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One of our all-time favorite books, “The Snowy Day” by Ezra Jack Keats, just celebrated it’s 50th anniversary! Because this book is so special to so many people, it’s one of the titles we carry on the First Book Marketplace.

If you work with kids in need, sign up with First Book to get copies of this beloved, award-winning book for the kids in your classroom or program. We guarantee they will love it.

And if you remember “The Snowy Day” fondly from your own childhood (or parenthood), let us know what it means to you and your own children.

Ruh-roh.  I’ve been having too much fun earning a living to leave enough time for blogging.  Time yet again for a super quickie point-by-point-without-the-details Fusenews!  Hold onto your hats . . .

Who are the artists overlooked by the Caldecott?  Elizabeth Bluemle has the scoop.

An East Harlem bookstore needs your help! Thanks to Heather Scott for the link.

• Can celebrities write good books for kids? One person points out that maybe they aid in giving illustrators a leg up.

• Everything in this Horn Book article Board-book-a-palooza by Cynthia K. Ritter I agree with.  Everything.

• Speaking of HB, Roger’s blog has a new format.  Love that bow-tied avatar of his.  Who drew it, I wonder?

• Don Tate has a fun piece about his time at the Highlights first illustrators intensive Founders workshop. He happened to stay in the same cabin that I did when I visited last summer.  I had no idea I’d stayed where Floyd Cooper had.  Fabulous!

• Don’t get me wrong.  I love Where’s Waldo but how dedicated am I?  Not this dedicated.  Yeesh!  Thanks to Molly O’Neill for the link.

• Dunno. If I were to find a title for this story of the 1500 pound Mo Willems sculpture of a pachyderm I think I would have gone with “Elephant and Piggie Iron”.  But that’s me.

• Who knew that random stills of that old Spider-Man cartoon could be this fun?  Particularly when they involve librarians.

Kseniya Yarosh, I tip my hat to thee.

• Beautiful vintage dust jackets from classic novels.  That Catcher in the Rye is particularly shocking to me.  Thanks to Mike Lewis for the link!

• That’s it. I’m making my own Funny Book prize.  This time for American books.  Because, quite frankly, they’re hard to write and I’m jealous of the Brits for getting to have their Roald Dahl Funny Prize.<
  8 Comments on Fusenews: Zap! Pow! Zam! (Zam?), last added: 9/21/2011
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  Zoe said, on 9/19/2011 11:11:00 PM
  

  I see in your Gatekeeper’s post you mention Jon Klassen’s book… he’s on my blog today talking about his bookish inspiration. I was quite surprised by his choices, I wonder what you’ll make of them. I love these round ups – like a magpie’s nest full of lovely sparkly bits I want to pick up and have a look at.

  Nina Crittenden said, on 9/20/2011 6:53:00 AM
  

  Thank for posting the Lord of the Flies link- I sent it on to my neighbor’s son (who is quite a talented young artist).

  MR said, on 9/20/2011 7:06:00 AM
  

  Doesn’t the Sid Fleischman humor award count?

  Elizabeth Bird said, on 9/20/2011 7:10:00 AM
  

  It does but I like the shortlist aspect. The Fleischman Award only goes to one book a year, yes?

  Jennifer Schultz said, on 9/20/2011 10:11:00 AM
  

  Did you see that Emma Thompson is writing a new Peter Rabbit story?

  http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/48708-new-peter-rabbit-tale-to-be-written-by-emma-thompson.html

  Elizabeth Bird said, on 9/20/2011 12:37:00 PM
  

  Oh yes. Hard not to be torn on that one. On the one hand, we all like Emma Thompson. On the other hand, is this the first time where a public domain children’s literary character had their story appropriated by a celebrity author?

  Jennifer Schultz said, on 9/21/2011 6:03:00 AM
  

  I wish she would write her own story. She’s a talented and witty writer (the screenplay for Sense and Sensibility is a treat to read); it’s not like she just decided to start writing out of the blue.

  Elizabeth Bird said, on 9/21/2011 6:17:00 AM
  

  Actually she did write a Nanny McPhee sequel. But again that was taking an existing character and expanding on it rather than thinking up her own work. She could potentially be the next Julie Andrews Edwards of children’s literature if she let herself.

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The Snowy Day & the Art of Ezra Jack Keats 

THE SNOWY DAY AND THE ART OF EZRA JACK KEATS

Opens at The Jewish Museum September 9^th

First Major U.S. Exhibition

Pays Tribute to Award-Winning Author and Illustrator

Exhibition Marks 50^th Anniversary of “The Snowy Day”

Which Paved the Way for Multiracial Representation

in American Children’s Literature

New York, NY – The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats, the first major United States exhibition to pay tribute to award-winning author and illustrator Ezra Jack Keats (1916-1983), whose beloved children’s books include Whistle for Willie (1964), Peter’s Chair (1967), and The Snowy Day (1962), opens at The Jewish Museum on September 9, 2011 and remains on view through January 29, 2012. Published at the height of the American civil-rights movement and winner of the prestigious Caldecott Medal, The Snowy Day became a milestone, featuring the first African-American protagonist in a full-color picture book.  The Snowy Day went on to inspire generations of readers, and paved the way for multiracial representation in American children’s literature.  Also pioneering were the dilapidated urban settings of Keats’s stories.  Picture books had rarely featured such gritty landscapes before.

Ezra Jack Keats, “Crunch, crunch, crunch, his feet sank into the snow.” Final illustration for The Snowy Day, 1962. Collage and paint on board. Ezra Jack Keats papers, de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection, McCain Library and

Archives, The University of Southern Mississippi.  Copyright Ezra Jack Keats Foundation.

The exhibition features over 80 original works from preliminary sketches and dummy books, to final paintings and collages for the artist’s most popular books.  Also on view are examples of Keats’s most introspective but less-known output inspired by Asian art and haiku poetry, as well as documentary material and photographs.  The Jewish Museum exhibition is part of a wide-scale celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the publication of The Snowy Day.

Following its New York City showing at The Jewish Museum, The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats will travel to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, MA (June 26-October 14, 2012); the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA (November 15, 2012-February 24, 2013); and the Akron Art Museum (March-June 2013).

Ezra Jack Keats was born Jacob (Jack) Ezra Katz in Brooklyn in 1916.  His parents were Eastern European Jewish immigrants and very poor.  Although he briefly studied painting in Paris on the GI Bill after serving in World War II, Keats was primarily self-taught. He drew upon memories of growing up in East New York, one of the most deprived neighborhoods of New York City.  Keats’s experience of anti-Semitism and poverty in his youth gave him a lifelong sympathy for others who suffered prejudice and want.  His work transcends the personal and reflects the universal concerns of children.

Keats used lush color in his paintings and collages and strove for simplicity in his texts. He was often more intent on capturing a mood than developing a plot.  His preferred format was the horizontal double-page spread, which freed him to alternate close-up scenes with panoramic views.  By the end of hi

Jumpstart’s Read for the Record is this Thursday, October 7, 2010. The following information was provided by Jumpstart and is proceeded by more great news from American Sign Language Storyteller Keith Wann.

Jumpstart’s Read for the Record, presented in partnership with Pearson, is Jumpstart’s world record breaking campaign that brings children and adults together to read the same book, on the same day, in homes and communities all over the world. The campaign also kicks off Jumpstart’s yearlong program, preparing preschool children in low-income neighborhoods for success in school and life.

Please pledge to read today and read The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats with us on October 7! www.readfortherecord.org/read

Actress (& mom) Amanda Peet and Grammy Award winning humanitarian and living legend Patti LaBelle will be reading with us on The TODAY Show this Thursday, as will actresses Madison Pettis and Jennifer Stone!

Additionally, everyone who pledges to read will be entered to win a $77 gift card from 77kids by American Eagle.

A quote from Amanda Peet: “I grew up in a reading household where books and ideas were important. Now that I’m a mom, reading to children has taken on even greater importance. Reading to my children is a priority and books are everywhere in our house, just like when I was a kid. I support Jumpstart because I know that not all children in our country are getting this foundational experience. Millions of children in low-income neighborhoods don’t have books at home, are not getting a quality early education and are starting school behind. This is unacceptable. That’s why I joined Jumpstart’s Read for the Record and ask you to read with me.”

Deaf Children to Receive a Helping Hand from Renowned ASL Performing Artist for Jumpstart’s Read for the Record Global Literacy Campaign

Breakthrough American Sign Language Storyteller Keith Wann Offers ASL Performance of Classic Children’s Book The Snowy Day

Suffolk, VA– Cherished American Sign Language (ASL) Storyteller and Performing Artist Keith Wann, is lending a hand to children within the deaf community in conjunction with the Florida Lottery, Florida Department of Education and the Volunteer USA Foundation, for the worldwide literacy awareness movement Read for the Record on October 7th. Jumpstart’s Read for the Record, presented in partnership with the Pearson Foundation, is striving to set a new world record by having millions of children and adults read the same book, on the same day.  The event raises awareness about the importance of early literacy skills, and how essential these skills are to a child’s success in school and in life.  Adults and children will gather the world over to share a reading of this year’s official campaign book, The Snowy Day by acclaimed author Ezra Jack Keats.

Wann will be appearing in a live interactive and streaming performance of The Snowy Day a

On October 7^th, children and adults nationwide will take part in Jump Start’s 5^th Annual Read for the Record Day. This one-day celebration of literacy will kick off on NBC’s the TODAY Show, followed by thousands of celebrations in communities and classrooms nationwide. The day will aim to break the world record of the most people reading the same book on the same day, while raising awareness of America’s education crisis. This year’s book of choice? Ezra Jack Keat’s The Snowy Day.

From now until Thursday, you can play a part in breaking this world record by reading The Snowy Day online at www.wegivebooks.org. For each book read, The Pearson Foundation will donate a hard copy of The Snowy Day to a child, preparing them to read on Thursday.

So help break a world record, make a child smile, and spread the power of literacy by reading online today!

For more information about this campaign, please visit: http://www.readfortherecord.org

Press Release:

Author Tonya Hegamin and illustrator Taeeun Yoo are the winners of the 2010 Ezra Jack Keats Awards, which celebrate excellence in children’s literature by new authors and illustrators, who, in the spirit of the late author/illustrator Ezra Jack Keats, offer new and electrifying views of the multicultural world children inhabit today. The awards will be presented on Wednesday, April 28 at 6:00 p.m. by The New York Public Library and the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation. The ceremony, open to the public, will be held in the South Court Auditorium of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, New York, NY, USA.

Ms. Hegamin is recognized for Most Loved in All the World which tells the story of a little girl whose mother is a secret agent on the Underground Railroad. Before sending her daughter north to freedom, the mother sews a quilt for her daughter, not only to guide her with its symbols of moss and the north star, but also to remind her always that the smiling girl in the center of the quilt is “most loved in all the world.”

Ms. Yoo wins for her sublime linoleum block prints in Only a Witch Can Fly, about a young witch who tries and tries again to fly one special night.

For more information on the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award and this year’s winners you can click here and here.

I was looking forward to reading more books by Ezra Jack Keats. I'm in the middle of researching about Keats's characters as simply "colored white kids" (Shepard in Henderson, 2005). I should have paid more attention as I started, though, as Roberto Walks Home is "based on the characters created by" Ezra Jack Keats. Doh!

The story, written by Janice Harrington and illustrated in Keats's style by Jody Wheeler, follows Roberto as he waits for his big brother Miguel to pick him up after school only to eventually walk home and see his brother playing basketball, forgetting all about Roberto. Roberto, understandably upset, ditches the green leather jacket his brother gave him at the basketball court, goes home to pout and destroy his brother's side of the room. When Miguel does finally come home and apologize Roberto is not sure if he wants to forgive him. I could definitely tell I wasn't in a genuine Keats story, but I did enjoy myself in Harrington's story and Wheeler's illustrations.

Roberto is visibly upset when he feels his big brother has abandoned him. Harrington does do a good job of keeping us in Roberto's point of view. His brother's friends are "the big boys." He throws a temper tantrum and knocks down his brother's blocks and chair. One interesting part of the story is a picture Roberto draws showing his anger at the situation.
"He drew pictures of Miguel being chased by a yellow dog and a basketball monster. The dog wanted to bite him. The monster wanted to eat him." I like this exposure to kids of alternate ways of dealing with anger and frustration - draw!

We are square in a Keats world with bright oil paints and cityscapes. The first few pages are a little busier than the rest, but they soon give way to a solo Roberto as he copes with being left behind and having to walk home alone. Besides oil paints, Wheeler uses very minimal collage - newsprint for newspaper, a wood stain for Roberto's bed, quilting for his bedspread, and crayon for Roberto's drawings. The mixed media is interesting, although not as cohesive as Keats . It seems thrown in when the page needed something different.

The Latino elements include characters' names - Roberto and Miguel. They live with their abuela; she calls from downstairs at one point. We never see her, but her presence indicates an extended family typical of Latino culture. We are told Miguel's nickname for his little brother is Habichuelita, which means Little Bean. With "beaner" being a common derogatory name for Latinos, I feel like a different choice could have been made.

Some other elements present are typical to Keats's kids-in-urban-communities stories, however, they may also be a statement of this cultural group's statistically lower socioeconomic status. Roberto attends a public school with nearby graffiti and walks home via an alley with an angry barking dog and homeless man. Interestingly, the story points out these things as "the yellow dog that growled" and "the man pushing a grocery cart" as if these sightings are everyday occurrences. He lives in a city apartment with a fire escape and shares a room with his teenage brother.

All in all, an okay story. A few things sent up red flags for me. On the title page is a stuffed white rat with pink nose, toes and tail. When we are in Roberto and Miguel's room we see this is a small stuffed toy of theirs that sits on the windowsill and watches everything. I later found out, as this is based on previous Keats stories with Roberto, that this is a mouse puppet. So, Wheeler is just following Keats here. So, it's Keats I must admonish this time. Isn't this is another slightly derogatory comparison? Aren't all the Speedy Gonzalez cartoon characters mice? Why is a rat chosen to be the boys' stuffed animal pal? On a similar note, the only other animals in this story are an angry dog, an alleycat and a city pigeon - all urban, filthy animals. When Roberto daydreams he has wings and can fly, a potentially inspirational passage, but the wings he's grown are pigeon wings! Again, some of these comparisons may be more a reflection of city life and not a culture, but it's a little too unclear for me to be comfortable with the choices.

Lastly, this could be a discussion of just youthful perspective or non-member voices (Harrington is AfricanAmerican, Wheeler is Caucasian). The story seems to have chosen some of the more negative identifiable elements - Roberto was forgotten at school. He walks home via graffiti walls and a dark alley. When he's rowdy upstairs his grandmother scolds him, not a parent. Although Roberto and Miguel appear to be the only siblings in this family, a teenager has to share a bedroom with his little brother, implying that they live in a very small apartment with abuela and probably a parent or two. I go back and forth whether this is just presenting stereotypes or creating an identifiable world with a universal story. If it's presenting stereotypes - are they just following Keats? I may have my filter on too strong.

Henderson, Darwin L., and Jill P. May. Exploring Culturally Diverse Literature for Children and Adolescents: Learning to Listen in New Ways. Boston: Pearson Allyn and Bacon, 2005, p. 270.

I still remember receiving a few letters as a child from my godfather’s mother in Uruguay: letters just to me, written on gossamer-thin airmail paper and each with a tiny, brightly-colored feather attached to it. So Dear Juno by Korean author Soyung Pak and illustrated by Susan Kathleen Hartung (Puffin Books, 2001) certainly resonated with me and sparked the imagination of Older and Little Brother when we picked it up recently.

Juno and his parents live in the US and he can’t read the letters his grandmother sends him in Korean -but he can still understand them before they are read aloud to him because of the extra things his grandmother includes with the letters, like photographs or a dried flower from her garden. Juno realises that his grandmother would like to hear from him too and sends her “letters” made up of a leaf from his special tree and drawings. It’s a wonderful way to communicate and does away with the distance and language differences - and just like in the story, young listeners can pick out what is being communicated through the delightful illustrations. There is also something particularly appealing about Juno wondering aloud to Sam, his dog, if Grandmother will bring her cat with her when she comes to visit… My adult mind was immediately filled with logistical nightmares and immigration/quarantine issues: but, of course, my two young listeners took it in their stride and discussed instead the very real possibility of a cat and dog getting along!

Soyoung Pak received the 2000 New-Writer Ezra Jack Keats Award. Running an eye down the list of winners past and present throws up a number of books we have loved and highlighted on PaperTigers: and plenty of inspiration for future reading…

I have not come across Ezra Jack Keats before but have so enjoyed filling that gap in my knowledge via the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation website. They have an appeal on at the moment to help them get a US stamp printed to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of The Snowy Day , which Janet posted about last year. Having fallen in love with the adorable, wee, red-hooded character (see the Award logo), I’m going to have to seek out the book myself… And if you were brought up with his books and/or read them to your children/classes, we’d love to hear your recommendations…

The Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award Winner for New Talent and the Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator of 2009. See Ms. Strickland's portfolio here. (And see Everybody Got Their Somethin’)

Children’s Choice Book Awards
Children’s Book Council on May 13 announced this year’s winners.

2008 Summer Reading Olympics
Reading Is Fundamental provides a fun list of athletic titles sure to please even the picky readers on your list.

Ezra Jack Keats Award 2008
This award was established in 1985 to recognize new authors & illustrators in the children’s arena for picture books for children 9 & under. For past winners, click on the link above.

• THE APPLE PIE THAT PAPA BAKED by Lauren Thompson/Illustrator: Jonathan Bean
  
  LEAVES by David Ezra Stein

What Books Kids Are Reading (May 5, 2008)
The following list is provided by Renaissance Learning and based on information from their Accelerated Reader program used in schools throughout the United States. For a complete list of favorite titles per grade, click on the link above.

1-Green Eggs & Ham
2-If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
3-Charlotte’s Web
4-Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing
5-Bridge to Terabithia
6-Hatchet
7&8-The Outsiders

Before we move on to our discussion of A Girl Named Disaster and the introduction of the next Tiger’s Choice, we want to talk about the latest comments in the discussion of how to turn children into passionate readers.

Parents who read to their children are an essential element in creating readers, and Jeannine and Marjorie both bring up new ways for parents to ensure that this happens. Marjorie, whose sons’ book reviews light up the PaperTigers blog this week, suggests a virtual book group as being a way for children with irrepressible physical energy to come together in a space that doesn’t lend itself to exuberant (and distracting) physical activity. “After all,” she points out, “they are growing up with an affinity for virtuality which we can only wonder at!” Providing a way to link the world of books with the virtual world seems to be a brilliant way to keep reading alive in the brave new world of the internet. If anybody else has ideas on blending these two disparate pastimes, please let us know.

Jeannine, who read three to four books a night with her son when he was small, says that talking about the books was as much fun as reading them. She observes that parents can encourage their children to be engaged readers who can eventually take part in intelligent book discussions by through questions (”Why do you think he did that?”) and through connecting real-life activities with books shared with children. “If you’re reading about a garden, go outside and dig in the dirt,” she urges. And she adds, in the same spirit as Corinne, “As for the TV–just say no!”

Suggestions that add to this conversation, previously posted to the CCBC-net listserv, (the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education), are reprinted here with permission. Megan Schliesman, CCBC Librarian, says, “When my husband, daughter and I gather together for a shared story (we are currently on book 3 of Suzanne Collin’s “Gregor the Overlander series), I am aware–as several have already mentioned–that we are not only experiencing a terrific story, we are also making shared memories.”

Lee Bennett Hopkins, a well-known poet and anthologist, echoes another poet, Sherman Alexie, in advocating The Snowy Day. “Read aloud The Snowy Day by [Ezra Jack] Keats; follow it up with “Cynthia in the Snow” where snow is “Still white as milk or shirts/So beautiful it hurts.” in Gwendolyn Brooks’ Bronzeville Boys and Girls….With every book you read aloud, find a poem to go with it. I believe we spend too much time TEACHING children to READ–and NOT enough time TEACHING them to LOVE to read. GET the difference.”

Let’s celebrate that difference and continue the discussion on how to make it become a vital part of the lives of children.

Complacency sucks. We should all experience the bitter taste of bile rising in our throats at least once a day and now, thanks to a couple links I've found here and there, you're going to get that chance. I've a twofer for you here. If the former doesn't rouse your rebel blood and cause you to scream an unholy shriek of defiance then the latter most certainly will.

First off, Shaken & Stirred directed me to a little Library Journal piece entitled BEA Journal: Bloggers vs. Reviewers. Ah yes. The mythical rivalry between bloggers and reviewers. The fact that some bloggers can also be reviewers? Well, I'll just clip out a little piece of this article for your consumption. It speaks of the Ethics in Reviewing session that occurred:

I started the day off with a bang, sitting in (actually standing with notepad in one hand and trusty Nikon in the other) on the discussion of the growing influence of bloggers in the book world. It was a rehash of the ongoing bloggers vs so-called "real" reviewers argument, which is a good/bad one. This session, alas, was disappointing because the panelists all were legitimate reviewers, including a critic for the NY Times and a college lit professor, who also blog.

Those folks aren't the people causing concern. It's others going by the handle of Book Girl, or Book Dog, or Bookasaurus, etc., basically book nerds with no chops who pound away on their PCs while their 18 cats prance in the background. Those are the people I wanted to see defending their legitimacy, not some Times ace.