World Kindness Week is November 10-16

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation encourages us. Be kind. Kindness can change the world.

Print the Kindness, Pass It On! Poster, and see how many acts of kindness you can do this week. Things like, Cheer Up a Friend, Leave a Thank You Note, and Open a Door. These area great ideas. And we don’t have to stop on Friday—we can do them all the time!

Crayola.com offers fun Coloring & Activities and Craft Ideas.

For Acts of Kindness reading fun, click here.

DVD Alert: Kung Fu Panda

The Kung Fu Panda DVD releases on Sunday.

I saw the movie. I think you’ll like it.

But… you should read the books first. For fun!

This is not like having to eat vegetables before you get dessert. Not at all. These books are yummy!

Check out my previous post. It includes the preview and a link to the Official Website.

Letters About Literature

The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress in partnership with Target presents… Letters About Literature, a national reading and writing promotion program.

Whew. That’s a mouth full.

Translation? Here’s a chance for some reading, writing, and shopping fun!

This is the deal. You write a personal letter to an author explaining how his or her book affected you. You can win Target gift cards and a grant for your school.

Read the Participation Guidelines here. Some sample letters here. And Frequently Asked Questions here.

The deadline is December 6, 2008.

Movie Alert: Bolt

Bolt, with John Travolta and Miley Cyrus, hits theatres November 21. Bolt believes his life on a television set is real. And that he has superpowers. When he accidentally gets shipped to New York City, the dynamic doggie must decide if he is a superdog or a superdud.

You know I think you should read the book before you see the movie. I’ll bet you know it too. The book is almost always better, plus you get to know what happens before anyone else! That is definitely reading fun!

Find out about Bolt: Junior Novel here.

Visit the Official Website for videos, photos, games, and downloads here.

Election Day

Today is election day. Check out some cool books.

Movie Alert: Madagascar Escape 2 Africa

Madagascar Escape 2 Africa is in theatres and IMAX on Friday. That still gives you plenty of time to read the book and check out the totally amazing website. There is a serious amount of fun to be had there. Seriously!

Daylight Savings Ends

I do love a fun quiz. ;0)
Check out Trivia Quiz: Daylight Saving Time.

And, don’t forget to turn your clocks back tonight! This is totally cool. If you go to bed at 9 o’clock, you should reset your clock to 8 o’clock.

Woohoo—you just gained an extra hour for reading fun!

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!