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I think I need a new hobby.  I should collect, and place on a website somewhere a listing of all the high cash, little known book awards for children’s books out there.  Perhaps this already exists somewhere.  Hm.

In any case, it wasn’t long ago that a friend alerted me to the Grateful American Book Prize.  It’s an odd name, no question, but a fascinating award.  First off, its description says of it:

“The new literary award is his way of recognizing authors who pen illustrated works for children that are focused on historical American events and personalities . . .

The Prize will be awarded to the authors of books for children in grades seven through nine dealing with important moments and people in America’s history. The books can be works of fiction or non-fiction and will include illustrations to help bring the author’s words to life. “We are looking for excellence in writing, storytelling and illustration”  . . .

In addition to the fact that it will be among the richest prizes for literary accomplishment, $13,000 – thirteen for the number of original colonies…”

Oh ho, say the masses.  But what kinds of history are we talking here?  There’s a lot of talk about the Founding Fathers on the website.  Are they looking for books that are just along those lines?  Well, honestly, the requirements say that they want American history (no specific kind) in general in books for middle schoolers. Though, looking at why it was created, I do suspect the arbitrators of this award came up with it before the huge masses of middle school kids across the country started memorizing the Hamilton soundtrack.  But who could have predicted that you’d have 7th graders everywhere talking about The Federalist Papers?  I mean, honestly?

Since it’s a new award there’s only one previous winner that I can find, and that’s Like a River by Kathy Cannon Wiechman.

Interested in submitting your book?  Well, I’m letting you know about it too late if you’ve a 2015/16 title.  The deadline just passed.  However, if you’ve a historical book for 7th – 9th graders published between July 2016 and June 2017, keep an eye on this website and wait for the green light to submit.  After all, what may happen here is that because the award is too little known, they might not get a wide variety of different types of history.  So I call upon those of you with a diverse range of historical topics and subjects to submit (if your publisher can send the 8 copies they require).  Inject some new blood here!

By the way, this award does make one mistake on its website.  Of the award it says, “it will also stand alone, among the nearly six dozen literary awards presented each year for children’s books. The Grateful American™ Prize is the only one that recognizes works dealing with American history.”  Not so.  I myself have served on the New York Historical Society’s Children’s History Book Prize, which only looks at American middle grade historical fiction and that award comes with a $10,000 prize.  So you see, my good sweet children’s authors, there are plenty of monetary awards out there if you just know how to look for them.

 

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See the wonderful film on the Hans Christian Andersen Award for 2016 at:  https://youtu.be/d2L6mrEc6eM

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Fiona Moodie’s Noko and the Kool Kats (Tafelberg) has been announced as the winner of the 5th Exclusive Books IBBY SA award -  for the best picture book of the past two years (2013 and 2014).   In the words of the jury, “It’s a witty and engaging tale, seamlessly accompanied by illustrations that are deceptively simple, their spontaneity underpinned by a keen eye and fine sensibility. The

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• Mmm. Vanity straight up. So I never quite know how to post “me stuff” news when it’s particularly nice. On the one hand I could post the link with the typical “I’m not worthy” statement attached, but that always sounds as if I doth protest too much.  Or, I could go the other route, and just celebrate the link with a whole lotta hooplah and devil take the consequences. I think, in the end, I’d prefer to just preface the link with a long, drawn out, ultimately boring explanation of why these links are problematic in the vague hope that your eyes glazed over and you skipped to the next bullet point.  That accomplished, here is a very nice thing I was featured in recently at Bustle.  I think Anne Carroll Moore probably should have taken my slot, but insofar as I can tell, she is not around to object.

• There comes a time in every girl’s life when she realizes that all the funny stuff on the internet was written by a single person.  That person’s name, it turns out, is Mallory Ortberg.  And if you doubt my words, read her recent Toast piece The Willy Wonka Sequel That Charlie’s Mother Deserves.  It’s applicable to the book as well, though in that case it would be “The Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Sequel That Charlie’s Mother and Father Deserve”.

• It was Jarrett Krosoczka who alerted me to the fact that Jeanne Birdsall has a blog.  Jeanne, you sly devil!  Why didn’t you tell us?

• Are discussions of children’s book illustrations given adequate attention when people interview authors about the books that influenced them when they were young?  Mark Dery at The Ecstasist doesn’t think so.  In a recent interview with Jonathan Lethem, the two discuss, amongst other things, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a psychedelic children’s book by popular shrink, Dr. Eric Berne (who wrote Games People Play) called The Happy Valley, The Goops, Rabbit Hill, and the odd thickness (and hidden erotic meanings) behind Ferdinand the Bull’s neck.

• I don’t usually advertise journal’s calls for contributions, but this seemed special.  Bookbird (a journal close to my heart for obvious reasons) is calling for contributions for a special issue exploring Indigenous Children’s Literature from around the world.   So if you’ve a yen . . .

Recently I hosted a Children’s Literary Salon on Jewish children’s literature, its past, present, and future.  It was a really great talk and has inspired, I am happy to note, a blog post from one of the panelists.  Marjorie Ingall of Tablet Magazine recently wrote the piece Enough With the Holocaust Books for Children!: Yes, we need to teach kids about our history. But our history constitutes a lot more than one tragic event.  It quotes me anonymously at one point as well.  See if you can find me!  Hint: I’m the one who’s not Jewish.

• And to switch gears, the cutest children’s librarian craft idea of all time.  A teeny tiny traffic jam.  Alternate Title: Dana Sheridan is a friggin’ genius.

• Not too long ago I helped usher into completeness a brand new children’s book award.  Behold, one that’s all about the math!!  Yes, like you I was an English major who thought she feared the realm of numbers.  Now I see the true problem: there were no good math books for me as a kid (and subsisting entirely on a diet of The Phantom Tollbooth doesn’t really work, folks). Now worry not, interested parties!  The Mathical Award is here and the selections, not to put too fine a point on it, are delightful.

• Out: Dark Matter.  Five Minutes Ago: Gray Matter.  In: White Matter.  At least when it comes to how children learn to read.  The New Yorker explains.  Extra points to author Maria Konnikova for the Horton Hatches the Egg reference buried in the text.

• Full credit to Aaron Zenz for turning me onto the site Sketch Dailies.  Cited as a place “that gives a pop culture topic each week day for artists to interpret” there are plenty of children’s literature references to be found.  Draco Malfoy. The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Hedwig (more owl than Angry Inch).  Warning: You will get sucked in, possibly for a very very long time.  Three of the Very Hungry Caterpillar winners recently were here, here, and here.

• Oop!  The end of the voting on the Children’s Choice Book Awards is nigh. Your last chance to “voice your choice” is looming. Voting for @CBCBook’s Children’s Choice Book Awards closes at ccbookawards.com on May 3rd.  And, if I might be so bold, you may notice something a little . . . um . . . interesting about this year’s hosts of the CBC Gala.  *whistles*

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You are all invited to an exhibit featuring the winning works from the past 31 years of the PBBY-Alcala Illustrators' Prize. The exhibit will be at Corredor Gallery, College of Fine Arts, University of the Philippines Diliman and will open 3 p.m. on August 18.

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The Philippines' 3rd National Children's Book Awards included a Kids' Choice Award! Five judges, ages 11-13, read picture books published in 2012 and 2013 and picked their top ten favorites. Below are the ten books and the kid judges' citations for the books. I have put their citations in boldface, but have not edited their writing in any other way!

Sandwich to the Moon
Written and illustrated by Jamie Bauza
Chikiting Books, 2013



Si Berting, ang Batang Uling
Written by Christopher S. Rosales
Illustrated by Aldy Aguirre
Lampara, 2013

I. together with the other judges chose 10 books that will be the top 10 finalists but i will only share our reasons why we chose "Sandwich to the Moon" & "Si Berting ang Batang Uling" as part of the Top 10 finalists because we think that younger readers will easily understand and relate to these books' content and also we think that the writers, as well as illustrators along with the publishing companies did a job well-done in writing, illustrating, and publishing the books in an entertaining, creative and inspirational way. I would like to congratulate sir Jaime Bauza, writer & illustrator of "Sandwich to the Moon" and L G & M Corporation. And congratulation also to sir Christopher Rosales as the writer, Aldy Aguirre as the illustrator of the book entitled "Si Berting ang Batang Uling" and Adarna House Inc. for publishing the book. Thank You!

By Carelle Ann Abanico


Pages 
Written by Javier T. Delfin
Illustrated by Gabi Dimaranan 
Bookmark, 2013

One of the 10 finalists for the Kids' Choice Award is a book entitled "Pages." It is written by Javier T. Delfin with illustrations by Gabi Dimaranan and published by The Bookmark, Inc. This book was chosen because of it's unique story. The very colourful drawings and pictures were also really cool. And the words were really simple and easy to understand.

By Pheonna Heart Ragasa



Sinemadyika
Written by Lauren V. Macaraeg
Illustrated by Aldy Aguirre
Lampara, 2013

"Sine Madyika" written by Lauren V. Macaraeg, illustrations by Aldy Aguirre and published by Lampara Books is also a finalist. The story's creative way of telling us that everyone can have fun was really cool. We liked how the story showed us that even if Popoy was blind he still has a lot of fun.

By Pheonna Heart Ragasa


Pintong Maraming Silid
Written by Eugene Y. Evasco
Illustrated by Leo Kempis Ang
Chikiting Books, 2013

A pleasant afternoon to everyone.   First of all I would like to say thank you to everyone as a sign of my gratitude for this once in a lifetime privilege that you had given me. Being a part of this event was an extreme honor for a student like me. I hope that this event will be successful and I also hope that we judges, did our job well enough.

One of the two books that I had chosen was the “Pintong Maraming Silid”. One of the reasons why I had chosen this book was because of its simplicity. I loved the story line and how the story was stated. I also liked the illustrations and most of all, I loved the story because I easily understood it.

The other book that I had chosen was entitled “The Little Girl in a Box”. One of the reasons why I had chosen this book was because of its really good storyl ine. I loved how the story flows. It was precisely stated and it was very simple yet it was still good. I really, really enjoyed it.

By Jay Harold Odon


May Darating na Trak Bukas

          May trak na darating bukas. Ano kaya ang kakaibang mga gamit na dala nito? Hindi basura kundi mga sorpresa at milagro. Sa tambak ng basurang ito ang luma ay ginagawang bago.

         Ang May Darating na Trak Bukas ay tungkol sa kung anong magagawa mo gamit ang iyong imahinasyon. Sa mata ng isang bata sa kwento, ang tambak ng basura ay may pakinabang. Nakakalikha siya ng isang kaharian, isang sasakyang panlakbay at isang aklatan. Imahinasyon lang ang kaniyang kailangan.

        Bukod sa magandang tula na isinulat, puno rin nang makulay at nakakatuwang mga guhit ang libro. Nakakaaliw siyang tingnan at basahin paulit-ulit. Hindi ka talaga masasawa.

By Miranda Villanueva


Ang Bonggang Bonggang Batang Beki!
Written by Rhandee Garlitos
Illustrated by Tokwa Peñaflorida
Chikiting Books, 2013

Ano ba ang ibig sabihin ng kulay pink? Kagandahan? Kababaihan? o katapangan?

       Ang pangunahing tauhan ng kwentong ito ay si Adel, isang batang lalaki na hindi katulad ng ibang mga batang lalaki. Mahilig siya sa kulay pink, manood ng teleserye at sumayaw habang kumakanta. Dahil dito, pinagtatawanan siya at tinatawag na Beki. Pero hindi ni Adel pinapansin ang mga tukso sa kaniya. Para sa kaniya, ang kulay pink ay simbolo ng katapangan.

         Pinili ko ang kwentong ito dahil sinasabi niya na iba’t-iba ang mga uri ng taong nasa mundo. Hindi rin tayo dapat mahiya sa sarili natin. Isa itong importanteng mensahe  na dapat malaman ng ating kabataan para maturuan silang tanggapin ang isa’t-isa.

By Miranda Villanueva 



The Day of Darkness
 
Come to a town where the people fear a beast so might that nobody dare come near. They hide in a cave at the full moon to prevent themselves to be eaten by a monster soon. When two kids venture out when the moon is high, do you think their end would be nigh?
 
The Day of Darkness is about standing up to your fear and conquering your you. This book tells us that some good people can turn sour at an instant and how some bad people can redeem themselves and become good.

By Amihan Ramos



Ang Ikaklit sa Aming Hardin
Written by Bernadette Villanueva Neri
Illustrated by CJ de Silva
Publikasyong Twamkittens, 2012

This is a story about a young girl who has two mothers instead of a father. Because of this, she gets bullied in class and only a few kids talk to her because they are also being bullied. This little girl loves to plant just like her mothers. This book teaches us not to bully others just because they are different or they grew up differently or their parents are different.  That it’s okay to be adopted. That it’s okay to be different.

By Amihan Ramos

Five different judges, ages 8-10, read the ten picture books above and chose one winner for the 2014 National Children's Book Awards - Kids' Choice Award. The winner is The Day of Darkness! Here is what the kid judges had to say about The Day of Darkness:

We like The Day of Darkness because it makes you believe that everything isn’t really scary. It can make you believe that sometimes, you can adapt to things and you don’t have to be so scared anymore. 

By Alonzo Cristobal

Congratulations to all the teams behind these books selected by young Filipino book lovers!

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Honestly, I don’t quite know why I even bother doing Fusenews posts on Saturdays.  As you might suspect, my readership dips considerably when the weekends hit, but an old Fusenews post is like a week old fish.  Time does it no favors.  As such, I shall cut through my seething envy of everyone at BookExpo this week (honestly, why are you folks having SO much fun anyway?) and pretend that Maureen Johnson’s tweets about how bad the coffee is there will convince me that it’s not that interesting anywa . . . wait a minute . . . they’re giving away copies of that Scieszka/Biggs early reader series in the Abrams booth?!?!  WAAAAAAHHHHHH!

• New Site Alert: We begin with the big, interesting, important news.  Phil and Erin Stead aren’t just Caldecott Award winners.  No siree bob, they also happen to be innovative interviewers.  Having just started the site Number Five Bus Presents (I approve of the title since it fits in nicely with 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast, A Fuse #8 Production, and 9 Kinds of Pie . . . we just need a blog that uses the number 6 to fill in the gap), the two are conducting a series of conversations with book makers.  There will be 9-12 episodes per “season”.  So far they’ve spoken with Eric Rohmann (consider this your required reading of the day) with many more interviews on the way.  You can read the reasons why they’re doing this here.  Basically it boils down to them wanting to connect to fellow book makers in what can often be a lonely field.  If I were a professor of children’s literature, I would make everyone in my class subscribe to this site.  Many thanks to Jules for the tip!

• About a month ago I was at an event where a venture capitalist with an interest in children’s literature was asking how much money a new children’s book prize should pay out.  “$20,000?  $30,000?” he ventured.  We all sort of balked at the amounts, assuring the man that any author would be grateful for $10,000, let alone a larger amount (the authors in the room, as you might imagine, were gung ho for the original mentioned amounts).  Meanwhile, had I but known, the people at Kirkus were debating the self-same thing.  Only when they came up with their brand new book prize monetary amount, they decided to play for keeps.  On October 23, 2014 some amazingly lucky children’s or YA author will win a $50,000 (you read that number right) prize for their book.  All it needs to have done is receive a star from Kirkus to be eligible.  The initial announcement in The Washington Post made the big time mistake of saying that the youth award would only go to YA.  Happily, the subsequent Kirkus announcement clarified that this was not the case.  Man.  I really really want to be on that jury someday.  The power!

• Just a reminder that the Kids Author Carnival will be up and running here in NYC today (Saturday).  Got no plans at 6 tonight?  Now you do.

• Aw, what the heck.  Need a new poster for your library?  How bout this?

You can download the PDF here if you so desire.

• Sure, the blog post Trigger Warnings for Classic Kids Books is amusing, but I would bet you dollars to donuts that at least half of these “objections” have been used in legitimate attempts to ban or remove from shelves these books somewhere, sometime.

• I did not know that Sun Ra and Prince were both influences on Daniel Handler but when said, it makes a certain amount of sense. PEN America’s biweekly interview series The Pen Ten recently interviewed the man and justified my belief that the most interesting authors are the ones that don’t give the same rote answers in every single interview they do.  Of course good questions help as well.

• In L.A.?  Wish you were in New York attending BookExpo?  Wish you had something in your neck of the woods to crow about?  Well, good news.  If you haven’t heard already, the Skirball Cultural Center is featuring the show The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats from now until September.  Lucky ducks.

• Speaking of BookExpo (and is there anything else TO speak of this week?) I was much obliged to the folks at Shelf Awareness for their #BEA14: Pictures from an Exhibition post.  From that amazing diversity panel at SLJ’s Day of Dialog to singing sensation Michael Buckley and the Amazing Juggling Authors to James Patterson’s $1 million given out to bookstores (way to go, Watchung Booksellers!) it’s a great post.

• There’s a 2014 Children’s Book Week Bookstore Display Contest?  Oo. Good luck choosing amongst them, guys.

• Adult authors that write books for children are hardly new.  They’re also rarely any good.  Sorry, but it is the rare adult author that finds that they’re a natural in the children’s book realm as well.  There are always exceptions (heck, Neil Gaiman won himself a Newbery so howzabout THEM apples, eh?) and one of them might be Jo Nesbø.  Over at The Guardian, Nesbø discusses how he decides in the morning whether or not to write his gritty adult crime thrillers . . . or the fart books for kids.  Frankly, I’ll always be grateful to Nesbø because of the day I was sitting at the reference desk in the Children’s Center at 42nd Street and a group of young female Norwegians came in asking for Norwegian children’s authors.  Thank goodness for Nesbø and Peter Christen Abjorsen.

• Somewhat along the same lines, this has very little to do with anything (to the best of my knowledge the only children’s book she ever penned was The Shoe Bird) but if you have not already read Eudora Welty’s New Yorker application letter, you’re welcome.  Suddenly I want to see the biopic of her life with the character of Eudora played by Kristen Schall.  Am I crazy?

• It took them a bloody long time but at long last the Bologna Children’s Book Fair has announced when the 2015 dates will be.  So . . . if anyone feels like sponsoring me to go I wouldn’t, ah, object or anything.  *bats eyelashes charmingly*

• A library can lend books.  It can lend tablets.  It can lend laptops even.  But lending the internet itself?  NYPL is currently doing just that (or is about to). In this article you can see that, “The goal of this project is to expand the reach and benefits of free access to the Internet provided by The New York Public Library (NYPL) to underserved youth and communities by allowing them to borrow portable WiFi Hotspot devices from their local libraries for a sustained period of time.”  We’ll just have to see how it works out, but I’m intrigued.

• Tell me this isn’t awesome:

As you can see, this is a selection of animal sounds found in the Orbis Sensualium Pictus (or The World of Things Obvious to the Senses drawn in Pictures), also known as the world’s oldest children’s picture book.  And if you can read through it and not suddenly find the song “What Does the Fox Say?” caught in your head then you’re a better man than I.  Thanks to AL Direct for the link.

• When I read the i09 piece 10 Great Authors Who Disowned Their Own Books I naturally started thinking of the children’s and YA equivalents.  So far I can think of at least one author and one illustrator off the top of my head.  The author would be Kay Thompson of Eloise.  The illustrator I’ll keep to myself since he’s still alive and kicking.  Any you can think of?

• “In France, I can publish a funny picturebook one month and a YA novel about revenge porn the next.” Maybe the best thing I read all day.  Phil Nel directed me to this absolutely fascinating piece by Clementine Beauvais called Publishing Children’s Books in the UK vs. in France.  Just substitute “UK” for “US” (which isn’t that hard) you’ll understand why this is amazing reading.  Obviously there are some difference between the UK and US models, but they share more common qualities than differences.  Thanks to Phil Nel for the link!

• How many illustrators sneak pictures of their previous books into other books?  Travis Jonker accounts for some of the titles doing this in 2014.  Along the same lines, how many authors put in in-jokes?  It was my husband who pointed out that Jonathan Auxier put a sneaky reference to his blog The Scop into The Night Gardener this year.  Clever man.

• Daily Image:

I have good news.  You can order this as a poster, should you so desire.

Thanks to Lori for the link!

 

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Giving birth!  All the kids are doing it these days.  And you know what giving birth means, right?  It means having a little extra time to blog and get my non-work related projects done.  Though, naturally, I wrote 50% of this post a day ago and then must have failed to save the darn thing.  *sigh*  C’est la vie, kids.

• I was called upon recently to speak with a writer from the National Endowment for the Arts.  The topic?  Why Children’s Books Matter.  Done in conjunction with Leonard Marcus’s exhibit at the main branch of NYPL I answer all sorts of questions.  Mind you, it was a oral interview so I wasn’t able to parse my own speech.  Read it and you’ll get a real sense of what it sounds like to talk to me (weirdo grammar and all).

• Next up, diversity!  Last week I wrote the post We Need Diverse Books . . . But Are We Willing to Discuss Them With Our Kids? in which I discussed the role of children’s literature when talking to young children about race.  It received some great responses, including this one from Monica Edinger Talking Diversity with Young Children.  Then in other diversity news I interviewed Jason Low about the current state of multicultural books for kiddos today.

• Let’s talk exhibits again.  This time, those in Chicago.  Particularly those in Chicago involving Edward Gorey.  You lucky midwesterners.  Thanks to Mr. Schu for the link.

• And going back to the topic of NYPL, I recently interviewed middle grade author Claire LeGrand.  Claire is the organizing genius behind the upcoming Kids Authors Carnival happening this month on the 31st.  Talking with me, she answered some of my questions about the carnival, the authors who will be there, and where the idea came from in the first place.

• Lucy Liu: YA book jacket heroine?  Sure.  What the heck.  Thanks to Marchek for the link.

• Summer Reading is coming up.  Want a reading list for your kids?  ALSC came up with this one and it’s rather nice.

• Hat tip to Travis Jonker for the hat tip to my book (co-written with Jules Danielson and Peter Sieruta).  It’s coming out in August fer sure, fer sure, and Travis included it in his 10 to Note Summer Preview 2014.  Thank you, man!!

• Oh, I rather love this.  25 Movie Cameos by the Authors of the Original Books.  Because there are children’s book adaptations included that I never knew about.  Michael Morpurgo?  Louis Sachar?  They forgot Wendy Orr in Nim’s Island, Brian Selznick in Hugo, and David Levithan and Rachel Cohn in Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist but no one’s perfect.  Love the snarky comment about Stephenie Meyer, by the way.  Thanks to Cynthia Leitich Smith for the link.

• Woo-hoo!  The next Kidlitosphere Conference (the greatest, biggest, best conference of children’s & YA literature bloggers) is nigh.  Nigh, I sez, nigh!  The focus is on diversity, the location is Sacramento and the guests include everyone from Shannon Hale to Mitali Perkins.  Don’t miss it.

• New Podcast Alert: Little, Brown & Company’s School & Library division has their own podcast channel?  Well, who the heck knew?  Not I, said the fly.  And then there’s the podcast Dear Book Nerd which appears to have some connection to the great and grand Brooklyn children’s librarian Rita Meade.  I am so out of it.

• Kids aren’t reading!  No way, no how, not happening.  Unless of course they are.  Common Sense Media recently decided that kids weren’t reading anymore and they went and made a huge deal about it.  Two alternate takes on the study are worth noting.  The first is from Forbes.  The second, from Liz Burns.  And quite frankly, I probably don’t have to tell you that it’s Liz’s take that I prefer.

Nothing I love more than a new children’s book prize.  Particularly when I get to help to narrow down the contenders.  The New York Historical Society was looking for great books of American history, either fiction or nonfiction for kids.  The winner?  The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine.  She gets a $10,000 prize and is the inaugural winner.  Check out the other finalists here and an interview with Kristin about the book here.

The big news last week, aside from the birth of my baby Bird, was the Rush Limbaugh win at the Children’s Book Choice Awards.  It wasn’t a surprise but it did make for some good think pieces.  And Travis Jonker, bless his soul, rounded them up for you.  Amusingly, I had to miss the banquet because of back pain.  Had I attended I not only would have gotten to see that particular person give a speech but there was a fire scare that made everyone go outside.  Methinks this was not the worst year to miss.

Wait just a minute there . . . there’s a children’s literature conference in Hawaii and I’m only NOW hearing about it?  Man!  Now there’s a place I’d love to speak.  Pity I’d have to win a Newbery Honor to do it.

• Daily Image:

It was St. Martin’s Press that advertised this one originally.  I don’t know where they got it, but it’s such a brilliant display that I just had to share it with you.  Libraries and other bookstores take note (and copy at will!).

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The 2014 PBBY-Alcala Prize was won by freelance artist Aaron Paul Asis. Asis based his winning entry on one of the 2014 PBBY-Salanga honorable mention awardees, “Gaano Ba Kalayo Patungong Paaralan?” by Genaro Gojo Cruz.

According to this year’s judges, Asis’ illustrations “depict the intimacy between two brothers, but their visual closeness does not prevent the viewer from imagining the expanse of the outside world and feeling the anticipation for tomorrow’s journey to school.”


Garnering honorable mention this year are artists Jericho Angelo Moral and Jason Gabriel Sto. Domingo. Click here to see Moral's and Sto. Domingo's illustrations. All three artists are members of Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang InK), a professional organization for children’s book artists.

Asis shall receive twenty-five thousand pesos, a medal, and an opportunity to be published. Prizes will be awarded during the National Children’s Book Day ceremonies on July 15, 2014.


For inquiries about the contest, please contact the PBBY Secretariat at telephone number 352-6765 loc. 203 or e-mail [email protected].

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• So what’s the talk of the town these days?  Well the relative brouhaha came about at the end of last week when ReedPOP announced a panel of “the world’s biggest children’s authors” in the field.  That the luminaries in question were all white and male struck a raw nerve with a whole slew of folks.  Since that moment there’s been some fancy footwork and a promise to add some additional folks.   The solution is ludicrously simple, of course.  If the gist of the grouping is to have the top selling authors of books for kids then just grab Rachel Renee Russell and ask her to join.  The fact that she isn’t tapped for more panels has always struck me as odd.

• Okay!  So I swear to you, it’s going to happen.  Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Children’s Literature is on the roster and slated for release in August.  Don’t believe me?  Then believe the world’s most beautiful press release, replete with a Q&A between myself and my co-writer Julie Danielson.  Candlewick, man.  Even their press releases are gorgeous.

• I am not immune to professional jealousy.  Wish that I was.  Fortunately, most of the time I am able to convert the green eyed monster into genuine fascination and interest (much, I’m sure, to the discomfort of the people I’m suddenly obsessed with).  Take this week’s example: One Margaret H. Willison.  I was listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour, a podcast I like quite a lot in spite of the fact that they can’t tell YA fiction from MG.  Anywho, they have a children’s librarian that they love very very much.  Ms. Willison has been a longstanding fan of theirs and Stephen Thompson mentioned that she was on track to be the next Nancy Pearl of children’s books.  Oh aye!  So I checked her out and she did a NPR piece called 3 Bedtime Picture Books That Won’t Put Parents to Sleep.  Excellent choices one and all.  She’s one to watch then.

• This news made me inordinately happy recently.  The Multnomah County Library System and the Seattle Public Library went head to head in an all out reference battle.  The question?  Who could answer the most book recommendation queries via Twitter?  And I am happy to report that Portland (where the Multnomah system lives) won all the way!!  Way to go, you literary denizens you.  Thanks to AL Direct for the link.

• Recently a new library opened up at NYU.  Called the Georgiou Library and Resource Center for Children and Literature the site will do a lot of outreach to the community as well as operate as a research facility.  Its librarian is the multi-talented Kendra Tyson and the collection, “contains several categories of children’s literature, including counting books, fairy tales, poetry, biography, and holiday books. It also houses Mother Goose books geared for African, Chinese and Russian audiences, bi-lingual counting books, and the Metropolitan Museum’s of Art’s Museum ABC (Little Brown, 2002), which portrays a range of world cultures through its collections.”  I was lucky enough to attend a small event for the library recently and in the course realized that there are other similar collections out there that I just don’t know well enough.  Like the Cotsen Children’s Library, for example.  Some of you will nod sagely and murmur “of course” when I mention it but to me I was ashamed to discover that not only are they the Princeton children’s library but they maintain these FABULOUS blogs!  The Cotsen Children’s Library blog is updated quite regularly and the Pop Goes the Page is maybe the best arts & crafts for library programs blog I’ve witnessed in a very long time.  They’ve also archived a variety of different interviews with children’s authors called The Bibliofiles that are well worth finding too.  Man.  That would be the life working at either of these libraries, am I right?

• Good old, ShelfTalker.  I love it when they list a whole slew of their favorite first lines of 2014.  And in the process I discovered at least one book that I hadn’t even heard of until I read its line.  Bonus!

• You know what?  Fair play to Mackenzie Kruvant.  There she is at Buzzfeed, slaving away with such pieces as “Which Sex And The City Guy Is Your Soulmate?” but often she’ll come up with a really good children’s literature piece.  Example: 15 Adorable Children’s Books For Your Little Architect .  Perhaps she got some help from a librarian somewhere to write it, but if she didn’t then it’s a pretty darn good encapsulation of what’s out there.  Well played, madam.

NYPL likes it when I blog on their site from time to time, so I’ll tend to do pieces I wouldn’t normally do here.  Case in point, recently I did the post Make ‘Em Laugh: Gut-Busting Picture Books That’ll Have ‘Em Rolling in the Aisles.  I really try to give attention to funny picture books when they come out.  And though I didn’t mention them in the piece (I only included stuff you could currently check out of the collection) if I were to put that post here I’d be sure to include the 2014 titles Big Bad Bubble by Adam Rubin, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri (without a doubt their best work to date) and Monkey Goes Bananas by C. P. Bloom and Peter Raymundo.  Both books are danged funny.  If I make a funny picture book prize this year, they will both be up for serious contention.

A friend on mine on Facebook mentioned that he had a 12-year-old in his branch who was interested in Socialism and did we have any books to recommend?  Naturally my thoughts turned to Little Rebels, but that’s a lot of picture books (many of which are out of print).  Fortunately marxists.org (!) has a booklist of its own.  Say they, “This is the start of an ongoing broad bibliography of children’s literature for MIA with title first, divided by age range and fiction/non-fiction. Some of these books were written to be expressly radical, and others need a stretch to find political implications. Compiled by Sally Ryan.”  Cool.

• Hey, remember when I mentioned that I’d interviewed Deborah Underwood about her amazing Bad Bye, Good Bye?  I got a little confused about when it was going to post but now, happily, it is up up up!  If you ever wanted to know the ins and outs of writing a rhyming picture book, you are indeed lucky.

• Got a little confused with the headline on this one, but as it happens it has absolutely nothing to do with the bookstore Books of Wonder here in NYC.  No, this little article is instead about a cool new collection within the Toronto Public Library.  Its full name is “The IBBY Collection of Books for Young People with Disabilities”.  Say they: “As its official name indicates, this collection comes from IBBY, the International Board on Books for Young People. The IBBY collection features more than 3000 multilingual books in sign language, Braille, Blissymbolics, as well as cloth and tactile books and other formats — all for and about children and teens with disabilities.”  I’m downright envious again.  Thanks to Deb Pearson for the link.

• In the world of book awards we’ve two to consider today.  The Eisner Award nominations came out and I see a lot of familiar faces in the youth category.  Meanwhile the Minnesota Book Awards were announced and you might be surprised to discover some of the winners.

• Whenever someone asks adult authors to name the children’s books that inspired them there is a danger of the books being the same old, same old.  That’s part of the reason I like this post from World Literature Today.  Yes, there are some rote choices, but there are also some really obscure titles. The Summerfolk by Doris Burn? The Three Fat Men by Yuri Olesha? Tim and the Hidden People by Sheila K. McKullagh?!?  Wowza.  Thanks to Mom for the link.

• Daily Image:

Good news, poppins.  Today you have a chance to buy cool things and be a good person in the process.  And just in time for my incipient birthday too!  The site Out of Print has been killing it in the library-chic neighborhood.  Observe the cool things that there are to buy:

Mom, Kate, I will happily take that iPhone case.  Wouldn’t say no to any of those baby onesies, for that matter.

Now, how does buying this stuff make you a good person?  Well, it seems the site is THIS WEEK (it is National Library Week after all – my workplace got me a mug and everything) giving money to the following school if you buy stuff.  Voila:

P.S. 244 (The Active Learning Elementary School “TALES”) is an early childhood public school (Pre-K to 3rd grade) located in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, New York. The majority of students do not speak English at home and qualify for subsidized meal plans, yet at TALES they thrive. A model for public schools at both the national and state level, P.S. 244 has been recognized for its focus on health and nutrition and ranks among the healthiest schools in the country. In 2013, P.S. 244 also ranked 11th in the state for test scores and has been heralded for its innovative curriculum and extremely hard working staff.

With all of these strengths, they also have challenges. The school’s current library has no formal checkout system and relies on volunteer staff. The result? The space serves more like a reading room than a true library. Students aren’t able to check out and read these books at home, families miss out on sharing the joy of reading with their kids and the school is unable to implement a summer reading program to enhance student reading skills during off-school periods.

Help us to give this school and its students the library they deserve. During National Library Week (April 13-20), we are donating a portion of our sales to purchase and implement a scanning system for P.S. 244 and to train staff to manage it. We will post updates after the donation and share stories from students and teachers about the impact of this new system.

Many thanks to Ms. Marci for the links!

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The Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) is now accepting entries for the 2014 PBBY-Alcala Prize.

The winner shall be given a cash prize of P25,000.00, a gold medal, and an opportunity to be published. Prizes will be awarded in an appropriate ceremony to be held during the celebration of National Children's Book Day on July 15, 2014.

CONTEST RULES:

1. The contest is open to all Filipino citizens except those who are related to any PBBY member up to the third degree of consanguinity.

2. Entries must be based on any of the following, all honorable mention winners of the 2014 PBBY-Salanga Prize:

        "Ang Misay sa Aming Bahay" by Susan Anne Alegro Quirante
        "Gaano ba Kalayo Patungong Paaralan?" by Genaro Gojo Cruz
        "Reyna Elena" by Michael de Guzman

3. Copies of these stories may be requested from the PBBY Secretariat or downloaded from the PBBY website.

4. All entries must be original unpublished illustrations that have not won in any previous contest.

5. All entries must consist of three (3) illustrations that are of the same size and medium. Entries do not have to be based on consecutive spreads/parts of the text.

6. A contestant may send in more than one (1) entry.

7. Each entry must be signed by a pen name only, preferably on a small piece of paper pasted on the back of each artwork. Entries with a signature or any identifying marks are automatically disqualified.

8. Together with each entry, contestants must submit a separate envelope, on the face of which only the pen name of the contestant shall appear. The envelope must contain the contestant's full name, address, contact numbers, short description of background, and notarized certification vouching for the originality of the entry and for the freedom of the organizers from any liability arising from the infringement of copyright in case of publication.

9. All entries must be sent to the PBBY Secretariat, c/o Adarna House, 109 Scout Fernandez cor. Scout Torillo Sts., Quezon City by April 14, 2014.

10. Winners will be announced no later than May 12, 2014. Non-winning entries must be claimed no later than June 13, 2014, after which they will no longer be the responsibility of the organizers.

For more details, interested parties may contact the PBBY Secretariat by calling 352.6765 or emailing pbby [at] adarna.com.ph.

DEADLINE: 

April 14, 2014 (5:00 p.m.)

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The Calistro Prize 2013 is now open for entries! To be eligible for the prize, stories should be original and unpublished works of at least 6,000 words, written in English, set in Malaysia, and Malaysian in content. Translations of original unpublished works are also welcome.

Only one entry per writer is allowed and the closing date for entries is September 30, 2013. The results will be announced on December 31, 2013.

The winning story will receive RM8,000 in cash, a medal, and a certificate. Two stories may win merit awards, each with a cash prize of RM1,000, a medal, and a certificate.

Click here for all the rules and regulations of the Calistro Prize 2013!

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Are you a writer of Asian descent with a children's story inspired by Asia? Then please submit your story to the Scholastic Asian Book Award (SABA)!

The winner of SABA gets a plaque, S$10,000, and his/her manuscript will be considered by Scholastic Asia for publication. The first and second runners-up of SABA will receive plaques and editorial advice from Scholastic Asia.

Click here for the rules and regulations of the award and more information on how to enter.

The deadline for entries is October 21, and the results will be declared at next year's Asian Festival of Children's Content in Singapore.

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Here are the Philippines' best children's and young adult reads from 2010 and 2011. Congratulations to all the winners of the 2nd National Children's Book Awards!

Ang Sampung Bukitkit
By Eugene Y. Evasco and Ibarra C. Crisostomo
LG&M


Ay, Naku!
By Reni Roxas and Serj Bumatay III
Tahanan Books


Doll Eyes
By Eline Santos and Joy Mallari
CANVAS


The Great Duck and Crocodile Race
By Robert Magnuson
Hiyas/OMF Lit


The Secret is in the Soil
By Flor Gozon Tarriela, Gidget Roceles Jimenez, and Liza Flores
Conquest for Christ Foundation

I predicted this would win a National Children's Book Award when I attended its launch. =D

0 Comments on The 2nd Philippine National Children's Book Awards as of 8/6/2012 5:30:00 AM