Skype Author Visits and Holiday Book Buying

Recently, author Sylvia McNicoll interviewed our author Sharon McKay for a Skype classroom visit with a middle school. They discussed Sharon's book Thunder over Kandahar: how did she do her research? What are the issues involved with writing from the perspective of a culture you don't belong to? Sylvia has a great post about it on her blog, so please click here to read it.

In other news, you may have noticed that it's December 16th. Which means there are less than ten days until Christmas! If you'd like to give your loved ones books for Christmas (and who wouldn't?), here are some places to start.

• Children's author and illustrator Patricia Storms has put together a list of Great Picture Books (including A Flock of Shoes and How Do You Read to a Rabbit?)
• January Magazine has an extensive Holiday Gift Guide (including 50 Underwear Questions)
• If you find teen boys hard to buy for, check out educator Janet Somerville's list of Books for Older Teen Boys
• If you're looking for the hand-selling experience online, stop by the Advent Book Blog, which crowdsources great reads from book lovers of every stripe (author, editors, booksellers, publishers, agents, etc.)

What book are you most excited to give or receive this year? Let us know in the comments!