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Under the Mesquite author Guadalupe Garcia McCall thanks the William C. Morris and Pura Belpre award committees that honored her book, along with readers:

Here’s one of my very favorite parts of Guadalupe’s Morris Ceremony speech at the American Library Association Midwinter Conference:

lotsa bling

I realized that I had to write not to be published, but to be read. I wanted young people to connect with my book, to have it make an impact on them. I wanted my book to help them.

You see, I have taught many Lupitas in my 23 years in the classroom. I’ve listened to them talk, to me and to each other, but I’ve also read their innermost thoughts, their dreams, their fears, their triumphs, their losses.  Sometimes, their stories spill out of them, sometimes they keep their pain tucked away, where no one can see it.

I wrote this story for those young people who can’t talk about it, for those who are struggling alone in the dark. I wanted to show them that they have great strength within them, that the human spirit is resilient, that the loss of a loved one does not mean the end of love, that we carry that love inside, that we can take it with us; it is ours forever.

The full text of Guadalupe’s speech will be posted on the YALSA web site soon, and I’ll link to that as soon as it is. Meanwhile, if you can’t get enough of Under the Mesquite, you can listen to podcasts of Guadalupe reading four poems from the book here.

Filed under: Bellringers, Book News Tagged: award winners, Latino/Hispanic/Mexican, Under the Mesquite

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Locus Magazine posted their 2011 Recommended Reading List today. Looks like a great list of books! Four of the Cybils Awards SFF Teen finalists made the list: Red Glove and The Shattering in the YA category, and Girl of Fire and Thorns and Blood Red Road in the First Novels category. One of the Cybils Middle Grade SFF finalists is on the list: A Monster Calls.
Besides the Cybils finalists, personal favorites on the Locus list include Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor, The Boy at the End of the World, by Greg van Eekhout, and Welcome to Bordertown, edited by Holly Black & Ellen Kushner. There are several others on the Locus list that I want to read and haven't yet had a chance.

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By Nicki Richesin, The Children’s Book Review
Published: January 30, 2012

Marla Frazee is the award-winning author and illustrator of many celebrated bestselling books including The Seven Silly Eaters, Stars, The Boss Baby, Roller Coaster, and the Clementine series. Her acclaimed books All the World and A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever received the Caldecott Honor Award. She lives in southern California with her husband and three sons, where she works in a backyard studio under an avocado tree. I’m willing to bet she makes some crazy delicious guacamole.

Nicki Richesin: You knew from a very young age that you wanted to become a children’s book illustrator. It must have felt incredibly gratifying when A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever won the Caldecott Honor Award. How does it feel now looking back on your youth and realizing your single-minded determination and drive has helped you achieve your goal?

Marla Frazee: You mean aside from making me feel old? Well, I guess I had determination and drive to some extent, but when I compare my growing up years to my children’s growing up years, I honestly feel like I was a slacker! I just loved children’s books, and I loved drawing and reading and writing stuff, and I never stopped loving all of that. I did get very serious in college – I attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and the program was so grueling that I hardly retain any memories of that time because I was so sleep-deprived.

NR: Your latest book Stars is a gorgeous, magical book about stars and all their practical applications, but it’s also about wishing. Could you tell us a bit about working on this project?

MF: When I first read Mary Lyn Ray’s manuscript, it reminded me of A Hole is to Dig with its seemingly random, childlike sentences and it’s high-wire act of how-is-she-gonna-pull-this-off, oh-my-god-she-just-did! I thought it would be impossible to illustrate, which is why it was so intriguing. I spent many months just thinking about it before I started sketching. It is always fascinating when a book begins to take form, be

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By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: January 25, 2012

“The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association. The award is sponsored by Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association.” ~YALSA

©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.

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By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: January 23, 2012

©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.

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By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: January 23, 2012

“The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.” ~ALSC

©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.

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By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: January 23, 2012

Medal Winner

Honor Book

Honor Book

“The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.” ~ALSC

©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.

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Bob Graham's understated and touching How to Heal a Broken Wing is the recipient of the 2009 Charlotte Zolotow award. I'm pleased to see not only recognition for this book, which is ineligible for the Caldecott due to the fact that Graham is not an American illustrator, but also recognition for Bob Graham himself. I have always admired his gentle storytelling, his humorous illustrations, and the

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I finished Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale, on audio today. I actually started listening to it a while back and then stopped, not because I wasn't enjoying it, but because my schedule changed and I stopped making a long drive that I used to make regularly. Recently, I started exercising, and it was a good excuse to pick up the audio where I left off. I'm glad I did; I really enjoyed it. Rather than writing a long blog review, as I usually do, I wrote a short review on Goodreads, which I'm reproducing here using code automatically generated by Goodreads. (Cheating, I know. Sorry!)

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I listened to this book on audio and the Full Cast Audio production was very well done and highly listenable, as they always are. This is the second Shannon Hale book that I've read, and I enjoyed it just as much as the first one. (Book of a Thousand Days). The characters are vivid and fascinating, and the mountain culture beautifully described. It certainly made me want to live on Mount Eskel! I was listening to this while exercising, and I was at the climax when I reached my exercise goal for the day - but I kept on exercising because I couldn't bear to stop listening. Thanks, Shannon Hale, for contributing to my fitness!


View all my reviews.

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Here are the winners of the 2007 Cybil Awards, the nominees of which are featured on the right-hand side of his blog. The recipients are nominated and voted within the children's lit blogosphere. Considering the list of winners bears almost no resemblance to the winners of other major awards so far, it just goes to show that consensus is difficult.

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Well now, I'm starting to pop up everywhere. Kind of like a ghostwriter--you read my writing, you just don't know it's me! School Library Journal reports that Greg Foley's Thank You Bear is the 2008 winner of the Charlotte Zolotow award. I gave that book a starred review way back when--a point that is mentioned in the article, and quoted.

But enough about me. Thank You Bear is a thoroughly deserving book and wonderfully represents the style and tone of Ms. Zolotow's writing. I think of titles like The Hating Book, My Friend John, and A Father Like That, where she writes about the sensitive, reflective side of childhood. She near enough spoke their language. And so does Bear. Look out for the new Bear book, Don't Worry Bear, due for release in 2008.

I should also mention that some of the runners-up were favorites in this house, too, including At Night (Jonathan Bean), A Good Day (Kevin Henkes), and Pictures From our Vacation (Lynn Rae Perkins.)

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I'm going to the library today to pick up a book. It's the graphic novel, The Plain Janes, by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg. I first heard about it through the Summer Blog Blast Tour in interviews with the author like this one. I later read intriguing reviews of it on other blogs like this one.

When I went to the library last week, (which, BTW, was packed with people) I searched for it in the library's computer catalog. The catalog said it was on the new JFIC shelves, but I couldn't find it anywhere. A live (no other description needed here) librarian helped me search for it. She eventually put in a hold request for me, and assured me that when it showed up, I would be emailed. She checked my email address and corrected an error in it. Today, the email arrived, and I'm off to pick up my book.

This is quite different from when I was a kid. Then, I would troll the shelves for interesting reads, find as many books as would fit in a stack between my cupped hands and my chin, and take them to the librarian at the checkout desk. She didn't have a bun, but she was old and rather tiny, and I adored her. I'm trying to remember why I adored her, and I can't even recall her name. I guess it was because I saw her as: SHE WHO WILL GET ME MY BOOKS.

The more modern librarian the other day also GOT ME MY BOOK.

I will discretely stare at your tattoo if you have one. I will give you bonus points if you have cute little artsy glasses. I may check out your shoes. But if you can't GET ME MY BOOK, then you don't fit my stereotype of a librarian.

See the post from kidsilkhaze (Biblio File) over at The Geek Buffet.

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