How lucky am I?
What an incredible line-up.
I will learn so much.
I am grateful.
Thank you, Jennifer Brown, Bank Street, and all those writers, reviewers, librarians, teachers, thinkers that I will learn from soon.
You can register at
Bank Street College. And I hope you will.
Today is not just the 25th anniversary of the
Fall of the Berlin Wall. It's the 25th anniversary of the remarkable, enduring, smart, and somehow simultaneously huge and intimate Children's Book World of Haverford, PA.
As part of the celebration, CBW hosted The Caldecott Panel at Friends' Central School—the very best of the very best right there on City Line Avenue. Chris Van Allsburg. David Wiesner. Brian Selznick. And Jennifer M. Brown as moderator of what quickly became a wide-ranging conversation about black and white vs. color, visual narratives, filmic translations, the plot power of the artistic media, the certain school of design attended by all three of these great storytellers (RISD), and who taught who, or who might have taught who, or who wished they had taught who.
There they sat on one long couch and two book-ending chairs, surprising each other, while Jenny Brown, who knows this business better than anyone anywhere (our Ambassador of Children's Literature, I've always said), asked her intelligent questions, sat back, and enjoyed the surprises, too.
A packed house. An eager audience. Dozens of hands flying up during the Q and A—half of those hands belonging to children.
You want to celebrate one of the top children's book stores in the country? I can think of no better way.
Congratulations, CBW. The lovely lady with the dark tresses, by the way, is CBW's own Heather Hebert.
The New York Times Book Review has unveiled its annual list of the “10 Best Illustrated Children’s Books” of the year.
Shelf Awareness children’s editor Jennifer M. Brown, Caldecott Medal-winning artist Brian Floca, and Caldecott Medal recipient Jerry Pinkney sat on this year’s judging panel. See the complete list below.
Here’s more from the press release: “Since 1952, the Book Review has convened an independent panel of three judges from the world of children’s literature to select picture books on the basis of artistic merit. Each year, judges choose from among thousands of picture books for what is the only annual award of its kind. Lists of past winners of the Best Illustrated Children’s Book Award can be found on NYTimes.com/Books, along with a slide show of this year’s winners.”
(more…)
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
See that pretty lady up there? The one
beside the Olympian in purple (Kristi Yamaguchi)? That is my friend, Jenny Brown, though if I claim her as my own friend this morning, it is not to negate her friendships with and toward the entire world of children's publishing. Jenny has done it all in her publishing life—teacher, editor, mentor, reviewer, Twenty by Jenny-er, and (I like to call her this) crusader. You most recently know her as the children's book editor of Shelf Awareness, but as of today you will also know her as the part-time Interim Director of the Center for Children's Literature at the Bank Street College of Education, a position which she describes as "an organic evolution of my work on the Children's Book Committee, where we read books together as reviewers, social workers, teachers, librarians, historians, and art directors." Jenny calls the Center a think tank and she will have an opportunity to play a big role in shaping the reading life of children.
Who could be better for this position? No one. Jenny loves good books, she loves the people who make them, she loves the people for whom good books are made. She's also a very fine writer—and singer—as I found out when I interviewed her for
Publishing Perspectives. Here's
that piece, in case you somehow (how
could you?) missed it.
Congratulations, Jennifer M. Brown!
By: Beth Kephart ,
on 7/29/2015
By: Maryann Yin,
on 7/23/2015
