National Reading and Writing Promotional Program for Children and Young Adults
LETTERS ABOUT LITERATURE 2008
Participation Guidelines and Entry Coupon
Official Rules

Contest starts September 1, 2007 and ends December 14, 2007
The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, in partnership with Target Stores and in cooperation with affiliate state centers for the book, invites readers in grades 4 through 12 to enter Letters About Literature, a national reading-writing contest. To enter, readers write a personal letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre– fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic, explaining how that author’s work changed the student’s way of thinking about the world or themselves. There are three competition levels: Level I for children in grades 4 through 6; Level II for grades 7 and 8, and Level III, grades 9 – 12. Winners, announced in the spring of each year, receive cash awards at the national and state levels. For information contact the LAL Project Director at lal@epix.net.

Read more here.

By Kevin Howell — Publishers Weekly.

A number of authors and celebrities are participating in “What Book Got You Hooked?”— a national awareness campaign from First Book, the children’s literacy organization that provides new books to children from low-income families. The 15-year-old organization has just given its 50 millionth book to children in need.

The top five titles that created readers were:
(1) Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene
(2) Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
(3) Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
(4) Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
(5) The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss.

The organization lists the top 50 books on its Web site along with the authors favorites.

By Kevin Howell — Publishers Weekly, 10/30/2007

Harper Lee is being awarded America’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for her outstanding contribution to literature. Her only novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and is ranked by the Guinness Book of World Records as the top selling novel of all time. The novel has sold more than 30 million copies. Last week, To Kill a Mockingbird won the Quill Award for best audiobook of the year for its belated debut on audio. 

Read entire article here.

From MSNBC

NEW YORK – Best-selling author Nora Roberts won book of the year on Monday at the third annual Quill Awards, which were created to bring glamour and red carpet extravagance to the world of publishing.

“Romance rocks,” Roberts told the crowd after accepting her award, which was voted online by the public, for a romance/thriller novel “Angels Fall” published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore was also among the 19 Quill Award winners, announced at a black-tie event attended by celebrities including actresses Brooke Shields and Joan Allen and Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York.

Reader the entire article.

First Book at the 2007 Quill Book Awards

First Book is absolutely delighted to be selected as a signature charity of the Quills Literacy Foundation. First Book will be featured at the 2007 Quill Book Awards gala ceremony in New York City, hosted by NBC’s Ann Curry and Al Roker, with special guest Stephen Colbert. Our long-time supporter, Academy Award-nominated actress Joan Allen, will present on our behalf. Please check your local listings and watch the Quill Awards television special on NBC on Saturday, October 27.

The Quills Literacy Foundation, in partnership with NBC Universal Television Stations and Borders, Inc. ®, will be auctioning a selection of autographed notable books and 2007 Quill Award winner and nominee titles to raise funds for First Book.

You can help! Please be sure to visit www.thequills.org between October 22 and midnight October 31 to place your own bids – and help give the gift of reading. Your support will help put more books into the hands of children who need them most.

Thank you!

For the last ten  years there are many who have predicted the end of reading and of libraries due to the Internet.  Libraries have much more to offer their patronage; reference service, reader’s advisory, the ability to read more books than you can afford to buy, programs, a gathering place for the community, free Internet connection and wireless access. I never believed the Internet was competition for libraries but added to our information access and retrieval capability. Happily, on Reuters, I found the following:  

By Gavin Haycock

LONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters Life!) – So much for longstanding predictions that the Internet would crush the book publishing industry with digital readers and online sales of used books.

Penguin publishers said this week that the explosion in online and second-hand retailing has not caused the damage they were expecting and that the Internet has in many ways been a boon for booksellers as a tool for marketing, experimentation and reaching out to the next generation of readers.

The publisher, whose authors include former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, novelist Nick Hornby and celebrity cook Jamie Oliver, was rattled by the threat of fast-growing online auction giants like EBay (EBAY.O: Quote, Profile, Research) but has discovered that unlike the music industry people still want to own a physical book.

You may read the entire article here.

Having trouble mowing through all the rhetoric from the presidential candidates? Check out this website.

Candidate Match Game – USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/candidate-match-game.htm
Answer these questions about your own stance on a variety of issues, and the program will tell you which Republican or Democratic candidate best matches your views. From Neat New Stuff On The Web by Marylaine Block.

Ten Reasons To Use Ask.com Instead of Google

From LibrarianInBlack by Sarah Houghton-Jan

Google is a tool, and it’s only one tool.  I think many forget that, and rely on Google as their sole search engine, forgetting other search tools and forgetting the wealth of information that’s out there in the invisible web: web content that is not indexed by the big search engines (like Library of Congress content, huge image databases, other gateway sites).  But there is one search engine that I’ve come to rely on in addition to the big G: Ask.com.  So, here are my ten reasons that librarians should use Ask.com instead of Google.  See what you think.