What do a little girl who dreams of becoming a sushi chef and a young boy whose ambition is to be the world’s best surfer have in common? Both are the subjects of two exceptional picture books, and both have been chosen by Kiriyama Prize judges to be on the list of Notable Books for 2008.
Hiromi’s Hands by Lynne Barasch and Surfer of the Century by Ellie Crowe have still more in common. They are both true stories, they have both been published by Lee & Low Books, and each one was reviewed in the past year by Papertigers. In the tradition that Lee & Low Books have made their trademark, both books have the arresting illustrations and clarity of text that make them attractive read-alouds, yet are interesting and informative enough to appeal to older readers–including Kiriyama judges!
This year’s list of Notable Books features three memoirs that, while not specifically intended for young adults, may well appeal to adolescent readers. Stealing Buddha’s Dinner by Bich Minh Nguyen, The Thorn of Lion City by Lucy Lum, and Hapa Girl by Maylee Chai, all in different ways and in different places, tell very personal, and at times emotionally wrenching, stories of growing up and finding a place in the world.
In the more than ten years that the Kiriyama Prize has been in existence, books for young readers have appeared on the Notable Lists, which can be found on the Kiriyama web site. For readers of all ages, this is a splendid place to look when hunting for reading recommendations.
Yes, I’m two and a half years late to this thread, but tag clouds are indeed the new mullets! I couldn’t resist enabling the tag cloud widget for WordPress. You can see the tag cloud on the left of this blog, if you scroll the page. So far I’ve tagged three entries just to goof around.
Do our paths cross, gentle readers (and writers)?
October 11, 11 a.m. ET: One-hour web presentation from the comfort of my office, “Death to Jargon,” for the Outagamie Waupaca Library System (no, I don’t know how to pronounce that)
October 18, 8:30-12: “Library 2.0,” Williamsburg Public Library, Virginia–this will feature Olde Tyme 2.0, New and Improved 2.0, 2.0 successes, 2.0 failures, 2.0 head-scratchers, and 2.0 “Please don’t make me fly around in Second Life in this teensy miniskirt” examples.
October 26 - November 1: Internet Librarian, Monterey, California. I fly in Friday (wearing sensible slacks and clogs, no teensy miniskirt), stay at a cheap motel friend’s house close to Fry’s electronics store in Palo Alto, wake up, geek out, drive to the Bay Area, visit friends in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and Santa Cruz, eat real Asian food, stuff a duffel bag with goodies from Trader Joe’s, then drive to the conference earrrrrrrrly Monday 10/29. I don’t have any responsibilities other than to be All Ears And Eyes (and Keyboard-Tapping Fingers). Where shall I trick-or-treat?
November 4 - 7: defrag, one uber-cool conference that I foolishly agreed to speak at. Sure, I want to be on a conference agenda also featuring Esther Dyson and David Weinberger. “Hi, my name is Two Buck Chuck, and I’m here to talk about agronomy and astronomy… no wait, folksonomy and taxonomy… hey, why are you leaving the room?” My stage fright notwithstanding, if you’re interested in attending defrag but are on the fence about it, drop me a note at kgs at freerangelibrarian dot com and let me persuade you. (Also, I had a thought while out running today–I try to have one thought per day, whether I need to or not–and it was this: for faceting and library data, technology has trumped taxonomy.)
November 8-9: Jim Rettig’s ALA Presidential Implementation Task Force, ALA Headquarters, Chicago. I think we get to suggest how he spends his time and money during his year as ALA prexy.
November 12-15: NISO NCIP Meeting, Atlanta. Whee, I get to travel on the Monday of a three-day weekend! What a terrific way to honor America’s veterans (including me). I promise to drive my tripmate crazy on the drive north by singing “Danger Zone” the whole way up there. The meeting itself should be fascinating (it’s about a standard intended to help attach the hip bone to the thigh bone in library software). Then I swing around and drive home just long enough to drop off the rental car so that I can scoot to the coast that night for…
November 16, all day: PLAN Workshop, “Writing for the Web,” Panama City, Florida. A great way to wrap up several weeks of learning and travel–my favorite new best thing to teach, and the beautiful Florida coast. (A mere stone’s throw from the equally beautiful Destin outlet stores.)
December 19-23: Personal writing retreat (yes, this is a good time to be away–Sandy will be very busy; Christmastime is big business for her). After I was rejected by a famous writing center, I thought, I don’t need a writing center to have a writing retreat. A laptop, a cooler of healthy food, and a motel room on the coast will do me fine. I can then roll back into Tally like Pa coming home in that blizzard in one of the Little House on the Prairie books… look, it’s me, and I’ve brought you an orange and a clothespin doll! (My other thought was to make the writing shed happen during this time; in any event, it’s my own special Writing Advent.)
We also have a personal trip factored in here, to New York City. It’s been several years and I miss it; Sandy has been back once or twice since then, but I haven’t. Our needs are pretty simple: a trip or two to Zabar’s, riding the bus around the city, good ethnic food, a long pass through Century 21, walking down the Upper West Side, prowling all the places we could take for granted when we lived in or near New York.
Then life is pretty quiet until it’s time for ALA Midwinter, in mid-January.
A timely post as we have just returned from Oahu and learned about Duke (Surfer of the the Century) while we were there. Congratulations to both authors for making the 2008 Kiriyama Prize Notable List!
Welcome back to the land of the elusive sun!
It is great to have not one but two children’s books selected for special mention - and picture-books at that!
Our favorite Ed Young was on last year’s Notable list, for Tiger of the Snows!