Tattered Essence

The Children’s Book Council and CBC Foundation have announced 25 finalists in five categories of the first Children’s Choice Book Awards. Until Sunday, May 4, children may cast votes for their favorite authors, illustrators and books at bookstores, school libraries and BookWeekOnline.com. The winners will be announced at the Children’s Choice Book Award gala on May 13 in New York City during Children’s Book Week, which runs May 12-18, 2008.

The finalists:

Favorite Book for Grades K-2

• Dino Dinners by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom (Holiday House)
• Five Little Monkeys Go Shopping by Eileen Christelow (Clarion)
• Frankie Stein written by Lola M. Schaefer, illustrated by Kevan Atteberry (Marshall Cavendish Corporation)
• Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark written by Ken Geist, illustrated by Julia Gorton (Cartwheel Books/Scholastic)
• Tucker’s Spooky Halloween by Leslie McGuirk (Candlewick Press)

Favorite Book for Grades 3-4

• Babymouse: Camp Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (Random House for Young Readers)
• Big Cats by Elaine Landau (Enslow Publishers)
• Monday With a Mad Genius written by Mary Pope Osborne, illustrated by Sal Murdocca (Random House for Young Readers)
• The Richest Poor Kid written by Carl Sommer, illustrated by Jorge Martinez (Advance Publishing)
• Wolves by Duncan Searl (Bearport Publishing)

Favorite Book for Grades 5-6

• Beowulf: Monster Slayer written by Paul D. Storrie, illustrated by Ron Randall (Lerner Publishing Group)
• Encyclopedia Horrifica by Joshua Gee (Scholastic Paperbacks)
• Ghosts by Stephen Krensky (Lerner Publishing Group)
• The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley by Amy Lissiat and Colin Thompson (Kane/Miller Book Publishers)
• When the Shadbush Blooms written by Carla Messinger with Susan Katz, illustrated by David Kanietakeron Fadden (Tricycle Press)

2007 Author of the Year

• Anthony Horowitz for Snakehead (Alex Rider Adventure) (Philomel/Penguin)
• Erin Hunter for Warriors, Powers of Three: The Sight (HarperCollins)
• Jeff Kinney for Diary of Wimpy Kid (Abrams)
• Rick Riordan for Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan’s Curse (Disney Book Group)
• J.K. Rowling for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Scholastic)

2007 Illustrator of the Year

• Jan Brett for Three Snow Bears (Putnam/Penguin)
• Ian Falconer for Olivia Helps with Christmas (Simon & Schuster)
• Robin Preiss Glasser for Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy (HarperCollins)
• Brian Selznick for The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Scholastic)
• Mo Willems for Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity (Disney Book Group)

If you have kids that are big readers then you may notice that it takes a bit of prodding to get them to put down a book and actually venture outdoors in the summer time. Well, since your kids spend more time indoors reading than outside in the sun you will want to make sure that when you take them to the beach for the summer that you have them some sun protective swimwear. You can get all things sun protection from Sunsational Sytle. They have everything from sun protection clothing to SPF laundry detergent! So be sure to check them out today so you can stock up on items before you take that beach vacation this summer!

The finalists for the RITA and Golden Heart Awards have been announced. They awards honor romance fiction and the best in unpublished romance manuscripts. You can see who the finalists are at the Romance Writers of America’s website.

The winners are set to be announced on August 2, 2008. This will be during RWA’s 28th annual national conference. The conference takes place in San Francisco, CA.

Do you spend a lot of time in the local library looking at the career books trying to decide what you want to do for a career? Or do you know someone else that does that? If so, why not consider being a real estate agent? There are some Las Vegas Nevada real estate classes that you can take at the Key Realty School.

You will find that the Key Realty School has experience and quality of instruction. In fact, Key Realty School is a leader in real estate and business education. So if you are interested in becoming a real estate agent then this is the place that you need to check out! So go ahead and see what they can offer you today!

Looking for the latest info on news in the publishing industry? If so, check out these news tidbits below.

Germany’s Largest Bookseller Gets Larger! DBH, which has more than 400 outlets, is already Germany’s largest bookstore chain. And now they are buying up most of Karstadt department store’s 52 bookstores!

Another one bites the dust! Lorenzen & Co. Booksellers, Little Rock, AR is closing this weekend for good.

And another! The East Side Book Cafe, Big Bear City, CA is closing April 14, 2008.

Mo Willems, artist, script writer, author and Caldecott Honor winner, will be a guest of honor on Kids Day, Sunday, April 20, the last of the three days of New York Comic Con.

If you are like me then you like to do your reading in your home in a nice comfy chair. I also prefer to read with natural light as opposed to using a lamp or something. So I like to sit near windows in a comfy chair to do my reading. But there are some times when it is too bright out and it creates a glare on the pages. So that is why I need to have blinds on the window to control thye light. If you are looking for some blinds to put on your windows like maybe some elegant custom blinds then you need to check out NoBrainerBlinds. They specialize in selling great quality blinds at a great price. So be sure to check it out today!