Hit: Author sites -mostly elementary

[Paula Neale <PLNeale@AOL.COM>]

I will have to divide this into parts.  Here is part 1.

Colleagues:
On July 25 I asked for websites about authors or books which had activities
that kindergartners students could do online.  I was thinking about a lab
situation.  In addition to requests for a hit, I got what I wanted and lots
more besides.  Following is a compilation of the replies.
Thanks to Camelia, Mary, Tony, Pam, Eileen, Nadine, Genese, Kim and I hope I
didn't miss anyone.

If you have corrections or additions, please don't hesitate to let me know.

A note on the 'ratings,'
* = The site worked when I tried it.
** = There are activities or lesson plans at this site.  It is useable for
elementary teachers.
+ = I thought it was well worthwhile
> = I thought that kids would enjoy visiting here.

No mark = I didn't have time to try it or was unable to connect when I did,
but I still think it's a viable site.  I mostly kept my focus on primary
authors although I was occasionally led astray by things like the Redwall
Encyclopedia.

I tried to make the addresses hyperlinks, but I don't think it worked for AOL.
If you have Word 97 (PC) or 98 (MAC) and want me to send you the file in that
format, where the links I tested do work, let me know.

Like most folks with web sites, authors are generally hoping to sell
something -- their books and related paraphernalia or themselves as school
presenters.  Most of them have the site set up for their fans.  They are
convinced that everyone wants to know how they write or illustrate their
books and do a good job of explaining that.  It would make for a good
research project for the intermediate grades to look at some of the different
processes authors use in producing a book.  Most also have a link so that
students can e-mail them, but I don't think you can generally expect a
personal reply.  One, I think It was Munsch, actually states that if you want
an answer, send snail mail.  A few like Jan Brett aim directly at teachers
and librarians.  Many of the lesson plans connected with author sites appear
to come from college students, who are no doubt fulfilling a class
requirement. This doesn't mean the lessons aren't any good, but I suspect
that a lot of them have not been 'field-tested.'  Ok. Enough editorializing.
On with the hit.

Many authors -

*+Kay Vandergrifts author pages -  <A
HREF="http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/special/kay/author.html">www.scils.rutgers.
edu/special/kay/author.html</A>

 *+The Children's Literature Web Guide.  University of Calgary -
<A
HREF="http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/authors.html">http://www.acs.ucalgar
y.ca/~dkbrown/authors.html</A>

*Alltogether Now author Pages - In progress but a nice, useful design idea.
I think we're all supposed to help with this  <A
HREF="http://www.alltogethernow.org/docs/author.htm#Top
">http://www.alltogethernow.org/docs/author.htm#Top </A>

**+Internet School Library Media Center's index to author and illustrator
Internet sites (ISLMC) from James Madison University (Inez Ramsey) in
Virginia (There is a lot for school librarians in this group of pages. I
could probably have spent my whole summer here.) - Home page for the whole
site - <A
HREF="http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/biochildhome.htm">http://falcon.jmu.edu/
~ramseyil/biochildhome.htm</A>

 **>Yahoo guide to Children's Literature - In typical Yahoo fashion, I found
lots of cool and fun if not always educational sites. There are 22 Animorph
sites.  If you have the bandwidth, the speed, and the plug-ins, your students
will be bowled over by Jake's Animorph Page.  I plan to have the morph zone
showing on all my screens during my next Scholastic Book Fair. <A
HREF="http://dir.yahoo.com/arts/humanities/literature/genres/children_s/author
s/">http://dir.yahoo.com/arts/humanities/literature/genres/children_s/authors/
</A>

**Children's Literature Web site Meet Authors and Illustrators - A vendor
site with An alphabetical by author listing of links. Seems up to date) <A
HREF="http://www.childrenslit.com/f_mai.htm">http://www.childrenslit.com/f_mai
.htm</A>

Infoseek Author guide - not just Children's authors <A
HREF="http://infoseek.go.com/Topic/Entertainment/Books/Authors?tid=120">http:/
/infoseek.go.com/Topic/Entertainment/Books/Authors?tid=120</A>


*Mona Kerby's Author Corner -  <A
HREF="http://www.carr.lib.md.us/authco/home.htm">http://www.carr.lib.md.us/aut
hco/home.htm</A>

*Rhode Island Educational Media Book links - <A
HREF="http://www.ri.net/RIEMA/b.html">http://www.ri.net/RIEMA/b.html</A>

*Just for kids who love books (some friendly links to a little bit of
everything literary from Canadian teacher/librarian Alan Brown. Some nice
links (this is one of those sites where the address shows up the same no
matter where the link is.  As it title says, it's probably best for kids who
already really like to read)  -
 <A
HREF="http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/1333/kids.htm">http://www.geocit
ies.com/Athens/Olympus/1333/kids.htm</A>

*Dave Ross (aspiring author) links to a few other authors -  <A
HREF="http://www.albany.net/~dross/authlink.html
">http://www.albany.net/~dross/authlink.html </A>

* Inkspot for writers   (When I was in library school, we used to have to
look at bibliographies of bibliographies, this is  a 'webography of
webographies) - <A
HREF="http://www.inkspot.com/author">http://www.inkspot.com/author</A>


Paula Neale, LMS
Ingels Elementary School
Kansas City, MO  64134
816-761-4343
plneale@aol.com

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