MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Upcoming Events for Children’s Librarians
BAY AREA BOOK REVIEWERS 20TH AWARD NOMINEES ANNOUNCED
The Bay Area Book Reviewers Association announced the nominees for its 20th annual awards, which will be given on April 5, 2001. BABRA was founded in 1981 as a volunteer group of editors and reviewers in Northern California and is co-sponsored by the San Francisco Public Library. The nominees in the Children’s Literature category are:
16TH BAY AREA STORYTELLING FESTIVAL SET
The 16th annual Bay Area Storytelling Festival is scheduled for May 19th and 20th, at Kennedy Grove Regional Park in El Sobrante. This weekend event includes a variety of stages, including workshops on how to empower kids to tell stories, and using guided imagery to help storytellers create characters and settings.
Headliners for the event include Stephen Henegar from San Mateo, California, who uses his Oklahoma background in his stories. Billy Seago from Seattle, Washington, uses sign language to tell stories. Nyla Ching-Fugii, from Aiea, Hawaii, is an elder in Hawaii’s storytelling community. Carol Birch from Southbury, Connecticut is a recipient of the National Storytelling Network’s Circle of Excellence Award. Jamal Koram, from Silver Springs, Maryland, tells stories from the African-American experience.
For information on fees and registration, phone 650-952-3397 or 510-869-4946.
NEWS AND NOTES
Mirra Ginsberg Dies: Noted for her picture book versions of Russian and Eastern European folktales, Mirra Ginsberg died on Dec. 26, 2000, at age 91. She was born in Russia, lived in Latvia, and emigrated first to Canada before settling in the United States. Ginsberg published over 35 books for children, including Two Greedy Bears and Clay Boy.
Susan Hirschman Retires: Founder and publisher of Greenwillow Books, Susan Hirschman has announced her retirement. She will be replaced by Virginia Duncan, effective August 1, 2001. Hirschman began her career in children’s books in 1954 as a secretary at Knopf. She then worked at Harper with Ursula Nordstrom, then in 1964 was named Editor-in-Chief of the Children’s Department at MacMillan. In December of 1974 she founded Greenwillow Books, which is a division of HarperCollins.
Arne Nixon Center to Open in Fresno: The Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature will open on Monday, April 30, 2001, at the Henry Madden Library on the campus of the California State University, Fresno. The center, which contains over 25,000 items, is considered the largest center for the study of children’s literature on the West Coast. It is named after the late professor Arne Nixon, who taught children’s literature and storytelling for more than 30 years at the university, beginning in 1961. He left his collection of 22,000 items as well as a generous bequest to ensure the center could perpetuate his work.
Among the center’s items are the books and original artwork of Fresno native and Caldecott winner Leo Politi. To use the center, make an appointment by phoning 559-278-8116.
New Magazine for Girls: You wouldn’t think of Campbell, California, a small suburb on the San Francisco peninsula, to be a hub of publishing, but a new magazine, Discovery Girls, makes its home there. Started in 2000, as a bimonthly magazine for girls ages 8-13, Discovery Girls uses a lot of reader mail as content as well as to gauge what to include in the magazine.
The age group, called "T’ween," is one of the newest groups receiving marketing attention; from a new clothing line for this age group designed by Mary Kate and Ashley Olson, to the proliferation of pop music aimed at pre-teens, this magazine will certainly find an audience. It is done with lots of glossy pictures and bright, almost glow-in-the-dark colors, but it has some "girl power" content to help this age group with self-esteem. For example, the Dec./Jan. 2001 issue had an article on one girl coping with her parent’s divorce, and another on Olympic swimmer Jenny Thompson.
There is also the usual hair and fashion stuff, (but with models of various sizes and in the 8-13 age group), pop star interviews, horoscopes, a nice column giving "booktalks" on seven new books for that age group, but no advertisements.
Readers are major contributors: they are soliciting stories about Dads for the summer issue, and have columns on "most embarrasing moment" and "exceptional Tweens." Check out their website at www.discoverygirls.com for more information on getting a preview issue.
MEDIA ROUNDUP --AUDIO FOR KIDS
The 43rd annual Grammy Awards were awarded last month in a televised ceremony, but the TV show didn’t have time for those who won Grammies for recordings aimed at children. It is nice, however, that there is even a Grammy for kids music (and one for recorded books!), so at least this audience is being acknowledged.
Very often, our library patrons check out CD’s and cassettes based on the item’s popularity, not quality. Barney CD’s fly off the shelves, while some of the lesser known but far better musical CDs are shelf-sitters. But if the library doesn’t have them to circulate, how will kids and parents ever find them? I buy these, and then use them at storytime, or just play them in the background during arts and crafts programs; this simple exposure gets these items out to our patrons. And parents certainly prefer quality music rather than Barney or other "fast food" music, because the kids play the CDs over, and over, and over…
So, what to buy? Below you will find the list of the Grammy winners and the nominees; I would certainly start with them. Then there will be few reviews below that could help in children’s audio collection development. Happy listening!
43rd Annual Grammy Awards:
MUSICAL ALBUM FOR CHILDREN:
All Compact Discs:
SPOKEN WORD ALBUM FOR CHILDREN:
How about storytellers?
As you may have noticed, all the nominees in the "Spoken Word" category are recorded books. Unfortunately, none of the wonderful recordings of storytellers was nominated, although they have been nominated in the past. If you are looking for storytelling on CD or cassette, the first stop is Jim Weiss. With 25 recordings "in print," and a slew of awards, Jim Weiss’s CDs and cassettes capture the live storytelling experience unlike most other recorded storytellers. He is able to come through the microphone as if he is in your living room or car and sitting with you telling these stories. His recordings have earned a place on many ALA Notable Children’s Recordings lists, Booklists annual Editor’s Choice lists, Parent’s Magazine awards, and many more.
Weiss has three new recordings available from his company, Greathall Productions, www.greathall.com or 1-800-477-6234. "Chanukah, the Festival of Lights" is a tape and coloring book package. The half-hour tape contains the story of the original Chanukah: the battle of the Maccabees and the miracle of the oil in the temple.
"Heroes in Mythology: Theseus, Prometheus, and Odin" contains three of the most popular hero myths. The hero archetype isn’t just popular with Joseph Campbell fans; kids flock to hero stories from these ancient myths to Star Wars. Weiss includes the stories "Theseus and the Minotaur," "Prometheus, Bearer of Fire," and "Odin and the Norse Men."
"Celtic Treasures" contains seven stories including "Cuchulain’s Name" and "Finn MacCoul and the Battle for Tara." Weiss’s guest on this recording is Paul Machlis, who performs Celtic piano music in between each story. As in his other recordings, Weiss’s clear baritone holds the listener’s attention. He adds more interest by connecting the stories with a dialogue by two fictional Irish storytellers.
Another popular, award-winning storyteller who can be found on CD is Sharon Kennedy. Her newest recording is "More Irish Folk Tales For Children," available on Rounder Records. This is a follow-up to Kennedy’s Grammy-nominated "Irish Folk Tales for Children." She also includes Celtic music in her recording, performed with harp, fiddle, viola, accordian, and recorder. The three folktales featured here are "Annie O’Reilly and the Magic Dancing Pig," "Banogue Bridge," and "Finn MacCool," in which she combines elements of six different Finn MacCool stories to make one suited to children. The CD also has an instrumental cut, "The Green Hills," and an original story, "Tommy O’Rourke Visits the Moon."
How about music?
One of the biggest favors you can do for a parent who is checking out music for the kids is to find a CD an adult can listen to ten times without screaming. After the infernal noise of a Barney or Teletubbies, lead the stunned adult listener to music both the kids and parents will not just enjoy but sing along with! One of the best is the duo of Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer. Their follow-up to the Grammy-nominated "Pillow Full of Wishes" is "All Wound Up! A Family Music Party," accompanied by the Brave Combo. Released in early 2001 by Rounder Records, "All Wound Up!" features a combination of original tunes and old favorites. The latter include "Funiculi Funicula," "De Colores," "Mayim, Mayim," and the Harry Belafonte classic "Turn the World Around." Songs written by Fink or Marxer include "Mockingbird Polka," a reworking of the old folk song, and "I Will Never Clean Up My Room." Each cut features a full band with acoustic and electric guitars, percussion, sax, flute, clarinet, trumpet, and more. Even the new tunes will soon be old sing-along favorites.
Another CD parents can even enjoy without kids in the car is "Bright Spaces: Children’s Music to Benefit the Homeless," a compilation album. The Bright Spaces program is a volunteer organization to improve the lives of homeless children. There are lots of big name entertainers performing favorite children’s songs on this CD: Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers with the theme song of TV’s "Arthur," Sweet Honey In The Rock sings "Still the Same Me," Woody Guthrie and Arlo Guthrie recorded separately but are joined by recording magic with "This Land Is Your Land," and Raffi offers up "Goodnight Irene," "All I Really Need," "Everything Grows," and "Something In My Shoe."
Finally, if reggae music is a favorite, try "Reggae for Kids: Movie Classics." Icons of the reggae music field recorded classic kids songs, released on the RAS label, (RAS stands for Real Authentic Sound, which specializes in reggae), these artists are at the top of the field. Songs included: Bunny Wailer sings "Hakuna Matata," Marcia Griffiths, former background singer for Bob Marley offers "Beauty and the Beast" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?," Gregory Isaacs does "When I See An Elephant Fly." Saxophonist Dean Fraser gives an instrumental version of "When You Wish Upon a Star." Peter Broggs offers "Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf." The innovative arrangements renew these Disney classics and make them for older children who think they are too hip for kids’ records.
Penny Peck,
San Leandro Public Library