It is a beautiful breezy cool day with small white caps on the ocean. I should be outside working on the laptop in the sun, but instead I am inside. Need to ask Steve to spray for the darn wasps again. The flowering bushes in front of the apt. are in full bloom, which brings them in. Even Sophie has decided to be inside today - she is fast asleep on one of the boxes under my desk.

Was reading through the email update from Publishers Weekly and saw: (cut and pasted directly from the site)
Harry Potter Sweepstakes
Scholastic has announced a six-week sweepstakes in conjunction with the paperback release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Starting on March 1, fans can log on to www.scholastic.com/harrypotter and take part in an online poll every Wednesday until April 5, collecting six different printable HP book covers to be pasted onto a downloadable entry form. Once all the covers have been collected, the entry form can be mailed in, and must be received by April 24. Three grand-prize winners will receive an iPod with the crest of Hogwarts School etched into it, as well as all six downloadable audiobooks and a copy of the deluxe U.S. edition of Half-Blood Prince with a bookplate signed by J.K.Rowling. Six first-prize winners will get two Harry Potter hardcover boxed sets apiece, and everyone who enters the contest will receive a Harry Potter bookmark.

I am not a big Harry Potter fan. I am not crazy about the books, but I do appreciate what they have done for fantasy reading in this country and world wide. If the popularity of Harry Potter books can entice older children and teens to explore excellent fantasy authors such as L'Engle (her new collection of poetry The Ordering of Love is a delight) and Le Guin (Tahanu is my favorite Le Guin book at the moment, taking me back to Earthsea, which I had visited years before). I am all for it. I am sure there are lots of readers out there would would love to have that Hogwarts School Ipod. I have to admit I do like the movies though. :-)

I just watched a webcast interview with Mo Willems, the author of two delightful picture books, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! and Knuffle Bunny. Quite interesting. You can access this and the other interviews that School Library Journal will web cast at http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6304809.html
You have to register, but it doesn't cost anything to do so. I am going to send this on to my students. I love how technology is helping us book people get kids and their parents involved in books.

I can hear my email binging with messages coming in so I had better get to them before I call it a day. I have been on this computer all day.