The Alphabet Garden Bookstore hosted a wonderful book party for Come Fall this last Saturday.

We had crafts, lemonade, and cookies baked by bookstore owner Karlene Rearick! I read, answered a few questions and signed a whole lot of books. We gave out prizes to the participants of The Alphabet Garden’s summer reading program. I met fans and friends, and altogether had a great time.

Thank you Alphabet Garden, and all those who made the day so much fun.

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What do The Tree of the Dancing Goats, The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963, and Once Upon a Time in the North all have in common? They are on a reading list of great read-alouds that fit this winter season. I blog about it on Write Up Our Alley. Go check it out!…

Elizabeth Bluemle wrote an insightful piece for Shelftalker: A Children’s Bookseller’s Blog (for Publisher’s Weekly) asking us Where’s Ramona Quimby, Black and Pretty? She took issue with the publishing canard that white readers aren’t interested in characters of color. She also called on writers, editors, publishers and booksellers to send her titles of modern books with main characters of color where the book isn’t primarily about race. The result was an outpouring of information, which she detailed here. She decided to pull together the suggested books on a Library Thing list.

There are many lists and sources of information on the web, like Cynthia Leitich Smith’s website; The Brown Bookshelf; American Indians in Children’s Literature; Oyate; Celebrating Cultural Diversity Through Children’s Literature. But the more shout-outs for books with characters of all colors, the better.

Bravo Elizabeth!

[And thank you to Nicole Tadgell for the links.]…