive a pun?
When my daughter was two years old, I thought, "I've got to get out of the house." I live in Cambridge, right near Harvard. I hired a babysitter, and started auditing Steven Jay Gould's course, "The History of the Earth," and David Pilbeam's class on human evolution. The first book I wrote was Traces of Life, about human evolution. In some ways it was easier than thinking about Charles Darwin and trying to squish his whole life into a book. more » » »
John Updike in the Boston Public Library in 2006.
NEW YORK (AP) -- John Updike, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, prolific man of letters and erudite chronicler of sex, divorce and other adventures in the postwar prime of the American empire, died Tuesday at age 76.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/01/27/books/AP-Obit-Updike.html?_r=2
Will you pack on the pounds if you eat past 7 p.m.?
By Martica Heaner, M.A., M.Ed., for MSN Health & Fitness
Q. I don’t get home until late, which means I eat dinner pretty late. I’ve heard that you should stop eating after 7 p.m. to lose weight, or to avoid gaining it. I think I would starve if I didn’t eat at all—but is eating at night bad for me?
First choice ... Kate Winslet as Hannah in The Reader.
An award-winning film is the latest success for this philosopher-turned-prolific author, writes Steve Meacham. Bernhard Schlink - considered by some to be the finest legal philosopher-turned-best-selling fiction writer - is jubilant.
At home in wintry Berlin, he's just heard the news from sunny Los Angeles: Kate Winslet has won the Golden Globe for best supporting actress as Hannah in the movie of his hit novel, The Reader.
"The literary world is debating the Newbery's value, asking whether the books that have won recently are so complicated and inaccessible to most children that they are effectively turning off kids to reading."
read more
