How to use this Page

We’re now a two weeks out from the conclusion of the 2015 ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco, which is a good amount of time for those who were able to attend to be able to let the learning percolate into some major takeaways. As promised, we at the Public Awareness Committee are back to follow up on some of the sessions we were most excited for at ALA.

Leadership & ALSC – Lisa Guernsey gave an excellent keynote to tie in with the official release of the white paper Media Mentorship in Libraries Serving Youth. Her talk, titled “Literacy & Equity in the 21st Century: The Critical Role of Media Mentors,” began with the acknowledgement of the “quiet crisis”–that children are struggling to learn to read proficiently. Guernsey quoted data about how two-thirds of American children in fourth grade are not reading at a fourth grade proficiency, and that numbers are even high amount children of color and children on free and reduced lunch. That’s a crisis indeed. We know that is major crisis exists, and if we ignore technology and how it can be used with children, says Guernsey, we are missing an opportunity to support kids. Guernsey went on to share some research and resources on this topic, including some tips and recommendations for using technology in positive, literacy-developing ways with children. Her core message, if anything, is that any tool that can help get toward equity in children’s literacy is one worth exploring to wield it well.

Pura Belpré Award Celebración – I was unable to attend this celebration due to another engagement, but I am thrilled that the remarks of medal and honor winners are available online for anyone who’d like to celebrate these talented writers and illustrators even more. Here are the Belpré remarks. And all throughout the conference, folks were reminding attendees to look forward to next year’s 20th anniversary celebration of the Belpré. It’s sure to be an event to remember!

Babies Need Words Every Day – This program served as the major release of ALSC’s initiative “Babies Need Words Every Day,” which aims to help close the 30 million word gap by encouraging parents and caregivers of young children to interact with their children through talking, reading, singing, and playing. If you haven’t yet seen the beautiful posters–designed to go over changing tables, but truly limitless in their applicability–make sure you do that ASAP and print some off for your library and other local establishments that families with young children use. Then check out School Library Journal‘s excellent writeup of both this conference session and the initiative.

Speeches at the Newbery-Caldecott-Wilder Awards Banquet – These speeches are moving every year, but I think Dan Santat’s Caldecott acceptance speech takes the metaphorical cake for packing the biggest punch. Santat, it turns out, is not only an incredibly prolific author and illustrator with over a dozen books out last year along; but he’s also affected by a persistent feeling of “will he ever be good enough.” This sentiment really resonated with me in a library conference context, as I see so many library professionals who fall into this same psychological trap–doing so many things, but not being able to easily see the value and import of those things. Santat’s award perhaps means all the more because he never assumed he deserved it. This speech (read it in full here) in particular reminded me why I am so happy there are so many awards for youth media, because there are so many deserving authors and illustrators whose works make huge impacts on the lives of children. Kwame Alexander’s Newbery acceptance speech was beautiful in its own poetic way, with the author’s reminiscences of how, he thinks, he got to the point of being at that podium accepting the award. Life is full of moments of impact–that’s my major takeaway of the Newbery speech (read it in full here). And finally, Donald Crews wrapped up the evening with his acceptance of the Wilder Medal, during which he reflected on a life and career filled with art and love. Beautiful words (read the speech here) to accompany a beautiful body of work.

Early Literacy Outreach for Teen Parents – This is another session which I personally was unable to attend, but I had quite a few conversations with folks who were able to sit in on the session. The biggest takeaway of these attendees’ takeaways, for me, was the framing of the unique and powerful role that a library staff member can fill in the life of a teen parent. The presenters set up an analogy of the librarian not as teacher to the teens, but as a sort of grandparent. These teens have plenty of teachers, most of whom are ultimately concerned with whether the teens learn specific content. Grandparents, on the other hand, are full of joy at spending time with the teen; supportive of the teen; and both a resource and role model in ways that are not didactic. In filling that grandparent-type role, librarians serving teen parents are able to have a tremendous impact on the whole lives of the teens, including but not limited to just their parenting. What a powerful way to think of this work.

Finally, if you haven’t already done so, I recommend checking out the coverage and recaps of the conference that have been published here on the ALSC Blog. You can check out all the livebloggers’ coverage by perusing the “Live Blogging” tag, and you can also read a recap from our division president, Andrew Medlar.

What were your top takeaways from #alaac15?

Amy Koester is Youth & Family Program Coordinator at Skokie (IL) Public Library and is writing this post for the Public Awareness Committee, of which she is chair. You can reach her at [email protected].

The post Takeaways from Sessions at #alaac15 appeared first on ALSC Blog.

As a member of the 2015 Caldecott committee, making “the call” to Dan Santat on the morning of February 2 was such a thrill. The good folks at ALA make it possible for you to experience it HERE. Once the announcements of the Caldecott awards were made public, the Internet buzzed. One of the first things I saw online after the announcements was this short video from Dan Santat. It melted my heart. I was running on adrenaline, very little sleep, and home-made ginger cookies at this point, and that little clip just really got me. Dan Santat’s first Tweet of that day was “I’m so bummed the Patriots won the #SuperBowl last night. My whole day is ruined.” I immediately thought, “The guy is funny!” You can follow him on Twitter @dsantat. When I got back to my hotel room, I saw this amazing craft from This Picture Book Life blog. It inspired me to create my own Snow Beekle once I got back home.

When I was home I really dug in to read the Caldecott news. There are several interviews that will give you more about Dan Santat, like this one from Publisher’s Weekly, this one from NPR, this one from Dan’s local station in Pasadena, and this one on the 7 Impossible Things blog. And there’s this fun podcast from Picturebooking.

So, there’s a lot of Beekle love out there, and it is well-deserved. This year’s Caldecott medal book is one that you can share at preschool storytime. There’s already a craft you can make (with preschoolers I’d use frosting scribblers instead of Sharpie marker to make the face because you know they are going to want to eat it). You can use The Adventures of Beekle, the Unimaginary Friend with older groups, too. It is a seemingly simple book, but so much is going on. Embedded in this story is the archetypal Hero’s Journey: Beekle leaves home on a quest, heeding his call to adventure. He leaves his normal world and ventures out into the unknown. He then experiences trials in that world: he is looking for something, and searches valiantly. Once Beekle finds what he is looking for, and has bonded with his new friend, he can return, and do the unimaginable. For more on the Hero’s Journey, and how Beekle relates, try this link.

Photo by Angela J. Reynolds

Look closely at that art! Each section of the journey is denoted by color and slight style changes, and fits the pacing just right. Look for the color yellow to tell you that change or something significant has occurred. Look at the emotion on our hero’s face when he meets his friend. Explore those end pages. Take that dust jacket off and revel in the lovely board cover underneath. Find the joy in this book that so many young children do. And don’t forget to look for the Beekle Bum – that image gets noticed every time I share this book in storytime.
Have fun with this book, and if you have more ideas on how to use it in storytime or in the classroom, share in the comments!

The post The Beekle Experience appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Inadvertently or not, ALA heeded the call of the zeitgeist when it honored six books (out of ten in toto) by people of color in the 2015 Newbery and Caldecott medals and honors, announced last month at the Midwinter conference in Chicago. The winners were Kwame Alexander (African American) for Newbery and Dan Santat (Asian American) for Caldecott; the honor recipients included women of color Jacqueline Woodson for the Newbery and Yuyi Morales, Jillian Tamaki, and Lauren Castillo for the Caldecott. This is all wonderful news.

Yet another honoree represents diversity of a different kind: Cece Bell, who won a Newbery Honor for the graphic-novel memoir El Deafo, is deaf. At that same ALA conference, ALSC held a day-long institute about diversity in books for young people. While speakers were careful to note that diversity included identifiers beyond ethnic group, more than one opined that what we were “really” talking about on this day was the depiction of people of color in children’s and YA literature. While that topic is more than enough for a day’s work, is it, “really,” all we are talking about?

Cece Bell presents one valuable exception; the five men whose work is profiled by Barbara Bader beginning on page 24 present another. No one would claim that these men were invisible; among them, they have fifteen Caldecott or Newbery citations and three Laura Ingalls Wilder medals. (Sendak takes the lion’s share while Remy Charlip, always ahead of the curve, has none.) And coming of artistic age at a time when such things were secret — or at least private — they all were gay. Tomie dePaola, God bless him, alone among them is still alive and flourishing: witness his glorious cover portrait of himself among brothers, convened in a party by noted hostess and self-proclaimed genius Gertrude Stein. (Who wouldn’t pay to see Jim Marshall try to make Gertrude Stein laugh? I bet he could and she would.)

Jokes about Frog and Toad being more than friends aside, none of these men ever wrote explicitly about being gay — first, one assumes, because of the strictures of the times and, second, because they created books for very young children. What enabled them to do so with such heart and intelligence? Only Arnold Lobel had children, but they all could, as Bader writes, “think big on a small child’s level.” Does their being gay have anything to do with this? I think yes.

Much is made by diversity advocates of the need to have cultural insiders create books that convey a culture with empathy, authenticity, and respect. True enough. But don’t outsiders have something to offer as well? The five artists Bader profiles grew up in an era in which gays and lesbians could not even look to their own families, never mind the wider community, for affirmation. Gay kids grew up alone, attentive to all the ways in which they did not belong. It tends to make one an extremely good observer, the first step in becoming an artist. Never underestimate the payoff of a lonely childhood.

I am certainly glad times are different now. Out gay artists, along with all those represented in the alphabet soup that is queer identity today, create picture books and novels and nonfiction for young people that forthrightly address a spectrum of sexuality and gender identity, and fewer people blink every day. But may these same artists also remember their rich legacy and continue to create wild things and clowns of God, friendly frogs and hippos, arm in arm in arm in arm to touch the imaginations of our children all.

From the March/April 2015 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

The post Editorial: The Difference That Made Them appeared first on The Horn Book.

The books! Photo by Angela J. Reynolds

Shovels in hand, 15 brave souls entered a room in a hotel in Chicago. We knew there was treasure to be found, we knew that we would have to dig deep into our year of looking at over 500 picture books in order to find the gems. We tried to find the right words (vocabulary, phrases, terms) to express how our favorite books met the criteria. We bravely donned our capes of red wool; we dreamed of art, and lost things, and finding friends. We picked up pebbles of wisdom, like stones at the beach that one summer. Our minds were filled with noisy colors. And together, we did the unimaginable.

It has been just two weeks since the 2015 Caldecott Awards were announced, and I still feel the warm glow of that experience. The seven books that our committee chose to receive those shiny stickers have me still reeling. I look at them and smile. Each one of them means something to me, and I have realized that our set of books is all about discovery. Just like Beekle on his heroic journey to friendship, our committee set out to find the most distinguished book published in 2014. There were many amazing books, and I know that each and every member of our committee has a few books that did not make our final list that they will always treasure. You just don’t spend that much time re-reading and looking closely without developing a relationship with the books. Together we found the books that we agreed met the criteria and rose to the top of the pile.

Caldesnacks! Photo by Angela J. Reynolds

Being on the Caldecott Committee has been a longtime career goal. Now it is a career highlight, and I have found 14 new friends that shared an experience (and a lot of great snacks) that no-one can know about (actually, I can tell you all about the snacks if you want to know). The Adventures of Beekle, the Unimaginary Friend, by Dan Santat, was announced on Monday, February 2. Sitting in the convention center hall, my hands were shaking. Never had the announcement of the awards been so personal, so exciting, so nerve-wracking. I had to remind myself to breathe. Since we knew who the winner was on Saturday night, one of our committee members thought it would be fun for us to wear crowns like Beekle’s after the book was announced. She made them on Sunday and kept them secret until the book was named on Monday morning. Donning that yellow paper crown marked one of my happiest moments as a librarian. Our committee was so proud of those books.

The Caldecott Buzz was enormous. In years past, I have chatted with others about the awards. I engaged in the “why didn’t my favorite book win” banter with friends and colleagues. I read the blogs with fervor, and sometimes even joined in on the second-guessing that naturally goes on each year. “What were they thinking?” is often bandied about when the awards are announced, and I fully understand why. These book awards mean a lot to us. They recognize, very publicly, that children’s books matter. They celebrate art and literature and story and make us look closely at books, and at ourselves. This year the comments, both in person and online, were somehow louder. I love hearing people’s reactions, and I enjoy reading the critical analysis that has resulted. For those who are disgruntled, upset, or still wondering why our committee chose the books we chose, I say, read the Caldecott Manual, linked here. Read the criteria. And read them again. Read them a third time. Our committee heeded (observed, abided by, adhered to) that manual; we read it many times. My copy has margin notes, tabs, highlighter, tea stains. The manual was our guide, our touchstone, our handbook. And because the committee deliberations are confidential, you’ll never know exactly what happened in that room, other than the fact that we did what we were tasked to do, and we chose a winner and six honor books. Celebrate that with us. Find the joy in those books, like we did. Find the readers who will love those books, because they are out there. And like the Newbery committee’s t-shirts said, “Trust the Process”.

The post Post-Caldecott appeared first on ALSC Blog.

On Friday, January 30, 2015 the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), in collaboration with the Children’s Book Council hosted the invitation-only Day of Diversity: Dialogue and Action in Children’s Literature and Library Programming. Recognizing the conversations at the event was of interest to a much larger audience than we were able to accommodate at the Day of Diversity, ALSC and the CBC Diversity Committee sponsored a follow up program at ALA Midwinter. ALSC will continue to share information and outcomes from this event widely.

On Monday, February 2nd during their Session II meeting, the ALSC Board of Directors reflected on the Day of Diversity and put together a list of commitments by the Association for the next three months and the next six months.

This isn’t the start of the diversity or inclusion conversation for ALSC, nor by any means is it the end. This list reflects the measurable next steps that ALSC’s leadership has committed the Association to taking in the short term. These steps include educational opportunities for our members and opportunities for all ALSC members to add their voice and ideas to this conversation. We look forward to your participation and feedback throughout.

Completed

• At the ALSC Board of Directors Session II on Monday, February 2, 2015 – the Board voted to move the start time of ALSC’s All-Committee meeting, during Annual Conference only, to 10:30AM – 12:00PM to allow for more participation by ALSC members at the CSK Breakfast. The Board recognizes that this may limit the amount of time committees have to work, but encourages chairs to work throughout the year virtually between meetings to disperse the workload.

3 Months

• ALSC President Ellen Riordan will host an open online Day of Diversity Forum in February 2015. Stay tuned for the finalized date and time.

• ALSC will host a free Building STEAM with Día webinar.

• ALSC will craft, and make available, a value based elevator speech about Día in order to assist youth services librarians in advocating for resources to plan Día and other multicultural programming.

• ALSC will convene a taskforce that will review multiple areas within the Association including materials, services and profession; and propose high level changes to move the diversity needle forward within children’s librarianship.

6 Months

• ALSC will complete a Building STEAM with Día Toolkit.

• Together, ALSC and the Children’s Book Council, will compile Day of Diversity survey results, resources, and participant’s personal ‘next steps’ and make information available online.

• An “action” tab will be placed on the Día website which will contain resources shared at the Day of Diversity with additional content added. Additionally, ALSC will link to these resources from the professional tools portion of the ALSC website.

• ALSC award and evaluation committee chair trainings will include a discussion about inclusion and diversity.

The post ALSC’s Next Steps after Day of Diversity appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Chicago still has long coffee lines, it’s really snowing, and ALA staff is just an L ride away, but it’s just not the same around here without all of you! (I think most planes, trains, and cars have finally made it out, am I right?)

It really was another magnificent Midwinter and my yesterday, Monday, was a great way to wrap it up.

The Youth Media Awards, obviously! Congrats & thanks to all of the committees and staff who made it a reality. Well done, also, to the folks on the podium with the early morning responsibility and thrill of telling the world! Afterwards, I was reunited with my ALSC Budget Committee compatriots as we tied a bow on the preliminary proposed budget for FY16, which the Board later approved. We also recommended applying some of the generous Friends of ALSC donations to supporting early literacy work and connecting babies and words. Also approved!

The second ALSC Board meeting from 1:30-5:45 was one of the most productive I’ve ever seen! We made changes to the Annual conference schedule so that there aren’t any ALSC committee conflicts with the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Breakfast, moved forward with a strategy for the strong future of ALSC’s Online Continuing Education, adopted a proactive conflict of interest policy, and built on our commitment to diversity by enhancing our Day of Diversity action plan. There are many great things to come!

Then some relaxation at the joint ALSC & YALSA reception, thanks to 3M, and a toast to fantastic times ahead and a better future for kids through libraries. Cheers!

The post Missing You #alamw15 appeared first on ALSC Blog.

After my last meeting of the day, I went straight to my hotel, removed my snow-covered boots and sat down on my bed.  Part of me wanted to stay in my cozy spot, but I’d told a colleague I’d meet her at the ALSC and YALSA Joint Member Reception.  So I figured I’d better put my boots back on.

And I’m very glad I did!  In addition to catching up with my colleague, I got to see some other familiar faces and meet a few new brilliant librarians.  I loved getting to hear about everyone’s conference highlights and favorite Youth Media Award recipients.  Whenever I am in the presence of a large group Children’s and Teen Librarians, I am astounded by their vast knowledge, passion for their work and openness to new ideas.  What a perfect a way to end my conference.

The post Joint ALSC and YALSA Member Reception at #alamw15 appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Lately, I’ve been investigating and thinking about ways we serve young people with special needs, and how it ties in with the heightened focus on diversity.

At yesterday’s “Diversity Matters: Stepping It Up With Action!,” publishers and librarians engaged in a fascinating dialogue about practical ways we can include all voices. We should: hire more diverse staff; reach out to authors from underrepresented backgrounds; do targeted outreach; and develop partnerships with community organizations. But, as many audience members pointed out, our efforts should not only address race, culture, and sexual orientation, but should also include people with special needs.

Here are a few highlights of special needs resources found/represented at #alamw15:

*Remarkable Books about Young People with Special Needs: Stories to Foster Understanding by Alison M. G. Follos (Huron Street Press, 2013)

*Children with Disabilities in the Library – an ALSC online professional development course.

*Schneider Family Book Award, which “honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.”

• 2014 YA Winner: Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein (Hyperion)
• 2014 Middle School Winner: Handbook for Dragon Slayers by Merrie Haskell (Harper Collins)
• 2014 Children’s Book Winner: A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin by Jen Bryant; Illustrated by Melissa Sweet (Alfred A. Knopf)

*The Association for Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA), a division of ALA which provides support and services for libraries and librarians serving special needs communities.

*AccessAbility Academy training module (ASCLA): “Positive Interactions: Making the Library a Welcoming and Empowering Place for People with Disabilities”

* @DisabilityInLit (Twitter feed) – Disability in KidLit, which focuses on the portrayal of disabled characters in MG/YA novels.

*Brooklyn Public Library offers the Child’s Room for Children (and Teens) with Special Needs, which features a universal design space and inclusive programming: a universal Makerspace, gaming, garden club, Legos, and story hours.

*Weplay – #alamw15 was the first time this vendor came to an ALA conference. Their focus is “physical movement and cognitive development equipment.” They offer a free 94-page Sensory Storytime handbook, developed especially for libraries.

Do you have more resources to share? Please post in the comments field.

The post Diversity: Special Needs at #alamw15 appeared first on ALSC Blog.

This morning I awoke bright and early (read: 5:45am) to line up for the Youth Media Awards. As always, it was an unforgettable experience to be in the room when the honor and award titles were announced! I laughed, I cheered, I tweeted, I gasped, I was in awe of the extremely talented ASL interpreter.

After the exhilarating announcements, I quickly checked my flight status only to find that my flight this afternoon had been canceled. Although it took a bit to get everything settled (2 hours on hold with the airline…but who’s counting?), after it was all said and done my flight was rescheduled for tomorrow morning.

Even though I’m longing to see my family and get back to work (my to-do list is so long!), I’ve decided to embrace this “bonus” day at the conference. As I type this, I’m once again sitting on the Notable Children’s Book as the committee examines non-fiction titles. I’ll be able to meet up with wonderful friends for dinner, and for the first time attend the ALSC and YALSA Joint Reception this evening.

So I hope if you’re also stuck in Chicago for a “bonus” day that you’re able to spend this extra time with wonderful friends (old or new).

The post Bonus Day at #alamw15 appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Alex Awards

for the ten best adult books that appeal to teen audiences

• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Scribner)
• Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia (Houghton)
• Bingo’s Run by James A. Levine (Random House/Spiegel & Grau)
• Confessions by Kanae Minato, trans. by Stephen Snyder (Little, Brown/Mulholland Books)
• Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (Penguin Press)
• Lock In by John Scalzi (Tom Doherty/Tor)
• The Martian by Andy Weir (Random House/Crown)
• The Terrorist’s Son: A Story of Choice by Zak Ebrahim with Jeff Giles (Simon/TED Books)
• Those Who Wish Me Dead by Michael Koryta (Little, Brown)
• Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle (Farrar)

May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award

recognizing an author, critic, librarian, historian, or teacher of children’s literature, who then presents a lecture at a winning host site

Pat Mora will deliver the 2016 lecture

Andrew Carnegie Medal

for excellence in children’s video

Me…Jane produced by Paul Gagne and Melissa Reilly Ellard (Weston Woods)

Margaret A. Edwards Award

for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults

Sharon M. Draper for Tears of a Tiger (1994), Forged by Fire (1997), Darkness Before Dawn (2001), Battle of Jericho (2004), Copper Sun (2006), and November Blues (2007), all published by Atheneum

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award

for the most distinguished beginning reader book

Winner
You Are (Not) Small by Anna Kang; illus. by Christopher Weyant (Two Lions, New York)

Honor Books
• Mr. Putter and Tabby Turn the Page by Cynthia Rylant; illus. by Arthur Howard (Houghton)
• Waiting is Not Easy! by Mo Willems; illus. by the author (Disney/Hyperion)

Virginia Hamilton Award

given by the Coretta Scott King Task Force for lifetime achievement

Deborah D. Taylor, coordinator of school and student services at Baltimore’s Enoch Free Library

William C. Morris Award

honors a book written by a first-time author for young adults

Winner
Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero (Cinco Puntos Press)

Finalists
• The Carnival at Bray by Jessie Ann Foley (Elephant Rock Productions)
• The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim by E. K. Johnson (Lerner/Carolrhoda Lab)
• The Scar Boys by Len Vlahos (Egmont)
• The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton (Candlewick)

Odyssey Award

for excellence in audiobook production

Winner
H.O.R.S.E.: A Game of Basketball and Imagination written by Christopher Myers and narrated by Dion Graham and Christopher Myers (Live Oak Media)

Honor Books
• Five, Six, Seven, Nate! written and narrated by Tim Federle (AUDIOWORKS Children’s)
• The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place written by Julie Berry and narrated by Jayne Entwistle (Listening Library)
• A Snicker of Magic written by Natalie Lloyd and narrated by Cassandra Morris (Scholastic Audiobooks)

Schneider Family Book Award

for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience

Children, ages 0–10
A Boy and a Jaguar by Alan Rabinowitz; illus. by Catia Chien (Houghton)

Middle School, ages 11–13
Rain, Reign by Ann M. Martin (Feiwel)

Teen, ages 13–18
Girls Like Us by Gail Giles (Candlewick)

John Steptoe New Talent Award

given by the Coretta Scott King Task Force to young authors or illustrators who demonstrate outstanding promise

When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds (Atheneum)

Stonewall Book Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature

given annually to English-language children’s and young adult books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender experience

Winner
• This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman; illus. by Kristyna Litten (Magination Press)

Honor books
• Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin (Candlewick)
• I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson (Dial)
• Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress by Christine Baldacchino; illus. by Isabelle Malenfant (Groundwood)

Laura Ingalls Wilder Award

given biannually to honor an author or illustrator for a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children

Donald Crews

YALSA Nonfiction Award

for excellence in nonfiction for young adults

Winner
Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek by Maya Van Wagenen (Dutton)

Finalists
• Laughing at My Nightmare by Shane Burcaw (Roaring Brook)
• The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming (Schwartz & Wade)
• Ida M. Tarbell: The Woman Who Challenged Big Business—and Won! by Emily Arnold McCully by author (Clarion)
• The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights by Steve Sheinkin (Roaring Brook)

See the Horn Book’s reviews of major 2015 ALA Youth Media Award winners here.

The post Additional ALA Awards 2015 appeared first on The Horn Book.

 

Newbery Medal
Caldecott Medal
Belpré Award (Author and Illustrator)
Coretta Scott King Awards (Author and Illustrator)
Printz Award
Sibert Award
Batchelder Award

Additional ALA awards
Alex, Arbuthnot, Carnegie, Edwards, Geisel, Hamilton, Morris, Odyssey, Schneider, Steptoe, Stonewall, and YALSA Nonfiction awards

Best Fiction for Young Adults list

The post ALA Awards 2015: Horn Book reviews of the winners appeared first on The Horn Book.

As I sit sadly at the airport and hope to make it home, after an exciting morning Twitter trawling about the Youth Media Awards, I’ve had the time to reflect for a sweet minute on a great conference. The blizzard was apparently the fifth largest in Chicago history, so that makes me feel pretty cool!

The post Some themes from ALA Conferences appeared first on ALSC Blog.

This wonderful session was a report back from Day of Diversity, a meeting of publishers, librarians, and other leaders in literacy. Check out the summary in comics! The hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks is blowing up with joy right now after the Youth Media Awards, make sure to check it out.

The post Diversity Matters at #alamw15 appeared first on ALSC Blog.

The 2015 Youth Media Awards have been announced at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting. I could not be prouder of the hard work EVERY committee did in selecting a phenomenal list of winners! (And I can’t wipe this silly grin off my face. I love the YMAs!)

Check out this press release from ALA for all the details of the winners and honor books which were announced this morning.

The post The YMAs have been announced at #alamw15 appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Winner:

Brown Girl Dreaming
by Jacqueline Woodson
Intermediate, Middle School Paulsen/Penguin
328 pp. 8/14 978-0-399-25251-8 $16.99 g

Here is a memoir-in-verse so immediate that readers will feel they are experiencing the author’s childhood right along with her. It starts out somewhat slowly, with Woodson relying on others’ memories to relate her (1963) birth and infancy in Ohio, but that just serves to underscore the vividness of the material once she begins to share her own memories; once her family arrives in Greenville, South Carolina, where they live with her maternal grandparents. Woodson describes a South where the whites-only signs may have been removed but where her grandmother still can’t get waited on in Woolworth’s, where young people are sitting at lunch counters and standing up for civil rights; and Woodson expertly weaves that history into her own. However, we see young Jackie grow up not just in historical context but also—and equally—in the context of extended family, community (Greenville and, later, Brooklyn), and religion (she was raised Jehovah’s Witness). Most notably of all, perhaps, we trace her development as a nascent writer, from her early, overarching love of stories through her struggles to learn to read through the thrill of her first blank composition book to her realization that “words are [her] brilliance.” The poetry here sings: specific, lyrical, and full of imagery: “So the first time my mother goes to New York City / we don’t know to be sad, the weight / of our grandparents’ love like a blanket / with us beneath it, / safe and warm.” An extraordinary — indeed brilliant — portrait of a writer as a young girl. MARTHA V. PARRAVANO

From the September/October 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

Honor Books:

How It Went Down
by Kekla Magoon
Middle School, High School   Holt   324 pp.
10/14   978-0-8050-9869-3   $17.99   g
e-book ed. 978-1-6277-9159-5   $9.99

“Two guys with guns, one dies — it’s an everyday story.” But when sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson is shot and killed on the street, the event affects the whole community. Tariq was black, his assailant white, and Magoon tells the story through the many voices of those directly and peripherally involved. Their simple words yield a complicated story. Which characters are reliable? Which look to benefit from the situation? Which learn from it and seek a better life? One witness saw “two guys with guns,” but even that point is questionable. The “gun” may have just been a Snickers bar. Did the storeowner yell “Stop, thief” or “Stop, T”? Was T hassled by “a white guy” or a “light dude”? The local gang enjoys the notoriety of being in the news. A civil rights activist is seen to be “poaching some limelight off a poor dead black boy” to boost his senatorial campaign; the storeowner sees increased sales when thousands of people turn out to march for Tariq; and the media get a great story of a “gang-related” incident. Magoon expertly differentiates the characters by delineating their thoughts, feelings, and motivations; and the accumulation of voices weaving through the narrative effectively makes this “everyday story” believably complex, going behind newspaper headlines and campaign speeches to portray real people caught up in something bigger than themselves. A powerful novel that will resonate with fans of Myers’s Monster (rev. 5/99) and Woodson’s Miracle’s Boys (rev. 3/00). DEAN SCHNEIDER

From the November/December 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

The Crossover
by Kwame Alexander
Intermediate, Middle School   Houghton   235 pp.
3/14   978-0-544-10771-7   $16.99   g

Josh and Jordan (JB), identical twin sons of former basketball phenom Chuck “Da Man” Bell, are ball legends themselves, and they aren’t yet thirteen; Josh is the only middle schooler around who can dunk, JB has a mean three-point shot, and together they’re a well-oiled machine on the court. But then things start to change, as they tend to do at their age: JB gets a girlfriend, and before Josh knows it, their relationship is strained to the point of a mid-game altercation that lands him benched for weeks. On top of that, their mother frets constantly over Dad’s poor health, and the boys begin to worry, too. Josh’s first-person verse narration is a combination of exciting play-by-play game details, insightful middle-school observations, and poignant meditations on sibling dynamics and familial love. Since poet Alexander has the swagger and cool confidence of a star player and the finesse of a perfectly in-control ball-handler, wordplay and alliteration roll out like hip-hop lyrics, and the use of concrete forms and playful font changes keep things dynamic: “SWOOP in / to the finish with a fierce finger roll… / Straight in the hole: / Swoooooooooooosh.” Alexander brings the novel-in-verse format to a fresh audience with this massively appealing package for reluctant readers, athletes especially. KATRINA HEDEEN

From the May/June 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

 
How I Discovered Poetry
by Marilyn Nelson; 
illus. by Hadley Hooper
Middle School Dial 103 pp.
1/14 978-0-8037-3304-6 $16.99 g

In fifty poems (some previously published) Nelson chronicles her formative years during the 1950s, from age four to thirteen, against the backdrop of the cold war and stirrings of the civil rights movement and women’s lib. Each piece includes a title (“Blue Footsies” begins the book), a date, and a place name. Nelson’s father was a military officer — “one of the first African American career officers in the Air Force” — and the family crisscrossed the country. Nelson’s mother was a teacher who instilled in her children the importance of breaking ground: “Mama says First Negroes are History: / First Negro Telephone Operator, / First Negro Opera Singer at the Met, / First Negro Pilots, First Supreme Court Judge.” Throughout their travels the family encountered racism (both the subtle and not-so-subtle types) but also loving kindness from friends and neighbors. The book ends with “Thirteen-Year-Old American Negro Girl,” in which Nelson realizes that poetry is her métier and that it will be her contribution to the world. Her author’s note calls this volume a “late-career retrospective…a ‘portrait of the artist as a young American Negro Girl,’” and readers will be gratified to follow the progression of “the Speaker” (as Nelson refers to the main character, “whose life is very much like mine”) from tentative child to self-possessed young woman on the cusp of a creative awakening. A few family photos are included, rounded out by spare 1950s–ish spot art that underscores the time period and accentuates the deeply personal nature of the remembrances. ELISSA GERSHOWITZ

From the January/February 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

The post Reviews of the 2015 CSK Author Award winners appeared first on The Horn Book.

Winner:

The Crossover
by Kwame Alexander
Intermediate, Middle School   Houghton   235 pp.
3/14   978-0-544-10771-7   $16.99   g

Josh and Jordan (JB), identical twin sons of former basketball phenom Chuck “Da Man” Bell, are ball legends themselves, and they aren’t yet thirteen; Josh is the only middle schooler around who can dunk, JB has a mean three-point shot, and together they’re a well-oiled machine on the court. But then things start to change, as they tend to do at their age: JB gets a girlfriend, and before Josh knows it, their relationship is strained to the point of a mid-game altercation that lands him benched for weeks. On top of that, their mother frets constantly over Dad’s poor health, and the boys begin to worry, too. Josh’s first-person verse narration is a combination of exciting play-by-play game details, insightful middle-school observations, and poignant meditations on sibling dynamics and familial love. Since poet Alexander has the swagger and cool confidence of a star player and the finesse of a perfectly in-control ball-handler, wordplay and alliteration roll out like hip-hop lyrics, and the use of concrete forms and playful font changes keep things dynamic: “SWOOP in / to the finish with a fierce finger roll… / Straight in the hole: / Swoooooooooooosh.” Alexander brings the novel-in-verse format to a fresh audience with this massively appealing package for reluctant readers, athletes especially. KATRINA HEDEEN

From the May/June 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

Honor books:

El Deafo
by Cece Bell; illus. by the author; 
color by David Lasky
Intermediate, Middle School Amulet/Abrams 242 pp.
9/14 978-1-4197-1020-9 $21.95
Paper ed. 978-1-4197-1217-3 $10.95

At the age of four, in 1975, Bell contracted meningitis, leaving her severely to profoundly deaf. In this characterful, vivid, often amusing graphic-novel memoir she recaptures the experiences of her childhood — adapting to deafness, to others’ attitudes toward it, and to the technology of the Phonic Ear, a cumbersome assistive device. At the heart of her story is an experience relevant to most children: the finding of the “True Friend,” a falling out, and a reunion. Bell combines great humor and charm (her characters are all anthropomorphized bunnies) with emotional complexity and seriousness; her depiction of Cece’s valiant struggles with loneliness, irritation, and embarrassment at the way people treat her is moving, utterly convincing, and authentic — never “poor bunny.” Her forthright humor works especially well in conveying the practicalities of Cece’s mode of communication: “I sure can’t lip-read a butt!” she says, looking at a speaker’s back. This memoir is thus exceptionally informative and entertaining in relation to some aspects of deaf communication, but, most centrally and powerfully, it is exceptional for its perceptive, indomitable protagonist and complex story of friendship, growth, and classroom and family dynamics. DEIRDRE F. BAKER

From the November/December 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

Brown Girl Dreaming
by Jacqueline Woodson
Intermediate, Middle School Paulsen/Penguin
328 pp. 8/14 978-0-399-25251-8 $16.99 g

Here is a memoir-in-verse so immediate that readers will feel they are experiencing the author’s childhood right along with her. It starts out somewhat slowly, with Woodson relying on others’ memories to relate her (1963) birth and infancy in Ohio, but that just serves to underscore the vividness of the material once she begins to share her own memories; once her family arrives in Greenville, South Carolina, where they live with her maternal grandparents. Woodson describes a South where the whites-only signs may have been removed but where her grandmother still can’t get waited on in Woolworth’s, where young people are sitting at lunch counters and standing up for civil rights; and Woodson expertly weaves that history into her own. However, we see young Jackie grow up not just in historical context but also — and equally — in the context of extended family, community (Greenville and, later, Brooklyn), and religion (she was raised Jehovah’s Witness). Most notably of all, perhaps, we trace her development as a nascent writer, from her early, overarching love of stories through her struggles to learn to read through the thrill of her first blank composition book to her realization that “words are [her] brilliance.” The poetry here sings: specific, lyrical, and full of imagery: “So the first time my mother goes to New York City / we don’t know to be sad, the weight / of our grandparents’ love like a blanket / with us beneath it, / safe and warm.” An extraordinary — indeed brilliant — portrait of a writer as a young girl. MARTHA V. PARRAVANO

From the September/October 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

The post Reviews of the 2015 Newbery Award winners appeared first on The Horn Book.

Winner:

The Adventures of Beekle, the Unimaginary Friend
by Dan Santat; illus. by the author
Primary    Little, Brown    40 pp.
4/14     978-0-316-19998-8     $17.00

Imaginary friend Beekle waits and waits for a child to think him into existence. When it doesn’t happen, Beekle sails off to the real world–a city full of boring adults–to find her. Santat’s bright digital illustrations capture the vivid land of imagination, the drab adult world, and the giggle-inducing expressions on marshmallow-like Beekle’s pudgy white face. SHARA L. HARDESON

From the Fall 2014 issue of The Horn Book Guide.

Honor books:

Nana in the City
by Lauren Castillo; illus. by the author
Preschool, Primary   Clarion   40 pp.
9/14   978-0-544-10443-3   $16.99

Visiting Nana in her new apartment in the city, the unnamed child narrator is initially unreceptive to the city’s appeal. Upon first impression, “the city is busy. The city is loud. The city is filled with scary things.” However, Nana promises to show her young visitor all the ways that “the city is wonderful—bustling, booming, and extraordinary,” and their tour the following day does just that. Here is a vital, independent grandmother for the new millennium, one who is just as likely to clap for a street performer or bring a pretzel to a homeless man as she is to knit with her cat or serve milk and cookies in her cozy kitchen. The loving relationship between her and her grandchild is clearly conveyed by their easy interactions, in particular the red cape she bestows upon the child to encourage bravery in a new place. Castillo’s simple, meaningful text is well served by her richly detailed, brightly saturated watercolors, which convey a city bustling with crowds, construction, traffic, and events, juxtaposing colorful foregrounds against monochromatic backgrounds to suggest that even more activity lies beyond the book’s depicted scenes. The accessible story arc outlines worthwhile messages about openness to new experiences and changing one’s perspective, all couched in the security of spending time with a loved one. The young narrator concludes: “The city is…the absolute perfect place for a nana to live. And for me to visit!” Readers will feel the same. CLAIRE E. GROSS

From the November/December 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art
by Barb Rosenstock; illus. by Mary GrandPré
Primary   Knopf   40 pp.
2/14   978-0-307-97848-6   $17.99
Library ed. 978-0-307-97849-3   $20.99   g
e-book ed. 978-0-307-97850-9   $10.99

One of the pioneers of abstract art, Vasily Kandinsky experienced “colors as sounds, and sounds as colors,” a neurological condition called synesthesia. Concentrating primarily on the artist as a child and young adult, Rosenstock takes known events and embellishes them with dialogue and specific sounds for the colors (“He brushed a powerful navy rectangle that vibrated deeply like the lowest cello strings”). GrandPré does a fine job showing color and sound as abstractions while presenting the artist and his surroundings in a more realistic manner. At first we see young Vasya as a proper and obedient child, surrounded by squared-off edges and dark colors. But when he receives a paint box as a gift and begins to hear sounds as he mixes the colors, the page compositions open up. As angles give way to swirls, GrandPré provides a visualization of the freedom that results when an artist finds his voice. An author’s note provides more information about the artist and four reproductions of his later work. Sources and recommended websites are included. LOLLY ROBINSON

From the January/February 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

Sam & Dave Dig a Hole
by Mac Barnett; illus. by Jon Klassen
Primary    Candlewick    40 pp.
10/14    978-0-7636-6229-5    $16.99

This adventure starts innocently enough: “On Monday Sam and Dave dug a hole.” The boys (indistinguishable save the color of their hats and Sam’s ever-present backpack) are fueled by chocolate milk, animal cookies, and a desire to find “something spectacular.” Alas, Sam and Dave unearth nothing, coming close to — but just missing — the precious gems that dot the subterranean landscape, and oblivious all the while. Eventually the chums stop for a rest, whereupon their canine companion, digging for a bone, inadvertently causes a rupture in the dirt floor underground that leaves the explorers falling “down, down, down,” only to land in what appears to be their own yard. But upon closer inspection, this house isn’t quite the same as before; a number of subtle differences go undetected by the hapless duo, but observant viewers will certainly take note. Barnett’s well-chosen words (“Sam and Dave ran out of chocolate milk. / But they kept digging. / They shared the last animal cookie. / But they kept digging”) and plentiful white space support readers. Klassen’s cross-section illustrations provide a mole’s-eye view of the underground proceedings, extending the spare text with visual humor. As in his previous books, Klassen shows an uncanny knack for conveying meaning with the subtlest of eye movements. How fitting that the wordless final spread features a knowing look between the dog and a cat familiar to Klassen fans; all that’s missing from the trippy conclusion is the theme music from The Twilight Zone. Mind-blowing in the best possible way. SAM BLOOM

From the November/December 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

Viva Frida
by Yuyi Morales; illus. by the author with photos by Tim O’Meara
Primary, Intermediate   Porter/Roaring Brook   40 pp.
9/14   978-1-59643-603-9   $17.99   g

There have been several books for young readers about Frida Kahlo, but none has come close to the emotional aesthetic Morales brings to her subject, as a Mexican artist herself who understands the particular landscape of Kahlo’s imagination. By selecting several of Kahlo’s recurring symbols — monkey, dog, parrot, deer, hummingbird — she achieves artistic depth and lends child appeal to a very spare, ethereal text. Morales also incorporates Señor Calavera (a figure who recurs throughout Morales’s own work), representing the dance with death Kahlo engaged in all her life. Morales initially shows Kahlo as a puppet: made from steel, polymer clay, and wool, the three-dimensional figures (photographed and digitally manipulated inside double-page-spread collages) are works of art in themselves. The illustrations are accompanied by just a few words of text in both Spanish and English (“busco / I search // Veo / I see… // Juego / I play”) that leave readers with a dreamlike impression. As we enter Kahlo’s mind, the medium and style change, and the pages are illustrated with lush acrylics, showing her winged feet carrying her across the spreads, arrows whizzing past; one eventually hits her pet deer in the foreleg. This allusion to Kahlo’s famous painting The Little Deer may be lost on most young readers, but the accompanying text (“siento / I feel”) will get the basic meaning across. Morales (Niño Wrestles the World, rev. 7/13) once again impresses us with her artistry in an ingenious tour de force. KATHLEEN T. HORNING

From the September/October 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus
by Jen Bryant; illus. by Melissa Sweet
Primary    Eerdmans    48 pp.
9/14    978-0-8028-5385-1    $17.50

Apt language and ingenious imagery combine to tell the life story of Peter Mark Roget, creator of the thesaurus. A solitary, though not unhappy, child, Roget spends his time keeping lists and ordering the natural and cultural wonders he finds in abundance. He studies to become a doctor, teaches, joins academic societies, raises a family, and continues to capture and classify the universe, eventually publishing his Thesaurus, a catalog of concepts ordered by ideas, in 1852. Bryant’s linear telling follows Peter closely, expressing his curiosity, sensitivity, and populist spirit in language that is both decorous and warm. Clever book design and visionary illustration add layers of meaning, as images come together in careful sequence. On the cover a cacophony of iconographic ideas explodes from the pages of a book. The opening endpapers arrange these same concepts in a vertical collage that recalls spines on a bookshelf. The title spread features the letters of the alphabet as stacked blocks, as a child manages them, and from there the pages grow in complexity, as Roget himself grows up. Sweet embellishes her own gentle watercolors with all manner of clippings and realia, corralling the pictures into order according to concept, number, or color. A timeline and detailed author and illustrator notes follow the narrative, with suggested additional resources and a facsimile page of Roget’s first, handwritten book of lists. And the closing endpapers, with the comprehensive classification scheme of the first thesaurus, fully realize the opening organizational promise. THOM BARTHELMESS

From the November/December 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

This One Summer
by Mariko Tamaki; illus. by Jillian Tamaki
Middle School    First Second/Roaring Brook    320 pp.
5/14    978-1-59643-774-6    $17.99

Rose Wallace and her parents go to Awago Beach every summer. Rose collects rocks on the beach, swims in the lake, and goes on bike rides with her younger “summer cottage friend,” Windy. But this year she is feeling too old for some of the activities she used to love — and even, at times, for the more-childish (yet self-assured) Windy. Rose would rather do adult things: watch horror movies and talk with Windy about boobs, boys, and sex. In their second graphic novel — another impressive collaboration — the Tamaki cousins (Skim, rev. 7/08) examine the mix of uncertainty and hope a girl experiences on the verge of adolescence. The episodic plot and varied page layout set a leisurely pace evocative of summer. Rose’s contemplative observations and flashbacks, along with the book’s realistic dialogue, offer insight into her evolving personality, while the dramatic changes in perspective and purply-blue ink illustrations capture the narrative’s raw emotional core. Secondary storylines also accentuate Rose’s transition from childhood to young adulthood: she’s caught in the middle of the tension between her parents (due to her mom’s recent abrasive moodiness and the painful secret behind it) and fascinated by the local teens’ behavior (swearing, drinking, smoking, fighting, and even a pregnancy; the adult situations — and frank language — she encounters may be eye-opening reading for pre-adolescents like Rose). This is a poignant drama worth sharing with middle-schoolers, and one that teen readers will also appreciate for its look back at the beginnings of the end of childhood. CYNTHIA K. RITTER

From the July/August 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

The post Reviews of the 2015 Caldecott Award winners appeared first on The Horn Book.

Winner:

Mikis and the Donkey
by Bibi Dumon Tak; illus. by Philip Hopman; trans. from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson
Primary, Intermediate   Eerdmans   93 pp.
10/14   978-0-8028-5430-8   $13.00

Setting the stage on the island of Corfu, Hopman’s atmospheric opening illustrations pan in from aerial view to village to Mikis’s grandpa under a sycamore tree with his cronies. Grandpa has just gotten a donkey to haul wood — “they don’t guzzle gas, and they usually start the first time.” Soon Mikis is making friends with Tsaki and becoming the animal’s advocate. Concerned about the chafing caused by heavy loads, the boy seeks medical attention for Tsaki (from an MD, to general amusement); he also arranges a visit with another donkey in case Tsaki is lonely. This is a huge success; as classmate Elena discreetly observes, the two donkeys “were getting along really well back there…really, really well.” Fortunately, the old man is kind as well as gruff; though “Mikis had to give his grandpa donkey lessons,” he eventually builds Tsaki a cleaner, airier stable with Mikis’s help. The Dutch creators of Soldier Bear (rev. 11/11) bring a lovely simplicity to this affecting picture of a close-knit Greek community where a teacher’s boyfriend can give her class motorbike rides to general contentment. The generous number of loosely drawn illustrations capture windswept landscapes, village life, and human character and diversity with equal aplomb. Visually inviting and easily read, this would also make a fine read-aloud for younger children. JOANNA RUDGE LONG

From the November/December 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

Honor books:

Hidden: A Child’s Story of the Holocaust
by Loïc Dauvillier; illus. by Marc Lizano; color by Greg Salsedo; trans. from the French by Alexis Siegel
Primary, Intermediate    First Second/Roaring Brook    78 pp.
4/14    978-1-59643-873-6    $16.99

In this graphic novel for younger readers, Elsa wakes up in the night and discovers her grandmother sitting in the dark, feeling sad. When Elsa asks why, she hears for the first time the story of her grandmother’s childhood in Nazi-occupied France. Young Dounia’s parents try to explain away the yellow star she must wear by calling it a sheriff’s star, but she quickly realizes its true meaning when she begins to be treated very differently at school and in town. When the Nazis come to their apartment, her parents hide Dounia but are themselves taken away, and the terrified little girl is saved by a neighbor. A chain of people help her escape to the country, where she lives as a Catholic girl, with a new name. The graphic novel format helps reinforce the contrast between the dark, scary moments and the happier times in the countryside. The artists use small panels to tell most of the story, with words in the bottom right corners emphasizing Dounia’s inner thoughts; large panels occasionally punctuate the big moments. While not disguising the ugliness of the events, the art also helps focus attention on the loving moments between Dounia and her parents, Dounia and the people who help her, and Dounia, Elsa, and her father (who also hears the story for the first time) all hugging one another at the end.

From the July/August 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

Nine Open Arms
by Benny Lindelauf; trans. from the Dutch by John Nieuwenhuizen
Intermediate, Middle School    Enchanted Lion    256 pp.
6/14    978-1-59270-146-9    $16.95

It takes a while to realize that the main character in this Dutch import is a building, the eponymous Nine Open Arms, a rundown, back-to-front, peculiar brick house situated beyond the cemetery “where names came to an end.” The story opens when a family of nine — hapless dreamer and cigar-maker father, tough grandmother, four almost-grownup sons, and three younger daughters — moves into this house and tries to figure out its mysteries, including the tombstone in the cellar, the forbidden room, and Oompah Hatsi the homeless man who moves into the hedge. While the setting is specific (the Dutch province of Limburg in the 1930s), the whole thing feels more like a folktale, with a folktale’s harshness. (The bully girl at school, Fat Tonnie, is said to have bashed a dog to death with a hammer.) Halfway into the tale we travel back to the 1860s to a doomed love story between a villager and a young woman of the Traveler people, and we start to figure out the origins of the steeped-in sadness of Nine Open Arms. Then back to the main narrative, where kindness, courage, and truth-telling redeem the tragic past. Up to a point. This is a strange, somber, and oddly compelling narrative, a different combination of flavors than we would find in a book originally published in North America. SARAH ELLIS

From the September/October 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

The post Reviews of the 2015 Batchelder Award winners appeared first on The Horn Book.

Winner:

I Lived on Butterfly Hill
by Marjorie Agosín; illus. by Lee White; trans. by E. M. O’Connor
Intermediate     Atheneum     455 pp.
3/14    978-1-4169-5344-9    $16.99

Eleven-year-old Chilean girl Celeste faces upheaval when a brutal dictator rises to power, her parents go into hiding, and she is shipped off to Maine. Threads of mysticism lend an interesting element, but the book is best when rooted in reality, transporting readers with sensory-steeped settings and Celeste’s vividly evoked feelings of alienation. Black-and-white illustrations depict the turmoil but with a soft touch.

From the Fall 2014 issue of The Horn Book Guide.

Honor book:

Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes
by Juan Felipe Herrera, illus. by Raúl Colón (Dial)

Review to come.

The post Reviews of the 2015 Belpré Author Award winners appeared first on The Horn Book.

Winner:

Viva Frida
by Yuyi Morales; illus. by the author with photos by Tim O’Meara
Primary, Intermediate   Porter/Roaring Brook   40 pp.
9/14   978-1-59643-603-9   $17.99   g

There have been several books for young readers about Frida Kahlo, but none has come close to the emotional aesthetic Morales brings to her subject, as a Mexican artist herself who understands the particular landscape of Kahlo’s imagination. By selecting several of Kahlo’s recurring symbols — monkey, dog, parrot, deer, hummingbird — she achieves artistic depth and lends child appeal to a very spare, ethereal text. Morales also incorporates Señor Calavera (a figure who recurs throughout Morales’s own work), representing the dance with death Kahlo engaged in all her life. Morales initially shows Kahlo as a puppet: made from steel, polymer clay, and wool, the three-dimensional figures (photographed and digitally manipulated inside double-page-spread collages) are works of art in themselves. The illustrations are accompanied by just a few words of text in both Spanish and English (“busco / I search // Veo / I see… // Juego / I play”) that leave readers with a dreamlike impression. As we enter Kahlo’s mind, the medium and style change, and the pages are illustrated with lush acrylics, showing her winged feet carrying her across the spreads, arrows whizzing past; one eventually hits her pet deer in the foreleg. This allusion to Kahlo’s famous painting The Little Deer may be lost on most young readers, but the accompanying text (“siento / I feel”) will get the basic meaning across. Morales (Niño Wrestles the World, rev. 7/13) once again impresses us with her artistry in an ingenious tour de force. KATHLEEN T. HORNING

From the September/October 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

Honor books:

Little Roja Riding Hood
by Susan Middleton Elya; 
illus. by Susan Guevara
Primary    Putnam    32 pp.
4/14    978-0-399-24767-5    $16.99    g

Little Red rides an ATV to deliver la canasta (basket) to her ailing abuela in this hip updated version of the traditional tale. Liberally sprinkled with Spanish words and phrases, the rhyming text is fresh and funny (“‘Abue,’ he said in a high squeaky voz, / ‘I’m sorry to hear of your terrible tos’”) and often unexpected. (For example, “basket” is rhymed with “who asked it?”)  And just as clever as the quirky text are the watercolor, ink, and gouache illustrations that contain plenty of humor and multiple layers of meaning. The Three Blind Mice accompany Little Roja on her journey, while three magpies follow and call out warnings that appear in flowing ribbons that act as dialogue bubbles. Two little trickster elves make mischief throughout. But best of all is Abuela herself, shown here as an aging hippie who appears to be working on a manuscript revision in her sick bed. She doesn’t really need rescuing — she protects herself by holding up a statue of St. Jude; Little Roja joins in by throwing a pot of hot sopa at the wolf. Once the wolf is vanquished, capable Abuela discourages future intruders by installing a security sistema, while Little Roja trades in her red hood for one with tiger stripes. An inventive spin on a familiar tale, this will stand up to repeated readings and viewings. KATHLEEN T. HORNING

From the July/August 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

Green Is a Chile Pepper
by Roseanne Greenfield Thong; illus. by John Parra
Primary     Chronicle    32 pp.
4/14     978-1-4521-0203-0     $16.99
In this festive concept book, all the colors found in a Hispanic American neighborhood are described in rhyming text with frequent Spanish words, explained in detail in a glossary. The objects described, such as ristras, piñatas, and faroles, are staples of Mexican culture, but Parra’s folk art–style paintings, stuffed with entertaining details, make them universally understandable and appealing. SIENA LESLIE

From the Fall 2014 issue of The Horn Book Guide.

Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family’s 
Fight for Desegregation
by Duncan Tonatiuh; 
illus. by the author
Primary, Intermediate   Abrams   40 pp.
5/14   978-1-4197-1054-4   $18.95

Seven years before the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, Sylvia Mendez and her family fought for — and won — the desegregation of schools in California. Tonatiuh, a Belpré-winning illustrator, uses a child’s viewpoint to clearly and succinctly capture the segregated reality of Mexican Americans and the little-known legal challenge that integrated schools. When the Mendez family moves from Santa Ana to Westminster only to find that their children must attend the inferior “Mexican” school for no particular reason, they first try petitions before turning to lawyers to set matters right. The straightforward narrative is well matched with the illustrations in Tonatiuh’s signature style, their two-dimensional perspective reminiscent of the Mixtec codex but collaged with paper, wood, cloth, brick, and (Photoshopped) hair to provide textural variation. This story deserves to be more widely known, and now, thanks to this book, it will be. Author’s note, photographs, glossary, bibliography, and index are appended. JONATHAN HUNT

From the July/August 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

The post Reviews of the 2015 Belpré Illustrator Award winners appeared first on The Horn Book.

Winner:

I’ll Give You the Sun
by Jandy Nelson
High School   Dial   375 pp.
9/14   978-0-8037-3496-8   $17.99   g

In her much-anticipated second book, Nelson (The Sky Is Everywhere, rev. 3/10) delivers another novel of romance, tragedy, grief, and healing, told in poetic prose with the barest hint of magical realism. Jude and Noah are fraternal twins; once very close, they now barely speak to each other. The reasons for their estrangement gradually come to light over the course of the novel through the twins’ alternating voices from different points in time. Thirteen-year-old Noah narrates the story’s beginnings; an extremely talented painter, bullied for being gay, he finds himself attracted to the new boy next door. The later story is revealed from sixteen-year-old Jude’s point of view. Too focused on art school — including why she was accepted and Noah wasn’t — to think about boys, and haunted by the tragic automobile-accident death of their mother, she finds solace in conversations with their grandmother’s ghost. Despite some minor flaws — Noah’s voice never quite rings true as an adolescent male; and the present-tense stream-of-consciousness narrative occasionally dilutes the powerful imagery of the writing — the novel remains a compelling meditation on love, grief, sexuality, family, and fate. JONATHAN HUNT

From the November/December 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

Honor books:

And We Stay
by Jenny Hubbard
High school     Delacorte     225 pp.
1/14     978-0-385-74057-9

After her ex-boyfriend’s suicide, sixteen-year-old Emily Beam is sent to an Amherst, Massachusetts, boarding school to start anew and heal. And through a friendship with her sympathetic roommate, connecting with local legend Emily Dickinson’s work, and blossoming as a poet herself, she starts to. Hubbard thrives in both prose and verse storytelling: interspersed within emotionally astute third-person-omniscient narration are Emily’s moving poems.

From the Fall 2014 issue of The Horn Book Guide.

The Carnival at Bray
by Jessie Ann Foley (Elephant Rock)

Review to come.

Grasshopper Jungle
by Andrew Smith
High School     Dutton     390 pp.
2/14     978-0-525-42603-5     $18.99

Unfortunate coincidences involving sixteen-year-old Austin and his best friend Robby lead to the unleashing of gigantic, ravenous praying mantises related to a diabolical scientist’s decades-old experiments. Austin’s love for and attraction to both his girlfriend and to Robby is the powerful emotional backbone of this intricate, grimly comedic apocalypse story, in which Smith proves himself a daring and original wordsmith. KATRINA HEDEEN

From the Fall 2014 issue of The Horn Book Guide.

This One Summer
by Mariko Tamaki; illus. by Jillian Tamaki
Middle School    First Second/Roaring Brook    320 pp.
5/14    978-1-59643-774-6    $17.99

Rose Wallace and her parents go to Awago Beach every summer. Rose collects rocks on the beach, swims in the lake, and goes on bike rides with her younger “summer cottage friend,” Windy. But this year she is feeling too old for some of the activities she used to love — and even, at times, for the more-childish (yet self-assured) Windy. Rose would rather do adult things: watch horror movies and talk with Windy about boobs, boys, and sex. In their second graphic novel — another impressive collaboration — the Tamaki cousins (Skim, rev. 7/08) examine the mix of uncertainty and hope a girl experiences on the verge of adolescence. The episodic plot and varied page layout set a leisurely pace evocative of summer. Rose’s contemplative observations and flashbacks, along with the book’s realistic dialogue, offer insight into her evolving personality, while the dramatic changes in perspective and purply-blue ink illustrations capture the narrative’s raw emotional core. Secondary storylines also accentuate Rose’s transition from childhood to young adulthood: she’s caught in the middle of the tension between her parents (due to her mom’s recent abrasive moodiness and the painful secret behind it) and fascinated by the local teens’ behavior (swearing, drinking, smoking, fighting, and even a pregnancy; the adult situations — and frank language — she encounters may be eye-opening reading for pre-adolescents like Rose). This is a poignant drama worth sharing with middle-schoolers, and one that teen readers will also appreciate for its look back at the beginnings of the end of childhood. CYNTHIA K. RITTER

From the July/August 2014 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

The post Reviews of the 2015 Printz winners appeared first on The Horn Book.

Illustrator Award Winner: Christopher Myers for Firebird

Firebird: Ballerina Misty Copeland 
Shows a Young Girl How to 
Dance like the Firebird
by Misty Copeland; 
illus. by Christopher Myers
Primary Putnam 40 pp.
9/14 978-0-399-16615-0 $17.99 g

Think you can simply write off celebrity books? Think again. American Ballet Theatre soloist Copeland is just as graceful with words as she is with her body. Here she addresses the next generation as she imagines a dialogue between herself and a young female African American ballet student who claims she is “gray as rain / heavy as naptime, low as a storm pressing on rooftops.” Copeland reassures the girl that she had the same self-doubts, and “darling child, don’t you know / you’re just where I started.” Myers’s stunning collages layer strips of thickly painted paper to echo the wings of a firebird (Copeland’s signature role), whether they are illustrating the stage curtains or a cloudy sky. His deep, rich colors make even the portraits of the dancers at rest dramatic, and when the dancers are on stage, they seem to fly. The words of the girl appear in italics and the dancer’s words in boldface to clearly differentiate between the speakers. In an author’s note, Copeland tells us that, as a child, she never saw herself in ballet books; this book encourages today’s aspiring dancers of all colors and backgrounds. KATHLEEN T. HORNING

Illustrator Honor Winners:

Christian Robinson for Josephine

Josephine:
The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker
by Patricia Hruby Powell; 
illus. by Christian Robinson
Intermediate, Middle School Chronicle 104 pp.
2/14 978-1-4521-0314-3 $17.99

To describe Josephine Baker’s life as “dazzling” is not an exaggeration. In this incomparable biography both Powell and Robinson convey the passion, exuberance, dignity, and eccentricity of their subject through words and pictures that nearly jump off the page. There is a surprise at every turn as we learn how Baker, at fifteen, hid inside a costume trunk to stow away with a dance troupe. We see how she managed to stand out in a chorus line by crossing her eyes and acting goofy to win over audiences. We find her walking down the Champs-Élysées with her pet leopard, Chiquita, who wore a diamond choker. You think her life couldn’t get any more interesting? Wait until you hear about her years as a spy for the French Resistance. Or about the twelve children she adopted from all over the world (her “rainbow tribe”), to prove that people of different races could live together. Matter-of-factly introducing the racism her subject encountered throughout her life, Powell doesn’t shy away from the challenges Baker faced, but she makes clear that Baker never let them overwhelm the joy she got from performing and living life to its fullest. Robinson’s highly stylized illustrations, using bold colors and a flat perspective, are at once sophisticated and inviting to young readers. Even the few pages without pictures are made visually interesting by the broad strokes of acrylic paint in the background and by the clean typeface that judiciously uses uppercase to accentuate important words or lines in the text. Direct quotes from Baker — translated from the French, of course — are interspersed throughout. C’est magnifique! KATHLEEN T. HORNING

Frank Morrison for Little Melba and Her Big Trombone

Little Melba and 
Her Big Trombone
by Katheryn Russell-Brown; 
illus. by Frank Morrison
Primary Lee & Low 40 pp.
7/14 978-1-60060-898-8 $18.95 g

From the time she was a little girl, Melba Liston loved music, especially the jazz music that surrounded her while she was growing up, first in Kansas City and then in Los Angeles. Given the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument at age seven, she chose the trombone. It was not a traditional choice for a girl, especially a small girl whose arms weren’t even long enough yet to push out the slide. But Melba wasn’t a traditional girl. She persisted, and with the support of her family and her teachers, she excelled. By age seventeen, she was ready to tour as a member of jazz trumpeter Gerald Wilson’s new band. She played with the greats, including Dizzy Gillespie and Quincy Jones, and was almost always the only woman in the band (except on her tour with Billie Holiday). As a woman, she faced as many barriers and challenges as she did as an African American musician traveling through the mid-twentieth-century South. But Melba was highly sought out, as a band member, session musician, composer, and arranger. Russell-Brown’s account of her subject’s early life is as smooth and stimulating as a Liston trombone solo, and will leave readers wanting to know more about the woman and her music. Morrison’s oil paintings, in his trademark elongated, angular style, perfectly convey the jazz scene and, of course, Melba’s amazing horn. KATHLEEN T. HORNING

The post Reviews of the CSK Illustrator Award winners 2015 appeared first on The Horn Book.

In just a few minutes, the ALA Youth Media Awards will begin. The excitement is palpable!

The post It’s Almost Time! @ #alamw15 appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Hands down, my favorite part of an ALA conference is the ALSC Collection Management Discussion Group.

Whether you select children’s books for your branch, a small military library, a school library, or an entire library system, you are welcome to join this open discussion group to talk about the issues unique to this part of librarianship.  Popular topics include comparing vendors, the challenges of collecting self-published books, how floating collections work at public libraries across the country, or how to deal with Common Core.  E-books? DVDs? Cataloging issues?  The topics run the gamut and are really vital to compare and discuss with people who are dealing with exactly the same issues.

Like so many things in our division, finding colleagues to share the load is great for moral and for saving yourself the time & effort of re-inventing the wheel.  Join us!

The post ALSC Collection Management Discussion Group #alamw15 appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Today I attended my first meeting as an official member of an awards committee. When I found out I chosen for the Geisel Award Committee I was very honored and excited. And nervous.

I was excited to have an excuse to read lots and lots (and lots) of books for beginning readers. I’m looking forward to gaining a deeper understanding and appreciation of this art form through repeated readings and thrilling discussions.

I was nervous because they’ll be lots and lots (and lots) of books to read in just a year! Where will I put all those books in my teeny, tiny house? Will my notes be detailed enough?

Thankfully, this first meeting calmed my nerves, and simultaneously raised my excitement level. Our chair was so friendly and supportive. She talked about the suggestion and nomination process, as well as logistical elements (deadlines, meetings, etc.). We also discussed ways to organize our notes, the importance of getting feedback from kid readers, and the detailed criteria for this award.

So how do I feel now? Anxious! I can’t wait for books to arrive so I can start the process!

The post My First ALSC Awards Committee Experience at #alamw15 appeared first on ALSC Blog.