Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind

I had the great privilege of being a speaker and facilitator at the 2011 Asian Festival of Children's Content in Singapore. It was an honor - and great fun! - to be part of a panel discussion with Corinne Robson, associate editor and blog "Eventful World" coordinator of PaperTigers , and Dr. Myra Garces-Bascal, educator and founder of GatheringBooks . (Thank you so much, Myra, for putting the panel together!) Our panel discussion was an introduction to the kidlitosphere and the YA blogosphere , and how Web 2.0 can be used to build a world of readers. I really believe in the power Web 2.0 has in building a world of readers. From the family of children's book bloggers to book trailers that create a need for YA books, and book fandoms on Tumblr to authors interacting with their fans through Twitter and Facebook, the book blogosphere and Web 2.0 in general can be very effective in strengthening and growing the community of readers. I could talk about this topic all da

Warning: This may make you hungry and make you want to visit Singapore for the next Asian Festival of Children's Content - which is exactly the point of this post. =D Last week, I was in Singapore for the Asian Festival of Children's Content , and my first night there I had dinner with two beautiful and special ladies whom I (and the rest of the kidlitosphere !) have respected and admired for a long time. PaperTigers is an important website, blog, and outreach program dedicated to promoting multicultural books and putting them in the hands of children and teens around the world. Aline Pereira is PaperTiger's former managing editor and producer, and Corinne Robson is the current associate editor and blog “Eventful World” coordinator. Dinner was DELECTABLE, and I was so happy to meet Aline and Corinne in person! Only one little guy was not happy about our dinner. Sorry, little guy. The food in Singapore is fantastic and I can't blog about the Asian Festival of Childr