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Upcoming Events for Children’s Librarians
National Book Award Winners Announced
In a ceremony on November 15th, hosted by comedian and author Steve Martin, the 51st annual National Book Awards were announced. The winner in the Young People’s Literature category was Gloria Whelan for HOMELESS BIRD, HarperCollins, a novel about a 13-year-old girl in India who is married and then widowed. The other nominees in the Young People’s Literature category were:
Other winners included Susan Sontag in the Fiction category, for IN AMERICA, Nathaniel Philbrick in the nonfiction category for IN THE HEART OF THE SEA, and Lucille Clifton in the Poetry category, for the compilation BLESSING THE BOATS. Each winner received $10,000.
Ray Bradbury was awarded the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, a lifetime achievement award.
ROBERT CORMIER DIES AT AGE 75
Award-winning author for young adults Robert Cormier died on November 2, 2000 in Leominster, Massachusetts. He was hospitalized a month earlier for a blood clot, and it was discovered he had lung cancer.
Cormier was born and lived all of his life in Leominster, where he was a newspaper journalist before become a novelist. His many books included The Chocolate War, I am the Cheese, and Frenchtown Summer. His direct language and unvarnished look at the darker side of human nature resulted in challenges to his books, mainly from parents who wanted the books removed from required reading lists.
NEWS AND NOTES
Nancy Garden: Author of Young Adult novels Nancy Garden has been awarded the Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award, presented by the faculty of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois. Garden is the author of the groundbreaking teen lesbian novel, Annie On My Mind, as well as other young adult novels depicting positive gay characters. She is also a spokesperson in defense of books like her own which are often challenged by adults who want them pulled from school libraries.
Her co-winner of the award is Bennett Haselton, founder of Peacefire.org, which advocates for freedom of speech for young people. The awards will be presented at a reception at the ALA Midwinter meeting in Washington, DC this January. The award was established in 1969 to honor intellectual freedom, and was named for the library school’s former director.
Hilary Clinton quotes E.B. White: In the Oct. 8th debate between Hilary Clinton and Rick Lazio, Clinton quoted E.B. White’s definition of a New Yorker. Later, Gov. Pataki, a Lazio supporter, blasted Clinton saying "this Wyatt guy doesn’t sound like a New Yorker." In fact, Pataki’s wife had to remind him that he had read Charlotte’s Web to their daughter, and that White was a writer for the magazine The New Yorker. Clinton defeated Lazio for the New York Senate seat.
Want a fishing pole with those books? In the Bay Area, everyone know about the tool lending library at Berkeley (there is now one in Oakland, too), but in Chicago’s Albany Park branch, patrons can check out fishing poles along with their picnic reading. The 300 poles and rods are provided by the Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources.
J.K. Rowling: It seems as though BayNews has a Rowling newsbit every month, and this is no exception. First, check out the NPR radio interview with Rowling, which is available at: http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/001027.potter.html.
The interview is approx. 19 minutes in length. Rowling also made the papers with her donation of half a million English pounds to help single parents like herself. She was appointed ambassador for the National Council for One Parent Familes. She plans to fight the stereotype that all single parents are poor, on public assistance, or are "feckless teenagers." Approx. one fourth of British families are single parent families. Rowling is a divorced mother of one daughter.
Filters dont’ work: Looking for an example that filtering software does not work? Check out either website listed below, that describes a test by an independent citizen group, the Alliance for Better Library services. The test showed that nine out of ten inappropriate sites got through, while other sites were blocked that should not have been:
http://www.gazette.net/200045/rockville/news/31970-1.html
http://jrnl.net/news/00/Nov/jrn46071100.html
Pullman creates controversy: Check out the New York Times article from Nov. 7, 2000 by Sarah Lyall (sorry, don’t know what page number), for an interesting look at Philip Pullman’s newest novel, The Amber Spyglass. This final book in the His Dark Materials Series has created some controversy as some think it vilifies organized religion.
Thanks to Ruth Gordon and Martha Shogren for news items. Would you like to submit articles, letters, or anything to BayNews? Just email pikly@aol.com. Thanks!
NEW IMPRINT - WINSLOW PRESS
Winslow Press is a relatively new publishing imprint, begun in Fall 1998 by Diane Kessenich. The Florida resident started the imprint in conjunction with her charitable organization, The Foundation for Concepts in Education. The unique aspect of the imprint is the website, http://www.winslowpress.com, which has activities, teacher’s guides, and other information related to the books. The first season showed five books published; they are up to twenty books each year. At first the emphasis was on picture books, but the current list has also has novels for elementary school-age readers and young adults, as well as books for preschoolers. One of the first books from Winslow Press that gained starred reviews was Adrienne Yorinks’ The Alphabet Atlas, which features illustrations made of pieced fabric quilts.
Last year, Margery Cuyler was named Winslow’s vice president and editor-in-chief. Cuyler was an editor at Clarion Books for a long time before she decided to make the jump to Winslow. She had also worked at Holiday House and Henry Holt, so she brings a great deal of experience and knowledge to this new imprint.
Professional Reading for Children’s Librarians
Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly, editors. Little Lit: Folklore & Fairy Tale Funnies. HarperCollins, 2000. $19.95. ISBN 0-06-028624-5.
Gathered from several countries, this salute to the comic book’s look at fairy tales is most likely better appreciated by adults, teens, and older children who will understand the satire. The punchout board game pieces make this book a collectable, not a book for library circulation. This is a great gift book for comic book collectors, edited by Spiegelman, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Maus, the comic book autobiographical look at the Holocaust, co-edited by his wife Francoise Mouly, art director of The New Yorker. Since Bay Area comix fans helped foster the underground comic movement of R. Crumb and "Zippy the Pinhead," there are sure to be local fans for this book. Spiegelman plans further installments.
Contributors range from noted children’s book author/illustrators to comic legends. From 1943 is Walt Kelly’s ("Pogo") version of "The Gingerbread Man." William Joyce, author of George Shrinks and other picture books, writes "Humpty Trouble," about a couple who help put Humpty Dumpty back together. David Macauley, author/illustrator for The Way Things Work, offers his version of "Jack and the Beanstalk." Several other contributors are the creators of graphic novels, but all of the works included here are appropriate for young readers. Those looking for another "Stinky Cheese Man" spoof won’t find it here. But the slight twists made by some of the tales are interesting, as is the variety of artistic styles. For more information, check out the article in the October 16, 2000 issue of Publishers’ Weekly.
Margret and H.A. Rey. Whiteblack the Penguin Sees the World. Houghton Mifflin, 2000. $15.00. ISBN 0-618-07389-2.
Nearly every library will want this book by the creators of "Curious George." As the publisher’s note at the back of the book explains, this original manuscript and the illustrations were first conceived in 1937 in Paris, where Hans Rey was working at the Paris World’s Fair, stationed across from the penguin exhibit. It is likely that this was one of the manuscripts the Rey’s smuggled out of Paris as they escaped from the Nazi invasion, first landing in Brazil, then moving to the United States.
The story is meandering but enjoyable - Whiteblack travels around to get stories for his radio show. Whenever he comes across a new experience, he says "I’ve always wanted to..." The rhythmic text will be enjoyed by children who like circular stories, and those who are Curious George fans (who isn’t). The illustration style is like that of the Curious George books, with deeply colored paintings set on white pages, with the accompanied text serving as a caption.
The book was discovered after the death of Margret Rey, and it was displayed along with the other work of the Rey’s at the DeGrummond Collection, the children’s literature archive at the University of Southern Mississippi. Anita Silvey saw it there and was able to publish it in book form, for all of Reys’ fans to see.
L. Frank Baum and Robert Sabuda. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: A Commemorative Pop-up. Little Simon, 2000. $24.95. ISBN 0-689-81751-7.
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the publication of Baum’s first Oz adventure, noted pop-up artist Robert Sabuda has created a loving tribute to the book. Using the illustration style of W.W. Denslow, who created the cartoon paintings for the original Oz books, Sabuda’s tribute is startling in detail, while still evoking the turn-of-the-century time period of the original.
The pop-ups are quite dynamic and somewhat complex, from the twirling tornado to the Emerald City, to the Wizard aloft in an air balloon. The book even includes a pair of green shaded glasses, just like the ones given to visitors of the Emerald City. Use them to find a secret spelled out on the grounds of the Emerald City. Movie fans may notice that some details were changed when the film was adapted from the book - most noticably, that Dorothy’s ruby slippers were originally silver slippers, here depicted in silver foil paper. The Tin Man is also silver foil, and there are touches of gold and green foil paper when appropriate as well.
The text of the book is abridged, but for a pop-up book, is relatively detailed, Small booklets hold the text on each spread, allowing for more text than the regular pop-up book. Even the accordian mini-books contain pop-ups! The chapter describing the visit by Dorothy and her friends to the Wizard, to discover what task they need to do, includes pop-up depictions of how each of them sees the Wizard in a different guise. Obviously not for library circulation, but a wonderful gift book for Oz fans.
Carolyn Strom Collins and Christina Wyss Eriksson. Inside Laura’s Little House: The Little House on the Prairie Treasury. Illustrated by Garth Williams and Cathy Holly. HarperCollins, 2000. $24.95. ISBN 0-06-027827-7.
Children and adults who are fans of the the "Little House" books will appreciate this collection of crafts, songs, recipes, and historical material, all related to Laura’s story. Teachers will find it especially useful in teaching the pioneer experience in American History, as seen through the Ingalls family.
The book includes photos of the Ingalls family, and photos of Laura, Almanzo, Rose, and their home in Missouri. There is a timeline and maps, showing when and where the actual events of Laura’s life took place. This isn’t just a fluff piece or something for Laura-philes, but a useful companion to the series. There are brief two-page essays on related historical topics, including the lack of medical help, the taking of Indian lands, and Christmas traditions of the time.
Many (but not all) of the crafts and recipes can be completed without adult help; some are more demanding, such as making fried salt pork and gravy. Crafts include making paperdolls, a bead necklace, various sewing projects, etc. Lead fifth grade teachers to this, who will find it useful in bringing that time in history to life.
Penny Peck,
San Leandro Public Library