Shame on American television networks who don’t believe that the winners of the most prestigious children’s book awards in the U.S. are newsworthy. This is the second year that the major networks have declined to carry segments with the Caldecott or Newbery Award winners despite ALA’s media staff’s outreach efforts. No wonder reading is on the decline. Kids are being told in all sorts of subtle and not so subtle ways that books, even award-winning books, don’t have value.
Now if every one of you who does value kid’s books and reading were to write to the major television networks to tell them otherwise, there is no telling what might happen…
Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable Presents:
Year of the Dragon: Asian Themes for Young Canadian Readers
Saturday, February 25, 2012; 8:30 am – 3:30 pm (includes lunch & snacks) The University of British Columbia, Neville Scarfe Building; Room 100
***Featuring***
Paul Yee
Lisa Yee
Allen Say
***With Special Guests***
Tanya Kyi, 2011 Information Book Award, winner
Marjorie Coughlan Papertigers.org editor
Corinne Robson Papertigers.org editor
Joseph Wu, origami master and
Shiamak’s Bollywood Dancers
Registration Fees
Early Bird Rates (through January 31, 2012): Members $125 Non‐members $140 Students $75 Regular Rates (beginning February 1, 2012): Members $150 Non‐members $165 Students $100
Visit us at www.vclr.ca for more information or to register
Young adult author, Karen Rivers will be at the Victoria Children’s Literature Roundtable meeting on Monday January 16th to talk about how she found her “dream job” as a writer. Her books are funny, quirky, sad, and impossible to put down. I’ve never read one I didn’t like.
If you happen to be in the Victoria area, drop by the Nellie McClung Branch Library, 3950 Cedar Hill Road for an awesome program. Doors open at 7 pm & you can browse the bookseller’s table until 7:30 when the program starts.
The VCLR is open to the public. Members free, drop-ins $5, students $4.
Instructions for Helping the World is my favorite poem of 2012. I know. I know. The new year has just begun! But still. It’s an awesome poem. It’s written by Greg Pincus, a kid’s lit blogger who is as prolific as he is talented.
Instructions for Helping the World is short (only 10 lines), but it packs a serious punch and should be required reading for all those “Back to The Three R” types out there.
Thanks Greg … I would add that help might also come in the form of a warm bed, enough to eat, clean water and love but that’ll keep for another poem.
There may be no such thing as a flattering definition of doodling, but according to Sunni Brown, Doodling can assist information processing, has been an important precursor to certain cultural pieces (such as the Guggenheim in Abu Dhabi) and has a profound positive role in visual literacy.
Who knew…
I love these TED talks. They point you in directions you never would have thought of. Thanks Patricia Storms for the heads up. I have always been a doodler. It helps me think.
And if that isn’t enough, there is story connection…even the guru of screenwriting, Robert McKee is a doodle fan.
An amazing number of bloggers are book fans, so it wasn’t exactly a surprise when the CYBILS were born (the first CYBILS Awards go back to 2006).
FYI, the 2011 CYBILS Finalists have been posted along with summaries and min-reviews. You can’t beat these folks for dedication and breadth of expertise, not to mention that they are all volunteers!
from Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban, illustrated by his wife Lillian Hoban
I was saddened when reading about the death of one of children’s literature greats, Russell Hoban in the New York Times. The author will live on in his Frances books, which my children absolutely adored and which adults never tired of reading. Having grown up in a family of non-readers, I was first introduced to Hoban through his exquisite writing in The Mouse and His Child when took a children’s literature course in university. Hoban, who wrote more than 50 books for children (from tots to teens), went on to write for adults. Two of his better known books include: Turtle Diary (it was made into a movie of the same name) and his futuristic, critically acclaimed Riddley Walker which was once in the book pile on my bedside table, but which I never did get around to reading.
I’m a huge fan of Michael Morpurgo and was once fortunate enough to host him for a talk as well as tour he and his wife around Victoria. His books tend to be of the universal rather than age-dependent sort which is one of the things I like best about his writing. Dear Ollie remains one of my all-time favorites, but he’s written so many others that I have enjoyed. In fact, I don’t think I’ve read a Morpurgo book that I didn’t like. He recently posted writing tips in The Guardian are well worth checking out. I particularly liked this one.
The most important thing is to live an interesting life. Keep your eyes, ears and heart open. Talk to people and visit interesting places, and don’t forget to ask questions. To be a writer you need to drink in the world around you so it’s always there in your head.
Here are two of my most recent favorite Morpurgo reads.
An amazing number of bloggers are book fans, so it wasn’t exactly a surprise when the CYBILS were born (the first CYBILS Awards go back to 2006).
Sheryl McFarlane 