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Kids’ books: This ‘March Madness’ is literally playing by the book
“School Library Journal is sponsoring a “Battle of the Kids’ Books.” Patterned after the wildly popular NCAA March Madness, the “Battle of the Kids’ Books” pits 16 topnotch children’s books against each other and asks popular children’s-book authors to choose a winner.”

10 of the best: heroes from children’s fiction
Don’t miss this photo essay featuring 10 heroes and heroines from children’s fiction including Huckleberry Finn, Anne Shirley and Petrova Fossil.

All-New Shel Silverstein Poetry Collection Due in 2011
This week HarperCollins Children’s Books announced the fall 2011 release of a collection of never-before published Shel Silverstein poems and illustrations.

Alabama youth reading Mark Twain to promote literacy
Throughout Alabama, children, big kids and families are reading or re-reading Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as part of the National Endowment for the Arts’ event The Big Read.

Author Name Pronunciation Guide
Ever wondered how you pronounce tricky authors’ names? This site offers a collection of brief recordings of authors & illustrators saying their names. Check out the recording from Adam Rex, a favorite of First Book staff member and author Erica Perl.

The Essays
Rudolfo Anaya
Foreword by Robert Con Davis-Undiano
University of Oklahoma Press

The publisher's announcement:

“The storyteller’s gift is my inheritance,” writes Rudolfo Anaya in his essay Shaman of Words. Although he is best known for Bless Me, Ultima and other novels, his writing also takes the form of nonfiction, and in these 52 essays he draws on both his heritage as a Mexican American and his gift for storytelling. Besides tackling issues such as censorship, racism, education, and sexual politics, Anaya explores the tragedies and triumphs of his own life.

Collected here are Anaya’s published essays. Despite his wide acclaim as the founder of Chicano literature, no previous volume has attempted to gather Anaya’s nonfiction into one edition. A companion to The Man Who Could Fly and Other Stories, the collection of Anaya’s short stories, The Essays is an essential anthology for followers of Anaya and those interested in Chicano literature.

Pieces such as Requiem for a Lowrider, La Llorona, El Kookoóee, and Sexuality, and An American Chicano in King Arthur’s Court take the reader from the llano of eastern New Mexico, where Anaya grew up, to the barrios of Albuquerque, and from the devastating diving accident that nearly ended his life at sixteen to the career he has made as an author and teacher. The point is not autobiography, although a life story is told, nor is it advocacy, although Anaya argues persuasively for cultural change. Instead, the author provides shrewd commentary on modern America in all its complexity. All the while, he employs the elegant, poetic voice and the interweaving of myth and folklore that inspire his fiction. “Stories reveal our human nature and thus become powerful tools for insight and revelation,” writes Anaya. This collection of prose offers abundant new insight and revelation.

Rudolfo Anaya is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of New Mexico. He has received numerous literary awards, including the Premio Quinto Sol and a National Medal of Arts. Anaya and his wife reside in Albuquerque. Robert Con Davis-Undiano, Dean of the Honors College at the University of Oklahoma and Executive Director of World Literature Today, is Neustadt Professor of Comparative Literature.
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Anaya has been heavily involved in the Big Read project of the National Endowment for the Arts, including an immensely popular workshop presentation of his play based on Bless Me, Ultima produced by El Centro Su Teatro in Denver. The NEA has posted on its website two versions of A Conversation with Rudolfo Anaya, a film by Lawrence Bridges. You can watch the videos at this link.

The conversation is excellent; I recommend spending the time to watch the video, especially if you are a writer, to gain insight into the process Anaya has used to produce his timeless art and to understand how his intimate relationship with the natural world and his cultural history have infused his writing with the voice and heart of his beloved llano.

Here is the short version of the film:

A couple days ago I got a package of review books from Chronicle. Upon opening the box, I thought something like, "Oh great. These are not books I'd review." Well, I'm here to prove I was wrong. The box contained a coloring book, a Christmas book, and a tween handbook.

Here is the coloring book:

Squiggles: A Really Giant Drawing and Painting Book by Taro Gomi is the most fun coloring book I have ever seen. I didn't know coloring books could be this cool. I love it so much that I told my son he's not allowed to write in it. I'm serious. All right. He can still use it. I'm photocopying the pages for him to use, because I want to be able to use this book for years to come. There is a section where you design T-shirts. One prompt says, "Draw something that breathes fire". Other T-shirts are prompt-less. There are a bunch of blank floating head pages :) where you can draw in faces. This coloring book is certainly the most unique one I've ever seen. It's great. It's so great, even adult doodlers will enjoy it, I think.

Here is the Christmas book:

I wasn't very fond of a previous Olive title that shall remain nameless, so I didn't have high expectations for this one. However, I am a serious sucker for Christmas. This book was a very pleasant surprise. Olive, a dog, hears everyone singing the song that says, "All of the other reindeer..." and thinks they are saying "Olive, the other reindeer". Clever, huh? He decides he must be a reindeer afterall. Santa allows him to join the sleigh-pulling team. Like Rudolph, Olive is able to save Christmas from disaster.
This book is full of lift-the-flaps, scratch-n-sniffs, and an elaborate pop-up. Lots of fun.

Well, okay, I'm not a big fan of the third book in the box, so it shall also remain nameless. But 2 for 3 is good, right? Thanks Chronicle!