Did you know that the average kindergarten student has seen more than 5,000 hours of television, having spent more time in front of the TV than it takes to earn a bachelor’s degree? Source: US Department of Education, as cited in “Literacy Statistics for the United States,” Literacy Council of Buncombe County. [Read more]

“You cannot write for children They’re much too complicated. You can only write books that are of interest to them.” Maurice Sendak quotes [Read more]

A child who has not been completely adopted in the international country will receive an IR-4 visa. This child must be re-adopted in the U.S. in the state wherein the family lives. Unlike a child who has an IR-3 visa, a child who enters the country on an IR-4 visa will not receive their American citizenship until their adoption is complete in the United States. [Read more]

The Lovely Bones Young adults will be immediately drawn into Susie Salmon’s world, or rather, heaven, with the second sentence: “I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.” Immediately, the reader knows that Susie is dead and in Chapter One we see and feel her murder. The description is vivid and all too real, but the reader must feel it in order to be drawn into the story. Sebold’s gift here is not in the imaginative plot of the story, but rather in the narration. Told in first person, Susie becomes an omniscient narrator from her interim heaven where she awaits her killer’s justice. She follows her family through it’s initial search, then grief, and finally, through its demise. She learns, despite her eternal age,... [Read more]

Did you know? The game of Tag is the best aerobic activity for kids. Children love to run fast for short periods and then rest and go again! [Read more]