Libraries, the new Cupcakes!

© Kim Bolan Cullin, 2010, Teen Spaces 2nd Edition's photostream
Via YPulse and NPR, some thought provoking discussion this week about the growing buzz around libraries, and the surprising idea that libraries might be the "new big pop-culture wave." Or, as NPR put it, libraries are (or at least could very well become) the new cupcake.

I particularly enjoyed YPulse's interview with Kim Bolan

Mobile Phones in TV (& YA Lit) Depictions of Pretty Little Teen Girls

©2010 Alloy Entertainment, television still from Pretty Little Liars
So, I've been watching Alloy Entertainment's most recent offering, Pretty Little Liars, and I must say it's every bit the guilty pleasure of Gossip Girl (one of Alloy's other hits) or of early seasons of The O.C. It's very much a soap opera, with its impossible plot lines and coincidences, scandalous-to-disturbing romances, and

(Another) CFP Alert: The Childhoods Conference: Mapping the Landscapes of Childhood

"Childhood Map" ©2009 by Joe Beale at ghost blog
Via the Centre for Research in Young People’s Texts and Cultures (CRYTC) website, another CFP for yet another fantastic looking conference on topics related to children's culture & media studies. This one seeks to explore a wide range of issues that will help map the state of child studies in Canada, as well as examine our ever changing notions &

CFP Alert: Fear & Safety in Children's Literature

© 2009 Laika Entertainment, movie still from CoralineVia the Exploring Childhood Studies mailing list, CFP for a conference next summer in Australia. It sounds positively awesome!Fear and Safety in Children's LiteratureCALL FOR PAPERS20th BIENNIAL CONGRESS OF IRSCL 4-8 JULY 2011QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, BRISBANE, AUSTRALIAChildren’s literature has always been responsive to the tenor

A Girl Story's "Pay-Per-View" Donations

© 2010 Mahindra FoundationVia Kidscreen, news today about a fundraising initiative that uses the serial or "pay-per-chapter" model to raise money for girls' education in India. The campaign, called A Girl Story, ties access to a new web-based film series, presented in segments, with user donations. The idea is the result of a collaboration between Nanhi Kali ("For the Girl Child," part of