Happy Halloween!

I’ve got a little treat for you. Well, two actually—no tricks here!

Halloween Trivia and a Pumpkin Carving Simulator.

Happy Halloween, my favorite reading for fun friends!

Project Gutenberg—The First Producer of Free Ebooks

Free of charge. No cost. Gratis. On the house. Complimentary. FREE.

That’s how Project Gutenberg works. You can download over 100,000 books—and it won’t cost you a cent.

How do they do it?

Typically, the United States copyright on these books has expired, and they’ve become works of public domain. This means these books may be used freely by anyone!

Browse by Author, Title, The Top 100 Downloads, and more. Don’t miss out on this FREE reading fun!

DVD Alert: Journey to the Center of the Earth

Three explorers. Adventure. Danger. A journey into the depths of Earth.

Jules Verne wrote Journey to the Center of the Earth, but many have re-written it. Pick up a copy today. Or download one here for free reading fun.

Other movie-related books are: Journey to the Center of the Earth: Movie Novel, What Hides Beneath the Earth, and Choose Your Own Journey.

Download a super-fun movie guide here.

Check out the Official Website here.

DVD Alert: Tinker Bell

Tinker Bell has her own movie! And for the first time ever—she speaks! Travel to her home in Pixie Hollow and peak into her life before Peter Pan.

Check out the movie-related booksTinker Bell Junior Novel, In the Realm of the Never Fairies: Secret World of Pixie Hollow, and Tinker Bell Read-Aloud Storybook.

In the movie Tink discovers her talent for tinkering. The Tinker Bell Find Your Talent Activity Guide shows you how to find your talent, too.

And of course, to round out your reading fun… drop by DisneyFairies.com.

DVD Alert: Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl comes to DVD tomorrow!

Read her books! Watch her movie! Check out her website! And my previous post!

Have some American Girl reading fun!

And be sure to check back tomorrow. It’s like book-to-DVD week around here!

Today Is Make A Difference Day

Today Is Make A Difference Day: The National Day to Help Others.

How can you make a difference? Think about it… what makes you sad? Or excited?

Kids really can make a difference. Why not give it a try!

Here’s a list of biographies of kids who made a difference. You can too!

Movie Alert: High School Musical 3

HSM3 is out tomorrow!

Check out the Official Site here and my previous post about the book here.

American Girl Says… Bye-Bye Samantha

After 22 years, it’s time to say good-bye to American Girl’s Samantha Parkington. Her line of products will no longer be available. Waaah.

BUT there is some good news—her books will be.

Actually, there’s even more good news. Samantha will have two new books in the spring! The Cry of the Loon: A Samantha Mystery and the interactive book, Samantha's World.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard Contest

You can visit J.K. Rowling. At the National Library of Scotland. She’ll even read her brand-new book The Tales of Beedle The Bard to you.

Say what?

It’s true. Five lucky winners (and their chaperones) will do just that!

How, you say.

Well… I’m glad you asked.

It’s simple. Write a 200-word essay explaining how you’ve helped others. See the Official Contest Rules here.

Not familiar with The Tales of Beedle The Bard? Read my previous post. Oooh. Check out the Harry Potter prequel, too!

And, if you win... say hi to J.K. for me!

Bestselling Children’s Fiction

Publishers Weekly says…

the bestselling children’s fiction books are…

Click here to see what your friends are reading for fun!

Black Poetry Day

Maya Angelou. Sterling A. Brown. Lucille Clifton. Toi Derricotte. Paul Laurence Dunbar. Jessie Redmon Fauset. Angelina W. Grimke. Jupiter Hammon. Langston Hughes. Claude McKay. Anne Spencer. Ntozake Shange. Natasha Trethewey.Margaret Walker. Phyliss Wheatley.

Read a poem in honor of Black Poetry Day.

Three Cheers for Cheerios and Spoonfuls of Stories

Cheerios is at it again. For the seventh year in a row they’re putting five million specially sized books in Cheerios cereal boxes. For free. FIVE MILLION—that’s a whole lotta books!

Cheerios encourages kids to read AND is teaming with First Book to get brand-new books to low-income families.

This year’s books are: Duck for President, When Dinosaurs Came with Everything, Romeo and Lou Blast Off, Monkey and Me, and Diego’s Wolf Pup Rescue.

See the full article here.

Check out the Spoonfuls of Stories website here.

Check out the Cheerios for Kids website for reading fun, games, and downloads here.

Despereaux For All

Get ready. This small hero with a big heart hits the big screen December 19th.

In the mean time, the Tale of Despereaux Movie Tie-In Junior Novelization is out!

So is The Tale of Despereaux : The Graphic Novel.

And, of course, there’s always the classic, the original, the one and only The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread. I give this book five blocks of cheese! Ha. That's like five stars for regular books ;0)

There are a bunch more Despereaux books too! Check them out for guaranteed reading fun!

Just Out… Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book

Now you can have your own Wimpy Kid... ahem... journal! The Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book is on shelves now!

Answer questions like:

“What was the best dream you ever had?”
“The worst thing you ever ate?”
“The best secret you ever heard?”
“The most trouble you ever got in for something that wasn’t even your fault to begin with?”

Filled with Greg and Rowley’s art and comics, plus plenty of ruled and blank pages for your own stuff, this book looks seriously cool. You can create your own reading fun!

Check out author/illustrator Jeff Kinney and the Official Diary of a Wimpy Kid Website.

And don’t miss Diary of a Wimpy Kid on funbrain.com.

Happy Columbus Day!

Test your Columbus Day knowledge... if you dare!

The 25 Best Picture Books for Children

Examiner.com listed The 25 Best Picture Books ever written.

“Best” according to them means we want to read the book over and over again, it stays in our hearts and minds, the words and pictures work together, and it uses language well.

They show the list countdown-style from number 25 through 1. I’ll cut to the chase… the top five Best Picture Books ever written are…

The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

Great books indeed! I love every one of them still! Thank goodness, we’re never too old for picture books.

I think it’s interesting that all of these books are at least 45 years old. That says something for their timelessness.

Of course, there are great picture books being written today too. You can see a few of my faves here.

See the full Examiner article here.

I’d love to know… which picture books do you have fun reading? Share them with us in the comments section below!

More about Book Adventure

A while back I told you about Book Adventure. Well… I’ve had a chance to check it out a little more. And... there’s more! This is the site that keeps on giving.

Check it out:

Kids Zone for Games, Tools, and Awards you can print yourself.

Book Finder to find books that you’ll love.

Five Finger Test to figure out if a book is too hard for you.

And don't forget about the prizes (Read "I told you" if you did).

Reading fun just got better!

Inkdeath is Out… Inkdeath is Out!!!

An early release, yay!!!

I haven’t finished it yet (darn it), so I can’t say much. But, so far it’s goooo-ood! I took it to my daughter’s soccer game and drew a crowd! See... reading is fun and creates friendships.

I’ll be back with a full Inkdeath report—soon. Just wanted to let you know… run… do not walk… to the nearest book store!

Read a great Q&A With Cornelia Funke here. There is loads of fun info on her site!

The Inkheart movie, starring Brendan Fraser (you know... George of the Jungle), is due out January 23rd. Check out the preview—do you think it’s true to the book?



What! You haven’t read Inkheart?!?!? Aaaaaaaaaaaah! You know how I feel about this!

Get thee a copy. Quickly.

Seriously!

It’s awesome reading fun!!!

Movie Alert: Beverly Hills Chihuahua

Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Today is the day.

Check out the Official website here.

Check out the book here.

Catch a flick and have some reading fun!

Jumpstart's Read for the Record Campaign

Here’s the deal. “Since 1993, Jumpstart has been working toward the day every child in America enters school prepared to succeed.”

Every year they encourage hundreds of thousands of kids and grownups to read the same book on the same day so people will know that helping young children read is important to overall education.

The book is Corduroy. The day is today! For some reading fun, find an event near you!

October is National Book Month

October is National Book Month. Oh yeah! Woo hoo! Whatever does this mean?!?

The National Book Foundation encourages us to “celebrate the best of American Literature.”

Mm hm. We can do that!

What do you think… should we buy more books?
Build more bookcases?
Read in a new genre?
Different time period?
Should we spend more time reading?
Have a book party?
Read a classic?
Maybe we could do some research on the history of books?
Read and talk about a book with friends—like a book club?
Plan a Book Appreciation Party?

You know I like the idea of a party! The opportunities for reading fun seem endless…

The National Book Foundation wants to know—how will you celebrate? Send them an email here.