September 2002
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Upcoming Events for Children's Librarians
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Upcoming Events for Children's Librarians
NEWS AND NOTES
GEBREGEORGIS YOHANNES HAS A NEW BOOK: San Francisco children's librarian Gebregeorgis Yohannes has a new book out, Silly Mammo: an Ethiopian Tale. Written in English and Amharic, Ethiopia's primary language, Yohannes self-published the book because there are so few children's books for Ethiopians, including the nearly 5,000 Ethiopians living in the Bay Area. Yohannes is planning to return to his native Ethiopia to bring them copies of the book. Libraries can order copies of this paperback illustrated bilingual folktale by checking the website www.addislife.com/ebcef or by phoning 301-583-0295.
ANGELICA CARPENTER TO LEAD TOUR: Angelica Carpenter, curator of the Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children's Literature at CSU Fresno will be leading the tour "Literary Gardens: Children's Literature & Garden Tour," in England in May, 2003. To find out more information including price, itinerary, etc., phone 800-995-4650.
ERRATA: In the June, 2002 issue of BayViews, we listed the publisher of Elaine Landau's Veteran's Day: Remembering Our War Heroes as Millbrook Press, when it should have listed Enslow as the publisher. Our apologies.
NEW YORK LIBRARIES CUT HOURS: Because New York's city hall has instructed all its agencies to reduce budgets by 7.5%, most New York libraries will reduce their operations to five days, instead of their current 6 days a week schedules. Many will be open Tuesdays through Saturdays, closing on Mondays to save money during this budget crisis. The three library systems already instituted a hiring freeze last fall, and took a 5% reduction last spring.
LIBRARIANS AS SPIES? The Patriot Act, passed to help in fighting the terrorism that resulted in the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, has led to the FBI investigating library patrons. The legality of this part of the Patriot Act is still being debated - more information will appear in BayNews as we find out what happened to library privacy.
CHILDREN'S ILLUSTRATORS ART: MOCHA, the Museum of Children's Art in Oakland, is hosting an exhibit called "Then and Now," from September 15 to December 28, 2002. This is their third annual exhibition pairing an original artwork from a current children's book, with artwork done when the illustrator was a child. Meet the artists at the opening reception and book signing on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2002. For more information, visit www.mocha.org.
PERFORMERS' SHOWCASE: Mark your calendar for the upcoming ACL Performers' Showcase! I think it will be the 16th annual (can you believe it!), and it is scheduled for Saturday, February 22, 2003. We will have registration forms and further information in the October issue of BayViews, so keep watching.
JANE ADDAMS AWARD ANNOUNCED - 2002
Winners of the 2002 Jane Addams Book Awards were announced
Sept. 1, 2002. Given by the Jane Addams Peace Association, the awards will
be handed out in New York City on October 18, 2002.
Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is the winner
in the picture book category. Illustrator Bryan Collier will receive the award.
The book is published by Jump at the Sun/Hyperion. The only Honor book named
in the picture book category was Vera Williams' Amber Was Brave, Essie Was
Smart, published by Greenwillow/HarperCollins.
In the category for books for older children, The Other Side of Truth, a novel
by Beverly Naidoo, is the award-winner. First published in England, The Other
Side of Truth is from HarperCollins publishers. Two honor books were named
in this category: A Group of One by Rachna Gilmore, Henry Holt publisher,
and True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff, Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
MUSIC REVIEWS
Putumayo World Music. "World Playground 2." CD, $15.98. www.putumayo.com, or phone 212-625-1400.
Many Bay Area residents will have seen or heard Putamayo World
Music CDs. They are sold in most music stores, and are often heard in cafes,
coffee bars, and other venues. Putamayo specializes in musical recordings
that compile authentic cultural recordings from around the world. "World
Playground 2" is their second children's recording, a follow up to "World
Playground," which received the Parents' Choice 1999 Silver Honor and
other awards.
Now beginning their 8th year in business, Putamayo has been featured on CNN,
several news magazines, and is heard on more than 100 radio stations with
their syndicated world music hour.
"World Playground 2" features Putamayo's usual colorful paintings
on the cover, as well as a booklet build into the CD jewel box that contains
the lyrics of the songs, as well as background information on each of the
recordings.
Several of the songs have a reggae beat, including the first two selections,
"Adukbe" from the U.K. and "Music Farm" from Trinidad.
The CD changes it up with "La Marmotteuse," a fiddle tune from the
Acadians of Canada, who were left behind when many of their people left for
Louisiana, to become "Cajuns."
Songs are usually sung in the native language of the country in which they
were recorded. "A Mover La Colita" from Colombia is in Spanish and
"Nichim Uvil" from Mexico, is sung in the language of the Tzotzil
people of Chiapas. Lucky Ali, a huge pop star in India, sings "Teri Yaadein
(Your Thoughts)" in Hindi.
All of the cuts are taken from popular recordings from the home country of
each of the artists. On this recording, the best-known of the artists are
probably Jamaican group Toots & the Maytals, who offer "Freedom Train,"
and South African artists Miriam Makeba, who sings "Pata Pata 2000."
The CD has a nice mix of folk music and popular songs, and is very "up"
and fun to listen to. Because most of the recordings are in languages that
are not readily spoken by many classrooms, I don't think teachers will use
this as a sing-along, except those songs in Spanish and English. But it is
fun to listen to and dance to, even for parents!
BOOKS OF INTEREST TO CHILDREN'S LIBRARIANS
Paterson, Katherine. The Invisible Child: On Reading and Writing Books for Children. Dutton, 2001. $24.99. ISBN 0-525-46482-4.
Katherine Paterson, who has won nearly every award possible
for a children's book author, has collected many of her speeches in this inspiring
book. Many librarians like myself have been lucky enough to see her give a
speech (I saw her at the American Library Association midwinter meeting),
and know that she is a witty, inspirational, and thoughtful speaker and expert
on children and their books.
The first speech in the collection, "In Search of Wonder," was given
in 2000 to the Children's Literature New England Summer Institute. She makes
one point on book reviewing that I thought was priceless: "I'm always
puzzled that so many people who review children's books think that they've
reviewed the book if they've revealed the plot. This is especially annoying
if you've tried to write a book with a few surprises in it. But a sketch of
the plot rarely tells us what we need to know - which is if this is a story
worth reading (page 18)."
Another essay, "The Child in the Attic," first given in February
2000 at the Ohio State Univ. Children's Literature Festival, discusses characters
who were isolated. These range from Burnett's A Little Princess, who was banished
to the attic of Miss Minchin's school, to Harry Potter, who lived under the
stairs at the Dursleys.
One thing stands out in all of her speeches; when she talks about children's
books, she doesn't just use examples of books she has written, but refers
to all types of children's books. These include books, like A Little Princess
and "Harry Potter," mentioned above, as well as Charlotte's Web
and many others. She also refers to her own books, but it is wonderful to
see how she embraces such a wide range of children's books. It is clear she
has read a great deal of children's literature. In fact, she cites the example
that she loves being a writer, because you can justify the time reading books
as "research."
This is the kind of book a children's librarian can read whenever she or he
is suffering from "burnout," like after a trying summer reading
program. New children's librarians can also get a great deal from Paterson's
pep talks. With the winter holidays coming up, but this on your shopping list
for your favorite children's librarian!
Penny Peck,
San Leandro PL
Lemony Snicket Read-alikes
Lemony Snicket's books featuring the Baudelaire children, "A Series of
Unfortunate Events," is certainly a big hit. If some of your library
patrons have read all the books and are clamoring for more, here are some
suggested "read-alikes" offered on the PUBYAC listserv:
Aiken, Joan. ARABEL AND MORTIMER.
ARABEL'S RAVEN.
MORTIMER SAYS NOTHING.
MORTIMER'S CROSS
WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE and others.
Bellairs, John. CURSE OF THE BLUE FIGURINE.
HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS and others.
Colfer, Eoin. ARTEMIS FOWLER and others.
Garfield, Leon. THE GHOST DOWNSTAIRS.
THE DECEMBER ROSE.
JOHN DIAMOND.
STRANGE AFFAIR OF ADELAIDE HARRIS.
BLACKJACK and others.
Heide, Florence Parry. TREEHORN'S TREASURE.
THE SHRINKING OF TREEHORN and others.
Horvath, Polly. THE TROLLS.
EVERYTHING ON A WAFFLE.
Ibbotson, Eva. DIAL A WITCH.
ISLAND OF THE AUNTS.
SECRET OF PLATFORM 13.
WHICH WITCH? And others.
Ives, David. MONSIEUR EEK
Maguire, Gregory. SEVEN SPIDERS SPINNING and others.
Pullman, Philip. SPRING HEELED JACK.
COUNT KARLSTEIN.
CLOCKWORK, OR ALL WOUND UP.
Wallace, Barbara Brooks. COUSINS IN THE CASTLE.
TWIN IN THE TOWER.
PEPPERMINTS IN THE PARLOR and others.
OBITUARIES
DAVID WISNIEWSKI: Caldecott Medalist David Wisniewski, illustrator of The Golem and many other folktales and picture books, died on Sept. 11, 2002, from a neurological problem. He had just completed work on the upcoming book Halloweenies.
DORIS BUCHANAN SMITH: Author Doris Buchanan Smith died August 8, 2002, at age 68. Perhaps best known for A Taste of Blackberries, Smith also wrote Return to Bitter Creek and 15 other books for young people. A mother of four children, Smith was a foster parent to more than 200 children, including one who was with her until adulthood.
BOOKSELLER QUAIL HAWKINS: Quail Hawkins died at age 97 after
stroke. The former Berkeley resident was considered an authority on children's
literature, and was in charge of the children's department of the Sather Gate
bookstore from 1926 until 1972. She wrote 13 children's books, including Mark,
Mark, Shut the Door. Among her favorite books was the work of her friend Beverly
Cleary.
ACL member Martha Shogren remembers: "She was an interesting woman, very
knowledgeable about children's books and the history of children's literature.
She usually gave a lecture for the library school students [at UC Berkeley]
who were considering work with children." Linda Perkins, head of children's
services at Berkeley Public remembers Hawkins coming to "check her out"
when Perkins started at BPL: "She launched into a series of questions about
libraries, children's books, children's authors, titles - the whole shebang,
firing one question right after the other at a rapid pace. It was like a second,
intense job interview. At the end of it, she smiled, her eyes sparkled, and
she said "I think you're going to be find here in Berkeley." I was
relieved to have passes her test and pleased to have her approval." Hawkins
was living in Pacific Grove at the time of her death.
Penny Peck,
San Leandro PL