Those who have no time to write scintillating posts...

...link to the scintillating posts of their brilliant fellow bloggers!

I've got a daunting few weeks ahead of me, filled with workshops to present and school visits to make (all miles and miles away from both my own house and my workplace) - my calendar is a mess of fearsome scrawls, punctuated by exclamation points and vigorous asterisks.

So here are some links, new and sorta new, that you are sure to enjoy:

Rosalyn Schanzer writes a terrific post in I.N.K. about an unintended consequence of political correctness - often, writers for children (and editors and readers) feel that they aren't allowed to let anyone but white males have negative emotions or do bad things, which is just another way of rewriting history and does a disservice to everyone.

Charlotte from Charlotte's Library writes this post about the ridiculous lack of people of color in children's fantasy and science fiction books. She does mention some titles that buck the trend, and in the comments folks (including myself) added more, but the exceptions prove the rule.

This post by Jen Robinson in Booklights made me want to play hooky from work, pack up a picnic and a bunch of books, and head to the beach.

Trevor Cairney of Literacy, Families and Learning gives us some great tips - handy for parents, teachers, and librarians alike - on how to listen to a child reading aloud in a way that is fun and helpful rather than stressful and demoralising.

And finally - here is how I would have spent my weekend if (1) I had gone to BEA in New York, (2) I were brave and social enough to talk up lots of authors and (3) I were MotherReader.