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Ame Dyckman’s newest book, “Tea Party Rules,” illustrated by K.G. Campbell, was selected as the winner of the 28th annual Ezra Jack Keats Book Award.

The award is presented to a new writer and new illustrator each year, and Dyckman will be on hand at the 2014 awards ceremony set for April 10, during the Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.

Dyckman will receive a gold medallion as well as an honorarium of $1,000 at the ceremony. Kathi Appelt, award-winning author of numerous books for children and young adults, will be a guest presenter.

Dyckman said it is an honor to be selected for the award, which includes a prestigious seal on the sleeve of her book. She said she is a fan of Keats’ most famous work, “The Snowy Day.”

“We’re over the moon,” she said of her team, which includes Campbell and her publishing team at Viking Children’s Books. “I’m honored, thrilled and astounded.”

“Tea Party Rules,” Dyckman’s second book, follows the adventures of a bear attending a tea party. But before he can participate, the hostess lays down the rules. The two become friends and learn about how to compromise and enjoy playtime together.

That book, along with her first published work, “Boy + Bot,” illustrated by Dan Yaccarino, earned sterling reviews on Amazon and from book critics. “Tea Party Rules” also was selected by Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library as a book that will be distributed to children in need.

You can read the full article that was written by Michele Angermiller for The Times by clicking this sentence.

The news is finally out:

THE TRUTH ABOUT TWINKIE PIE by Kat Yeh has been selected as a Buzz Book at Book Expo America this year! Kat is quite excited and I am excited for her debut middle grade novel.

T.S. Ferguson, Associate Editor at Harlequin Teen is super excited because one of his books, Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley made the YA Buzz Books List. Because of that he gets to sit on a panel with four other editors , including Alvina Ling and talk about it to a packed crowd of book buyers, librarians, and other industry professionals. He says, “I’m SO excited that this amazing book is getting attention, and so excited that I get to be the one to talk about it.” It is the first time a Harlequin TEEN book has been selected!

Here are the Buzz Books that made the list:

YOUNG ADULT (YA) EDITORS BUZZ ‘14 BEA YA

Editors Buzz Thursday, May 29 10:00am – 10:50am Room 1E10/1E11

BEA Editors Buzz YA Books – Author Stage Friday, May 30 10:00am – 10:30am Uptown Stage

Lies We Tell Ourselves
by Robin Talley
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: 9/30/14

The Jewel
by Amy Ewing
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: 9/2/14

The Walled City
by Ryan Graudin
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 11/4/14

I’m Glad I Did
by Cynthia Weil
Publisher: Soho Teen
Publication Date: 1/27/15

King Dork Approximately
by Frank Portman
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: 9/9/14

MIDDLE GRADE EDITORS BUZZ ‘14

BEA Middle Grade Editors Buzz
Friday, May 30
11:00am – 11:50am
Room 1E12/1E13

BEA Editors Buzz Middle Grade Books – Author Stage
Friday, May 30
1:00pm – 1:30pm
Uptown Stage

The Truth About Twinkle Pie
by Kat Yeh
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 1/27/15

Zoo at the Edge of the World
by Eric Kahn Gale
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: 8/26/14

Pennyroyal Academy
by M.A. Larson
Publisher: Putnam Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 10/7/14

The Witch’s Boy
by Kelly Barnhill
Publisher: Algonquin Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 9/16/14

Life of Zarf
by Rob Harrell
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 8/28/14

PROMOTIONS: 

In December Phaidon, a publisher best known for its lavishly produced art books, has hired Judith Regan as the CEO of a new division at the company called Regan Arts. Phaidon said the division will include a book imprint, but will also function as a “multimedia enterprise.” Now Ron Hogan has joined Judith Regan’s new company Regan Arts as an editor, acquiring both fiction and non-fiction.

Grand Central Publishing (part of the Hachette Book Group) promoted Emily Griffin, Michele Bidelspach, and Alex Logan to senior editors. Megha Parekh has been promoted to associate editor, while Libby Burton and Lindsey Rose move up to assistant editor.

Reka Simonsen will join Atheneum as executive editor, effective March 10. Previously she was executive editor at HMH Children’s.

Sarah Shumway will join Bloomsbury Children’s Books as senior editor on March 3. Previously she was senior editor at Harper Children’s Katherine Tegen Books imprint.

Cara Bedick has joined Harlequin as senior editor, Harlequin Nonfiction.

Caitlin Kirkpatrick has been promoted to assistant editor at Chronicle.

Consortium will distribute Blue Apple Books, the Maplewood, NJ-based children’s book publisher, as of June 1, 2014.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Once again, I had the good fortune of going to the Whispering Pines Writer’s Retreat at the Alton Jones Campus in West Greenwich, RI. It’s not far from me, but a world away. The setting is more like something out of Maine.

Before anything happens there is food.

SCBWI’s Marilyn Salerno, editor mentor Sarah Shumway from Harper Collins, Barb Johansen-Newman, and author-illustrator mentor Maryann Cocca-Leffler.

The food is literally amazing here, and there’s plenty of it.
After dinner, Lynda gets the ball rolling with a First Pages panel.

Excellent readers!

The mentors: Author Ellen Wittlinger, Agent Anna Webman, Editor Jennifer Rees, and editor Sarah Shumway.

Here you can see the cozy fireplace room.

The girls sent me some mascots to keep me company over the weekend.

The next morning began with special helper awards.

Helper Sally Riley gets her trophy from Chief Organizer Lynda Hunt.

Laurie Murphy is at a loss for words…

Jan Kozlowski receives her very special award.

Jennifer Rees shared her editing process with us, and showed us some great examples of recent books from Scholastic.

Author Ellen Wittlinger read us some inspiring passages from well-written books, and at least 3 important points to think about in our writing!

Here is Sarah Shumway at her very cool podium giving us the lo-down about working at Harper Collins.

Laura’s trying to decide which way to go.

The view from the porch.

Mentor books for sale!

Another fabulous dinner! Honestly, it’s consistently the best food ever to be had at events like these.

Pictured here: Laura Fry, Laurie Murphy, Debra Wainwright, Maryann Cocca-Leffler, Lynda Mulally Hunt, Barb Johansen Newman, Jan Kozlowski, Mary Pierce.

After dinner, it was time for another rollicking session of First Pages!

The official mentor lineup shot!

Jennifer Rees, Maryann Cocca-Leffler, Anna Webman, Sarah Shumway, Ellen Wittlinger.

After hours fun at Laurel! Here’s Jan doing her best Vanna White impression with a fine array of themed baskets to be raffled off.

Cheers! Somehow there are always colorful beverages involved in the evening’s events.

Mary brought along Cadbury Creme Eggs. Not just the smaller, wimpier American ones, but the bigger, better British ones! This finally laid to rest the mystery of the incredible shrinking Cadbury Eggs. Americans should protest. Bring back the original sized eggs! Thanks to Mary for all the spare British ones…we’re loving them!

After another night of late-night chatting, the next day started with Barb introducing Maryann Cocca-Leffler.
Maryann has channeled all of her life experiences into her stories, and has used her winning personality and chutzpah to successfully navigate the minefield known as children’s publishing. Very inspiring.

New to the festivities this year: Children’s Book Jeopardy!

Lynda Trebek shot out the questions, and teams had only 15 seconds to guess them. Not easy!

Team 4 gets it right!

Anna Webman from the Curtis Brown Agency spoke next, shedding some light on what agents do.

Maryann signs her books for lucky children (and adults)!

The last of the themed baskets were raffled off, signifying the end of another fabulous retreat.

Basket cases!

A final look at the Whispering Pines:

See you next year!
If you’re nostalgic for retreats from previous years, follow the links:

Whispering Pines 2007

Whispering Pines 2008

Today's word of the day is: Workshop

I'm back from Nashua, where the New England SCBWI conference was a huge success and my four-hour workshop on web design and blogging was well-attended and well-received. The grand finale was a live update of my website to include news about the presentation itself, thanks to a kind volunteer photographer in the audience.

That's my new website design in the background, and see how exhausted I looked by that point? Since I was presenting for both sessions on Sunday, I didn't get to attend the equally well-received workshops going on at the same time:

• Toni Buzzeo on self-promotion;
• Brian Lies and Lita Judge on illustration;
• Sarah Aronson on point of view;
• Harold Underdown on an overview of the basics;
• Debra Garfinkle on humor writing;
• Emily Herman and Anne Sibley O'Brien on writing tools;
• Sarah Shumway on pitches; or
• The Write Sisters (Janet Buell, Kathy Deady, Muriel Dubois, Diane Mayr, Andrea Murphy, Barbara Turner, and Sally Wilkins) on critique groups and collaboration

Waiting at the Door to Unger is our ongoing series of Podcast interviews in which we follow the process of writing, editing and publishing Lee Edward Fodi’s book Kendra Kandlestar and the Door to Unger, the long awaited sequel to Kendra Kandlestar and the Box of Whispers.

In this eighth knock, join Lee and me as we spend an afternoon together in Vancouver, Canada on what Lee would later call a children’s book pilgrimage. Our afternoon consisted of lunch at Bellaggio Cafe on Hornby Street, shopping for children’s books at a store appropriately called Kidsbooks and then taking a tour of Christian’s Lyceum of Literature and Art — a newly opened literacy centre — all the while talking about reading and writing great children’s books.

Books mentioned:

• Shi-shi-etko
• Foundling
• Porcupine
• Fiona’s Luck
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow