May 2003

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Upcoming Events for Children's Librarians

• May 17 & 18, 2003 Bay Area Storytelling Festival, 650-952-3397

• Thurs. June 12, 2003 ACL Meeting , 9am-3pm, Oakland PL

• June 19-25 2003 ALA Conference, Toronto, Canada, www.ala.org

• Thurs. July 10, 2003 ACL Meeting, 9am-3pm, Oakland PL

• Thurs. Aug. 13, 2003 ACL Meeting, 9am-3pm, Oakland PL

Author Paul Zindel Dies at 66: Young adult novelist Paul Zindel died on March 27, 2003, at the age of 66 of cancer in his native New York. His many groundbreaking YA novels include The Pigman, and My Darling, My Hamburger. He was awarded the Margaret A. Edwards Award by the American Library Association for his lifetime achievement in Young Adult Literature. Zindel was also a noted playwright, receiving the Pulitzer Prize for "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds" in 1971.

Los Angeles Times Book Prize: The 23rd annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were awarded April 26th, with awards for adult fiction and nonfiction, biography, and poetry. In the category "Young Adult Fiction," M. T. Anderson's Feed won for its futuristic story, combining humor and sadness, about teens who travel to the moon on spring break. In his acceptance speech, Anderson said "We need to give children complicated narratives to help them find out how the world works and who they might be."

California Book Awards: The 72nd California Book Awards will be handed out on May 13th, and two will go to children's books. In the Young Adult Category, Elizabeth Partridge wins for This Land Was Made For You and Me: The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie, and in the Juvenile Category, Pam Munoz Ryan wins for When Marian Sang: The True Story of Marian Anderson.

 

California Historian David Lavender Dies: Author David Lavender died at age 93 on April 26th, at his home in Ojai, CA. Best know for his adult nonfiction books on Western history, Lavender also wrote for children, including Snowbound: The Tragic Story of the Donner Party.

Storyteller Ray Hicks Dies: Appalachian storyteller and author Ray Hicks died at age 80. A frequent guest artist at the National Storytelling Festival held in Jonesborough, TN, Hicks also wrote The Jack Tales, named an ALA/ALSC Notable Children's Book of 2000, which also contained a CD recording of Hicks telling the Jack stories.

 

Susan Faust Elected Newbery Chair: Susan Faust, librarian at the Katherine D. Burke School in San Francisco and children's book reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle has been elected Chair of the 2005 Newbery Committee. Congratulations!

San Souci Brothers at SFPL: ACL member Vartouhi Anderson reports that the annual Effie Lee Morris Lecture, presented at the San Francisco Public Library in honor of their retired head of children's, was a wonderful event held on April 27th. Daniel and Robert San Souci spoke about their work, together and individually, on various children's books, especially their illustrated folktales. The event ended with a delicious dessert buffet sponsored by a local restaurant.

Reviewers - Check this out: ACL member Kay Lingo recommends the article in the March/April 2003 Horn Book magazine on reviewing biographies. Those of us who review nonfiction should find it interesting and helpful.

"Holes" Movie a Hit! The film version of Louis Sachar's Newbery-winning novel, "Holes," is a critical and financial success, taking in $50 million its first two weeks, leading show biz types to forecast more movies based on children's books. In production now are film versions of the Lemony Snicket books, the third Harry Potter book, the Artemis Fowl books, and "Ella Enchanted."

Lee and Low Celebrate 10th Anniversary: Publishers Lee and Low, who began 10 years ago, are celebrating their anniversary. Specializing in multicultural children's books, the company recently started a line of textbooks, Bebop books, which are in English and Spanish for kids who are just learning how to read.

 

Websites Worth Bookmarking

AJL'S NEW JEWISH VALUESFINDER, available at www.jewishlibraries.org, is a new guide for librarians, teachers, parents, clergy, and all who work with children, sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries. There are currently 325 books in its database, with more being added all the time. Every book has been read and its contents analyzed for the Jewish values it contains.

For each book in the Valuesfinder database, the following information is given: author, title, illustrator, publisher, copyright, ISBN, number of pages, grade level, a critical annotation, subjects, and values. Searching of the database is by key word.

Linda R. Silver, the librarian of the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland, is the editor of AJL'S NEW JEWISH VALUESFINDER. She is a specialist in Judaic children's literature and an experienced children's librarian and reviewer who writes both locally and nationally. Her recent publications include:

DEVELOPING A JUDAIC CHILDREN'S COLLECTION:
RECOMMENDED BOOKS AND VIDEOS (AJL, 2001) and "Up For Discussion: Judging
Judaica" (School Library Journal, Jan. 2001). Her book reviews and comments appear in every issue of the AJL Newsletter, Jewish Education News and Jewish Book World, for which she is the children's book review editor.

Jane Addams Children's Book Awards Announced

Winners of the 2003 Jane Addams Children's Book Awards were announced on April 28 by the Jane Addams Peace Association. Organized on that date in 1915, much of the educational work of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom is funded by JAPA.

The Jane Addams Children's Book Awards annually acknowledge books published during the previous year in the U.S. effectively addressing themes or topics promoting peace, social justice, world community, and/or equality of the sexes and all races. The books must also meet conventional standards for literary and artistic excellence.

Coincidentally the two award winning books feature the personal impact of a war in which the United States was involved.

The winner in the Picture Book category is "Patrol: An American Soldier in Vietnam," an unrhymed story-poem was written by Vietnam veteran Walter Dean Myers and accompanied by collage artwork created by Ann Grifalconi. "Patrol" was published by HarperCollins Children's Books, New York City.
The winner in the category of Books for Older Children, "Parvana's Journey," is a novel about an Afghan refugee girl separated from her family by death and war. It was written by Deborah Ellis and published by Groundwood Books / Douglas & McIntyre, Toronto, Canada.

One of two Honor Books in the Picture Book category is "¡Si, Se Puede! Yes, We Can! Janitor Strike in L.A.," a story based on actual union organizing in Los Angeles in 2000. Diana Cohn wrote this story about a boy and his mother, who became a leader of the strike. The bilingual story is illustrated with paintings by Francisco Delgado and published by Cinco Puntos Press in El Paso, Texas.
The other honored picture book "The Village That Vanished" is an original story set in East Africa during the years when people were being captured by slavers. It was written by Ann Grifalconi, illustrated with paintings by Kadir Nelson and published by Dial Books for Young Readers, New York City. This book was written by the artist of the winning book in the same category.

"The Same Stuff as Stars" by Katherine Paterson and "When My Name Was Keoko" by Linda Sue Park were named Honor Books in the category of Books for Older Children. Both books were published by Clarion Books of New York City.

As different as these two Honor Books are from the each other, both novels involve a sister and brother attempting to live within extreme circumstances. Paterson's contemporary story features a girl whose survival depends upon economic and emotional factors. Park's story is set during the Japanese occupation of Korea during World War II and is alternately narrated by each sibling.

The 2003 Jane Addams Children's Book Awards will be presented on October 3 in New York City.
Details about securing award and honor book seals and about the award event are available from the Jane Addams Peace Association. Contact JAPA Executive Director Linda B. Belle, 777 United Nations Plaza, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10017-3521; phone 212-682-8830; e-mail japa@igc.org
For additional information about the Jane Addams Children's Book Awards and a complete list of books honored since 1953 see www.soemadison.wisc.edu/ccbc/public/jaddams

Members of the 2003 Jane Addams Children's Book Awards Committee are Donna Barkman (Ossining, New York); Marilyn Hurley Bimstein (Seattle, Washington); Eliza T. Dresang (Tallahassee, Florida); Ginny Moore Kruse, Chair (Madison, Wisconsin); Cathie Reed (New Market, Maryland); Suzanne Martell (Harwich, Massachusetts); Serena Murray (San Jose, California); Judith Volc (Boulder, Colorado); and Pat Wiser (Sewanee, Tennessee). Regional reading and discussion groups participated with many of the committee members throughout the jury's evaluation and selection process.

In addition to the Jane Addams Children's Book Awards and its many other educational projects, JAPA houses the U.N. office of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in New York City. JAPA owns the Jane Addams House in Philadelphia where the U. S. section of WILPF is located. For more information about the Jane Addams Peace Association, visit www.janeaddamspeace.org For information about WILPF during its 88th year, visit www.wilpf.int.ch/

GHERMAN NAMED CLA BEATTY WINNER

Gherman, Beverly. Ansel Adams: America's Photographer. Little Brown, 2002, $19.95, ISBN 0316824453.

 

The 2003 John and Patricia Beatty Award was announced, and the recipient is Beverly Gherman for Ansel Adams, America's Photographer Gherman's Ansel Adams, America's Photographer is an inspiring account of Ansel Adams' life and seamlessly blends text and photography. From his childhood in San Francisco to his final years in Carmel, Beverly Gherman carefully documents his evolution from amateur photographer to artistic genius. It is important to note that Adams had "learning disabilities" and struggled in the formal classroom setting. Fortunately, his parents were wise enough to home school him. As part of this unique education, Adamsl was given a season pass to the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition. Daily, he traveled across town by streetcar to explore the arts, science and technology on display.

Initially, Adams trained to become a classical pianist. Had he not made his fateful first trip to Yosemite in 1916, he may have followed that career path. As his passion for photography developed along with his love of nature, he joined the Sierra Club. Here, with the Club's support, he began documenting one of the world's most breath-taking landscapes. Although Ansel Adams is primarily recognized for his awe-inspiring Sierra portraits, other photographic efforts included the Southwest, Death Valley, and Manzanar Internment Camp. His photographs of Manzanar Internment Camp are particularly poignant. His intent was to "show the public that imprisoned Japanese-American families were exactly like their own families." They were not the enemy.

In Ansel Adams, America's Photographer, Beverly Gherman has done an exceptional job of documenting Ansel Adams' influence on "California, its heritage, people and/or future." The John and Patricia Beatty Award is given by the California Library Association to a children's book, fiction or nonfiction, that chronicles the history and people of California.
The 2003 committee members include: Elizabeth Krieger, San Luis Obispo City/County Library, Cynthia MacDonald, Fresno County Library, Harriet Miles, Palmdale Youth Library, Laura Remer, Chabot Elementary School, Georgia Wages, Kern County Library and Julie Passalacqua, Santa Clara City Library.

New Edition of Children's Services Manual Available

 

Cruse, Cheryl, editor. Children's Services Training Manual, 2002 Edition. North State Cooperative Library System, 2002, $50.00. For ordering information, phone (530) 934-2173 or write North State Cooperative Library System, 259 N. Villa Ave., Willows, CA 959-88-2607.

Children's Services Training Manual is a loose-leaf binder, packed with advice for new children's librarians. It is very useful for staff training, and great for branch librarians and other staff who substitute at the children's desk.

The topics covered include Public Library Service to Children, History of Children's Literature, Collection Development, Programming, Storytelling and Storytime, Readers' Advisory, Booktalking, School Visits, Chidlren's Reference Service, and Service to different age levels and multicultural populations.

The highlight of this new edition is the new chapter on Children's Services and the Internet, written by Kathy Haug of Richmond Public Library. She covers evaluating websites, training the public on Internet use, and creating a policy statement and guidelines for Internet use.
The updates also include new booklists, bibliographies, websites, and instructional activities for each chapter. With library staffing cutbacks forcing more general reference librarians to work in children's, this handy training manual is invaluable.

Special Anniversary Editions of Old Favorites

Daly, Maureen. Seventeenth Summer. Simon & Schuster, 2002. $17.95. ISBN 0-689-85383-1.

As a teenager, I never read Daly's Seventeenth Summer; I wasn't really into romance novels. But reading it now, I can see why some middle school girls still get something from this novel, even with its pre-World War II sense of morality, class consciousness, and lack of television, computers, etc.
The story concerns Angie, the youngest of three middle class sisters in a Midwestern town near Chicago, and her salesman father and housewife mother. Right after graduation and before she goes off to college, she starts dating Jack, a boy a little older than she who she had met in high school. Suddenly, she feels like one of the popular crowd, going to hang out at the soda fountain, going to the lake for picnics, and talking to Jack on the phone nearly every day.

Nothing groundbreaking or earthshaking happens - they go out with other people until they decide to date exclusively. Even as she goes off to college and Jack moves with his family to Oklahoma, it is implied that they will still be together.

In many ways, the more interesting story is in the subplot about Angie's sister Lorraine, who is dating a lady's man, Martin. You get the impression that Lorraine may even have slept with Martin. She acts a little desperate and goes back to college sad and cynical.

There are not very many pop culture references to the movies or radio shows of the 40's, and the story is a little repetitive (this date, that dance, etc.), but it still has a place on library shelves. Daly, who was a college coed when she wrote it, really captures that time and attitude. Even now, some young teen girls exhibit the same self-centeredness as Angie, living for that phone call from a boy. It is of its time, yet still has relevance for some girls.

Scieszka, Jon. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, illustrated by Lane Smith. Viking, 1992/2002, $16.99, ISBN 0-670-03569-6.

It may be stretching things to call this a "Tenth Anniversary" edition, as only the dust jacket is new! But there was nothing "old fashioned" or in need of updating in the original; in fact, it is still innovative and "cutting edge!"

The dust jacket has a new front cover piece - a close-up of the Stinky Cheese Man, the Caldecott Honor sticker, and a circle with the words "10 Years of The Stinky Cheese Man." The back jacket art features the narrator Jack, nattering on about the revised dust jacket.

The inside of the dust jacket is the really "new" part; a brief fractured fairy tale, "The Boy Who Cried Cow Patty." Smothers Brothers' fans will note the similarity to the Brothers' song, "I Fell in a Vat of Chocolate."

Of course, librarians will know that most patrons won't see the inside of the dust jacket, unless they rip it off the book! So, this probably works best as a gift item for fans.