Book News, Freebies & Cheapies

News

Happy Monday!  It’s a busy week here at RR, find with Mr. Popper’s Penguins up next in our Summer Reading Challenge for kids.  (Here is our post on The Middle of Somewhere and our Around the World post.)  Watch for that post Tuesday, Lord willing.  We’ll also have a tasty post on Thursday from Nive Burris at Handfulofjoy.com for those of you who’d like to expand your family’s food palate on your trip around the world.  (No fried cockroaches, I promise!)

As for what’s going on in the book world, here are a few headlines:

• Common Core on Trial:  The institution of federal standards for education affects not only schools, but the publishing industry as well.  In short, it will change the kinds of books being published, for good or ill.  So we at RR are doing our best keeping up with the latest on CCSS for that reason, if no other.  In this Weekly Standard article, one author looks at why some states are now having “buyer’s remorse.”

• Are Kids Reading Too Much?  That is, too much fluff?  Compared to generations before, kids seem to be reading too much pop fiction and too few classics, according to these researchers in an NPR report.

• Judy Blume, Book Ban Banner?  After Judy Blume and others crusaded to get The Perks of Being a Wallflower added back to this Chicago school system, the book was returned, with the promise that parents will need to sign off before their kids read the text.  If you’d like to know more about the book that the hubbub was about, read Janie’s review of the book HERE.

• Matt Phelan on Visual Storytelling:  If you’ve got kids that really love comics and graphic novels–or kids who need to learn to appreciate them a little more, the author of Around the World here gives his take on visual storytelling.  In a way, it’s a completely different medium than traditional, word-only books…and a blast to get to work on, in my experience.

• Dad Crafts with Kids: Since we’re still so close to Father’s Day, here was a post with two neat projects Dads and daughters can both enjoy, along with a review of Dad’s Book of Awesome Projects.

Freebies & Cheapies

• Summer Activities at Hive Resources:  Today Melissa of Hive Resources lists some free and cheap books and websites you can use to ratchet up your summer fun!

• Christianbook.com Giveaways:  Two book giveaways right now, including Sammy Experiences God by Tom Blackaby and Rick Osborne.  I haven’t read this book, but it looks pretty good

• 2014 Christian Novel Contest: Deadline Sept 3, 2013.

• More Book Giveaways:  This one includes The Passionate Mom by Susan Merrill.

• Kids Are Authors: A Scholastic writing contest for kids.  Your kid could become a published author.

And don’t forget, Redeemedreader.com is running our own Writing Contest, a separate 15 Book Giveaway, and we’re giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card to one reader who completes our Summer Reading Challenge.   So get entered and maybe we’ll spice up your summer!

If you’re running a book giveaway or contest, feel free to leave a link in the comments below!  We’d love to hear about it!