November 2001

• Thurs., Dec. 13, 2001. ACL Meeting. 9 a.m. Oakland Public Libr.
• Thurs., Jan. 10, 2002. ACL Meeting. 9 a.m. Oakland Public Libr.
• Jan. 18-22, 2002. ALA Midwinter. New Orleans, LA
• Sun., Feb. 3, 2002. Distinguished Books. Noon - 5 p.m. Penny Peck's house
• Thurs., Feb. 14, 2002. ACL Meeting. 9 a.m. Oakland Public Libr.
• Sat., Feb. 23, 2002. Performers Showcase. 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. San Leandro PL

Berkeley Public Rejects Filters: The board of trustees of the Berkeley Public Library has decided to forgo federal e-rate funds rather than install Internet filters, as required by the Children’s Internet Protection Act. Linda Perkins, head of the children’s services department, was quoted in news coverage, "A lot of valid information is blocked, and to top it off, not all pornographic sites are. There’s a false sense of security that filters protect children, but they don’t."

Harry Potter Mania: As of this writing, the new "Harry Potter" movie hasn’t opened yet. But it is already making news by selling more advanced tickets than any other film in history. In fact, it has sold more than 6 times as many as the previous film, "Star Wars: the Phantom Menace," which held the record for advance online sales of movie tickets. "Harry Potter" opens in more than 3,500 North American theatres on November 16^th. More news next month on this.

Robert Kraus dies: Cartoonist turned author Robert Kraus died at age 76. Kraus’s many picture books include Leo the Late Bloomer, Owliver, Herman the Helper, Noel the Coward, and Whose Mouse are You? Many of his books were illustrated by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey. Kraus began his career as a cartoonist and illustrator for "The New Yorker" magazine. He began his children’s book-career at Harper’s, and eventually had his own publishing business, Windmill Books, which he later sold to Simon & Schuster.

Marketing Children’s Books: Leonard S. Marcus has a thoughtful article on the promotion and marketing of children’s books over the past century in the Sept. 17, 2001 issue of "Publishers Weekly."

The winners for the 2001 National Book Awards were announced on November 14, 2001, in a ceremony in New York City hosted by actor/playwright/comedian Steve Martin. The winner in the Young People’s category was Virginia Euwer Wolff for True Believer, Atheneum/S&S. It is a sequel to Make Lemonade.

The other nominees in the Young People’s Literature category were An Na’s A Step From Heaven, Front Street, Kate DiCamillo’s The Tiger Rising, Candlewick Press, Phillip Hoose for We Were There, Too! Young People in U.S. History, Farrar, Staus, and Giroux, and Marilyn Nelson for Carver: A Life in Poems, Front Street Books.

The winner for adult Fiction was Jonathan Franzen for The Corrections, FSG, which has been in the news recently. It had originally been picked by talk show host Oprah Winfrey for her television book club, but when Franzen expressed unease about appearing on her show, Winfrey suddenly dropped the selection.

The winner for nonfiction was Andrew Solomon for The Noonday Demon, S&S, and the winner for poetry was Alan Dugan for Poems Seven, Seven Stories Publisher.

Recently, a list of novels and stories set in the Middle East was featured on the PUBYAC Listserv. These books may be requested by parents or teachers who want to help children have a better understanding of the Middle East, especially during a time when television news coverage may be giving a very negative impression of that area of the world.

NOVELS:

• LYDIA, QUEEN OF PALESTINE by Uri Orlev, Puffin, 1995.
• ONE MORE RIVER by Lynn Reid Banks, Morrow, 1992.
• BROKEN BRIDGE by Lynn Reid Banks, Flare, 1996.
• THE BREADWINNER by Deborah Ellis, PGW, 2001.
• SHABANU by Suzanne Fisher Staples, Random House, 1989.
• HAVELI by Suzanne Fisher Staples, Random House, 1993.
• SAMIR AND YONATAN by Daniella Carmi, Arthur A. Levine Books, 2000.
• RUNNING ON EGGS by Anna Levine, Front Street, 1999.
• THE SINGING MOUNTAIN by Sonia Levitin, S&S, 1998.
• SHADOW SPINNER by Susan Fletcher, Atheneum, 1998.

NONFICTION/FOLKLORE:

• ARABIAN NIGHTS, various authors and illustrators.
• BEHOLD THE TREES by Sue Alexander, illustrated by Leonid Gore, Arthur A. Levine Books, 2001.
• Lattimore, Deborah Nourse. THE WINGED CAT: A TALE OF ANCIENT EGYPT, HarperCollins, 1992.
• THE GIRL WHO LOST HER SMILE by Karim Alrawi, illustrated by Stefan Czernecki, Winslow Press, 2000.
• THE GIFTS OF WALI DAD: A TALE OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN by Aaron Shepard, illustrated by Daniel San Souci, Atheneum, 1995.
• THE SEVEN WISE PRINCESSES: A MEDIEVAL PERSIAN EPIC by Wafa Tarnowska, illustrated by Nilesh Mistry, Barefoot Books, 2000.
• PERSIAN CINDERELLA by Shirley Climo, HarperCollins, 1999.
• THE GOLDEN SANDAL: A MIDDLE EASTERN CINDERELLA STORY by Rebecca Hickok, illustrated by Will Hillenbrand, Holiday House, 1998.

PICTURE BOOKS:

• SITTI AND THE CATS: A TALE OF FRIENDSHIP by Sally Bahous, illustrated by Nancy Malick, Rinehart Books, 1997.
• THE DAY OF AHMED’S SECRET by Florence Parry Heide and Judith Heide Gilliland, illustrated by Ted Lewin, Mulberry, 1995.
• HOUSE OF WISDOM by Florence Parry Heide and Judith Heide Gilliland, illustrated by Mary Grandpre, DK Ink, 1998.
• SAMI AND THE TIME OF TROUBLES by Florence Parry Heide and Judith Heide Gilliland, illustrated by Ted Lewin, Clarion, 1992.
• THE ROSES IN MY CARPETS by Rukhsana Khan, illustrated by Ronald Himler, Holiday House, 1998.
• WHAT’S THE MATTER, HABIBI? by Betsy Lewin, Clarion, 1997.
• THE STORYTELLERS by Ted Lewin, Lothrop Lee, 1998.
• ALI, CHILD OF THE DESERT by Jonathan London, Lothrop Lee, 1997.
• THE STARS IN MY GEDDOH’S SKY by Claire Sidhorn Matze, illustrated by Bill Farnsworth, Whitman, 1999.
• SITTI’S SECRETS by Naomi Shihab Nye, Four Winds, 1994.

Singer /songwriter Tami Mulcahy collaborated with students from the Santa Rita elementary school in Los Altos on these eleven songs. Seven were co-written with the students, the other five by Mulcahy. The styles vary from rock, to folk, to country, and will appeal to children who have outgrown Raffi, but are still too young for ‘N Sync.

Teachers will find some of the songs useful to the curriculum. "A Page From Your Book" is a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and "California or Bust" focuses on the 1849 Gold Rush. "Give Some Back" has an environmental message. Several of her songs tells stories, in the vein of the late balladeer Harry Chapin.

In fact, teachers may be inspired to have Mulcahy visit their schools and conduct a similar song-writing program. I think the key to the songs’ appeal is that she captures a "pop culture" tone while still having a non-commercial purpose.

The songs have a full musical accompaniment, which includes drums, electric guitars, and other "pop" or "rock" instruments. Mulcahy’s voice is clear as a bell, combining a Joni Mitchell-like folk sound with a solid sense of rhythm. On some of the cuts, the school children are heard singing back-up; they are an accomplished choir. On the title cut, third-grader Annie Weder sings lead with confidence and really captures the spirit of the song

To find out how to contact Mulcahy for a library appearance or to order the "Kids Rock" CD, go to www.kidsrock.org. Then, be sure to lead parents and teachers to this CD; it is one they can listen to even if the kids aren’t in the car!

Looking for a Christmas gift for a favorite niece or nephew? This read-along of the popular holiday story, first published in 1999, is packaged in a gift box with the hardcover book, a CD featuring award-winning actress Ellen Burstyn reading the text, and a key-shaped Christmas ornament. The tale of a little girl who learns from her "Auntie Mame"-like Auntie Claus, that it is better to give than receive, has humor and sparkling, cinematic, deeply colored cartoon illustrations.

The reading by actress Ellen Burstyn is engaging, just right for the text’s third-person telling. She changes her tone and diction slightly depending on which character is speaking. The subtle musical accompaniment and sound effects augment the recording, making it sound like a full-production radio show. Sure to be a hit, but not appropriate for libraries, unless you repackage the book and CD for circulation. The gift box mentions that a sequel, Auntie Claus’s Key to Christmas is due to be published in December 2001.

The author of Great Books for Girls and Great Books for Boys has a new book that can help parents, teachers, and librarians turn kids into lifelong readers. Odean has collected recommendations for more than 750 children’s books, arranged into 55 categories, often by the subject matter. We all know kids who only want dinosaur books, or fantasy, and this book can help in finding the perfect fit. In fact, it is the type of book that children’s librarians should have on hand for the staff members who may not be "experts" in children’s literature, but who work at the children’s desk when we are at lunch, or on vacation, or on a day off.

The listings include fiction and nonfiction; for example, "Disasters" lists picture books like Patricia Polacco’s Tikvah Means Hope which is about the Oakland fire, Ballard’s books on the Titanic, and novels like Joe Cottonwood’s Quake! Each entry has all the bibliographic information, a recommended age level, and a paragraph describing the book. The categories include favorites like sports, arts and crafts, types of animals, ecology, computers, cooking, puzzle books, fractured folktales, poetry, and much, much more.

Odean also includes sections aimed at parents on expanding the enjoyment of books by reading aloud, joining a book club, taking a field trip, movie and television tie-ins to books, and book-related parties. The book also has three useful indices, arranged by author, title, and subject. Nearly all of the books selected are relatively new, most published within the past five years. This is the type of book that libraries should have on the parents shelf as well as the reference shelf, and even have at the smallest branch libraries. The author is a children’s librarian who lives and works in New England, but worked for a time in the Bay Area and is a member of ACL.

Similar to Leonard Marcus’ Author Talk from last year, this new book examines some famous picture book teams. Both young readers and librarians will find this an interesting look at the process that goes into the collaboration of the picture book.

Each team paired up in different ways. Arthur Yorinks and Richard Egielski met through Maurice Sendak. The team behind the wacky Stinky Cheese Man, Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, met through Scieszka’s wife, who thought the two had the same sense of humor. That pairing is unique due to the crucial participation of Molly Leach, who is the book designer. Julius Lester and Jerry Pinkney knew and respected each other’s work and asked to be paired. The duo who created The Magic School Bus series, Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen, were paired because their editor new Cole’s new science series needed some who could mix science and humor, like Degen did in the illustrations for Jane Yolen’s "Commander Toad" series. The last pair, Martin and Alice Provensen, started as cartoon illustrators in Hollywood.

Each chapter includes photos of the author and illustrator, samples of their drafts and sketches, illustrations from their work, and other interesting visual tidbits. There is also a list of the selected works by each team at the end of each chapter. Marcus has also included a glossary and index.

Report-writers will find more here than is listed in Junior Authors, but it may be more useful as a browser, or for a teacher working on a special class unit. It should find a place next to the series of books by Pat Cummings, "Talking With Artists."