T-minus 6 days and counting!

A reminder: This Saturday at 12pm we'll have a visit from author Cecil Castellucci and illustrator/CG alumna Julia Denos! They'll be reading and signing their brand-new picture book, Grandma's Gloves. Afterwards, we'll make paper flowers and sip lemonade.

Hope to see you there!

Stretch like a giraffe, roar like a lion, and flap like a butterfly!

On Saturday, July 10, yoga instructor and author of My First Yoga: Animal Poses ABBIE DAVIES will lead a yoga workshop appropriate for toddlers/pre-K and up. Kids will use shapes inspired by animals to stretch and strengthen their bodies while they focus their minds. (Think she'll let us grown-ups join in?) She'll also sign copies of the book!

More information on Abbie and the My First Yoga program is available at www.myfirstyoga.com. From there you can learn about the yoga curriculum for kids Abbie developed, see upcoming classes for kids, find training workshops for adults interested in teaching My First Yoga classes, and even download an Animal Poses iPhone app!

(If you want to practice at home before or after the workshop, or if you'd like to have a pint-sized yoga mat for class, make sure to check out the WaiLana Little Yogis line upstairs!)

Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards!

The 2010 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winners were JUST announced, and we're really excited! Here they are...

Winner for Excellence in Children's Fiction
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Honor Books
The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan; illustrated by Peter Sís
A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner


Winner for Excellence in Children's Nonfiction
Marching for Freedom: Walk Together Children and Don't You Grow Weary
by Elizabeth Partridge

Honor Books
Anne Frank: Her Life in Words and Pictures by Menno Metslelaar and Ruud van der Rol
Smile by Reina Telgemeier


Winner for Excellence in Picture Books
I Know Here by Laurel Croza; illustrated by Matt James

Honor Books
The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney
It's a Secret! by John Burningham

You may remember that When You Reach Me won this year's Newbery Medal (the American Library Association's award for children's fiction) and The Lion and the Mouse won the Caldecott (the ALA's illustration award).

But of course, Curious George staffers loved all these books long ago. After the release of When You Reach Me, Taylor said: "When whip-smart, instantly likeable 12-year-old Miranda begins to receive mysterious notes with even more mysterious directives, she is catapulted into a mission—à la her favorite book, A Wrinkle in Time—to save someone she loves. You will quickly find yourself embroiled in the mystery along with her."

Natasha picked Smile as a fave early on: "A fun, well-illustrated and funny story of one girl’s lifelong dental drama. First, Raina needs braces, then she displaces her two front teeth, and thus starts middle school with various forms of dental wizardry to straighten and fix up her teeth. You’ll root for Raina as she tells her story with lots of humor!"

There's also been a ton of buzz around the Hut about the ceremony and colloquium the Horn Book's having for the awards the first weekend in October at Simmons College. Many Georgians either currently attend or graduated from the Simmons master's programs in Children's Literature, Writing for Children, Library Science, and Education, so you can expect to see a bunch of us there! If only October weren't so far away...

Reminder: R.L. LaFevers and Kelly Murphy signing TOMORROW!

Tomorrow (that's Wednesday, May 19th), author R.L. LaFevers will be here to discuss and sign her Theodosia Throckmorton and Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist books! A brand-new installment of each of these middle-grade fantasy series just came out (Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus and The Basilisk's Lair), so there's a new adventure for Egyptologists and Beastologists alike.

As if that weren't awesome enough, Kelly Murphy -- illustrator of the Nate Fludd books, Masterpiece, and many picture books -- will be here as well to draw and sign.

I'm so excited I might have to put my Eye of Horus tattoo on early!

Two great events for your little (and middle-grade) monkeys!

We have a busy, event-filled spring ahead of us, starting with one this Saturday!

LESLEA NEWMAN, author of Heather Has Two Mommies, has a new mommy-centric picture book out just in time for Mother's Day. She'll be here this Saturday, May 8th, at 12pm for an extra-special story time. She'll read and sign Just Like Mama and make Mother's Day cards with us! Show your mama (or mommy, or mother, or mum) you know no one loves you just the way she does -- and no one loves HER just like you do! -- with a signed copy of this sweet mother and child story and a handmade card.



As if that weren't fun enough, R.L. LaFEVERS will be here May 19th at 4pm to sign the third Theodosia Throckmorton installment, Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus, and the second Nathaniel Fludd Beastologist book, The Basilisk's Lair -- and all the previous Theodosia and Nathaniel Fludd books. Whether your interests run more toward Egyptology or beastology (or perhaps, brave soul, you're adventurous enough for both!), there'll be activities galore at this exciting evening event!