The category of Fiction Picture Books would appear clearcut: books that are fictional with pictures. Oh, but that simplicity is deceptive. The category contains titles for toddlers and third graders, funny stories and moving tales, history and fantasy, traditions and diversity, elegance and silliness, education and entertainment. An amazing conceptual range for books with typically 32 to 48 pages.   …

The young Speculative Fiction readers of today are lucky, with hundreds of great new books every year to pick from! Speculative Fiction encompasses everything that isn’t real. Along with wizards and aliens, it includes talking animals, time-travel, ghosts, and paranormal abilities, and all the other books that might not have obvious magic or travel to distant planets, but which push …

Speculative Fiction takes us to realms of the imagination: places and times and realities where the rules of life may be different than our own and where the impossible and improbable become real. But good science fiction and fantasy does more than that: it asks, "What if?" It makes us think. It holds up a mirror to our own society …

What can I say as a third-year chair that I didn’t say last year or the year before? But then again one of the secrets of creating a bookworm is repetition. We'll read books that are built around sight words to meatier, lightly illustrated chapter books. Yes, we have a very broad audience. Our readers … Like hearing stories over and over again. We want …

Look! In your lap! Is it an ebook? Is it a talking book? Is it a movie? No, it really isn’t any of those. You poke it! You shake it! You tilt it! What could this be? Ohhhhh, you say, this is a BOOK APP!   Book apps are stand-alone applications on a touchscreen device like the iPad that combine …

Round 1 Laura Given, LibLaura http://liblaura5.blogspot.com @liblaura5 Dawn Mooney, Five Minutes for Books http://books.5minutesformom.com @mteblogmama Carol Munro, Just Write Words http://carolmunrojustwritewords.wordpress.com Jodell Sadler, Picture Book Lunch http://www.scbwi-illinois.org @picturebklunch Caryn Schafer, Three Books a Night http://www.threebooksanight.com @smellingoranges Melissa Wiley, Here in the Bonny Glen http://melissawiley.com/blog/ @melissawiley Paula Wiley, Pink Me http://pinkme.typepad.com @pwbalto Round 2 Jane Breen, Piper Loves the Library http://piperlovesthelibrary.blogspot.com …

First Round Mark Buxton http://buxtolicious.blogspot.com Jennifer Donovan http://books.5minutesformom.com @5M4B Heidi Grange http://geolibrarian.blogspot.com @GeoLibrarian Deb Marshall http://mylibrarynotebook.blogspot.ca/ @debamarshall Jennifer Rumberger www.jenniferrumberger.com @j_rumberger Julie Williams http://readingbythepond.blogspot.com/ @JulieWilliams89 Karen Yingling http://msyinglingreads.blogspot.com @msyingling Second Round Alex Baugh http://randomlyreading.blogspot.com @randomlyreading Kathy Burnette http://www.thebrainlair.com @thebrainlair Melissa Gaynor http://sweetonbooks.com @sweetonbooks Michael Gettel-Gilmartin http://middlegrademafioso.blogspot.com @MGMafioso Kyle Kimmal http://theboyreader.blogspot.com @theboyreader

Round One Jessica Tackett MacDonald, Her life with Books http://herlifewithbooks.com @herlifewthbooks Sherry Early, Semicolon http://www.semicolonblog.com @semicolonblog Kim Baciella, Si Se Puede http://kimbacceliasweblogfantasy.blogspot.com/ @ixtumea Stephanie Charlefour, Love, Life, Read http://www.loveliferead.com @scharle4 Cheryl Vanatti, Reading Rumpus http://www.readingrumpus.com @Tasses Alyssa Feller, The Shady Glade http://theshadyglade.blogspot.com/ Sarah Sammis, Puss Reboots http://www.pussreboots.pair.com @pussreboots Round Two Terri Doherty, Family Bookshelf http://family-bookshelf.org @readingtub Jennifer Lu, Reads for …

Round 1 Michelle Castleman, The Hungry Readers http://thehungryreaders.blogspot.com/ Maureen Eichner, By Singing Light https://bysinginglight.wordpress.com/ @elvenjaneite Tabitha Olson, Writer Musings  http://tabwriter.blogspot.com @tabithaolson William Polking, Guys Lit Wire  http://guyslitwire.blogspot.com/ @polking Madeline Rudawski, Early Nerd Special  http://earlynerdspecial.wordpress.combr /> @hey_librarygirl Beth Saxton, Beth Reads http://www.bethreads.com @BethReads Lucy Tonkin, The Reading Date http://thereadingdate.com/ @readingdate Round 2 Angie Manfredi, Fat Girl, Reading http://www.fatgirlreading.com @misskubelik Adrianne Russell, …

First Round Melissa Fox, Book Nut www.thebooknut.com @book_nut Kristen Harvey, The Book Monsters http://www.thebookmonsters.com/ @bookgoil Allie Jones, In Bed With Books http://inbedwithbooks.blogspot.com @wearedevilcow Cecelia Larsen, The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia http://ceceliabedelia.blogspot.com @celialarsen Brandy Painter, Random Musings of a Bibliophile http://randommusingsofabibliophile.blogspot.com @brandymuses Charlotte Taylor, Charlotte's Library http://charlotteslibrary.blogspot.com @charlotteslib Stephanie Whalen, Views from the Tesseract http://shanshad1.wordpress.com Second Round Gina Ruiz, AmoXcalli http://amoxcalli.biz @ginaruiz …