Lee & Low Books, an independent children’s book publisher focused on diversity, will be taking part in the upcoming American Library Association Annual Conference, July 9 - 15 in Chicago, IL. Attendees are invited to Lee & Low’s Booth 2260 for book signings by authors Christine Taylor-Butler, Lulu Delacre, W. Nikola-Lisa, Janet Halfmann, Eloise Greenfield, R. Gregory Christie, and Shadra Strickland. Lee & Low will also be giving away bookmarks, posters, and more! See the complete signing schedule here.
Lee & Low Books, an independent children’s book publisher focused on diversity, has announced the winner of the New Voices Award Honor for 2008 - Hayan Charara of Houston, Texas- for his poignant story, The Three Lucys.
The Three Lucys explores the realities of war from the perspective of Luli, a young Lebanese boy whose most beloved possessions are his three cats, all named Lucy. Returning home with his parents after a visit with his aunt and uncle, Luli discovers that conflicts between people can change some things forever. But in the end, Luli also learns to hope for a future in which change is possible as differences are put aside. Mr. Charara’s writing is honest and lyrical and captures a strong sense of place. The Three Lucys is based on the experiences of the author’s younger brother during the month-long war in Lebanon in the summer of 2006.
A first-generation Arab American born in Michigan, Mr. Charara is a poet, editor, and teacher. While this is his first foray into writing for children, Mr. Charara’s work for adults has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies.
Lee & Low Books established the New Voices Award in 2000 to encourage writers of color to submit their work to a publisher that takes pride in nurturing new talent. The award reflects the company’s mission of meeting the need for stories that children of color can identify with and that all children can enjoy. “When we started the company, there was a lot of interest in books focused on diversity,” says co-founder Tom Low, “but most of the titles were folktales about exotic people from distant lands. We felt strongly that it was important to have books with a contemporary setting that reflect how we live today.”
Lee & Low has published over 200 books since 1991. A number of their titles have won major awards and honors, including the Coretta Scott King Award, the Pura Belpré Honor Award, and The Jane Addams Peace Award.
What do a little girl who dreams of becoming a sushi chef and a young boy whose ambition is to be the world’s best surfer have in common? Both are the subjects of two exceptional picture books, and both have been chosen by Kiriyama Prize judges to be on the list of Notable Books for 2008.
Hiromi’s Hands by Lynne Barasch and Surfer of the Century by Ellie Crowe have still more in common. They are both true stories, they have both been published by Lee & Low Books, and each one was reviewed in the past year by Papertigers. In the tradition that Lee & Low Books have made their trademark, both books have the arresting illustrations and clarity of text that make them attractive read-alouds, yet are interesting and informative enough to appeal to older readers–including Kiriyama judges!
This year’s list of Notable Books features three memoirs that, while not specifically intended for young adults, may well appeal to adolescent readers. Stealing Buddha’s Dinner by Bich Minh Nguyen, The Thorn of Lion City by Lucy Lum, and Hapa Girl by Maylee Chai, all in different ways and in different places, tell very personal, and at times emotionally wrenching, stories of growing up and finding a place in the world.
In the more than ten years that the Kiriyama Prize has been in existence, books for young readers have appeared on the Notable Lists, which can be found on the Kiriyama web site. For readers of all ages, this is a splendid place to look when hunting for reading recommendations.
I had other things on my plate today… but it was smart to upgrade WordPress 2.3 on a Sunday after church, because it broke, and that gave me several hours to focus on this problem. Things should be o.k. now, and there’s nothing wrong with WordPress 2.3; the error was between my ears.
Before upgrading, I set up a test site (which is what you’re supposed to do) but I cut some corners (which is what you’re NOT supposed to do). Naturally, since I cut corners, I was punished. I was also punished for guessing what the problems would be (I was fixated on the idea that the Cutline theme would create issues) and not inspecting the list of known problems carefully enough.
The whole reason I waited to upgrade was to gage other folks’ experiences, and if I had paid attention beyond the “LGTM” comments (Looks Good To Me), I would have thought more about the key change to the WordPress category/taxonomy structure, which would have forced me to slow down, disable every plugin in my old installation, upgrade, and then reenable every known compatible plugin one by one. Plus I would have had the time to find substitute plugins for favorites that aren’t working correctly.
What went right: not rushing out to upgrade right away; putting up a test site and testing my theme and some plugins; following the discussion at the Cutline theme site; waiting for a day when I had spare time to address issues (and not the day before a trip, either!); staying collected enough to take a term from the database error message (wp_post2cat) and run it through Google, which lead me straight to the WordPress Codex.
What went wrong: not testing everything that needed to be tested; not doing a simple compatibility check with the very helpful lists of compatible, incompatible, and iffy plugins; focusing on my guesses, rather than relying on simple methodology; rushing to get the “cool upgrade” rather than focusing on maintaining a working blog.
It may not have seemed that I rushed, because I certainly wasn’t in the first wave of installations, but I didn’t have a need that trumped doing things right the first time.
My punishment fit the crime: I lost several hours on a nice Sunday to upgrading software. But I have been set free under the early-release program, and will write for an hour, go for a long walk/run, and then write some more.
A timely post as we have just returned from Oahu and learned about Duke (Surfer of the the Century) while we were there. Congratulations to both authors for making the 2008 Kiriyama Prize Notable List!
Welcome back to the land of the elusive sun!
It is great to have not one but two children’s books selected for special mention - and picture-books at that!
Our favorite Ed Young was on last year’s Notable list, for Tiger of the Snows!