The Joy of Children's Literature

 From Horn Book Magazine : Fanfare is the Horn Book’s selection for the best books published for children and teens in 2011. Publishing trends being what they are, the editors make no attempt to provide a balanced list (where’s the folklore?), but you will find the thirty choices fairly evenly divided among picture books, fiction, and nonfiction. Do note crossovers: many of the books are suggested for a range of ages, and several straddle genres: is Joyce Sidman and Beth Krommes’s beautiful Swirl By Swirl nonfiction, picture book, or poetry? The Fanfare books are selected by the reviewers and editors of The Horn Book Magazine from the more than five hundred books reviewed each year.

From The Guardian : Illustrator, author and Oscar-winning film-maker Shaun Tan (left), with Neil Gaiman. Photograph: Colin McPherson If you are a fan of Shaun Tan and Neil Gaiman, then you must read a conversation between the two in The Guardian . The two met this year at the Edinburgh book festival where Shaun was teaching a masterclass.  I particularly like the following exchange in which they are talking about writing as a way to find out what you think about something: NG : I'm going to learn something I didn't know when I began. I'm going to discover how I feel and what I think about it during the process. I will break off little bits of my head and they will become characters and things will happen and they will talk to each other. ST : Exactly, creating a character is like impersonating another being, so that you can find out what you think about something. You really find out what your style is when you diversify – setting something in a fict...

From NPR , November 24, 2011 StoryCorps started the National Day of Listening , a day when Americans are encouraged to record an interview with a loved one on the day after Thanksgiving. This year, StoryCorps is asking people to take a few minutes to thank a favorite teacher — with a tweet, a Facebook post, a call, a card or a face-to-face interview. Guest host John Donvan calls his ninth grade biology teacher to offer thanks, and talks with Dave Isay, the founder of StoryCorps and the National Day of Listening, about the project and the importance of appreciating teachers.

A Feathered Gathering: All the birds of the world gather to hear the hoopoe bird speak in author and illustrator Peter Sis' The Conference of the Birds . Sis painstakingly painted thousands of birds by hand in to bring his new book to life. From NPR , November 16, 2011 Twelfth century Persian poet Farid Ud-Din Attar's epic poem The Conference of the Birds is now adapted in a gorgeously illustrated book by Peter Sis. A MacArthur fellow and Caldecott award winner, Sis is known for his many children's books, where a boy might be transformed into a firetruck or a New York City neighborhood becomes a fantastical playground. The Conference of the Birds is Sis's first book for adults. It's the story of thousands of birds who fly off on a perilous journey over mountains and oceans and deserts in search of a king. Read the rest of the story here .

Kadir Nelson discusses his inspiration for Heart and Soul

Kirkus' Best Children's Books of 2011 Kirkus' "best of" list is much larger than others published so far, with 54 titles. In many ways, this is as it should be. Of the hundreds of children's titles published this year, there are more than a few outstanding books. With 54 books on the list, readers get a much better sense of the field. However, that doesn't really help those of us trying to whittle down our Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, etc., lists, now does it?!

Publishers Weekly has released its Best Children's Books of the Year list. I agree with many of the books on the list: Monster Calls, Beauty Queens, Inside Out and Back Again, Dead End In Norvelt and Between Shades of Gray . There are a few I haven't read (for example, Legend doesn't release for two more weeks) and a few others that I didn't think were that strong. But, there was one obvious omission from the list: Okay for Now . Hmmm...... What did you think? What other titles do you think should or should not have been on the list?

WINNER : Thanhha Lai , Inside Out & Back Again (Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers ) - Interview FINALISTS: Franny Billingsley , Chime (Dial Books, an imprint of Penguin Group USA, Inc. ) - Interview coming soon. Debby Dahl Edwardson , My Name Is Not Easy (Marshall Cavendish) Albert Marrin , Flesh & Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy (Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books) - Interview Gary D. Schmidt , Okay for Now (Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) - Interview Young People’s Literature Judges: Marc Aronson (Panel Chair), Ann Brashares, Matt de la Peña, Nikki Grimes, Will Weaver

Make Way for Stories: There’s A Good Reason Why People Are Passing Up Picture Books is an article written in School Library Journal by author Anita Silvey in response to the NYT article Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children . Her premise:  If I could chart a course to rescue picture books, I’d suggest that we establish the writer again as half of the equation. We need real stories, and long stories, that can be read more than once. I, by the way, don’t believe that critics change books. I believe geniuses—like Wanda Gag, Virginia Lee Burton, Robert McCloskey, Margaret Wise Brown, Maurice Sendak, Ruth Krauss, Chris Van Allsburg, and more recently Shaun Tan—reinvent the form. Someone who creates contemporary picture books is probably working right now on a title that’ll revitalize our understanding of and ideas about picture books. What do you think?

Tis the season for the "best of..." lists, least of which is the New York Times Best Illustrated Books of 2011 . The Book Review annually asks a panel of judges to choose 10 New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books from among the thousands of children’s books published during the calendar year. Here are the favorites this time around, ranked in alphabetical order. They put together a fantastic slide show of the titles. That Saturday Children's Book section of the NYT also had a great collection of articles on children's and young adult books . Here are just a few: Holiday Songs Children’s books about holiday songs Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans Written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson, reviewed by Walter Dean Myers Picture Books About Unusual Animals Two picture books concern adventures with unusual animals. Reviewed by Lisa Brown.   Picture Books About the Alphabet The alphabet leaps to life in th...

NPR has a new book club -- for kids! The Back-Seat Book Club is for kid who likes to read. Every month, NPR picks a Back-Seat Book Club selection. After reading the selection, then readers can send in questions . At month's end, some of your questions to the book's author during our afternoon radio program, All Things Considered. The first selection for the new book club started last month, was Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book . This month the selection is the classic, Phantom Tollboth by Norton Juster. See photos sent in by book club members reading Phantom Tollboth . So many of my friend listen to NPR during their daily commute to work. What a good idea to get them involved in children's reading by setting up a Back-Seat Book Club. Way to go, NPR!

Have you seen the new trailer for The Hunger Games , premiering today? If not, go check it out right now and let me know what you think! In theaters March 23, 2012.

From the Scholastic OOM blog : While not every kid “gets” history right away, it’s one of the most important subjects they need to take while in school.  It’s hard sometimes to see how things that happened 10, 20, 100, or 1,000 years ago have anything to do with today’s world. That’s why the upcoming webcasts – Dear America: History Speaks and The First Thanksgiving are so important, because they teach kids the importance of history in captivating, engrossing ways.  “You’ll never know where you’re going, unless you know where you’ve been,” said Jennifer L. aka my mom. The first webcast, Dear America: History Speaks , takes place on Wednesday, October 26th at 1 p.m. and will feature Dear America ® series authors Lois Lowry, Kirby Larson, and Andrea Davis Pinkney.  The award-winning authors will virtually talk to students about the art of writing historical fiction including how to craft compelling stories, conduct research and develop characters. Teacher...

There are two author events happening in Richmond, VA that might be of interest to local children's literature lovers. On Thursday, September 27th, National Book Award winner Katherine Erskine will be speaking for the Children's Book Bank of Virginia . She will be at The Library of Virginia from 11:30-4:00 and the Children's Museum of Richmond from 4:30-8:00. Registration is here . Newbery Award Honor winner Kathi Appelt will be presenting at the James River Writers Conference , October 6-8, at the Library of Virginia. Registration is here . Of course, don't forget about The Joy of Children's Literature Conference at The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA on October 15!

-- Shel Silverstein NPR has a great article on the posthumous publication of Shel Silverstein's book, Every Thing On It , titled: Shel Silverstein's Poems Live On In "Every Thing." From the article: Every Thing On It includes 145 poems in all. Silverstein eliminated many of them from his earlier books, not because he didn't like them, but because they just didn't happen to fit in the perfect order he was looking for in a given collection. Toni Markiet, editor of the new collection, worked on other projects alongside Silverstein. Markiet says the poet paid close attention to every last detail. "He would move a piece of art over an 18th of an inch ... and look at how it looked on a page," she tells NPR's David Greene. " ... It's a slight adjustment, but to him, it mattered. I think one of the reasons his books are still so immensely popular after almost 50 years is that every tiny detail was consi...

I just finished listening to Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. The audio book was performed by the incomparable Jim Dale , which was treat in and of itself! NPR did a nice story on Night Circus and author Erin Morgenstern that you might be interested in titled "Night Circus" Comes to Town with Magic, Mystery . Summary from Amazon (best book of September): Jim Dale Erin Morgenstern’s dark, enchanting debut takes us to the black and white tents of Le Cirque des Reves , a circus that arrives without warning, simply appearing when yesterday it was not there. Young Celia and Marco have been cast into a rivalry at The Night Circus , one arranged long ago by powers they do not fully understand. Over time, their lives become more intricately enmeshed in a dance of love, joy, deceit, heartbreak, and magic. Author Morgenstern knows her world inside and out, and she guides the reader with a confident hand. The setting and tone are never less than mesmerizing. The c...

The first Joy of Children's Literature Conference is only a month away - October 15th!! Register now to reserve your space for what is sure to be an amazing day with this line up of authors : Pamela Duncan Edwards Candice Ransom Sara Lewis Holmes Laurie Krebs Kim Norman Ellen Potter (via Skype) Another wonderful reason to attend is that the conference will be held in the brand new School of Education at The College of William & Mary . This state-of-the-art building is just a pleasure to be in and the new Professional Development Center where the conference will be held was built as part of the building. Additionally, the city of Williamsburg where The College of William & Mary is located, is just beautiful in the fall. Consider visiting Colonial Williamsburg , only a few short blocks away from the School of Education, after the conference. Any way you look at it, The Joy of Children's Literature Conference on October 15th is the place to be!...

Next weekend is the 11th Annual National Book Festival and this year, for the first time, it will be held for two days! If you have never been, do yourself a favor and go. Your favorite authors talking about your favorite books in the nation's capitol -- what more could you possible want? An unprecedented 112 authors, poets and illustrators will speak and meet with their readers at the 2011 National Book Festival , sponsored by the Library of Congress. The event, to be held Saturday, Sept. 24 and Sunday, Sept. 25 on the National Mall – rain or shine – also will offer more authors and activities for young readers than ever before. The event is free and open to the public. Saturday hours will be from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sunday hours will be from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Authors’ speaking and book-signing schedules are available on the festival website, www.loc.gov/bookfest. President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, the first lady, are the honorary chairs of th...

To the left is a picture of Roald Dahl's writing hut. Apparently, this is were he wrote most of his beloved stories over his long career. I love to see where authors write, don't you? And I think kids are also interested and even fascinated by the idea that real authors write real books in real places and are sometimes "quirky." Dahl's long time illustrator, Quentin Blake, wrote an article for The Guardian in which some of Dahl's quirkiness is revealed. Your students might think some of these insights are quite fabulous! From The Guardian article , I didn't go into the shed very often, because the whole point of it as far as Roald was concerned was that it wasprivate, a sanctuary where he could work where no one interrupted him. The whole of the inside was organised as a place for writing: so the old wing-back chair had part of the back burrowed out to make it more comfortable; he had a sleeping bag that he put his legs in when it was cold an...

Today is the long anticipated release of Brian Selznick's Wonder Struck ! I am a big fan of The Invention of Hugo Cabret , which won the 2008 Caldecott Medal and will be turned into a movie directed by Martin Scorsese and released November 23 .   Playing with the form he created in The Invention of Hugo Cabret , Brian Selznick once again sails into uncharted territory and takes readers on an awe-inspiring journey. Ben and Rose secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for the father he has never known. Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother's room and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are missing. Set fifty years apart, these two independent stories--Ben's told in words, Rose's in pictures--weave back and forth with mesmerizing symmetry. How they unfold and ultimately intert...

Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY We all know where we were on September 11, 2001. Some people were affected more directly than others, but we were all affected. We all remember where we were at the time we learned of the terrorist attacks, and more importantly, we knew or quickly found out where our loved ones were. I was working with a first grade student at a local elementary school where my son was also in second grade. As I was leaving the building, a colleague told me what had happened. I thought it was best to leave Derek in school even though all of the schools were later locked down. In the days that followed, the images of the attacks greatly affected Derek and in response, he wrote a poem about angels flying from a burning building. I was so happy that he could use poetry as a way to convey his emotions about such a horrific event. Derek in front of his dorm. Little did I know then, that ten years later, my son would attend college in New York City. Two weeks ago, my...

Last Thursday was the first day of classes at William and Mary . I decided that my first day of class read aloud was going to be Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes by Eric Litwin. I played the audio so we could rock out. Most of these students are fairly new to the School of Education. I'm sure that starting class by rocking out with Pete the Cat was a new experience for them. But, they were good sports and jumped right in. The song is contagious! I'm not the only one who started the first day of school with Pete the Cat . Check out Many's blog post at Enjoy and Embrace Learning . Love the shoes, Mandy! I see a new trend starting... What was or will be your first day of school read aloud?

I have an exciting announcement that I believe is quite timely right here at the beginning of the new school year. I have started a new project, Many Voices, One World . The purpose of the Many Voices, One World project is to provide access to an online collection of picturebooks written in dialect that are read aloud by people who convey an authentic voice of the book. Today, there are many children’s picturebooks that reflect the language variation found among the many and various cultural groups in the United States. These books do much to validate the cultural values, customs, beliefs, attitudes, and mannerisms of these cultural groups for children. My hope is that the online read alouds included on the Many Voices, One World project website can be used by teachers to share picturebooks that provide a rich source of culture and diversity to the classroom. Right now, there is only one book available, but it is a wonderful book: Don't Say Ain't written...

The Exquisite Corpse Adventure , which began as an online story of 27 biweekly installments on Read.gov , will soon be available in book form from Candlewick Press. his story-game was a collaboration between the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance, one of the center’s reading-promotion partners. The story was originally available at Read.gov , a Library of Congress website devoted to books, reading, literacy and libraries. "The Exquisite Corpse Adventure" is a buoyant, spontaneous experiment--a progressive story-game like those played by children where one person begins a story, stops at a cliffhanging moment, and the next person picks it up and continues until everyone in the group has the opportunity to contribute. And just as in those games, the contributors to "The Exquisite Corpse" invented characters that spontaneously erupted out of their imaginations; plotlines that tumbled fort...

You definitely don't want to miss his year's August 10 for 10 Picturebook Event hosted by Cathy Mere and Mandy Robek .  Thirty-two bloggers, including myself , have posted their top 10 picturebooks. I have already added numerous titles to my picturebook wishlist! How about you?

Picturebooks. Who can resist them? Old and young alike, there's a picturebook for everyone. But, keeping up with the best of them can be daunting. That's why you might be interested in Cathy Mere and Mandy Robek's 10 for 10 Picturebook Event . In event hosts bloggers who have chosen 10 picture books s/he could not live without and wrote a post about the titles.  Each blogger puts her/his own spin on a collection. Last year (the first year for the event) there were over 400 "must have" picture books. There are so many ways to create this list. I could list 10 of my all time favorites or 10 new releases which I plan to use in my class this year. But, I've decided to focus on 10 new nonfiction books. Why? Because nonfiction is vastly overlooked in the classroom and because these new nonfiction picturebooks are amazing! The nonfiction titles I chose to include range in age/grade level appropriateness and also include both biography and informational tex...