Of the many ways I gain an understanding of my writers, my favorite and most valuable is gathering up all the writing and diving into reading ALL the students’ work.
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By: Deb Frazier,
on 11/22/2015
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: Matthew Cheney,
on 6/20/2015
Blog: The Mumpsimus (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Music, religion, Bob Dylan, fandom, collecting, Add a tag
If you've ever spent any time around any sort of fan community, most of the people you meet in The Dylanologists will be familiar types. There are the collectors, there are the hermeneuts, there are the true believers and the pilgrims. Some reviewers and readers have derided a lot of the people Kinney writes about as "crazy", but one of the virtues of the book is that it humanizes its subjects and shows that plenty of people who are superfans are not A.J. Weberman. They seem a little passionate, sure, and if you're not especially interested in their passion they may seem a bit weird, but how different are they, really, from denizens of more culturally dominant fandoms — say, devoted sports fans? (Indeed, the term "fan" as we think of it now dates back to 19th century American sports, at least according to the OED.)
Or how different are they from academics? That was the question that kept buzzing through my brain as I read the book. It's no surprise to me that one of the great Milton scholars of our time, Christopher Ricks, would have become a Dylanologist; the fights among the Dylan fans are at least the equal of the fights among the Miltonists, who can be a rather contentious lot... (Speaking of Miltonists, Stanley Fish's invaluable "What Makes an Interpretation Acceptable", a chapter from Is There a Text in This Class?, came to mind again and again as I read.) In so many ways — its esotericism, its gate-keeping, its initiation rites — academia is a collection of high-falutin' fandoms.
Given that I have spent most of my life studying written texts, it's probably predictable that the chapter I found most exciting in The Dylanologists is the one about Scott Warmuth and other researchers who have traced the vast web of references, quotations, echoes, allusions, shadows, and traces of other writings through Dylan's own, particularly in Dylan's work over the last 15 years or so. (See Warmuth's fascinating essay for the New Haven Review about Dylan's Chronicles: Vol. 1.) One of the things that makes Dylan so extraordinary is that he's like a human filter for particular strains of Americana and of musical and literary history. He's like a human cut-up machine. Puritanical squawkers may scream, "Plagiarism!", but for me the effect of, for instance, Warmuth's revelations about Chronicles is that I was in even more awe of Dylan's achievement — the book reveals itself to be not just a memoir, but a more readable cousin to Finnegans Wake. Dylan's references, allusions, echoes, riffs, cut-ups, and copies expand his work and connect it to networks of meaning.
(It's worth noting, tangentially, that these references, allusions, echoes, etc. are most effective at the level of language and music. While Dylan certainly has written songs and even entire albums that are explorations of what in fandom get called tropes, he's too great an artist to exert most of his energies at that level.)
(It's also worth noting that there are inevitably differences of power in how such references, allusions, echoes, etc. are perceived and the effect they have, especially in a culture of white supremacy. Dylan's not always great about this, but he's also not always bad, and to castigate him for "appropriation", as some people do, seems to me too reductive to be useful. At the same time, as I pointed out in a review of a book about Charley Patton and Jimmie Rodgers for Rain Taxi's most recent print issue, racism shaped what was possible for even the most talented artists, and the popularity of Patton and Rodgers, for instance, can't be said to be parallel: "The nature of their popularity was significantly different, and no small bit of that difference must be the result of race — both the race of the musicians and the racialized marketing of record companies that offered one set of music to black (and mostly Southern) audiences and another to white (and nation-wide) audiences." Both men were significant to the history of American music, both were hugely talented, and both drew from and played off of similar influences. But Jimmie Rodgers got rich and Charley Patton didn't, even though today it's Patton's name — partly due to Dylan's advocacy and homage — that is probably more likely to be recognized.)
Masks are easy to pick up and just as easy to discard. He's a man of masks, the man of thin wild mercury — the Dylan we know, the Dylan we can know, is a performance. The original image that was sold of Dylan — the earnest protest singer — has been resilient, and people still seem shocked when Dylan does something like a TV commercial. But Dylan was never pure, and it drives purists crazy. Dylan is all poses, all artifice, and he always was. He's not, though, a postmodern ironizer; his earnestness is in the earnestness of his artifice. (His art is real for as long as he performs it.) Many fans fall in love with the earnestness, but hate the artifice.
Fans tend to be both passionate and possessive. This is a bad recipe for Dylan fans, because he seems to take a certain joy in pushing against whatever expectations are set up for him. The history of Dylan fandom is a history of fans denouncing him at every juncture. The "real" Dylan is Dylan before he went electric, Dylan before he went country, Dylan before he went gospel, Dylan before the doldrums of the '80s, Dylan before he did a Victoria's Secret ad, Dylan before... Kinney does a good job of showing the ways that great passion can also lead to great disillusionment and even great hatred. The relationship between fans and celebrities can be pathological and destructive. One of the strengths of Kinney's book is that it shows various ways that pathology may manifest, from the benign to the fatal.
There's a kind of Harry Potter syndrome to a lot of fandom, well expressed by one of Dylan's die-hard followers, an expert at getting to the front of the admission line at concerts. Kinney asked him if he wanted to meet Dylan (not all fans do). Charlie said yes. "I think he would think I was funny. I really believe I could be the one guy who could talk to him without bullshit."
I really believe I could be the one guy — the one guy who understands, the one guy who knows the beloved's soul, the one guy who really gets it. The true fan. Another fan says late in the book:
I don't say all this to scoff. Personal identification is a fundamental part of any artistic appreciation. It's hard for such identification not to slip toward certain types of fantasy, dreams of contact. I'm a huge fan of some things, and so is Bob Dylan: Kinney tells the story of Dylan's visit to John Lennon's childhood home, and the experience described is that of a fan. Even in academia, at least in my field of literature, one of the things that motivates some of our work (now and then, here and there) is the sense that we can understand a particular text or writer in a way that nobody else can.
And then there are relics. Kinney tells various tales of collectors: people who not only listen to the music, or collect rare recordings, but seek out physical objects somehow related to the singer. As I was most intellectually interested in the hermenauts close reading Dylan's texts, so I felt most sympathy for the people whose lives have been in many ways hindered by their quests for Dylan's stuff. I inherited a collector's personality from my father, though I hope I've also learned from his negative example, because for all the pleasure it sometimes brought him, his quest for the stuff (in his case, militaria, guns, etc.) in so many more ways limited his life. On the other hand, like so much else in fandom, collecting seems to have given the Dylan collectors a sense of purpose as well as a sense of community.
Relics are also religious, a kind of objective correlative for the zeal of worship. The Benjaminian aura becomes for some people even more important in the age of mechanical reproduction. Is anybody who really cares about a work of art impervious to this? I was recently at the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia, where a friend works, and getting to see and even hold so many unique items of literary history was overwhelming. "I now know what people mean by 'religious experience'," I said. I understand the impulse to buy the windows of Dylan's childhood home, even as I recognize that such an impulse is absurd. Kinney's book conveys both the attractions of the impulse and the absurdity.
This paragraph toward the end of the final chapter is especially revealing of the complexities that Kinney is able to find in the subject of Dylan and his most passionate fans:
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 4/8/2015
Blog: PW -The Beat (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: Mark Miller,
on 5/20/2014
Blog: From the land of Empyrean (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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I have my hopes for what I would like to see in the new trilogy; characters like Mara Jade and events like the death of Chewbacca. Don't get me wrong - I don't want to see Chewbacca die. Jar Jar heads that list. Chewbacca's death was an epic moment and a great sacrifice. He swore a life-debt to Han and it should be a necessary moment, even if it does not occur as it did in the Expanded Universe novel.
The cast consists of a young group of relative unknowns. Sound familiar? Still, there is one Harry Potter alum, two from Coen Bros and one that endured Attack the Block. One of the biggest treats for me is to see Max Von Sydow join the ranks of Alec Guinness, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. In case you are not familiar with this legendary actor, he starred in the classic Strange Brew.
I could rant about how great the original trilogy was, everything wrong with the prequels and what they musn't ruin in the new movies. I won't do that. We all have our own opinions and own hopes. Isn't that what Star Wars is really about...hope? It is adventure, humor, mystery, love and good conquering evil. On top of all that, it gives us hope...hope that there is something bigger, greater out there - something that binds the universe together. It gives us hope that we can revisit our childhood and remember the things that made us happy.
Star Wars remains one of the earliest inspirations for my own writing. The Hero's Journey is a universal map that applies to my first novel, The Fourth Queen. I even tried my hand at some SW Fan Fiction (which might end up on this blog some day).
"They're for sale, if you want them."
As I continue my training in the Jedi way, I find that I can part with material things. To that end, I have created a Facebook album featuring over 300 figures collected since 1995. Feel free to make me an offer on any or all of them.
By: Stacey Shubitz,
on 3/7/2013
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: Matthew Cheney,
on 10/5/2011
Blog: The Mumpsimus (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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on 10/4/2011
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By: Deb Frazier,
on 11/22/2015
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: Matthew Cheney,
on 6/20/2015
Blog: The Mumpsimus (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Music, religion, Bob Dylan, fandom, collecting, Add a tag
So when you ask some of your questions, you're asking them to a person who's long dead. You're asking them to a person that doesn't exist. But people make that mistake about me all the time.
—Bob Dylan, 2012
If you've ever spent any time around any sort of fan community, most of the people you meet in The Dylanologists will be familiar types. There are the collectors, there are the hermeneuts, there are the true believers and the pilgrims. Some reviewers and readers have derided a lot of the people Kinney writes about as "crazy", but one of the virtues of the book is that it humanizes its subjects and shows that plenty of people who are superfans are not A.J. Weberman. They seem a little passionate, sure, and if you're not especially interested in their passion they may seem a bit weird, but how different are they, really, from denizens of more culturally dominant fandoms — say, devoted sports fans? (Indeed, the term "fan" as we think of it now dates back to 19th century American sports, at least according to the OED.)
Or how different are they from academics? That was the question that kept buzzing through my brain as I read the book. It's no surprise to me that one of the great Milton scholars of our time, Christopher Ricks, would have become a Dylanologist; the fights among the Dylan fans are at least the equal of the fights among the Miltonists, who can be a rather contentious lot... (Speaking of Miltonists, Stanley Fish's invaluable "What Makes an Interpretation Acceptable", a chapter from Is There a Text in This Class?, came to mind again and again as I read.) In so many ways — its esotericism, its gate-keeping, its initiation rites — academia is a collection of high-falutin' fandoms.
Given that I have spent most of my life studying written texts, it's probably predictable that the chapter I found most exciting in The Dylanologists is the one about Scott Warmuth and other researchers who have traced the vast web of references, quotations, echoes, allusions, shadows, and traces of other writings through Dylan's own, particularly in Dylan's work over the last 15 years or so. (See Warmuth's fascinating essay for the New Haven Review about Dylan's Chronicles: Vol. 1.) One of the things that makes Dylan so extraordinary is that he's like a human filter for particular strains of Americana and of musical and literary history. He's like a human cut-up machine. Puritanical squawkers may scream, "Plagiarism!", but for me the effect of, for instance, Warmuth's revelations about Chronicles is that I was in even more awe of Dylan's achievement — the book reveals itself to be not just a memoir, but a more readable cousin to Finnegans Wake. Dylan's references, allusions, echoes, riffs, cut-ups, and copies expand his work and connect it to networks of meaning.
 |
| Don Hunstein; Bob Dylan, New York, 1963 |
(It's worth noting, tangentially, that these references, allusions, echoes, etc. are most effective at the level of language and music. While Dylan certainly has written songs and even entire albums that are explorations of what in fandom get called tropes, he's too great an artist to exert most of his energies at that level.)
(It's also worth noting that there are inevitably differences of power in how such references, allusions, echoes, etc. are perceived and the effect they have, especially in a culture of white supremacy. Dylan's not always great about this, but he's also not always bad, and to castigate him for "appropriation", as some people do, seems to me too reductive to be useful. At the same time, as I pointed out in a review of a book about Charley Patton and Jimmie Rodgers for Rain Taxi's most recent print issue, racism shaped what was possible for even the most talented artists, and the popularity of Patton and Rodgers, for instance, can't be said to be parallel: "The nature of their popularity was significantly different, and no small bit of that difference must be the result of race — both the race of the musicians and the racialized marketing of record companies that offered one set of music to black (and mostly Southern) audiences and another to white (and nation-wide) audiences." Both men were significant to the history of American music, both were hugely talented, and both drew from and played off of similar influences. But Jimmie Rodgers got rich and Charley Patton didn't, even though today it's Patton's name — partly due to Dylan's advocacy and homage — that is probably more likely to be recognized.)
Masks are easy to pick up and just as easy to discard. He's a man of masks, the man of thin wild mercury — the Dylan we know, the Dylan we can know, is a performance. The original image that was sold of Dylan — the earnest protest singer — has been resilient, and people still seem shocked when Dylan does something like a TV commercial. But Dylan was never pure, and it drives purists crazy. Dylan is all poses, all artifice, and he always was. He's not, though, a postmodern ironizer; his earnestness is in the earnestness of his artifice. (His art is real for as long as he performs it.) Many fans fall in love with the earnestness, but hate the artifice.
Fans tend to be both passionate and possessive. This is a bad recipe for Dylan fans, because he seems to take a certain joy in pushing against whatever expectations are set up for him. The history of Dylan fandom is a history of fans denouncing him at every juncture. The "real" Dylan is Dylan before he went electric, Dylan before he went country, Dylan before he went gospel, Dylan before the doldrums of the '80s, Dylan before he did a Victoria's Secret ad, Dylan before... Kinney does a good job of showing the ways that great passion can also lead to great disillusionment and even great hatred. The relationship between fans and celebrities can be pathological and destructive. One of the strengths of Kinney's book is that it shows various ways that pathology may manifest, from the benign to the fatal.
There's a kind of Harry Potter syndrome to a lot of fandom, well expressed by one of Dylan's die-hard followers, an expert at getting to the front of the admission line at concerts. Kinney asked him if he wanted to meet Dylan (not all fans do). Charlie said yes. "I think he would think I was funny. I really believe I could be the one guy who could talk to him without bullshit."
I really believe I could be the one guy — the one guy who understands, the one guy who knows the beloved's soul, the one guy who really gets it. The true fan. Another fan says late in the book:
"He and I have been through a lot together and he doesn't know it," she said. "He doesn't know I exist. Can you see how that would be frustrating? I don't have any grandiose idea that because he's affected me he's going to care. I just think it's not fair that it's a one-way relationship." She wasn't delusional. She didn't think he was going to ask her out on a date, or invite her to his home. But if he did she would have to drop everything and go. "I don't think he's Jesus, I don't think he's the messiah. He's just a human being. But he's filled with poetry."Or another fan, one that Dylan seemed to occasionally pay some attention to:
"I think it's a wonder he shook my hand. I don't want to speculate," he said. But a few minutes later he stopped midsentence and looked me in the eye. "I take that back. I do have a theory, and I happen to think it's right. I don't think it, I know it. I think he's got a problem similar to my problem: being misunderstood, being misjudged. People take me the wrong way. I suspect it's because they don't listen to the words I say."Fans may want to distance themselves from religious fanatics, but theirs is still a religious position — fan as worshiper, artist as God — and as various people have pointed out over the years, there's a secular religiosity that such fervent fandom satisfies. The fan is created in the god's image, the god in the fan's. I could be the one guy; He and I have been through a lot together; I think he's got a problem similar to mine. Throughout its history, the word fanatic possesses a religious connotation, and a fan, of course, is a type of fanatic. We don't worship gods that seem alien to us.
I don't say all this to scoff. Personal identification is a fundamental part of any artistic appreciation. It's hard for such identification not to slip toward certain types of fantasy, dreams of contact. I'm a huge fan of some things, and so is Bob Dylan: Kinney tells the story of Dylan's visit to John Lennon's childhood home, and the experience described is that of a fan. Even in academia, at least in my field of literature, one of the things that motivates some of our work (now and then, here and there) is the sense that we can understand a particular text or writer in a way that nobody else can.
And then there are relics. Kinney tells various tales of collectors: people who not only listen to the music, or collect rare recordings, but seek out physical objects somehow related to the singer. As I was most intellectually interested in the hermenauts close reading Dylan's texts, so I felt most sympathy for the people whose lives have been in many ways hindered by their quests for Dylan's stuff. I inherited a collector's personality from my father, though I hope I've also learned from his negative example, because for all the pleasure it sometimes brought him, his quest for the stuff (in his case, militaria, guns, etc.) in so many more ways limited his life. On the other hand, like so much else in fandom, collecting seems to have given the Dylan collectors a sense of purpose as well as a sense of community.
Relics are also religious, a kind of objective correlative for the zeal of worship. The Benjaminian aura becomes for some people even more important in the age of mechanical reproduction. Is anybody who really cares about a work of art impervious to this? I was recently at the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia, where a friend works, and getting to see and even hold so many unique items of literary history was overwhelming. "I now know what people mean by 'religious experience'," I said. I understand the impulse to buy the windows of Dylan's childhood home, even as I recognize that such an impulse is absurd. Kinney's book conveys both the attractions of the impulse and the absurdity.
This paragraph toward the end of the final chapter is especially revealing of the complexities that Kinney is able to find in the subject of Dylan and his most passionate fans:
What must it be like to be Dylan, the music writer Paul Williams once wondered, and carry around "the half-formed dreams of millions on your back"? Dylan always had been afraid of his followers, and Williams could understand why. "Their relationship with him is so intense, they expect so much, and more than once over the years they've turned really nasty when he chose to deliver something other than their notion of who 'Bob Dylan' should be." Williams wrote that in the aftermath of the first gospel concerts in 1979, but he just as easily could have said it after Another Side in 1964, Newport in 1966, Nashville Skyline in 1969, Live Aid in 1985, or London in 2009. So many controversies. So much disappointment. Dylan acted entirely unfazed: "Oh, I let you down? Big deal," he said once. "Find somebody else." More than one fan really did wish he had died in the motorcycle wreck in 1966. It would have been better that way. He'd have been frozen in his glory. Instead he got old. He kept putting out new records and doing shows. He kept confounding.One of the effective choices Kinney makes is to set the book up as a kind of biography. It generally, though not slavishly, follows Dylan's career from the early days to later. The Dylanologists become a kind of cast of characters, moving in and out of the narrative. These two structural choices sometimes can be frustrating or feel a bit strained, but nevertheless give the book a unity and sense of narrative momentum that wouldn't otherwise be available. I expect readers' interests will ebb and flow depending on which types of Dylanologists they themselves find most interesting, and it's also likely lots of people will want to know more about particular people and less about others, making it difficult to say the book is entirely satisfying, but Kinney's interest is not so much in individual manifestations of Dylanology, but in how the idea of Bob Dylan gets kaleidoscoped through the many different ways of hearing him, seeing him, loving him, and hating him. I'm Not There did something similar in a more abstract way, and it might make a good companion piece with The Dylanologists, certainly more so than any conventional biography, which can really only tell us so much, and very little of what truly illuminates the work. Whether The Dylanologists can illuminate the work depends on what you desire for illumination. Certainly, it illuminates the quest for illumination.
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By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 4/8/2015
Blog: PW -The Beat (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Top News, dc collectibles, Retailing & Marketing, Toys, Collectibles, toy, collecting, Wondercon, collect, Add a tag
Daniel Pickett and Scott Neitlich
By Nick Eskey
When toy collecting started to become popular, prices were relatively cheap. Now with increased gas prices, higher standards of living, rise of product control, and other associated costs, prices have been steadily on the rise.
As a whole, Americans purchase toys for a number of reasons: For their kids, for their collection, or for profit. If you fall in the collecting bracket, then you know how taxing of a hobby it can be.
Discussing the current environment for collectors at the “Toy Collecting for the Modern Age” panel were a number of people involved in the toy industry. Present at the panel were Daniel Pickett, of “Action Figure Insider”; Scott Neitlich, a “Toy Guru” and also of Action Figure Insider; Jason Lenz, of “Bif Bang Pow”; Jeff Trojan, of “Playmates Toys”; Jim Fletcher, DC Collectibles; Kevin Kiniry, DC Collectibles; and Justin Donaldson, writer for “Funny or Die” and “Keen and Peel.” David Vonner, who works in designing toys, could not make it due to traffic unfortunately.
The men first discussed how they became attracted to, and involved in the game industry. Scott shared that he always wanted to work with toys, but thought he’d have to first get involved with television and movies first before he could have that option. He “skipped a step” as he put it by getting hired by Mattel after applying for 4 years. Kevin Kiniry claims it was an early experience of his mother taking away all of his toys and donating them to teach him a lesson that convinced him to work with toys for a living.
After sharing about themselves, Scott spoke of the state of the toy industry. Toy collecting is getting bigger, especially because we are finding more ways to display our collections, as well as the internet helping to create more interest. With things like videoed “unboxings,” more people are become involved in the fandom.
But prices are getting tougher to swallow. Many factors these days are contributing to this, like dock strikes, labor prices in China, cost of oil, politics, and others.
“These things are forcing [us] to make the toy smarter,” said Kevin. “How me make toys and the packaging mainly.”
Economically, many toy manufacturers are packaging toys in simpler boxes to keep costs low. Environmentally, this is also good, because it creates less waste.
These cost-cutting practices are especially good for smaller companies, as Jeff Trojan points out. “It’s a Big Fish versus Grass Roots. The big companies have more ability to absorb and to source cheaper labor. Small ones that haven’t made connections have to be really smart about their product.”
Scott Neitlich discussed that there are also the politics that go behind the toy veil. “Sometimes it’s an everyday struggle. The I.P. holder can decide to delay the product… Do you know how hard it is sometimes to get a toy to market?”
And though the toy might be out in stores, doesn’t mean it’s readily available. Resellers can be vicious in their hitting up stores, buying up as much product as possible, creating a scarcity for the consumer and collector alike. “This makes the price of the item even higher, sometimes making it near impossible financially to collect whole sets,” said Jason. “It’s not going to get any better unless both consumers and retailers works against their practices… [Even] in the digital age, toys are still going to be still going to be sought after… Toys are unique. They are physical. There’s no way you can touch a digital toy.”
“Book and DVD collections are disappearing because of digital,” said Kevin Kiniry. “And toy collections are getting bigger.”
So what are we to do about this ballooning toy situation? “We have to become smarter with what we buy,” said Scott Neitlich. “We’ll have to decide more selectively what we will collect.”
With toys becoming more geared towards adults as well as kids, creating a collectible toy market, they are being plagued with the same issues as any other commodity. But the excitement and joy a collection can bring definitely won’t sway fans away. If I’m to take one thing away from this panel, it’s that we all need to become responsible and smart in what we choose to buy.
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By: Mark Miller,
on 5/20/2014
Blog: From the land of Empyrean (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Episode VII, Max Von Sydow, Harry Potter, fantasy, Star Trek, Star Wars, collectibles, for sale, collecting, George Lucas, J.J. Abrams, Episode 7, Mark Miller, Add a tag
Well, Episdoe VII is officially under way. Principal cast has been announced and shooting has started. As a life-long fan, I have much confidence in JJ. Contrary to many, I totally enjoyed what he did with Star Trek and thought Into Darkness was better than his first one. To me, it seems Mr. Abrams is a fan first and a businessman second. I hope that he makes my beloved universe his own, acknowledges the fans and makes something not only for kids, but also those of us who never really grew up.
Star Wars Weekends 2007
The cast consists of a young group of relative unknowns. Sound familiar? Still, there is one Harry Potter alum, two from Coen Bros and one that endured Attack the Block. One of the biggest treats for me is to see Max Von Sydow join the ranks of Alec Guinness, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. In case you are not familiar with this legendary actor, he starred in the classic Strange Brew.
I could rant about how great the original trilogy was, everything wrong with the prequels and what they musn't ruin in the new movies. I won't do that. We all have our own opinions and own hopes. Isn't that what Star Wars is really about...hope? It is adventure, humor, mystery, love and good conquering evil. On top of all that, it gives us hope...hope that there is something bigger, greater out there - something that binds the universe together. It gives us hope that we can revisit our childhood and remember the things that made us happy.
Star Wars remains one of the earliest inspirations for my own writing. The Hero's Journey is a universal map that applies to my first novel, The Fourth Queen. I even tried my hand at some SW Fan Fiction (which might end up on this blog some day).
"They're for sale, if you want them."
As I continue my training in the Jedi way, I find that I can part with material things. To that end, I have created a Facebook album featuring over 300 figures collected since 1995. Feel free to make me an offer on any or all of them.
As always, thank you for reading my blog.
Please be sure to visit me on FB: www.FB.com/MarkMillerAuthor
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By: Stacey Shubitz,
on 3/7/2013
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Peruse some of our past posts that will help you and your students find more things to write about.
By: Chris V.,
on 11/13/2011
Blog: ACME AUTHORS LINK (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: collecting, books, miniatures, Add a tag
Blog: ACME AUTHORS LINK (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: collecting, books, miniatures, Add a tag
Yup, I confess.
I'm a bookaholic.
I realize this as I'm trying to clear out bookcases and make room for my other obsession - miniatures, also known as "too much stuff."
Every garage sale, every yard sale, every church sale, every thrift store, every mention I read online of a book, I check it out.
Sometimes, no, make that a lot of times, I buy. Hence, I now have eight plastic bags (and counting) to take to the thrift store to recycle. I do want to check first if the local homeless shelter would like some. I would so much rather take them where someone would appreciate them.
As I sort, I realize there are a lot of books that maybe looked good before, but I know won't get read. Books are like clothes, tastes change. What once looked good, no longer does. :>)
So the sporadic sort, which often feels more like moving stuff from one room to another. But at least this time some of it is moving out. Progress. On another thought as I sort - yes, maybe eBooks do have advantages after all. (My books and eBooks are on my website.)
And hey, while you roll your eyes, I dare you: make your own confession. What do you have too much of? I'm not the only semi-hoarder, er, collector, around. (Weight, wrinkles or gray hairs don't count.) Fess up.
6 Comments on My Name is Chris and I'm A...., last added: 11/16/2011
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By: Matthew Cheney,
on 10/5/2011
Blog: The Mumpsimus (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: books, Publishing, collecting, bibliomania, Tartarus Press, Add a tag
Ray Russell of Tartarus Press has just put a lovely short film up on YouTube, a sort of autobiography via his book collection. Anyone who has ever felt the passions of bibliomania will find the film irresistible, and the shots of some of the rare books, especially by Arthur Machen and Sylvia Townsend Warner, are sensuous and gloriously bibliopornographic.
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By: sylvandellpublishing,
on 10/4/2011
Blog: Sylvan Dell Publishing's Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Education, animals, collecting, Sylvan Dell, special days, learning books, teachable moment, fun activities, Sylvan Dell Posts, Add a tag
Have you discovered the joy of stamp collecting? Better yet, have you discovered the joy of collecting anything at all? Now, I’m not talking about the junk mail that finds its way onto each and every one of our kitchen tables. I’m talking about the collection of something meaningful, something that can offer knowledge and educate us, or simply be productive fun.
This month is your chance to get in the spirit, because October is none other than National Collector’s Month (…and Halloween of course)! Did you know that stamp collecting just so happens to be the most popular hobby in the world? Who knew? And just like me, I bet you’re asking, “Why stamps?” Well, they aren’t just little pictures on little sticky pieces of paper. Stamps represent different historical events, people, and places! It is the perfect stepping stone to learning as much or as little as you would like about the world.
This is the perfect hobby to start young or with children, because it gives kids the chance to ask questions, and it’s a fun way to start. It opens the door to so much history and information. It may be a stretch, but if you let it, collecting can be like visiting other parts of the world from your own living room. If you are looking for it, this is a wonderful experience to share with your children. You can choose any way to start, which give you the opportunity to choose an approach that will interst your child the most. For instance, you can focus the collection on a particular place or time period. Here are a few specific areas of collecting to consider:
- Topical (birds, castles, Disney, etc.)
- Precancels (US or foreign)
- Machins (Queen Elizabeth heads)
- Perfins (stamps with holes punched into them)
- Classics (stamps issued in the 19th century)
- and so many more!
Reading with your kids about other collectors can be another great way to get them interested in a hobby of their own. Sylvan Dell publishes a book called “Sort it Out!” by Barbara Mariconda. In this book, Packy the pack rat collects tons of things and has to sort them out. To him, all of the things he has collected are treasures in some way special to him. This book also includes interactive activites on sorting, categorizing, and classifying. Check it out, and maybe your child will find something awesome to collect too!
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By: Ruth,
on 9/29/2011
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: process, plan, primary grades, graphic organizer, collecting, Add a tag
I’m super fortunate to be working with a couple of third grade teachers (Hi Sandy & Dan!) who are interested in helping their writers to naturally develop more sophisticated writing processes. Their students are coming off of heavy illustration study in their previous writing experience (in grades k-2), so we are trying to find a [...]
By: Rebecca Ryals Russell,
on 9/15/2011
Blog: YA & MG Fantasy Author Rebecca Ryals Russell (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: children's books, dogs, miniatures, collecting, Blog Hop, Christine Verstraete, horror short stories, MusItUp Publishing, Add a tag
I began collecting quite a few years ago (yes it's more than 10, no, I'm not saying how many-ha!), and I've stuck with it. Usually when I'm not writing, (when is that?) I'm dreaming up some new miniature project. Guess what? The process isn't all that much different. While I have to sometimes struggle to find the words I want, or to get a story to go in the direction I had in mind, working in miniature works much the same way. I'm still planning and creating except with paper, clay, wood, paints and other materials instead of on the computer. The one drawback is doing something in miniature often requires measuring and math, which I'm really not good at. Terrible; it took me several tries to get some wood framing cut right. I think the best thing about having a hobby is it can actually improve your writing (or at least your well-being!) I can stew over my writing subconsciously while I concentrate on something else. Often the problem, or the solution I'm looking for, comes to mind once I'm not obsessing over it. Continue reading
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By: DGLM,
on 6/18/2010
Blog: Dystel & Goderich Literary Management (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: reading, fun, collecting, Rachel, Add a tag
by Rachel
Reading Ralph Gardner Jr’s Wall Street Journal article on first editions brought back a memory of when I was younger. I remember my Grandfather’s office being crowded by shelves of antiques, souvenirs from abroad, and of course – books! There was a particular bookshelf filled with random books on world history, genealogy, and sports (in fact, there were too many books on cricket for my liking. No one really needs to know so much about that sport, do they?). In a smaller bookcase in the corner of the room, there was a shelf dedicated to first editions. And of course, because my Grandfather treasured these books, they were kept on the highest shelf where grandchildren were unable to reach!I don’t own any first editions, but because of my Grandfather’s love of them, I’m always interested to know the titles people own, and whether or not they went out of their way to find them, or if the books were simply passed down through the years.
So, if you’re big on first editions, care to share what titles you own and how you acquired them? If not, do you have a first edition title you’d pay a high price for?
5 Comments on A shelf of firsts, last added: 6/19/2010
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By: sylvandellpublishing,
on 1/4/2010
Blog: Sylvan Dell Publishing's Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: hobbies, collecting, Teachable Moments, nature journal, sorting, Add a tag
Since January is Hobby Month, it is a good time to encourage children to start a new hobby. By this, I don’t mean taking on another sport or team event, but something that they can do by themselves to entertain themselves (without a computer or TV). Hobbies can help them to develop a strong interest in something. Who knows, maybe it will lead to a career someday.
Potential hobbies:
Crafts: these don’t have to be messy or costly.
• Puppet making (have them make paper bag puppets of book characters and put on a play!)
• Sewing
• Beading
• Candle making
• Origami
• Model making (cars, airplanes, etc.)
• Making just about anything out of anything! (Make as high a structure as you can that will support a one-pound book…out of straws and pins).
• For some really cool ideas on making things that teach science (kids won’t know they are learning), visit http://www.sciencetoymaker.org/ (Great in classrooms too!)
Art
Painting (finger, watercolor, markers, crayons etc.)
There are lots of “how to draw books” available from your library or bookstore
Making stained glass (kits available in craft sections)
Cooking and baking: younger kids can make lots of edible things using only a microwave. More on “kids in the kitchen” next week.
Birding: (see previous Teachable Moment—eBook code still valid)
Nature Journaling: Give the kids a notebook for them to write, draw and paste goodies that they’ve found.
Collecting something: this doesn’t have to be stamps or coins! What interests your child? Are they interested in animals? Let them collect pictures of animals and make a scrapbook or put on a bulletin board. A few old nature magazines or a new subscription to one might help encourage them to learn a little more about them.
Rocks (or shells?) Get a good identification guide to help them learn and sort.
Here is a one-week code to access Sylvan Dell’s related titles as auto-flip, auto-read, 3D-page-curling, and selectable English and Spanish text and audio eBooks:
Code expiration date: 01/11/2010
Please click on the following link:
http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com/ebooktrials.php?e=ZT6M9B
Available titles:
Julie the Rockhound: When a young girl finds a sparkly rock buried in the dirt and discovers that it cleans to a beautiful quartz crystal, she is fascinated and becomes a “rockhound.” Join Julie as her dad shows her how to dig for minerals and explains the wonders of crystal formation. Combining clever wordplay with earth science, young readers learn about Earth’s most abundant mineral ‘treasure.”
Sort it Out!: Packy the Packrat’s mother has had enough! It’s time that he sorts through his ever-growing collection of trinkets and puts them away. Told in rhyme, the text leads the reader to participate in the sorting process by categorizing Packy’s piles of things according to like characteristics and attributes.
You can access the For Creative Minds section for all the books here (in English and Spanish): http://sylvandellpublishing.com/ForCreativeMinds.htm and the free, 20-40 pages of teaching activities here: http://sylvandellpublishing.com/TeachingActivitiesPage.htm
Please look for these books at your library or favorite bookstore too.
Make Your Own Nature Scrapbook
Find a spot outdoors to sit and observe nature; a park, the beach, a lake, the woods – it can even be your own backyard.
Look around. Write down the words that describe what you see.
What type of day is it? Is it windy, sunny, or cloudy? Has it just rained or snowed? Is it hot or cold?
What time of day is it? Is it early morning, noon
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By: Ronica Stromberg,
on 12/18/2009
Blog: Ronica Stromberg (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: collecting, bedtime story, autographs, books, Uncategorized, angel, Add a tag
One of the distributors of my picture book, The Time-for-bed Angel, let me know that it will be coming out in paperback in the United States August 2010. I’m happy the publisher decided to offer the book in this format to U.S. readers. The book already came out in paperback in the United Kingdom, and it made for some confusion when U.S. consumers tried to order the book online and found the price in pounds.
Coming out soon in paperback!
This news of the paperback put me in mind of the collecting field. Collectors generally prize first edition, hardcover copies the most, so if you’re thinking you’d like to have this book in your collection, now is the time to buy.
Autographed copies of books are also worth more than plain copies. Of course, it’s usually better to have just the author’s signature and date rather than a personalized copy (written to a specific person) if you’re looking at a book as an investment. Some collectors dislike having a book personalized to anyone but themselves. However, if they have the fortune to have the author address greetings to them, they will often go ahead with this. It proves to family, friends, and other collectors that they actually met the author.
Sometimes when I visit schools, children whose parents haven’t purchased books will ask me to autograph a plain piece of paper for them. I usually go ahead, but such autographs rarely hold value. Most autograph collectors want provenance, a clear link back to the author. They have more evidence that an autograph is real when they have a book signed on a specific date. If they say, “The author signed the book at such-and-such bookstore on such-and-such date,” the bookstore signing is a historical fact that can be checked. The book itself and the age/edition of it is also evidence.
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By: Stacey,
on 10/2/2008
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: writing, slice of life, writer's notebook, writing workshop, conferring, collecting, strategy lesson, Add a tag
Peek into two a strategy lesson and a conference I had during today’s Writing Workshop. 1. Strategy Lesson With Ruth’s Blessing, I printed out her the Slice of Life Story (SOLS) she wrote about Sam’s Nighttime Secret. I gathered four of my students together on the small rug of my classroom and handed [...]
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By: Stacey,
on 8/31/2008
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: writing, writing workshop, aimee buckner, collecting, strategies, launching writing workshop, Add a tag
Aimee Buckner’s Book, Notebook Know-How, is an excellent resource for providing kids with strategies for generating notebook writing. Since many folks who took our poll asserted that they wanted more info on units of study, I figured I’d post a minilesson of mine that is based off of Buckner’s Best and Worst Life Events [...]
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By: Stacey,
on 5/1/2008
Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: collecting, memoir, writing, writing workshop, Add a tag
I was out due to the extreme amount of neck pain I had yesterday. Therefore, when I returned to school this morning, I found the students’ work trays brimming with papers waiting to be checked. I sorted them into my file tote folders and started making my way through them about two hours ago. [...]
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By: Teresa Walls,
on 2/6/2008
Blog: ALSC Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Collection Development, Children's Literature (all forms), Child Advocacy, Literary and Related Awards, Other ALA Divisions/Programs, Library Design and Accessibility, Add a tag
The American Library Association’s Social Responsibility Round Table and The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Round Table are co-sponsoring the Rainbow List, an annual bibliography for young readers from birth through age 18. According to the official Rainbow List myspace presence, the Rainbow List will create a recommended list of books dealing with positive Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Trangendered and Questioning issues and situations for children up to age 18. The 2008 list is the first list and took into consideration books published from 2005 through 2007. Future bibliographies will cover 18 months of publication, from July of the previous year through December of the current review year with selection completed at the ALA Midwinter Conference.
The committee writes in its introduction to the list:
an examination of over 200 books reveals that glbtq books are heavily
weighted toward upper grade levels and that many glbtq characters in
fiction take a peripheral position. Other concerns are public
censorship and the lack of ready accessibility to these books. The
members of the Rainbow Project encourage the publication of more books
with characters validating same-gender lifestyles and cataloging with
subject headings that describe these glbtq characters in children’s
and young adult fiction.
Here are the selected Beginning Readers:
Considine, Kaitlyn. Emma and Meesha My Boy: A Two Mom Story. Il.
Binny Hobbs. 2005. unp. Two Moms Books.
Gonzalez, Rigoberto. Antonio’s Card/La Tarjeta de Antonio. Il.
Cecilia Concepcion Alvarez. 2005. 32p. Children’s Book Press.
Jopling, Heather. Monicka’s Papa Is Tall. Il. Allyson Demoe. 2006.
unp. Nickname.
Jopling, Heather. Ryan’s Mom Is Tall. Il. Allyson Demoe. 2006.
unp. Nickname Press.
Lindenbaum, Pija. Mini Mia and Her Darling Uncle. Trans. Elisabeth
Kallick Dyssegaard. 2007. unp. R&S Books.
Richardson, Justin and Peter Parnell. And Tango Makes Three. Il.
Henry Cole. 2005. unp. Simon & Schuster.
Here are the Middle/Early Young Adult titles:
Fiction
Burch, Christian. The Manny Files. 2006. 296p. Atheneum.
Hartinger, Brent. The Order of the Poison Oak. 2005. 211p.
HarperTeen.
Howe, James. Totally Joe. 2005. 189p. Atheneum/Ginee Seo Books.
Larochelle, David. Absolutely, Positively Not. 2005. 219p. Arthur
A. Levine Books.
Limb, Sue. Girl Nearly 16, Absolute Torture. 2005. 216p.
Delacorte..
Peters, Julie Anne. Between Mom and Jo. 2006. 232p. Little,
Brown/Megan Tingley Books.
Selvadurai, Shyam. Swimming in the Monsoon Sea. 2005. 280p.
Tundra.
Non-Fiction
Marcus, Eric. What If Someone I know Is Gay: Answers to Questions
about What It Means to be Gay and Lesbian 2007. 183p. Simon Pulse.
Miller, Calvin Craig. No easy answers: Bayard Rustin and the civil
rights movement. [Portraits of Black Americans Series]. 2005. 160p.
Morgan Reynolds.
When I Knew. Ed. Robert Trachtenberg. Il. Tom Bachtell. 2005.
120p. Regan Books.
The complete 2008 Rainbow List is available here.
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By: Adriana Dominguez,
on 2/3/2008
Blog: ALSC Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Uncategorized, Children's Literature (all forms), Literary and Related Awards, ALA Midwinter 2008, ALSC Blogger, Adriana Dominguez, Add a tag
I want to first thank ALSC for inviting me to join this blog; I am very honored and happy to know that they recognize Rayo children’s efforts to better serve our children by providing them with meaningful Latino and Spanish language literature. I am also glad to have made so many supportive friends in the library community. Each and every one of my chats with librarians across the country has provided me with a great deal of insight, and always, a sense of purpose. I look forward to chatting with you some more in person at conferences and elsewhere, and to receiving your comments and ideas on this blog. Also, a disclaimer: This is my first blog, ever, so please bear with me! I chose to write my first blog now because it is my favorite season: award season! A time when authors and editors rejoice in the fruit of the labors, and when inevitably, we are met with some surprises! And this year was no exception, was it? The Caldecott given to a novel, and the Pura Belpré to a work of poetry! Will wonders never cease? Editors across the country are scratching their heads, wondering what this all means, if it signals a new trend, or if librarians are making a conscious effort to reward quality and novelty, which would not be altogether surprising; what are awards for, if not to reward excellence in craft, and originality? I am happy with this year’s award results.Publisher’s Weekly called THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET “a masterpiece,” and I, for one agree. The book is stunning; both visually and in terms of narrative. It does not underestimate young reader’s imaginations and reclaims a rightful place for books in this age of multimedia. THE POET SLAVE OF CUBA’s wonderful use of verse will hopefully revive a genre that continues to be problematic for teachers, librarians, and publishers. Poetry? Who would think poetry would garner this much interest today? Poets across the nation celebrate! Librarians will continue to support you, and that means that children across the country will have an opportunity to recite your beautiful words! On a more personal note, I was thrilled to learn that Monica Brown’s latest book also received a prize; the Pura Belpré Honor for illustration. Raúl Colón’s images once again graced the pages of a children’s book to help make yet another lucky author’s words come alive. The personal nature of this award, for me, has to do with the fact that I too have now had the chance to work with the wonderfully talented Ms. Brown. Rayo will publish her first book with HarperCollins Children’s Books in winter of 2009: PELÉ, KING OF SOCCER/PELÉ, EL REY DEL FÚTBOL, a biography of the soccer great, to add to Monica’s stunningly beautiful collection of picture book biographies, thanks to the dynamic and colorful illustrations of Rudy Gutiérrez. Keep an eye out for that one, my fellow bloggers, I promise it won’t disappoint! I have also been very fortunate this past year to work with other amazingly talented award-winning authors and illustrators, such as Pat Mora, Rafael López, and Joe Cepeda. I want you to know about what Rayo has coming up, and I want you to tell your fellow librarians, and your friends, because for me, managing Rayo is truly a labor of love. I remember arriving in the US when I was 12 years old and rushing to learn English as quickly as I could so that I could get my hands on some of the wonderful literature written in that language. But I also never stopped reading in Spanish. Today, I feel extremely fortunate to be bilingual, and bicultural, and my mission at Rayo, as I see it, is to pass on this wonderful gift to a new generation of bilingual and bicultural Latino children. Please join us, and join me! The next generation deserves nothing less than the best! And again, please don’t hesitate to send me your comments and ideas; tell me about the wonderful authors and illustrators I should know about. What you like, and what you don’t like. What you see working in your libraries, and what most definitely does not. I am all ears. ‘Til next time ALSC!
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By: Teresa Walls,
on 2/1/2008
Blog: ALSC Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Collection Development, News of Interest, Children's Literature (all forms), Literary and Related Awards, Add a tag
The Award Winner for 2008:
Birmingham, 1963 by Carole Boston Weatherford (Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press)
Two Honor Books:
Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems by John Grandits (Clarion Books)
This Is Just To Say; Poems Of Apology And Forgiveness by Joyce Sidman (Hougton Mifflin)
Sylvia Vardell posted about it on her blog, Poetry for Children. The Lee Bennett Hopkins Award for Children’s Poetry is administered by Pennsylvania State University College of Education and the Pennsylvania State University Libraries.
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By: Teresa Walls,
on 1/31/2008
Blog: ALSC Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Podcast, Awards & Scholarships, ALSC Blogger, Teresa Walls, Children's Literature (all forms), Literary and Related Awards, ALA Midwinter 2008, Add a tag
There are four different sections in this roughly 10 minute audio file.
- Sing At Your Library, a great part of the Kids! @ Your Library Campaign. At Your Library by Bill Harley © 2005 Round River Records, used with permission www.billharley.com
- Listen to a brief intro to the rest of the podcast. Special thanks to ALSC member Elizabeth Bird. She is a children’s librarian at New York Public Library’s Donnell’s Central Children’s Room and in her spare time, she writes A Fuse #8 Production for School Library Journal and A Fuse #8 Production - Podcast Edition. She kindly shared her audio files from 2008 ALA Midwinter with us.
- Aaah along with the people present at the Hyperion Book Preview Event.
- Be prepared to adjust your sound for these snippets from the 2008 Media Awards Presentation.
Episode 1
Sing, Aaah, Jump, and Scream Along
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By: Teresa Walls,
on 1/22/2008
Blog: ALSC Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Collection Development, News of Interest, Children's Literature (all forms), Literary and Related Awards, Add a tag
The Mystery Writers of America has announced The 2008 Edgar Awards Nominees. The nominees for the Best Juvenile category are:
- The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
- Shadows on Society Hill by Evelyn Coleman (American Girl Publications)
- Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn (Clarion Books)
- The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh (Hyperion Books for Young Readers)
- Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things by Wendelin Van Draanen (Random House Children’s Books - Alfred A. Knopf)
The Mystery Writers of America also offers an online reading list of past Edgar Award winning and nominated children’s and young adult books.
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Posted on 1/14/2008
Blog: ALSC Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: News of Interest, ALSC Blogger, Teresa Walls, Children's Literature (all forms), Literary and Related Awards, Other ALA Divisions/Programs, Add a tag
Tasha Saecker of Menasha (WI) Library posted the 2008 American Indian Youth Literature Award, given by The American Indiana Library Associaiton (AILA), on her Kids Lit Blog.
For more information about the award criteria, please visit the AILA site, click on Activities and select AILA Native American Youth Services Literature Awards.
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Posted on 1/14/2008
Blog: ALSC Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: ALSC Blogger, Teresa Walls, Committees, Children's Literature (all forms), Literary and Related Awards, Other ALA Divisions/Programs, Add a tag
Please excuse the lack of formatting. I will correct the post; I just want to get the information on the blog right now. Thanks to my good friends, Mary and Becky for calling me. For Laura Schulte-Cooper for posting to ALSC-L and to Teri Lesesne of YALSA for posting to YALSA blog during the announcements. I hope that many of you were able to learn of the awards in real time via the webcast.
John Newbery Medal
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz (Candlewick)
Newbery Honor Books
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis (Scholastic/Scholastic Press)
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (Clarion)
Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson (Putnam/GP Putnam’s Sons)
Randolph Caldecott Medal
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (Scholastic)
Caldecott Honor Books
Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, written by Ellen Levine (Scholastic/Scholastic Press)
First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger (Roaring Brook/Neal Porter)
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtin by Peter Sís (Farrar/Frances Foster)
Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems (Hyperion)
2009 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecturer
Walter Dean Myers
Mildred L. Batchelder Award
VIZ Media, publisher of Brave Story, by Miyuki Miyabe, translated from the Japanese by Alexander O. Smith
Batchelder Honor Books
Milkweed Editions, publisher of The Cat: Or, How I Lost Eternity, by Jutta Richter, illustrated by Rotraut Susanne Berner, and translated from the German by Anna Brailovsky
Phaidon Press, publisher of Nicholas and the Gang, written by René Goscinny, illustrated by Jacques Sempé, and translated from the French by Anthea Bell
Pura Belpré Author Award
The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Sean Qualls (Holt)
Belpré Author Honor Books
Frida: ¡Viva la vida! Long Live Life! by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand (Marshall Cavendish)
Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale, retold by Carmen Agra Deedy, illustrated by Michael Austin (Peachtree)
Los Gatos Black on Halloween, written by Marisa Montes, illustrated by Yuyi Morales (Holt)
Pura Belpré Illustrator Award
Los Gatos Black on Halloween, illustrated by Yuyi Morales, written by Marisa Montes (Holt)
Belpré Illustrator Honor Books
My Name Is Gabito: The Life of Gabriel García Márquez/Me llamo Gabito: la vida de Gabriel García Márquez, illustrated by Raúl Colón, written by Monica Brown (Luna Rising)
My Colors, My World/Mis colores, mi mundo, written and illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez (Children’s Book Press)
Andrew Carnegie Medal
Kevin Lafferty, producer, John Davis, executive producer, and Amy Palmer Robertson and Danielle Sterling, co-producers, of Jump In: Freestyle Edition
Theodor Seuss Geisel Award
There Is a Bird on Your Head! by Mo Willems (Hyperion)
Geisel Honor Books
First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger (Roaring Brook/Neal Porter)
Hello, Bumblebee Bat, written by Darrin Lunde, illustrated by Patricia J. Wynne (Charlesbridge)
Jazz Baby, written by Lisa Wheeler, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie (Harcourt)
Vulture View, written by April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Steve Jenkins (Holt)
Odyssey Award
Jazz, Live Oak Media
Odyssey Honor Audiobooks
Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary “Jacky” Faber, Ship’s Boy, Listen & Live Audio
Dooby Dooby Moo, Weston Woods/Scholastic
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Listening Library
Skulduggery Pleasant, HarperCollins Audio
Treasure Island, Listening Library
Sibert Medal
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtin by Peter Sís (Farrar/Frances Foster)
Sibert Honor Books
Lightship by Brian Floca (Simon & Schuster/Richard Jackson)
Nic Bishop Spiders by Nic Bishop (Scholastic/Scholastic Nonfiction)
YALSA ALEX Awards:
AMERICAN SHAOLIN
BAD MONKEYS
ESSEX COUNTY VOLUME 1
GENGHISTHE
GOD OF ANIMALS
A LONG WAY GONE
MISTER PIP
THE NAME OF THE WIND
THE NIGHT BIRDS
THE SPELLMAN FILES
SCHNEIDER FAMILY AWARD
KAMI AND THE YAKS (young children)
REACHING FOR SUN (middle grade book)
HURT GO HAPPY (teen book)
CORETTA SCOTT KING
CORETTA SCOTT KING STEPTOE: SUNDEE T FRAZIER for Brendan Buckey’s Universe and Everything in It
Two Coretta Scott King author honors:
NOVEMBER BLUES BY SHARON DRAPER
TWELVE ROUNDS TO GLORY BY CHARLES SMITH
Coretta Scott King AUTHOR WINNER: ELIJAH OF BUXTON BY CHRISTOPHER PAUL CURTIS
Coretta Scott King ILLUSTRATOR HONOR:
THE SECRET OLIVIA TOLD ME
JAZZ ON A SATURDAY NIGHT
Coretta Scott King ILLUSTRATOR: ASHLEY BRYAN FOR LET IT SHINE
YALSA EDWARDS: ORSON SCOTT CARD for Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow
YALSA PRINTZ HONOR:
DREAMQUAKE
ONE WHOLE AND PERFECT DAY
REPOSSESSED
YOUR OWN SYLVIA
YALSA PRINTZ WINNER: THE WHITE DARKNESS
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By: KT Horning,
on 1/11/2008
Blog: ALSC Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Professional Development, Literary and Related Awards, Evaluation of Media, ALSC Board, ALA Annual 2008, Add a tag
Today I participated in the first-ever Bill Morris Seminar, which was recently established to honor the memory of long-time Director of Library Promotion and Marketing at HarperCollins. Bill was the first recipient of ALSC’s Distinguished Service Award back in 1992. Those of us who knew Bill will always remember his great support of youth librarians, and we could think of no better way to honor him than offer training in materials evaluation for new ALSC members and for those with little prior evaluation experience.
The 26 participants were selected by members of the ALSC Executive Committee, based on applications and nominations submitted last fall. These librarians came from all over the U.S., and we found them to be a lively, committed, and enthusiastic group. At the Seminar, they received training from member leaders who had served on ALSC evaluation committees in the past, and each participant read ten assigned children’s books in advance so we could discuss them in small groups in the morning and afternoon.
I sat in on two of the discussion groups and I was impressed by the high level of book evaluation and discussion. Many of these newly active members will soon be appointed to ALSC media evaluation committees, and ALSC will benefit greatly from their future participation. As President-Elect Pat Scales said at the end of the day, “Bill would be in heaven.” I could almost picture him, standing in the doorway, thanking everyone for coming as they left the room.
And, of course, he would already have learned everybody’s name.
– KT Horning
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By: jnajduch,
on 1/8/2008
Blog: ALSC Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: News of Interest, Children's Literature (all forms), Literary and Related Awards, Evaluation of Media, ALSC Office Blogger, ALA Midwinter 2008, Uncategorized, Add a tag
As you may know, ALA’s youth media award winners will be announced at a press conference on Monday morning, January 14 at ALA’s Midwinter Meeting. You can learn about the winners in person, via Web Cast, or directly from your cell phone via text message. Here is where you can go to find out more:
1) The announcement and instructions for the text Message Service around the YMA Award Winners is at http://www.ala.org/ala/pressreleases2008/january2008/ymatext08.htm
2) The wiki page is also ready, showing off all three ways to learn about the winners: In Person, by Web Cast, and Directly to Your Cell Phone via Text Message at
http://wikis.ala.org/midwinter2008/index.php/When_and_Where
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Hi, Chris,
I am also a bookaholic. When we moved from our home of 40 yrs. to our present co-op apartment, the lamentations and wailing on my part had to do with the fact that I had to leave behind many of my beloved bookcases full of books. We donated everything in good shape to the library booksale that spring. Hopefully, the books found good homes. But I still buy and receive as gifts many books and things are getting crowded once again!
Jacqueline Seewald
THE TRUTH SLEUTH
very interesting post! need to say i love it! thank you for sharing!
Hey Jacqueline, I can't imagine really having to limit them. I have 2 small bookcases and 2 large. Only 1 small one has all books...it adds up.
I have many books. I like to read the book:)
Intersting comment about tastes in books changing. I can totally relate. I have shelves full of books I'll never read again...but I love having a library collection and can't bear to part with them.
I'm also addicted to books. I have tons of print books at home, yet now that I have a kindle I keep going to Amazon and getting more kindle books. There's no hope for me, I'm afraid!
Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
http://www.morganmandel.com