Hispanic Heritage Month just ended on October 15, and in celebration, Concetta Gleason (from Scholastic's Spanish and Bilingual Reading Club) is here with a guest blog about a very influential librarian, Pura Belpré.

To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month the New York Public Library (NYPL) has been showing the exhibit Pura Belpré, In Her Own Words at the Bronx Library Center. Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian of the New York Public Library system, established many important firsts on the American and Latino literary scenes, such as being the first author, editor, and translator to publish a full collection of classic tales from Puerto Rican folklore. Belpré’s most enduring accomplishments may be her community work for libraries and literacy services.

Her commitment to bilingual literacy also inspired the Pura Belpré Award, a prestigious prize given annually by the American Library Association to a “Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.”

Scholastic has published books that have won the award and/or honorable mention previously, including The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano by Sonia Manzano, The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan, and The Bossy Gallito by Lucía González. 

Our Reading Club team feels close to the mission of Pura Belpré; Scholastic’s Club Leo en español is proud to offer affordable, high-quality Spanish and bilingual books to teachers, parents, and kids. The books Belpré published had an “impact on the identification of cultural heritage” and gave young readers the opportunity to see themselves reflected in the books they read and build a positive self-identity and association with their culture of origin. We feel our Spanish and bilingual books do much of the same. 

You can read more about Club Leo and the legacy of Pura Belpré here.

With Halloween almost upon us, it's the perfect time for spooky reads (Goosebumps, anyone?), literary costumes (I'm leaning toward Katniss), and, of course, pumpkin carving. But why carve a regular old jack-o-lantern when you could carve one inspired by your favorite YA novel? Our friends over at This is Teen had that same question; luckily, they're rockstars when it comes to bookish crafts, and as part of their weekly WednesDIY series, they posted some free YA-inspired stencils that are perfect for pumpkin carving. (Or, as they call it, making "book-o-lanterns.")

Check out some of our favorite stencils below. For the complete collection, head on over to This is Teen's Tumblr. We'd love to see your pictures! Share 'em using #yapumpkins! For more from This is Teen, be sure to follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and Pinterest. Happy carving!

To use these stencils, simply open the images in a new tab and print them out. Tape them to your pumpkin and let the carving begin! (Important note: All black and gray areas of the designs are areas that should be cut out. White areas are pumpkin. Hope that makes sense!)

Children are human sponges, soaking up all the sights and sounds that surround them -- perhaps in even more ways than we initially thought.

Today's piece from Motoko Rich in the New York Times is well worth the read if you're at all invested in kids, education, and literacy. "Language-Gap Study Bolsters a Push for Pre-K" highlights new research that showed how, "at 18 months children from wealthier homes could identify pictures of simple words they knew — 'dog' or 'ball' — much faster than children from low-income families." And even more, "by age 2, the study found, affluent children had learned 30 percent more words in the intervening months than the children from low-income homes."

In short? The gap between affluent and lower-income children keeps widening.

And that's where Pre-K comes in, some argue. This month the National Governor's Association called on states to get kids reading proficiently by third grade and urged lawmakers to increase access to Pre-K.

The idea of an increasingly important Pre-K is not new to Scholastic — indeed, we're the only publisher mentioned in the story. Take a look at our Big Day for Pre-K program, which we've offered for three years.

But meanwhile, what next steps can we take? Rich notes that "literacy experts emphasize the importance of natural conversations with children, asking questions while reading books, and helping children identify words during playtime." What do you think? What's the role of Pre-K?

Do you know a The Diary of a Wimpy Kid fan who can't wait for Book 8? Read on for some excellent book recommendations from Maggie McGuire at the Scholastic Parents Raise a Reader blog to keep them hooked on reading until the release date!

When my boys are really into a book series, they can’t wait for the next one to come out.  Choosing books while they wait can send us on a hunt for just the right book that’s going to connect with them as much as the book they loved and the one they’re waiting for – and it’s important they connect with what they’re reading. 

So, while we wait for the next Wimpy Kid book in our house, The Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck, (yes, my boys have read them all – more than once!) we’ve come up with a list of 8 books that’ll connect with your kids and keep them laughing, spellbound, wondering and, well, non-stop reading.  (Yes!)

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – Book #1 in this spellbinding, wonderous series!  You likely already know this one – but I had to put it on the list. It’s an absolute FAVORITE in our house!
2. Swindle – fun and funny!
3. Amulet, Book One: The Stonekeeper – Fantastic graphic novel series. My boys have read all 5 – and can’t wait until  #6 comes out!!
4. Dear Dumb Diary #1 - Let’s Pretend This Never Happened – laugh out loud funny.

For the rest of the book suggestions, visit Raise a Reader!

This week, we continue to highlight the work of some of our favorite children's book illustrators who contributed stunning artwork to our "The Art of Read Every Day" campaign. 

The very talented Kazu Kibuishi is in the spotlight this week. Over the past few years, Kibuishi has become a household name, not only for graphic novel fans who covet the Amulet series, but for Harry Potter fans as well; Kibuishi illustrated all seven of the new covers, which were created in honor of the 15th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. (You can check out the fill collection here.)

Kibuishi's artwork for The Art of Read Every Day campaign evokes the same mysterious and whimsical look and feel apparent in the Harry Potter covers. I love how this scene depicts a library as a portal to another paranormal or futuristic world. 

We have several free resources for classrooms that accompany this artwork, including:

• Common Core-ready discussion guides (grades K-2 and 3-5)
• a video of Kibuishi reading aloud from Amulet
• a video interview about Kibuishi's artistic process and experiences as an illustrator

We'll also share more resources from Kibuishi on our social media channels as the week progresses.

Last week, I stood in the birthday party room at The Scholastic Store and realized that a large chunk of my 9-12 section was spread across the countertop and several tables.

No, this was not the ultimate bibliophile birthday party. Gordon Korman and Judy Blundell had stopped into the store to sign stock! Needless to say, they had a lot of books to sign.

My shelves aren't just bursting with signed books from Gordon and Judy, though. I have been lucky enough to have hosted 9 different authors this month for events or stock signings. I thought it would be fun to share a few of them here:

As you may have noticed, there are a few that are...well, less than legible. I thought it might be fun to start off a Monday morning with a contest!

GIVEAWAY! Simply decipher the name of the author who signed below and put your guess in the comments section. Three winners will be randomly selected to win a signed book by one of the authors featured in the post! (You get to pick!) Contest is open to all legal U.S. residents 18 and over; contest closes at 5pm ET on Friday, October 25, 2013. Read the complete legal rules here.

Ready? Here's the clue:

Happy guessing!

Each Friday, we share a handful of links we found interesting, provocative, funny — or just plain cool. We call it In Our Feeds. Have a good weekend!

As fall temperatures settle over the city and everyone starts switching from iced to hot coffee, all of us here at Scholastic OOM have one thing on our minds, cozying up indoors with a good book! Lia even took this one step further with this list of 37 ways to proudly wear your love of books. From the Lord Voldemort tank top to some Oscar Wilde glasses necklace, it’s hard to pick a favorite.

Beyond wearing your love of books, your current reading material may actually be more revealing of your inner self than you know. Alex spotted this hilarious list describing what the book you’re reading on your flight says about you. Something to think about the next time you travel!

Have you ever crushed on a character? Nadia found this article explaining once and for all why it’s okay to have an adult crush on a YA character. So if you find yourself crushing on a fictional teen, don’t worry, it’s just your inner teenager speaking out.

And we all know that behind every great book is a brilliant author, but often overlooked is the author’s best friend. Megan discovered this adorable collection of pets of great literary authors, which includes a wide variety of unique literary companions such as Earnest Hemingway’s six-toed cat and Lord Byron’s pet bear.

Unlike the days of Hemingway and Byron, computers and tablets seem to be quickly replacing old fashioned pen and paper. But, one millennial is standing up in defense of physical books in the tech age. According to this article Michael shared, e-readers may be rising in popularity, but they will never be able to capture the wonderfully distinct and musty smell of a good book. Nadia also found this useful list of 11 lessons that Jane Eyre can teach every 21st century woman about how to live well. Whether it’s in e-reader or hardback form, there’s a lot to be learned from this classic tale.

Both Emma and Kristen noticed a strong connection between books and architecture this week, from the most spectacular libraries around the world to these beautiful buildings made from books. And in the spirit of innovation, Megan shared surprising things about how brains work. Most importantly, we learned that we are more creative when we’re tired because the brain is then less capable of focusing and filtering out other information. This is great news for all of you night owls out there.

I found some creative inspiration of my own after reading this article about Samantha Lee’s deliciously adorable pop culture-inspired dishes. These incredibly detailed meals almost look too cute to eat.  Lastly, Megan struck a chord with this emotional Google ad about a man who used Google Earth to find his home. It seems that with the help of technology, almost anything is possible.

Grab a good book and have a fantastic weekend everyone!  

Kristen Joerger rounds up some of our favorite Halloween resources.

It’s that spooky time of year again! Halloween is just a few weeks away, so we thought we’d share some of our best tips and how-to articles to get you through the big day!

Costumes

Is the must-have costume of the year already sold out? Or maybe Halloween just snuck up on you this year (it happens to the best of us!). Never fear! We have some adorable DIY costume ideas that will save the day. If you want to celebrate as a family this year, try out one of these cool parent and child costume pairings. If you need something super last-minute, grab a cardboard box and some art supplies and get to work on one of our cardboard costumes – I love the rain cloud!

Candy

What would Halloween be without something sweet to offset the spooky? Check out Scholastic Parent & Child magazine’s Candy Decoder to find tips for sorting the candy stash and smart swap-outs to make for traditional candy.

Party

Hosting a party, but not sure how to keep everyone entertained? Here are 8 Halloween Party games and activities to get you started! Don’t forget that although it’s a fun holiday, little ones can still find Halloween very scary! Take a look at our tips for age-appropriate spooky storytelling for little kids through middle school-age!

There are more great resources in our Scholastic Parents Halloween Collection, including printable coloring sheets, Halloween book lists, and craft ideas! And don’t forget to share your favorite Halloween activities with us in the comments. Happy Halloween!

While at the 3rd Annual Family and Community Engagement (FACE) Symposium, I caught up with Byron Garrett, Chairman of the National Family Engagement Alliance (NFEA) to hear his thoughts on education today. In the clip below, Byron discusses how music and pop-culture play an important role in the lives of children and their families. For instant, did you know U.O.E.N.O., stands for “you don’t even know”?  As Byron points out in this video clip, understanding children and their world is a critical part in making content relevant and engaging for students today.

A guest post from Emily Morrow of This is Teen, an initiative that connects teens with their favorite Scholastic authors and books, building a community of readers.

As a member of Scholastic’s This is Teen team, I love to read young adult books every week of the year, but Teen Read Week is a week that is especially near and dear to my heart.

Teen Read Week was created by the Young Adult Library Services Association to encourage teens to be regular readers and library users.

At Scholastic, we know it’s not only teens who read YA books. And we also know that teens don’t only read YA books. But no matter the genre, content, or subject matter, we think it is vitally important that teens read. Period.  

Being a teenager is hard. You’re growing in a thousand different directions, you have to start making important decisions, and you just have SO. MANY. EMOTIONS. But the fabulous thing about reading (and this goes for adults, too), is it gives you an escape. YA books are my escape of choice because no matter what time, world, or city they’re set in, they perfectly capture what it means and what it feels like to be growing up.

When I was in high school, getting lost in a book meant that for an hour or so, I could forget to worry about whether or not that guy in biology liked me (he did), if my hair looked bad (it definitely did), or if I should go to the big Saturday night party (I didn’t, probably because I was reading). And that is just so cool.

The theme of this year’s Teen Read Week is “Seek the Unknown @ your library,” which is incredibly appropriate. Simply put, books are the best way to travel!

Check out This is Teen’s Pinterest board for some of our favorite YA books that explore the unknown! Our list includes:

• Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce
• The Boy on the Bridge by Natalie Standiford
• A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty
• Endangered by Eliot Schrefer
• Inhuman by Kat Falls
• The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
• The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson

If you love YA books too, don’t forget to follow This is Teen on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and Pinterest!