Blogs That Make My Day

Oh, my goodness. I just won an award. I'm all flustered.

No, it wasn't an Oscar or a Caldecott (hey, I can dream, can't I?) But it was just as big a compliment. Jill from The Well-Read Child just gave Wizards Wireless the "Blogs that Make My Day Award."

This is a great opportunity for me to say how much I love Jill's blog. The Well-Read Child is full of tips, reviews and great advice for parents. Be sure to check it out. I read it every day.

As a way of returning the compliment, here are ten blogs that make my day. It was almost impossible to pick just ten... so this isn't a definitive list, but rather just the tip of the iceberg. I listed them in reverse alphabetical order, since my blog name starts with a W, and is usually (and understandably) at the bottom of blogrolls. I thought I'd give those end of the alphabet people a chance to be on the top of the list. If I were doing it again, I think I'd name my blog 100 Aardvarks.

• What Adrienne Thinks About That. I met Adrienne at the Kidlitosphere conference and immediately felt like I was talking to an old friend. Reading her blog feels the same way. She's one of those people I would call a kindred spirit, and I really relate to her posts. And I just love her Real Suggestions From the Children's Room.
  

• Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Jules and Eisha never cease to amaze me. This blog is always unbelievably thorough and detailed. They have terrific interviews with bloggers, authors and illustrators and they recently added my favorite new feature: 7 Picture Book Tips For Impossibly Busy Parents. If I ever get featured in a Seven Imp interview, I'll know I've made it in the kidlitosphere!

• Saints and Spinners. Alkelda's wonderful blog is always thoughtful and thought provoking. I love her Song of the Week feature and her Children's Books that Never Were never fails to make me laugh. As a librarian-in-training, I find her comments about the library world extremely helpful.

• MotherReader. Pam is funny, insightful and always on the money. Speaking of people that make me laugh, Pam always does, both in person and on her blog. She was one of the very first kidlit bloggers I met, and she's just, well... cool.

• Kids Lit. An amazing blog that is filled with reviews and updates from the children's book world. Tasha reports on everything and her reviews are always top notch. I also love her blog's new design. She blogged live about the ALA awards press conference and her comment about Hugo Cabret winning the Caldecott was priceless.
  

• Jen Robinson's Book Page. Here's another amazing blog. Jen does wonderfully detailed literacy updates, book reviews, and she writes about so many things related to children's books. I always look forward to her Sunday afternoon visits of blogs around the kidlitosphere, because she manages to find terrific posts that I've missed. She was one of the very first supporters of Wizards Wireless and she's linked to my blog more times than I can possibly count.
  

• Books Together. I recently had the pleasure of meeting Anamaria, and she's just as wonderful and personable as her blog. She always manages to blog about just the kinds of books my son would love, and I've gotten great book suggestions from Books Together.

• BookMoot. Camille's excitement and love for her job and for children's books comes through in every post she writes. About a month ago, she did a fabulous post about school visits that was both wise and wonderful... and full of essential tips for every author. BookMoot is wonderful and well worth checking out.

• Biblio File. Jennie is a fellow MLS graduate student who attends the same university I do, although oddly enough we've never seen each other on campus (but keep running into each other at library events). I can always relate to Jennie's posts (particularly the ones about homework and papers) and she's really opened my eyes to the field of YA literature. And I just love this Poetry Friday post that she wrote.
  

• Art, Words, Life. This blog is written by children's book author and illustrator Jennifer Thermes. It's filled with Jennifer's original drawings, which are so beautiful and scrumptious they often make me catch my breath. I also love Jennifer's profile picture, because it's a self portrait. And I keep meaning to tell her how much I liked her book picture book Sam Bennett's New Shoes.
  

What blogs make your day?