Weekly Geeks is back! Thanks to all who have taken over for Dewey…

This week’s Geek is:

In the spirit of the amazing community building that Dewey was so good at, tell us about your favorite blogs, the ones you have bookmarked or subscribe to in your Google Reader, that you visit on a regular basis. Tell us what it is about these blogs that you love, that inspire or educate you or make you laugh. Be sure to link to them so we can find them too.

I thought, since most of you WGers are not kidlit bloggers, that I would introduce you to the wonderful world of children’s and YA bloggers (or at least my favorites…).

You all know Becky, from Becky’s Book Reviews, because she’s all over the place. (Which is not a bad thing.) She’s also amazingly prolific, and… my literary twin. I swear. We were born several years apart, in different places, raised differently, and have ended up liking the exact same books. If Becky likes it, I know (for the most part; I think we’ve disagreed on, like, four books) that I’ll like it.

Next up is Lelia, at bookshelves of doom (isn’t that a brilliant blog title?), whom I read because she’s snarky. Everyone needs a good dose of daily snark, and Lelia provides. She also provides a host of links to other, sometimes obscure, interesting, clever, and snarky places. Oh, and she’s a smart reviewer of all things YA.

We can’t forget Betsy at Fuse #8, whom I’ve been reading pretty much since she started and was still doing the Hot Men of Children’s Literature (sexist, yes, but very entertaining). I love her Fusenews roundups — she really has her hand on the pulse of kidlit blogs — and her reviews are entertaining and oh-so-good. (Wish I could write like her!) Fuse is one of those people that if she links to you, you get this feeling like you’ve somehow “made” it.

A few other blogs I’ve been reading for quite a while (three years?) are:

Jen at Jen Robinson’s Bookshelf is a literary evangelist, not only for the Cybils, but in blogging life, too. Literacy, especially for children, is very important to her. Her reviews — of all things kidlit, from picture books on up — worth reading, too.

Pam at Mother Reader caught my eye years ago with her tagline: the heart of a mother, the soul of a reader, the mouth of a smartass. Can’t beat that. Plus, she’s the founder of BACA (that’s Bloggers Against Celebrity Authors) and Weird-Ass Picture Books and the 48-Hour Reading Challenge. She has an amazing seires of how to give books, too. Oh, and she adores Mo Willems and Obama. What a woman.

Miss Erin is the only teenager on my blogroll. Which says a lot about her maturity. And thoughtfulness. And because she’s a great girl. (Want my girls to turn out as well as she has!) A theater geek, book lover, and Shannon Hale fan, she’s also introspective and a dang good poet and reviewer.

I can’t remember how long I’ve been following Em at Em’s Bookshelf, who does all things YA, or even how I found her. But she’s another blogger who after reading her reviews, I promptly put a book on my bookshelf. She’s quite particular about her star ratings, so if it gets four stars, it’s guaranteed to be good.

I came across Kerry at shelfelf — or rather, she stumbled across me? — last year when she signed up for my challenge. I’m so glad she did because I love her reviews and thoughts.

Two bloggers that used to be really prolific, but have dwindled as of late (life getting in the way, which is totally understandable) are Kelly at Big A little a and Anne at Book Buds. Between the two of them, they gave the kidlit community the Cybils. Seriously, if you need a book recommendation for yourself (or anyone you know), head over there . It’s an amazing resource.

Speaking of the Cybils, without them, I would have never discovered the blogs of the Middle Grade Cybils panel. I would list them all separately, but this is already getting too long… go follow the links to their favorite middle grade books, and then browse a while. It’ll be worth your time.

Yeah, that’s not all the community — I left out a few big names, like The YA YA YAs or Read Roger, as well as all the authors who are also incredible bloggers; if you haven’t caught Shannon Hale’s How to Be a Reader series, you’re missing out — but those are some of my favorites.

Maybe they’ll even become some of yours, too.