ARE YOU A BOOKWORM? AUTHOR SITES ARE PLENTIFUL

My oldest daughter is becoming a bookworm. In fact, her friend called her one the other day when she wanted Becca to come out and play. She just smiled and kept her nose deep in her newest find: Junie B. Jones, a precocious kindergartner who has a big mouth and knack for landing in trouble.

The Internet has a lot to offer in terms of sites that promote children's books. Let's start with learning more about Junie B. It's a book from Random House.

www.randomhouse.com/kids/junieb

You can tell by looking at her that she's a handful. I know her antics keeps my 8-year-old turning the pages and laughing. We can learn more about author Barbara Park here. There's also a trivia quiz, activities and a letter from Junie B.

Hmmm, Barbara sounds a little like Junie B. "From first grade on, wherever a funny thought hit me, I would happily blurt it out for the whole class to hear," she said. As you might suspect, her teachers weren't very appreciative.

She calls Junie B. wild and crazy, and says the great fun in writing about very young characters is that little kids say and do almost anything.

In the letter from Junie B. to her "bestest friends," you learn more about her, such as the fact that the B. stands for Beatrice. Except she doesn't like Beatrice. Just B.

Don't forget to check out the games, including a word search, maze, coloring pages and more.

If you click back on Kids Random on the left hand side, you can also visit Seussville, another of my kids' favorites. There's also a stop over at Thomas and Friends.

www.randomhouse.com/seussville

Here's the Cyberhome of Cat in the Hat, Sam-I-Am, Horton and the Whos and the rest of the Seuss gang. In Seussville, you can play games, chat with Cat in the Hat and learn more about Seuss books.

There are eight Shockwave games like The Cat in the Hat's Great Big Flap Book Game or Green Eggs and Ham Picture Scramble.

There are also printable games to play offline, including new games featuring Gerald McBoing Boing, the latest and loudest new book from Dr. Seuss.

How does the Cat in the Hat feel about all those copycats wearing tall red-and-white striped hats? He's happy everyone thinks he has style.

Another of Becca's favorites of recent months is the Little House on the Prairie series. Now there are some books with staying power.

carver.pinc.com/~jenslegg

This page is devoted to Laura Ingalls Wilder and her nine Little House books. My daughter just read the first, "Little House in the Big Woods," written in 1932. She really appreciated the fact they had only one or two outfits and had to raise most of the food they ate. She was ready to read the next in the series, "Farmer Boy," when the Junie B. fever hit. I'm sure we'll return to Little House soon.

You can learn more about Little House activities on this site such as grinding wheat and churning butter.

You can learn more about the Ingalls family, or visit the Little House sites, including one in Mansfield, Mo.

www.goldenbooks.com

For the younger set, be sure to check out the Golden Book site with lots of book ideas and activities.

But down at the bottom of the site, you can click on fun factory for lots of free activities such as the story wheel spin, e-Magic pages, coloring fun, jokes and games. It's free to join the Family Fun Club and that provides some additional options.

There's such old favorites as the Poky Little Puppy. You can get the whole book online under the story wheel.

There are several Pokemon games and math games for grades 2 through five, using Shockwave.

The joke of the day may provide a giggle. Also, you can check out the screen savers for both PC and Mac. The print factory carries a minimal monthly charge.

www.eric-carle.com

Another of our favorite authors is Eric Carle. Who can forget such imagery of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Very Busy Spider?

You can find a complete list of all of his books. His newest was published in April, called "Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too?"

I learned that his best-known work, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," has been translated into more than 25 languages and sold over 12 million copies. Now that's success. He has illustrated more than 60 books, most of which he also wrote.

Be sure to check out the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. It will open in 2002 in western Massachusetts.

You can also learn a lot about the author in the Frequently Asked Questions. I found it interesting that his pictures are collages, using plain tissue paper and acrylic paints. Sometimes he paints on carpet, sponge or burlap. Sometimes he paints with his fingers. Who says an artist can't have fun?

www.scholastic.com

You can also learn a lot more about your favorite children's authors at the Scholastic Web site. If you click on the Kids button at the top of the main page, you can click over to such favorites as Harry Potter, Animorphs, Goosebumps, I Spy, Clifford the Big Red Dog and The Magic School Bus.

I know the Harry Potter series has been incredibly popular with today's young people. You can learn about the series of books or play some fun and games with the exploits of a young wizard named Harry. You can also meet the author J.K. Rowling.

Three books have been published, and fans are anxiously awaiting the fourth installment set to be released in early July.

www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown

The Children's Literature Web Guide provides lots of good information on authors and stories on the Web.

This is a great resource for parents and children.

What's your favorite site for children's books? E-mail me at click@semissourian.com.

Joni Adams is managing editor of the Southeast Missourian newspaper.