105 Ways to Give a Book

11th Carnival of Children’s Literature

February’s a month chock full of themes. Valentine’s Day leads us to themes of love. President’s Day leads us to themes of American history and the presidency. Groundhog Day leads us to themes of rodents. It’s a month dedicated to profiling Black History. It’s a month linked to cold and snow and icicles. We even got Chinese New Year in the mix this time. So rounding up posts this month should be easy. Y’know, as compared to March. What’s March got? Leprechauns? Soooo lame.

However, these themes of the month — these multiple themes of the month — generally did not seem apparent in the posts I received for the carnival.

Yes, HipWriterMama shares a lovely snow day post.

WordSwimmer looks at Show Way in connection to black history. And Mitali Perkins points out a powerful film on the black experience of girls and children.

The Kiddosphere gives us Chinese folktales with Three Ninety Eight Thursdays Go to China and Reflect on Folktales in General. As does A Wrung Sponge in her post, Gung Hai Fat Choi.

Bookwink presents a video booktalk on love and the hilarious mix-ups caused by Cupid. I proclaim my love, of a sort, again.

But as it turns out, February isn’t confined by its noted themes. Its many, many noted themes. No indeed. It’s a month of reflection and quiet times. It’s a month to…

Write a book:
Big A, little a invites us to a wiki novel.

See an old book in a new way:
GottaBook writes a new Oddaptation.

See a really old book in a new way:
The Common Room presents Childrens’ Book: Dollie’s Big Dream, or The Man of Mirth.

See the movie too:
DigitalRich presents DigitalRichDaily: Unanswered Questions.

Be part of a community:
Midwestern Lodestar writes about the kidlitosphere.

Rest and renourish:
Liz In Ink presents Empty Baskets.

Tackle a tough issue:
Megan Bayliss presents Bitss of Caramel Marmalade on Toast.

Be inspired to write a poem:
Kelly Fineman shares the nature of poetry.

Think about a poem:
Alone on a Limb presents A Poem to Start the Week: Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening.

Juxtapose two poems:
Chicken Spaghetti shares a mash-up of Odysseus and “17 Things I’m Not Allowed to Do Any More.”

Reflect on first reading experiences:
Babylune presents Our Little Literary Awakening.

Reflect on book characters:
Miss Erin presents Love-to-hate characters.

Read a good book:
Tea Cozy’s Liz B reviews The Braid.
Trinity Prep School’s Maureen reviews Gregor the Overlander.
My Domestic Church reviews Trumpet of the Swan.
Gail Gauthier reviews The Good Fairies of New York.

Read books about reading a book:
A Year of Reading gives us the The Master List of Books About Books and Reading.

Decide to read the Best Books Ever:
Semicolon starts the Newbery project with The Golden Fleece.

Buy a book, before it’s too late:
Melissa Wiley talks about books going out of print, including her own.

Visit a reading theme:
Readable Feast presents The Super Bowl of activities and books.

Visit a genre:
Check It Out explores The Fantasy Genre.

Or indulge in a favorite genre:
Little Willow gives us a list of Coming-of-Age Novels.

Or a favorite author:
Scholar’s Blog presents Philip Pullman on Narrative.
Whimsy Books presents The One and Only Rosemary Wells.
Penny Richards presents Jane Yolen.
Trivium Pursuit presents Home-Spun Artists: Historical Sketches — Beatrix Potter.

Meet someone new:
Cynthia Leitich Smith presents Author Interview: Brenda Ferber on Julia’s Kitchen.

Support a serious cause:
Chasing Ray gives us a use for Young Adult books.

Or a silly one:
MotherReader asks us to kick celebrity writers to the curb.

Reflect on endings:
Wands and Worlds writes about The end of an era.

Follow a passion:
Barbara Bietz shares her writing passion.

Celebrate the child within:
Jen Robinson presents Being Childlike (No, Not Childish).

And even add something last-minute:
Book Moot explains the difference between concerned parents vs. book-banning know-nothing nutters.

Thanks to everyone for participating in this month’s Carnival. Next month’s Carnival is accepting submissions at the website at any time. Though you might want to wait until you’ve had a chance to write something spectacular. Maybe about leprechauns.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks, MotherReader. I look forward to reading all of these.

Kelly said...

Excellent work, MR! Tons of great reading :)

Anonymous said...

Excellent carnival. Here's my post that links back to you.

http://www.babylune.com/carnivals-in-carnival/

Anonymous said...

Phew! What a lot of good stuff. So excited to get reading. Thanks...

Barbara Bietz said...

Hi,

Thanks so much for including my blog in your carnival! I am delighted. You have a fabulous blog - I will add you to my links so I can check in more often! You've given me lots of great reading for today!

Vivian Mahoney said...

This is quite the list! Thank you for all your hard work on this.

Anonymous said...

What a feast! Thank you.

Michele said...

Cool ! Something else to read to stop me starting writing another blinking bit of fiction !

Megan Bayliss said...

This is just fantastic. Thank you. I'm going to be able to use several of these entries in our homeschooling lessons too.
Keep up the great work everybody. I LOVE it.

Greg Pincus said...

Thanks, MR! So much good stuff there. Egad. I need to borrow some time if anybody's got some extra....

Little Willow said...

Yay and thanks!

flic said...

A lot of good stuff here! Here's something that might be interesting as well. A children's bedtime story written by an author saddled with mental illness.

Nancy said...

Ooh, this is wonderful. Thanks!

(My verification word is ...

atemomm ....

I read that like "Atta boy!" "At-e-momm!")

Unknown said...

Great job, MotherReader! So many things to do in February...

Thanks for all your hard work putting this together!

Elena LaVictoire said...

Good job! Thanks for all of your hard work on this Carnival!

Anonymous said...

What a fabulously wild mix this carnival turned out to be! Thanks, MR, for putting it all together.

Erin said...

Thanks for the great feast!

Anonymous said...

A great carnival! Thanks for hosting. So many great posts.
Franki