There's quite a bit of information that has posted to the CCF site this past year. We've added a syndication feature so you'll be able to syndicate CCF content to your site from now on and I've started a weblog and would love to have you comment on the various topics and issues on my mind. The CCF message board is up and running and waiting for you to visit and start your own thread! CCF Reporters continue to send in their book reviews and we would love to get many more! Let kids, parents, teachers and librarians know about this opportunity for children of all ages to post their reviews online. We've reposted some of CCF's classic favorite posts. Here's the CCF Bulletin with news and information to be found at the CCF site:

NEW TO THE CCF SITE:

• News:
  • Syndicate CCF content to your site - Now you can get up-to-the-minute headlines from our site displayed on your webpages. You can choose to see headlines from our front page, or any of our categories. All that's required for you to do is to cut and paste some HTML onto your site.
  • Top-Tier Children's Editors at PPWC - The 2005 Pikes Peak Writers Conference, April 22-24, brought the New York literary marketplace to Colorado Springs.
  • How Much Could I Earn? - The College Board's website has a wealth of information to help you choose a career.
• CCF Kids:
  • We're looking for more CCF Reporters! - We're looking for boys and girls, 1st thru 12th grade, to post book reviews to the CCF site. Pass this URL along to librarians, teachers, parents and kids that would be interested in it.
  • How Iron Was Discovered - Lee Griffiths went ahead and put on a thinking cap and got an answer!

• Parenting:

  • Tufts University Child & Family Web Guide - lists previously asked questions which have been answered by the appropriate expert in that field.
• Bestsellers:
  • Summer 2005 Book Sense Children's Picks - Titles are grouped in age-related categories.
• Olgy's Blogs: Just launched! Read the blogs and share your comments!
  • The FBI and the High School Yearbooks
  • Narrative Nonfiction "must reads"
  • Telecommuting Jobs that Backfire: Paid Surveys
  • The WrittenWord
  • Narrative Nonfiction vs. Historical Fiction
  • The Ethical Brain

• Education:

  • Check Yourself - a website with short quizzes related to alcohol, marijuana and other drug uses and the answer, based on your responses, comes back as you soon as you click the submit button.

  • How to Go to College Almost For Free - an aggressive "how-to" guide that teaches the techniques of top scholarship winners.
• Writing:
  • CCF Writers Group in Colorado Springs - This critique group is still open to new members.  
• Authors:
  • CBC's About Authors & Illustrators - Links to the world of Children Authors and Illustrators are provided by CBC, the Children's Book Council. 

• Holiday Favorites: We asked and received faforite holiday titles and tradition and posted them to the CCF site. You can check these titles out from your school or local public library and, if you'd like to purchase them, we offer different online options.

  • Christmas Presents: Holiday Poetry - Submitted by Lee Bennett Hopkins.
  • Cobweb Christmas - Submitted by June Gillespie.
  • The Kids' Catalog of Hanukkah - Submited by Hazel Krantz.
  • Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree - Submitted by Grace Ruth.
  • Night Tree - Submitted by Lucille Lettow.
  • The Polar Express - Submitted by Evelyn Lucas.

REVISIT OLD FRIENDS: Click to view some of our favorite articles posted over the years.

• Face the Issue - The PSAs are part of a self-awareness program called Face the Issue. They address issues such as anorexia, bulimia, alcoholism, drugs, and domestic abuse
• Would you like to see a woolly mammoth? - On the possibility of cloning extinct creatures.
• Anything Into Oil - Breakthrough technology.
• A Look at the Caldecott Awards - Dr. Peter F. Neumeyer evaluates Caldecott winners.
• Nobel e-Museum - Visit and learn all about this prestigious award, the Nobel Prize.
• Old Wives' Tales: fact or fiction? - Take a poll and find out what's behind these old wives' tales.
• More stars than grains of sand in the world - Someone actually tried to calculate this number!
• Children's Classics: A Booklist for Parents - The Horn Book’s comprehensive list of both classic and recent books that every parent and child should know.
• Newbery Award: Terms, Definition & Criteria - An article by Susan Faust, 2005 Newbery Committee Chair, explaining terms, definition and criteria Newbery Award winners go through. 

Make the CCF site your own! Keep sending us your favorite links, news items, book reviews and questions we can design polls for. It's great to hear from our visitors and post their input to the CCF site. Also, let us know if you notice links that are not working. Let's keep the CCF site free of link rot!  :-)

Olgy
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Olgy Gary, M.A., CCF's General Manager
Children Come First...because they're our greatest treasure!
http://www.childrencomefirst.com/