12 Cats Who Are Serious About Reading (from BuzzFeed)

I can't resist reposting this gem I found on BuzzFeed this morning. It's 12 Cats Who Are Serious About Reading and it's adorable!

To view this article (posted on August 2nd), click here and enjoy a giggle.

Happy Birthday, Ann M. Martin!

Today Ann M. Martin's birthday and she turns 58-years-old! In honor of this day, here are 5 fun Ann M. Martin facts:

1. When Ann was born, she was the biggest baby in the hospital.

2. When Ann was 11-years-old, she fell off of a ladder while climbing down from her treehouse and had to have her spleen removed.

3. Ann loves scary books, and Stephen King is one of her favorite authors.

4. One summer, when Ann was a kid, she and her friends set up a library in Ann's room with lots of books for the kids on Dodds Lane to check out. They had due dates and late fines, too.

5. Ann loved writing about Karen, Kristy's little sister. She thinks that Karen is her alter ego, the kind of girl she wished she could have been at the same age.

For the complete list of fun facts (29 of them), click here!

I read SO MANY Ann M. Martin books when I was younger (and not-so-young), but if you haven't and you're looking to start, here are a few recommendations:

The Baby-Sitters Club #1: Kristy's Great Idea

A Dog's Life: Autobiography of a Stray

A Corner Of The Universe

The Doll People

The Summer Before (The Baby-Sitters Club)

Main Street #1: Welcome to Camden Falls

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck

Woohoo! The new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book cover has been revealed!

A brief synopsis of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck" from the publisher:

Greg Heffley's on a losing streak. His best friend, Rowley Jefferson, has ditched him, and finding new friends in middle school is proving to be a tough task. To change his fortunes, Greg decides to take a leap of faith and turn his decisions over to chance. Will a roll of the dice turn things around, or is Greg's life destined to be just another hard-luck story?

The book is due to hit the shelves on November 5th of this year. Less than three months to go!

For more on "Hard Luck," click here!