World Read Aloud Day March 9

An interest and the ability to read starts with hearing others read.  According to the organizers of World Read Aloud Day, "Nearly 1 billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their name."  Last year, the organizers of World Read Aloud Day had people reading aloud in 35 countries.  Events are scheduled throughout the world.

Many books created for children are great for reading aloud so if you need a particular day to encourage yourself to reading to a child, to a teen or an adult, consider World Read Aloud Day a good reason.  This might be a time to find again a favorite poem, a passage from a chapter book or a picture book.  Or, it might be an impetus to volunteer in classrooms and after school programs that could benefit from an adult reading to children.

March certainly has many days emphasizing reading as well as Women's History Month, Youth Art Month, Mardi Gras, Lent, St. Patrick's Day, ComicCon in Chicago, the Ides of March, and, of course, the hopefulness of the beginning of spring.

Review Cech's great book on Weston Woods' history now on Project Muse

John Cech's new book Imagination and Innovation: The Story of Weston Woods is a particularly interesting history of this ground-breaking film company known for its amazing adapatations of children's literature.  My review of his book is now available in the Children's Literature Association Quarterly section on Project Muse.  If you want a print copy, it's in Volume 36, Number 1, Spring 2011, pp. 115-117.  I think this book is well worth reading for children's literature scholars, librarians, film scholars, and all of us who remember watching these films in school and on television.

Review of Place of Lewis Carroll in Children's Literature

Just wanted to mention that I have made a .pdf of Dorothy Clark's review of my book, The Place of Lewis Carroll in Children's Literature.  I appreciate her positive review in The Lion and the Unicorn. She writes, "The opportunity to learn more--to be startled by facts and surprising pieces of information and perception--is exactly what Susina provides in this capacious, remarkable book that has broad appeal to nonacademics, scholars, and Carroll specialists. It is a text that generates delight, enthusiasm, and wonder."  Here's a link to the .pdf.

Talk on Lewis Carroll next Tuesday

The Friends of Milner Library have kindly invited me to speak at their spring meeting about "The Place of Lewis Carroll in Children's Literature."  My talk will be Tuesday, March 30, at 7 p.m. in the Bone Student Center Founders Suite. 

I plan to give a talk and slide presentation based on my recent book from Routledge with a focus on Carroll as a book author, publisher, marketer, entrepreneur, scholar.  I will examine the importance of the Alice books within the history of children's literature -- including why they're pivotal in the field. I thought I would also briefly touch on some of the myths and misconceptions of Carroll.  I'm also working in a few thoughts about the recent Alice in Wonderland film as well.

Thanks to Toni Tucker at Milner for organizing the talk and to Eric Jome for additional publicity from Media Relations.

Check out the Japanification book

The Normal Public Library has The Japanification of Children's Popular Culture: From Godzilla to Miyazaki which was edited by Mark West. It has an essay that I wrote about the Nickelodeon television show Rugrats. It's great to see one's work in libraries.  On the subject of Miyazaki, we watched the Disney animated film Up recently. It's definitely a tribute to Miayzaki's work. The Pixar people seemed almost to be trying to hard to reflect the sentiment in the Japanese animator's work as well as include all of his standard motifs.  Consequently, the story line in Up seemed rather forced. The better Pixar films (the Toy Story series, The Incredibles) are more imaginative and do a better job of creating a believable overall world. and storyline.

And Amazon had to get another shipment of The Place of Lewis Carroll in Children's Literature.  Cool.