Curl Up with a Cup of Tea and a Good Blog

Are you looking for a review of a young adult book? Do you need to know if a particular title is too edgy for your readers—or not edgy enough? Or perhaps you want to get your hands on the perfect picture book to enthrall a fidgety class of second graders. Have no fear, the kidlitosphere is here!

A catchall term coined by a group of bloggers to define their little corner of the Web, the kidlitosphere is a dynamic outlet for opinion, conversation, and community, all dedicated to books for children and young adults. Book blogs are fast becoming an important aspect of the children's literature world, and if you're not already plugged into these resources, you should be.

Perhaps you're lucky enough to work with colleagues with whom you share a passion for kids' books—or not. For those of us who are the sole children's or teen specialist at our library, it can get pretty lonely. Say you've just read a book and want to rave (or rant) about it, or you need to figure out which books to buy on a limited budget. Where can you turn? Sure, there are print publications, such as School Library Journal and the Horn Book. But as great as those magazines are, you may want more in the way of diverse opinions and extended reviews, not to mention a place to get answers to your questions or connect with fellow bibliophiles.

For starters, blogs are a rich source for reviews. There's “Book Buds,” which specializes in picture books and “Wands and Worlds,” for reviews in the science fiction and fantasy vein. Blogs also offer publishing news (“Bookshelves of Doom”), author interviews (“Cynsations”), and the latest Newbery award gossip (“A Year of Reading”). Perhaps “The Hot Men of Children's Literature” piques your interest. If so, point your browser to the blog “A Fuse #8 Production.”

Fuse 8's author, not surprisingly, is a children's librarian, Elizabeth (Betsy) Bird, who, when not blogging, works at the Donnell Central Children's Room of the New York Public Library (NYPL). There are other librarian bloggers, including myself, as well as children's book authors, like Cynthia Leitich Smith, who blog, I suppose, as a break from writing novels. Still other sites, which appear on the following list of choice reads, were created by a co-owner of a small California software firm, Jennifer Robinson of “Jen Robinson's Book Page”; an L.A. screenwriter, Gregory K. Pincus, of “GottaBook”; and an associate professor of Russian at Grinnell (IA) College, Kelly Herold of “Big A little a.” While a diverse group, these individuals share a passion for kids' books. As Pincus says, he blogs “to be part of the wonderful, growing children's literature community online.”

Growing, indeed. Children's book blogs are attracting a good bit of traffic. Fuse #8, for example, logs an impressive 500 visitors a day. After “GottaBook” was featured in an April 2006 New York Times article on “The Fib,” a poetry form based on a complex mathematical sequence, the blog received over 30,000 hits in one day. Since then, GottaBook averages about 1,200 visits a week.

These conduits for children's book fans have not gone unnoticed by publishers, including Kane/Miller Publishers, which has sent review copies of its books to bloggers since 2005. “We are a small company who greatly relies on word-of-mouth marketing and reaching readers who use the Internet to search for worthwhile resources for their children, whether it's parents, teachers, or librarians,” explains Sondra LaBrie, Kane/Miller's marketing/accounts manager.

So where do bloggers find the time? For me, it's a labor of love. I don't knit. I don't scrapbook. Books are my passion. I'm continually delighted and flattered that people want to read and respond to what I have to say. So what are you waiting for? Come join the conversation.