Monday, September 29, 2008

Babar is star of NYC exhibit







The adventures of Babar, the beloved protagonist of nearly four dozen children's books and now the subject of a small, charming exhibit at New York's Morgan Library & Museum.

The exhibition closes Jan. 4.

Read the full article by Ann Levin • The Associated Press • September 29, 2008 at:
http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008809290313

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Enslow Publishers, Inc. ~ Celebrate Banned Books Week

Enslow Publishers, Inc.

Celebrate Banned Books Week
September 27 through October 4, 2008

Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read. The American Library Association (ALA) and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) have launched a web site to help libraries and bookstores promote Banned Books Week (Sept. 27 – Oct. 4, 2008). The Web site: www.bannedbooksweek.org is intended to help the public learn about Banned Books Week and suggest ways they can support it. Its key feature is a list that visitors can use to find participating bookstores and libraries in their communities. Libraries that would like to be listed can submit details of their Banned Books Week celebration directly to the Web site. Please visit www.abffe.com to find out more information.

Our authors and editors recently released a new series about the authors of fiction whose books are challenged most frequently. The Authors of Banned Books series features the stories of book challenge controversies involving the works of J.K. Rowling, John Steinbeck, Madeleine L'Engle, Mark Twain, and Robert Cormier. The books provide historical background, discussion questions and contextualize the censorship incidents of each author’s work. Timelines help readers approach the controversies from different angles. Recent reviews of several of the books in this series are found below.

Feel free to forward this e-newsletter to your friends and colleagues!

Thank you for celebrating Banned Books Week!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Press Release - "The Secret of Yahweh!"


Public Schools today: Are we sending our children off to war unarmed?

10 simple rules that can protect them at school

For Release in September / Back-to-School

For further information contact:


LeFerna Arnold Walch / Mary’s Lamb, Inc.
Addison, Michigan

(517) 547-3656


Surveys show parents are concerned about the stress level of their children and what they are forced to deal with in public schools. Already frightened by what they hear and see in today’s world, they also face abusive bullying and negative peer pressure. All this stress is like sending them off to war unprotected and afraid. Just 10 simple rules in school, can lower our children’s stress level?

“The trauma suffered by children in other countries sickens Americans to the point of sending missionary relief.


What about this country? Who is taking care of our children? With our excellent media coverage, they’ve been exposed to kidnapping, school shootings, bomb explosions, and airplanes blowing up buildings, gang violence, child prostitution, drugs and war killings. Favorite television shows are no longer like “Leave it to Beaver” with no under-aged drinking or premarital sex, and many films add words not allowed on television because vulgarity sells. Good morals barely exist in public America and it shows in our schools. Children are the heartbeat of the world, growing into tomorrow’s leaders. They get strength in learning rules young.”

These words come from LeFerna Arnold Walch, member of the Institute of Biblical and Historical Studies in Addison, Michigan, CEO of Mary’s Lamb, Inc. and leading advocate for Christian curriculum in public schools.

Walch started her company to introduce J.C. Lamb, a twist on a favorite American nursery rhyme. Their mission is for the character to follow our children to school where…

• ADHD, obesity, learning disabilities, autism and handicaps limit children, inviting torment and teasing.

• The smart children are called “nerds” or “geeks” causing many children to fear success.

• Some have more material things than others, causing jealousy and resentment.

• Bullying and peer pressure can be very dangerous.

Walch claims the time is right for arming our children with American Christian history and bringing these ten rules back into our schools. Walch started Mary’s Lamb Publishing to release The Secret of Yahweh! now available through Ingram/Spring Arbor Books. The “Give & Share Book™” that introduces J.C. Lamb is a church tool designed to reach an estimated 100 million unchurched Americans. A hit at the 2008 International Christian Retail Show, the book is also receiving great reviews. Since the goal is for J.C. Lamb to make his way to school, Walch is already giving away free school supplies and working on a before school radio program called “The Morning Show with J.C. Lamb” –reading Christian children’s books and Bible verses using character voices while the children color downloaded illustrations.

Walch is an entertainer and speaker with both radio and television experience. She gives an informative and fun interview adding in the voice of J.C. Lamb.

Available nationwide – contact leferna@maryslambinc.com

Thursday, September 11, 2008

September 11th - Day of Remembrance


Today is a day of remembrance for all those that died on September 11th...7 years ago.
My thoughts and prayers are with you all.
Remember to take the time out today to tell your family and friends that you love and cherish them.
God Bless.

Monday, September 8, 2008

The Writer Mama Back-to-School Giveaway


September 1 - 30: The Writer Mama Back-to-School Giveaway
HAPPENING NOW!!!
This giveaway was a huge success last year. You don't have to be a mama, just a writer. This year we'll have more books to give away and more thought-provoking career questions for you to answer to qualify to win. Participants last year commented on how much they learned both from answering the questions as well as from each other. Don't miss it!
Please share the WM Back-to-School Giveaway badge with all your friends with a link to the Writer Mama blog!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

The Library of Congress & Laura Bush ~ National Book Festival


The Librarian of Congress and Mrs. Laura Bush Invite Book Lovers of All Ages to Celebrate Reading on the National Mall on Sept. 27

The 2008 National Book Festival, organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress and hosted by Mrs. Laura Bush, will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27, rain or shine, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between 3rd and 7th streets.
The festival is free and open to the public.

SPECIAL NOTE: The Library has created a Web site for members of the media to download background materials, high-resolution images, video and audio sound bites, b-roll and other audiovisual resources, as well as to request interviews with participating authors. This information can be accessed via the Press Registration link. This release will be updated periodically.
Among some 70 authors and illustrators participating this year are Tiki Barber, Marc Brown, Warren Brown, Kimberly Dozier, Arthur Frommer and Pauline Frommer, Philippa Gregory, Steven Kellogg, Brad Meltzer, Salman Rushdie, Bob Schieffer, Daniel Schorr, Alexander McCall Smith, Paul Theroux and Dionne Warwick. Jon Scieszka, a children’s book author recently named the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Librarian of Congress, will be among the authors presenting in the Teens & Children’s Pavilion.

"I invite you, your friends and your family to join us on Sept. 27 as we all celebrate our shared love of reading," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. "Come and be a part of this wonderful national experience."

"There are activities for all ages at the National Book Festival," said Mrs. Bush. "Readers can explore genres from history and mystery to romance and cookbooks. Children can meet their favorite storybook characters. And visitors can learn about the extensive resources offered by the Library of Congress."

The festival authors, illustrators and poets will discuss their work in pavilions dedicated to Children, Teens & Children, Fiction & Mystery, History & Biography, Home & Family and Poetry.
PBS characters and NBA/WNBA players will appear at the festival including NBA Legend and Hall of Famer Bob Lanier.
Each year, players participate in the festival by reading their favorite children’s books aloud with the help of students from local area schools as part of "NBA Cares."

The Pavilion of the States, sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, will highlight reading, literacy and library promotion activities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and several American trusts and territories.

The Library of Congress Pavilion will feature a variety of family-centered activities illustrating the depth and breadth of the Library’s extraordinary collections available online. It will also offer a sampling of interactive activities available through the recently launched Library of Congress Experience.

Presentations by young poets and artists will be a new feature in the Teens & Children Pavilion. Each of the K-12 students presenting will be a winner in the River of Words environmental poetry and art contest sponsored by the Library's Center for the Book.

A presentation by four of the more than 100 authors and illustrators who contributed to the volume "Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out," sponsored by the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance, will be featured in the Teens & Children Pavilion. Those writers are Mary Brigid Barrett, Steven Kellogg, Katherine Paterson and Jon Scieszka. (The book, with an introduction written by David McCullough, is published by Candlewick Press, 2008.)

Downloadable podcasts of interviews with popular participating authors will be placed on the Library’s Web site.

The artist for this year’s festival is beloved children’s author and illustrator Jan Brett, whose poster of animals and birds on the National Mall will be available at the festival. Brett, who has written and/or illustrated more than 30 books and has more than 33 million books in print, will be among the authors and illustrators speaking in the Children’s Pavilion.

The 2008 National Book Festival is made possible with generous support from Distinguished Benefactor Target; Charter Sponsors AT&T and The Washington Post; Patrons the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the James Madison Council and the National Endowment for the Arts; and Contributors Barnes & Noble, the Library of Congress Federal Credit Union, Marshall and Dee Ann Payne, NBA/WNBA, PBS, Penguin Group (USA), Scholastic Inc. and US Airways.
The Junior League of Washington will again provide hundreds of volunteers, joining Library of Congress volunteers, in assisting those attending the National Book Festival.

Participating Authors – National Book Festival 2008
A preliminary list of participating authors, illustrators and poets, their books and activities in each presentation pavilion follows. For more information about them and the festival, visit www.loc.gov/bookfest.