Posted at blogs.abcnews.com

President Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia went shopping for books this morning at the Bunch of Grapes bookstore in the picturesque town of Vineyard Haven. Obama and his girls made a beeline upstairs to the children’s book section where they picked out some titles from the ‘The Land of Elyon’ series and “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins. Store employees also say they picked out “The Red Pony” and “To Kill A Mockingbird.”

Read the rest here – blogs.abcnews.com

Book Review by Nancy Knight at BaltimoreSun.com

What are kids reading these days?

When I was young, nothing creeped me out more than a good ghost story. Alvin Schwartz’ “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” series was pretty much perfect: Classic, bare-bones tales that scared or surprised you at different turns — and don’t even get me started on those creepy illustrations by Stephen Gammell.

Of course, that series ended in 1991, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that today’s spooky books are quite a bit different. Beyond the classics-turned-horror stories, ala “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Undead,” we’ve got the Skeleton Creek series.

Read the rest here – weblogs.baltimoresun.com

Book Review Posted at The Literary Wife

For those of you that have not heard about Patrick Carman’s Skeleton Creek series, you are in for a real treat. That is, if you like to be scared out of your shorts. Ghost in the Machine in the second book in this multimedia series, written by Patrick Carman and directed by Jeffrey Townsend. The story itself involves a small town that has a lot of history and holds a mystery deep within its past. Teenagers and best friends Ryan and Sarah work to uncover the mystery very stealthily, even when they are banned from even speaking to each other. You see, Sarah is a video expert and uploads videos of her discoveries to send to Ryan, all of which the reader gets to view as well. Kind of a cool concept, huh?

Read the rest here – literarywife.wordpress.com

August 31st marks the release of the final book in The 39 Clues series, The 39 Clues Book 10: Into the Gauntlet by Margaret Peterson Haddix (8.31.10).

All seven 39 Clues authors will participate in a multi-media virtual tour. The month-long tour includes video posts, podcasts, written entries, and a Skype interview.

For the first time ever, in celebration of the release of the final book in the series, all seven 39 Clues authors will be available at one time to answer kids’ most pressing39 Clues questions.

When: August 31st, 4:00 ET
Where: www.the39clues.com/accessgranted
Who: All seven 39 Clues authors together for the first time (via live video feeds); moderated by newscaster “William Michaels”
What: Authors will be answering video and text-based questions from kids worldwide

You can also find an exclusive story about Dan and Amy and 6 free digital game cards on specially marked Post Cerial Boxes, including Honeycomb, Alpha-bits, Golden Crisp and Waffle Crisp.

It’s never too late to start the hunt!

The 39 Clues Acces Granted