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Written and illustrated by Courtney Pippin-Mathur

Maya Was Grumpy was selected for the top ten Summer ’13 Indie Next Kids’ Great Reads (Use the arrow to scroll to the right to see Maya).

Thank you to all the independent booksellers who believe in Maya!

When a Dragon Moves In, written by Jodi Moore, illustrated by Howard McWilliam

Jodi Moore accepted the Library of Virginia’s Annual Whitney and Scott Cardozo Award for Children’s Literature for When a Dragon Moves In last weekend!  Here is her account of the event:

WOW! The evening – the weekend – was extraordinary… just amazing! I am still pinching myself…what a star-studded, lovely weekend I had!

Virginia is a beautiful state, filled with warm, wonderful people.

The day started out with a scrumptious luncheon at the Convention Center, where all nominees were honored with medals.

We were treated to a Q&A session with the incomparable Tom Robbins, who was honored with a Literary Lifetime Achievement Award. What a fascinating man!

Following the luncheon, people were encouraged to buy the honored authors’ books and we were positioned at tables for signing. I’m thrilled to report that lots of people “adopted” Dragons! I was also interviewed on Sirius radio!

Click to view slideshow.

Written by Amanda Noll, illustrated by Howard McWilliam

Join us in congratulating author Amanda Noll and illustrator Howard McWilliam: I Need My Monster just won the California Young Reader Medal Primary Division, 2011-2012!

The California Young Reader Medal program is sponsored by four major literacy groups in the state:  The California Reading Association, the California Association of Teachers of English, the California School Library Association, and the California Library Association. Last year approximately half a million votes were cast for all five categories combined.

Congratulations to the winners in the other categories:

Intermediate – Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning by Danette Haworth. Walker Childrens

Middle School – Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Young Adult – Graceling by Kristen Cashore. Harcourt Children’s Books

Picture Book for Older Reader – Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine. Scholastic Press

David Parkins, illustrator of That Cat Can’t Stay (one of 10 books on the NY State Charlotte Award Primary list), was interviewed by Ms. Down’s students at Town of Webb School on the NYSRA Youth Book Blog. Here’s what he had to say:

That Cat Can't Stay, written by Thad Krasnesky, illustrated by David Parkins

Did you use pictures of real cats to draw from?

If I have to draw something I don’t know well, I would always gather lots of pictures of the thing so I get it right. It’s easy to do this nowadays with the internet. I didn’t need to research cats, though, because we have kept cats as pets for years. At one stage we had six, but right now we have just three: a big grey one (very like the big grey cat in That Cat Can’t Stay), a black one and a tabby who is quite old (about 19 years, I think) but very sprightly still. I see them all the time, so I sort of know how they look.

What about people? 

Again, I didn’t need to research or gather reference for the people, because I have drawn so many over the years I just seem to know how to do it now. Sometimes, if I need to draw someone in a very difficult position, or they are, say, playing a sport I’m not completely familiar with, I may have to look that up. But I don’t think I needed to do that for this book.

Were any of the characters based on people you know?

No, I don’t know anyone quite like these characters. Although memories of how someone might have stood, expressions they may have had in certain circumstances, that sort of thing will have informed the drawing. It’s important to be a good observer when you are an illustrator. Always notice how your friends stand, what faces they pull, how they react to things. Then you will know how to draw people in similar circumstances. And you can always exaggerate a bit if you want to make it funny.

How long did it take you to create this book?

I didn’t get all that long to do this particular book. I think it took about three months to do the final art, but I was doing other work as well. If I had been able to sit and do just the book, and nothing else, it would have probably taken about six weeks. Add maybe another couple of months for the roughs and discussions, so perhaps five or six months in all.

Were you responsible for the use of white backgrounds and using text as part of the picture?

Sort of. I am given a manuscript, and I know how many pages I need to fill. Sometimes I decide which bit of text will go on which page, and sometimes a designer or editor will tell me (I think that’s what we did with That Cat Can’t Stay). Then I produced a set of rough pencil drawings that went with the text. After I had done that, it was the designer at Flashlight that had the great idea of changing the layout of Dad’s rants, so that sometimes it was boxed like a comic strip, and sometimes the words snaked around the page. She re-sized and re-positioned my sketches to fit, and then I used that new layout when I did the final art.

Did you like drawing for a children’s book?

I always enjoy doing pictures for children’s books. Wel

That Cat Can’t Stay  was selected as a Wanda Gág Read Aloud Honor Book for 2011.

For this year’s awards, 22 regional teachers and media specialists read and 80 elementary and early childhood majors at Minnesota State University Moorhead to 18,454 children.  The feedback from these readers, along with children’s reactions, are considered by committee members when selecting award books.

When a Dragon Moves In has made its fiery debut and is an INDIE NEXT KIDS’ PICK (Inspired Recommendations for Kids from Indie Booksellers), summer 2011.

Read all the way through this exciting post to see what a few real kids have to say about this tale.

Today we are very lucky to have Kenny Brechner, of DDG Booksellers in Farmington, Maine (an independent shop that is surely among the treasures of the state), offering up a guest post. Kenny somehow managed to score an interview with that fierce and prickly book, The True Deceiver. What dark magic he used to entice this work to speak with him, we'll never know. All we can say that the answers it gives show the book to be as gnomic as that great interview dissimulator, Bob Dylan. [microphone photo: Keith Bloomfield via Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons usage.]

 This interview originally ran on Three Percent, "a resource for international literature at the University of Rochester," as part of the run-up for the Best Translated Book Award, for which The True Deceiver has been long listed. To read the complete post, along with Kenny Brechner's endorsement of the book, visit Three Percent.

KB: Do you feel that this BTBA [Best Translated Book Award] will be conducted fairly?

True Deceiver: “You know nothing about Fair Play!”

KB: Perhaps not, but how can the awards committee reach truth?

True Deceiver: “The truth needs to be hammered in with iron spikes, but no one can drive nails into a mattress.”

KB: I see. Perhaps you’re right and the committee will need to take a firm line. Now do you feel that Tomas Teal handled his translation of you properly, considering how taut the prose is?

True Deceiver: “Cluttering the ground with Flowery Rabbits would have been unthinkable”.

KB: I see. Now if you had a word for a judge what would it be?

True Deceiver: “He must understand how hard I try, all the time, to put everything I do to a strict test—every act, every word I choose instead of a different word.”

KB: Is there any other objective data that would make the selection of any book other than yourself as the BTBA winner a danger to the future well being of the human enterprise?

True Deceiver: “I’ve given security where there was no security, no direction, Nothing. I provide safety!”

KB: I really appreciate your willingness to go on record and clarify these points. The stakes are terrifying.

True Deceiver: “I can assure you that you needn’t be nervous, there’s no cause for alarm.”

KB: I guess there’s nothing else to be said on the matter!

True Deceiver: “We’ve done what matters most.”

KB: Well I certainly hope so, for all human interconnection involves translation, and without an exploration of its dark possibilities we should all be much the poorer. And, if you don’t mind my saying so, you really add something vital to the whole of Tove Jansson’s sublime body of work. After all the Moomins may demonstrate the delightful exercise of freedom, but your pages reveal both the cost and the means of losing it.

True Deceiver: “Thank you for calling.”

I Need My Monster is one of five books nominated in the Primary category of the California Young Readers Medal, 2011-2012. The CYRM program is sponsored by four major literacy groups in the state: the California Reading Association, the California Association of Teachers of English, the California School Library Association, and the California Library Association. Last year, the CYRM counted nearly half a million votes (collectively in the five categories: Primary, Intermediate, Middle School/Junior High, Young Adult, and Picture Books for Older Readers.)

The California Young Reader Medal Committee members greatly enjoyed I Need My Monster. This book met our qualifying standards for both child appeal and literary merit. The colorful illustrations really added to the story. We are looking forward to promoting this title to students, teachers and librarians throughout California.

Out from under the bed and onto the California Young Readers list!

Anyone who’s read Flashlight Press’s That Cat Can’t Stay by Thad Krasnesky knows that the book is about family and compromise and, well, cats.

The International Cat Writers’ Association couldn’t help but love Thad’s purr-fect tale. Over 50 categories of awards were presented at the CWA 17^th annual Communications Conference (November 18-21 in White Plains, NY), and That Cat Can’t Stay received two of them.

The CWA Muse Medallion is awarded in categories ranging from journalism to photography to fiction. That Cat Can’t Stay won the Muse Medallion in the Books for Children category, with the judge’s high praise:

Pure delight! The rhyme and rhythm excites the mouth when read aloud, the brightly colored illustrations are visually appealing, and the father’s facial expressions and physical antics are hysterical. This book is purrfect.

Thad then received the CWA’s top award for fiction, “The World’s Best Litter-ary Award” presented by World’s Best Cat Litter®.  That Cat Can’t Say contended in an open field with works from all genres of fiction. Thad took home the award of $500 and a commemorative pewter bowl.  The judge for the Litter-ary award was Beth Withers, a children’s librarian with the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library and a former member of the Newbery and Caldecott Committees. Her glowing review reads:

This is the perfect blending of text and illustrations which is very important in a picture book. The story, which is about a Dad who really does not like cats, is told with humor, verve and an obvious love of cats on the part of the author. The verse – unintentionally or not – pays homage to Dr. Seuss. The book begs to read aloud and should be enjoyed by children and adults.

Thank you, Cat Writers’ Association, for these wonderful awards.

As you can see, Thad’s read aloud day was a roaring success despite his sore throat. Thad’s book, That Cat Can’t Stay, was selected to be read aloud to every first grade classroom in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The lucky first graders in one Bridgeport classroom got to hear it from Thad himself.

“Your book rhymes,” observed Lee Falcon, 6, inching close to the author.

“Thanks for noticing,” Krasnesky responded, in a voice still raspy from tonsillitis surgery a week earlier.

The event was covered by the Connecticut Post. You can read the entire article here.

Just in — our favorite Monster is on the  Nebraska Golden Sower Primary Award list for 2011-12.  This means that students in participating schools and libraries in Nebraska will be reading and voting on I Need My Monster beginning next September.  The Nebraska Golden Sower Award is sponsored by the Nebraska Library Association.

If you have children or students who live in Nebraska, find out how they can vote in the Nebraska Golden Sower Award here.

If you're wondering why the Man Booker committee decided to bestow this prize a few years later than might have been expected, here's the lowdown: In the first years of the Booker's history, prizes were awarded the year after publication (the 1970 prize was given to a book published in 1969). But in 1971 the rules changed, and the prize was given to books published in the year named in the prize  (the 1971 Booker was given to a book published in 1971). But wait, hey—what about books published in 1970? Well, no one really cared because the prize had yet to become as big a deal to as it has since morphed into. It took Peter Straus, Booker archivist, to realize that something was fishy and to remedy the situation and propose the "Lost" [Man] Booker Prize.

We'd like to think that our nagging getting out the vote helped Troubles win the Lost Man Booker Prize with more than double the votes of any other shortlisted book.

Troubles is set in a crumbling Irish hotel, but we didn't realize until leafing through the recently released J.G. Farrell in His Own Words, that Farrell worked on the book while visiting the US and that one of the inspirations for Troubles's troubled Majestic Hotel was located on Block Island, off the coast of New Hampshire:

"While here I've made another 'fresh start' on my book—partly inspired by the charred remains of the Ocean View Hotel which stands, or stood, on a cliff overhanging the old harbour where the ferry comes in. It burned down a year or so ago."

 

The Ocean View Hotel, from the breakwater, New York Public Library

A 1902 New York Times article (rounding up the best places to summer on Block Island) described the Ocean View as "a liberally conducted house, [which] has numbered among its guests Presidents, Supreme Court Justices, diplomats, Senators, and Congressmen." Today a nature sanctuary stands on the ruins of the hotel.

Farrell's letters also show his initial confidence in the worth of Troubles:

7 July 1969

"I still haven't heard what anyone thinks of Troubles...Can it be that it's really no good? In spite of everything, I find this hard to believe. I've never felt as confident about a book as about this one and if it should be judged to be mediocre then it means t

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Lavinia Greacen is the author of a biography of J.G. Farrell, J.G. Farrell: The Making of a Writer, and the editor of the recent volume J.G. Farrell in His Own Words: Selected Letters and Diaries (to which John Banville provided an introduction). She recently sent out a letter to spread word that Farrell's novel Troubles is one of six books shortlisted for the Lost Booker Prize of 1970.

To vote for Troubles, visit the Booker Prize website.

Last week the Irish Embassy in London invited Cork University Press to launch JG Farrell in His Own Words, his Selected Letters and Diaries, which was edited by me. The Ambassador made an excellent speech, and the packed event was a great success.

The timing could not have been better. The following day JG Farrell made the Lost Man Booker Prize shortlist with Troubles, his novel set in Ireland, which was subsequently awarded the Faber Prize. It is the first book of his acclaimed Empire Trilogy.

The "Lost" Man Booker is a one-off prize to honour the books which missed out on the opportunity to win the Booker Prize in 1971. That year, just two years after it began, the Booker Prize ceased to be awarded retrospectively and became-as it is today-a prize for the best novel of the year of publication. As a result a wealth of fiction published for much of 1970 fell through the net. Twenty-one novels were chosen last month for the longlist, and now six are on the shortlist.

J.G. Farrell—known to his friends as Jim—was drowned on August 11, 1979 when he was swept off rocks by a sudden storm while fishing in West Cork. He was in his early forties. "Had he not sadly died so young," remarked Salman Rushdie in 2008, "there is no question that he would today be one of the really major novelists of the English language. The three novels that he did leave are all in their different way extraordinary."

The winner will be decided by public vote, and this closes-quite soon-on 23 April 2010. The result will be announced on 19 May.

If you feel that Irish author JG Farrell deserves to win, then please vote by using the link below. Please circulate this email widely, too, because every single vote for Farrell is valuable!

www.themanbookerprize.com/news/vote

 With best wishes from Ireland,
 Lavinia

*****

More

Sam Jordison writes about The Siege of Krishnapur, the second book of Farre

I Need My Monster

I Need My Monster, written by Amanda Noll and illustrated by Howard McWilliam, has been nominated for a Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award for 2011.

I'm Really Not Tired

I’m Really Not Tired has been chosen as a Mom’s Choice Award Gold Recipient: Bedtime Stories, 2010.

It is included on two state reading lists: the Alabama Camellia Children’s Choice Award list 2009–2010 and has also been chosen for the South Dakota Prairie Bud Award list 2011–2012.

Enough death (although, we still have one more to mark), let's have some good news, shall we?

What do Giuseppe Mazzini, Natsume Soseki and Martin Van Buren have in common? They all have blue plaques affixed to their former residences in Great Britain. And, since last October, G.B. Edwards, who lived most of his life in relative obscurity and died in real obscurity—try finding a photograph of him—has one too. This is apparently the first blue plaque on Guernsey. It's doubtful that Ebenezer Le Page would have been impressed by something like this, but the rest of us can be.

More on The Book of Ebenezer Le Page [link] [link] [link]

Photo: Caitlin Burke, via flickr

We haven't shared the good news, of which there is quite a bit:

Joel Rotenberg's translation of Stefan Zweig's Post-Office Girl is a finalist for the 2009 PEN Translation Prize

The late Douglas Parmée's translation of Guy de Maupassant's Afloat is a runner up for the French-American Foundation's Translation Prize

And Jamey Gambrell's translation of Vladimir Sorokin's Ice has been shortlisted for the Rossica Translation Prize, which honors excellence in translations from Russian

Peter Coyote reads a bit from his essay about Emmett Grogan at Book Passage and then discusses is own path from the "bland East coast suburbs" to the heart of 60s counterculture, and about the current cultural moment.

Even if you're sick of hearing about the good old days of the sixties, when just about everyone was a believer in truth love and understanding and all of that—especially if you're sick of hearing about all of that—you should listen to Coyote talking about Grogan and the Diggers (later the "Free Family"), and their attempts at a truly radical remodeling of consumer-based society.

Counterpoint will be re-releasing Coyote's memoir Sleeping Where I Fall later in the year.