How to use this Page

2013 GradeReading.NET Summer Reading Lists

Children’s Picture Book Award: New Voices Award

While the population of the United States is skewing toward more and more “persons of color,” the publishing world has yet to catch up. In a press release, Lee & Low publishers say that less than 7% of children’s books published are by persons of color. To help encourage writers, Lee and Low has opened submissions for its 14th Annual New Voices Award. The Award is given for a picture book manuscript by an unpublished writer of color.

The Award winner receives a cash prize of $1000 and Lee & Low’s standard publication contract, including their basic advance and royalties for a first time author. The contest is open to writers of color who are residents of the United States and who have not previously had a children’s picture book published.

Past New Voices Award-winning books have gone on to win major awards such as the Ezra Jack Keats Award and the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent.

For full details on submission, see Lee & Low’s New Voices website.

Children’s Novel Award: New Visions Award

TU BOOKS, the fantasy, science fiction, and mystery imprint of LEE & LOW BOOKS, award-winning publisher of children’s books, has just announced the first annual NEW VISIONS AWARD. The NEW VISIONS AWARD will be given for a middle grade or young adult fantasy, science fiction, or mystery novel by a writer of color. The Award winner receives a cash grant of $1000 and their standard publication contract, including our basic advance and royalties for a first time author. An Honor Award winner will receive a cash grant of $500.

TU BOOKS was launched in 2010, dedicated to diversity in the beloved genre fiction market for young people. Titles include Wolf Mark, Tankborn, and Cat Girl’s Day Off.

Submission details will be available in June; see Lee & Low’s New Visions website.

Award Winners

Here are three examples of recent winners; I was surprised that the most recent I could find was 2007, which means that some of the award winning titles are waiting more than five years to be published. When I asked, a Lee & Low representative said, “This depends on a lot of factors including the amount of editing the manuscript needs upon acquisition and the schedules of the illustrators. Several of our New Voices authors have been paired with established illustrators who are often working on several books at once, which lengthens the process – but their illustrations are well worth the wait. New Voices Award winning-books have gone on to win major awards such as the Ezra Jack Keats Award, the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent, and a spot on the Texas Bluebonnet Masterlist.”

2007 New Voices Award Winner

2006 New Voices Award winner

2005 New Voices Award winner

There’s a crack in everything – that’s how the light gets in.
~Leonard Cohen~

There seems to be a crack in the head of my laughing dog. Plus his ear is missing.

I think his head accidentally cracked open because Mom turned on the switch and he started laughing too much. I’ve heard of “laughing your head off,” but I’ve never heard of “laughing your head open so the light can get in.”

Mom is always looking for where the light gets in. She says if her story is tight enough, nothing can crack it open. So she checks it and checks it. She says she’s troubleshooting. I don’t like trouble and I don’t like shooting, so I hope she is just kidding. But she reads her story out loud to herself all the time. She says, “Does the ending match the beginning?” and “Is my character believable?” and “How much does the problem really matter?” and “Where is the laughing dog’s ear?!”

Mom keeps deleting and rewriting sections of her story trying to make it perfect before she brings it to show her writing group named DavidLaurieandOtherDavid. She says, “Am I telling too much?” and “Am I showing enough?” and “I guess I’ll have to sew up the rip in his head.”

Mom might be able to make her story perfect, but as you can see, the laughing dog’s head will never be perfect again. I wonder where his ear went…..

Click the video to hear the laughing dog laugh.

Thanks to our writer friend, Chelsea at Jenny Mac Book Blog for giving us the Sunshine Award and to Bubba and Mumma and the gang at Bumpy Road to Bubba for giving us the Why I Love Thee Award. Click here for our Sunshine questions and answers, and here or here for the story of how Mom and I found each other. We love all our sunshiny blogging friends, so feel free to take an award or two and list your own Sunshine answers or Love Story.

Inkygirl.com was included in the Writer's Yearbook 2013 list of Top 101 Websites For Writers! Apparently 4,350 nominations for sites were sent in, and the Writer's Digest editorial team sifted through them to choose the final list. Thanks to all who nominated me and to Writer's Digest for choosing Inkygirl!

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross, the subject of my 2012 picture book has returned to Midway Island and laid a new egg. She was banded by Chandler Robbins on December 10, 1956 while sitting on an egg and presumed to be a minimum of five years old. That makes her at least 62 years old–and she’s going to be a new momma. Wow!

Wisdom and her mate prepare to begin their first shift of incubation, Photo credit: Pete Leary, USFWS

Read more about alternate publishing. Read more about how to write a children’s picture book.

This is my new bandana which Mom picked out at Mollie’s blog.  I think I look adorable and Christmas-sy in it. 

I also have a couple of awards to say thank you for today. 

Thanks to Easy for the Super Sweet Award.  He definitely got it right.  I AM super sweet… except when I’m not….  See my super sweet answers here and help yourself to the award if you’re sweet most of the time.

Thanks to AngelsWhisper for the Seven Things About Me Award. 

For this award, I need to tell 7 things about myself, which I love to do. I will also invite anyone who likes telling about themselves to take this award and tell us about yourself.

1. I am part Jack Russell and part something else.  Mom thinks I might be part monkey because of my long monkey tail.

2. I love treats.  My new favorite is called Gooberlicious. It’s not what you think.  They look and taste like peanuts. Yum.

3. I love stuffed animals, but not the mechanical ones.  I think mechanical toys are evil, and I’m pretty sure they’re trying to kill me.

4. I help Mom with her writing a lot.  I take her to the park and for rides in the car so she can get ideas. I bring toys to her while she’s working, so she can get up and play with me and not sit still too long.

5. I want Mom to write a book about me so I can go to school visits with her. I know how to behave… except when I don’t…

6. After I eat my food every day, I try to eat my bowl.  That’s just how delicious my food is!!

7. I love to wear dresses.

Prizes! Yay! We have won another award or two or three. We were given the One Sweet Blog Award from our friends at Hutch a Good Life and the Super Sweet Blogging Award from our friend Clowie and the whole zoo at Dog Daz.  Take a look at them!

Cupcakes! Like my name! Mom named me Cupcake because I am so sweet and now my blog is also sweet, just like me!

Mom bakes cupcakes sometimes. She mixes up butter, sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla, flour, and baking powder.  She says, “Baking is like writing.  All the ingredients need to be in there.” and “If I leave anything out, the cupcakes won’t be any good.” and “Get your head out of the oven!”

When Mom writes a new story, she has to get all the ingredients into it. Right now, she’s working on two stories at once. Each one needs original characters, an interesting setting, some scene changes, a fun plot with lots of conflict and a satisfying resolution, opportunity for illustration, poetic language, humor, tension, and dialogue. And vanilla and eggs. (I’m lying about that last part.)

After Mom gets to the end of the story, she has to leave it alone for a while. That’s like when the cupcakes have to cool off. When the story cools off for a while, Mom will put frosting on it.  Oh no! That’s the cupcakes. She’ll revise the story A LOT.  She’ll cut words that slow the story down, add words that move the story along, read it out loud ten million times, do everything she can to make it better, and cover the top with sprinkles. Wait. What? I love sprinkles. And frosting.  And cupcakes. And stories!

There are no rules for the One Sweet Blog Award (except to be sweet). For the Super Sweet Blog Award the rules are:

1. Give credit to the person who chose you.

2. Answer the ‘Super Sweet’ questions below.

3. Nominate a “Baker’s Dozen” (13) blogs.

Super Sweet Questions:

1. Cookies or Cake? Both. And bacon. And anything from the garbage pail. And goose poop.

2. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate is poison, for dogs, so I’ll say chocolate.  I like eating poison every chance I get.

3. What is your favorite sweet treat? Mom’s homemade frozen yogurt dog pops.

4. When do you crave sweet things the most? Every minute of every day.

5. If you had a sweet nickname, what would it be? I already have a sweet name!!

Now I will name 13 blogs that I like.  If you already have the award, then congratulations. Either way, we picked you because we like you, and want lots of other people to like you along with us. 

1. Jenny

2. Charlie Eve

3. Bubba

4. Mollie

5. Misaki

6. Sammy

7. Susanna

8. Hamsters

9. Doggy

10. Collies

11. Bassa

12. Marcie

13. Donna

I wish a baker’s dozen was 100, because we really like a LOT of blogs!

Today’s five words are about the dark.

1. Fall. Now that it’s fall, it stays dark for a long time in the morning. That means it’s slow-starting around here. The longer it takes to get showered and dressed and get finished with “writing time” the longer I’m waiting around to do something fun.

2. Fall. Now that it’s fall, it gets dark really early. That means when we go outside after dinner, we only stay for 2 minutes. That’s absolutely NO fun.

3. Monsters. There could be monsters out there in the dark. Mom is not afraid of monsters, but I am! She writes about them sometimes, so she can make them nice or mean or scary or friendly. I guess if I could dream up my own monsters like she does, I would not be so afraid.

4. Dark thinking. Sometimes a writer might have some dark thinking. Dark thinking is: “I’m completely out of good ideas.” and “I can never cut an extra 300 words from this story.” and “Book Number Two will never happen.” Dark thinking is bad. If Mom starts to do it, I will always cheer her up.

5. Light! We are lit up over some awards we received lately. Thanks to our friends at Bumpy Road to Bubba for the Addictive Blog Award, to Collies of the Meadow for the One Lovely Blog, and Wonderful Team Member Readership Award, and to AngelsWhisper  and Come Wag Along for the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award. 

You can see our Addictive Blog reasons for blogging here. 

To be a Wonderful Team Member, I must complete this sentence: A great reader is…

I think a great reader is someone who laughs at the right times, says, “Awwww,” at the right times, and thinks I’m cute. 

Now I will take the lazy way out, and list a few of the new, fun blogs that I’ve been visiting, and invite ALL of my blog friends to feel free to take any badge/award that you don’t already have and share it.

Easy

iPhone Photoblogging

Sammy

What I Meant to Say

Doggy

Our Furever Family

Since 2006, the artwork of SCBWI member and writer/illustrator Jeanne Balsam has graced the pages of Just Frenchies magazine, a quarterly publication devoted to the French Bulldog. Towards the end of last year, the publisher and editor of the magazine submitted Jeanne’s artwork to the DWAA, (Dog Writers Association of America), for consideration of an award.

Much to Jeanne’s delight, (and surprise, as she didn’t know she’d been submitted), she was announced as one of 5 finalists for Excellence in Illustration or Painting, competing against artists featured in Dog Fancy and the AKC Gazette. This little Frenchie with her flower hat was the image submitted on her behalf by Just Frenchies. Although she did not win her category, Jeanne was honored in being named a finalist by this prestigious national organization of writers and artists whose only subject is dogs.

Jeanne thought others may also enjoy the pup with flowered hat and created the image into blank notecards available for purchase on her web site, www.jeannebalsam.com. ( http://jeannebalsam.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=186&catid=35).

Below are two other recent illustrations Jeanne did for Just Frenchies, one for a Frenchies tracking article and another for an article on French Bulldog collectibles, where a puppy is featured with a Steiff pull toy.

Congratulations Jeanne!  We love your bulldogs.  Glad to see you being rewarded for your talent.

Jeanne suggests that children’s book illustrators may also find opportunities to have their art published by contacting publications that focus on areas of special interest and/or expertise of the artist, as she did.

In the Publishing Industry:

Publisher of the Golden Books Young Readers Group Kate Klimo is stepping down as of March 31, Random House Children’s president and publisher Chip Gibson announced internally on Friday. Gibson notes, “she is certainly a towering figure in the world of publishing, and over the course of her 40-year career, Kate has changed the face of children’s books.”

Editor-in-chief of Random House Books for Young Readers Mallory Loehr will add to her responsibilities as publishing director of the Golden group on March 31, reporting to Gibson. She will manage both the editorial and art departments for both groups.

Golden Books editor-in-chief Chris Angelilli will be promoted to editor-in-chief, executive director, licensed publishing. As part of his new duties he will also oversee Random House Children’s new partnership with Nickelodeon, where it will be the television company’s primary book publisher as of spring 2013.

At Bloomsbury Children’s and Walker Children’s, Katy Hershberger has been promoted to director of publicity.

Writers House founder and chairman Al Zuckerman is stepping down from his leadership position. President Amy Berkower will take over as chairman and Simon Lipskar will serve as president of the agency, which employs 43 people. Zuc

It’s settled! I am super popular.  The proof is that I was interviewed for a wonderful writer’s blog called Imagine! Create! Write!  The whole interview is ALL ABOUT ME.  I mean, Mom is mentioned here and there, but mostly it’s me, me, ME.  Yay me!

Look how happy I am!

You can read the interview and see pictures of me here —> Blog-erview

Or here —> Interview about me!

Or over in the Blogroll on the right. 

I’ll be practicing my signature in case I need to sign autographs.

We’re thrilled to announce that Catherine Austen has won the Canadian Library Association(CLA) Young Adult Book Award for 2012 for All Good Children. 

The Young Adult Book Award recognizes an author of an “outstanding Canadian English-language work of fiction (novel or collection of short stories) that appeals to young adults between the ages of 13 and 18.” Previous winners include Kenneth Oppel, Lesley Livingston, Allan Stratton, Martha Brooks, William Bell, Shyam Selvadurai, Miriam Toews, and Polly Horvath.

Here’s what the CLA had to say:

“In the near future of All Good Children, corporate towns proliferate and try to control the lives of everyone who lives in them. In Middleville, a school vaccination program has been instituted that turns girls and boys into compliant and obedient good children. Catherine Austen takes us on a roller-coaster ride of humour and suspense as, through the eyes of teen artist and prankster Maxwell Conner, we experience the resistance of his family and a close friend to the “zombification” program. Austen’s novel explores the nature and value of creativity, individuality, and non-conformity with memorable characters and a gripping plot.” Read the full press release.

Congratulations also go out to this year’s honour books and authors: Karma, by Cathy Ostlere (Penguin Canada) and This Dark Endeavour, by Kenneth Oppel (HarperCollins). A complete list of the 2011 finalists, as well as information on past winners, is available on the CLA web site.

Learn more about All Good Children (and order your print or ebook copy!) on the Orca Book Publishers website.

What a great conference! SCBWI New England really pulled it out of the bag this time.

3 great days at Springfield, MA. Over 500 attended and the faculty line up was amazing! Highlights included Harry Bliss, Dan Yaccarino, Harold Underdown, Kate Messner, Jane Yolen, Cynthia Lord, Brian Lies, Heidi Stemple, Jo Knowles ... on and on ... you can check out just what the line up was at http://www.nescbwi.org/.

If you are hoping to write or illustrate for children - you can't do better than attend an SCBWI conference and New England is one of the best. In the three years I have been a member it's given me invaluable information, education, contacts and networking opportunities. And best of all - friends who relate to my goals and frustrations. So I say thank you to the organizers and volunteers!

I travelled with Russ Cox (friend and fellow illustrator) from Maine on Friday and it was straight into the deep end with a great 'meet and greet' with top-hole artists and writers at the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst. (My first visit and a beautiful venue.)

Before we knew it Sunday rolled around ... and it was time to say goodbye. Russ and I returned to Maine in triumph ... Russ swept the board with two first prizes and the emerging artist award read his take ont he conference and his success here ... and not to be left out I won second prize in the People's Choice category!! Yippee for 'Boy and World '.

SO A BIG SMACKEROONEY TO ALL THOSE WHO VOTED FOR ME.

Right now my drawing board is overflowing with projects so I had better get my *** in gear.

I'll leave you with a few photos from the weekend and hope to meet you at a conference soon!

 

 

Big congratulations to the Orca authors and illustrators who have been nominated for the 2012/2013 Chocolate Lily Picture Book Award! Every year, children in grades K to 8 from across British Columbia are invited to read books from the nominated list of BC picture books and novels, and vote for their favorite.

Andrea Spalding and Pascal Milelli were nominated for Seal Song.

Finn loves to swim with the seals in a secret cove. He arrives at the cove one day and rescues a young seal tangled in netting. Finn wishes the seal could live on land. That night the seals sing. “No good comes from seal songs,” says Finn’s father. When Sheila, a mysterious girl no one has ever seen before, appears on the cannery docks, the fisher folk are uneasy. They believe the newcomer is a magical selkie, a shape changer.

Joan Betty Stuchner and Joe Weissmann were nominated for Can Hens Give Milk.

Tova lives with her family on a small farm in the famous town of Chelm, a mythical village populated, according to Jewish folklore, by fools. Tova’s farm has hens and even a rooster, but no cow. Her mother, Rivka, wishes they could afford to buy a cow, so they could have fresh milk and butter every day. One night Tova’s father has a dream about how to get milk without actually owning a cow. He asks Tova to help him find a way to get milk from their hens, and the results are hilarious. Finally, to the family’s joy and the hens’ relief, the problem is solved by none other than the wise Rabbi of Chelm himself, and a little extra help from Tova.

Congrats again to our fantastic authors and illustrators. Click on the book covers to learn more about these titles. To see a full list of nominated books and past winners, visit www.ChocolateLilyAwards.com

Mom and I are thrilled to accept the Sunshine Award.  This award was given to us by our new friends at The Misadventures of Misaki.

There are 3 steps in earning this award…

• Link the award to the person who gave it to you.
• Answer the questions that come with it.
• Pass it along to 10 people and let them know they have received it.

Mom says we will probably not pass it to 10 people, but we will pass it to a couple….

First my questions….

Favorite number: 2 – It stands for Mom and me together.

Favorite Non-alcoholic drink: Puddle Water – It’s so much tastier than the clean spring water flavored with mouthwash that Mom puts in my bowl!

Facebook or Twitter: Facebook – So many friends to love!

My Passion: Toys – Especially stuffed animals.

Favorite pattern: Stripes – Mom has a thousand striped shirts, so when I see stripes, I know she’s home.

Favorite Day of the Week: I totally don’t understand days of the week.  I love every day.

Favorite Flower: Sunflowers – I love the sun in any form.

I’d like to share this award with The Collies and Chuck at Collies of the Meadow and my friend Rumpy at Rumpy Dog. They all love fun (and mischief), like me .

Sunshine, YAY!