READING THE WORLD VIII, March 11, 12 2006 to be held at University of San Francisco:

This celebration of multicultural literature for children and young adults will feature, Alma Flor Ada, Matthew Gollub,  Linda Sue Park, Katherine Paterson, Joyce Carol Thomas. Tony Watkins, and Ed Young.  There will be over 30 breakout sessions with authors, illustrators, publishers, editors, teachers and librarians showcasing the very best in multicultural literature, plus a Book Market and opportunities to interact with speakers and participants. Saturday evening's celebration, the Otter Dinner, with the Northern California Children's Booksellers Association will honor the Read to Me Program and speakers, Nikki Grimes and Genifer Choldenko.  Visit the website for more details and information on this and past conferences.

 

     Remember to download the new review form from the website (www.bayviews.org ,  click on "Review Tools").  It now contains a category for "Easy Readers."  Please use this form rather than any others you might have.  Don't alter any of the spacing on the bibliographic heading-leave in any empty fields such as "illustrator" or "series."  It's important for the eyesight and efficiency of our bibliographic checkers and typist for every form to look exactly the same-if we hold all the reviews together up to the light, all the lines should line up!

     Always double-space the review body.  Try to make your review fit the single-page form, but if necessary, continue to a second page rather than altering the review form. 

     The single-page form allows for a review of 150-200 words, which is the low-end of the industry standard. Wondering how to shorten your review? Try to be succinct-especially with plot.  If it's taking you more than a few lines to describe the plot, consider if there's a way to describe the content of the book at a more general level. For instance, here's the plot synopsis that I wrote for Terry Prachett's "The Wee Free Men," and which we edited only lightly as shown below:

     "Tiffany Aching, watching her brother on a blissful day by the stream on her family's sheep farm in Scotland, suddenly feels that all is not blissful. She's not exactly sure what's happening, but she arms herself with a cast-iron frying pan, uses her snotty baby brother as bait, and ends up giving an evil spirit a giant wallop all the way back to Fairyland. So begins Tiffany's unlikely life as a young witch, and none to soon, as there is a dangerous rift opening between her world and Fairyland, and a coalition of elder witches are on their way to ask for her help.  Help comes to Tiffany in the unlikely shape of the Nac Mac Feegle-The Wee Free Men-six-inch-high blue male fairies who speak with a Scottish brogue and do nothing much beside steal, swear, and fight. Having observed Tiffany's raw power with the frying pan, they realize she must be a powerful "hag," and bend over backwards to stay on her good side."

     But really, this would have sufficed just as well:

     "A dangerous rift is opening between the world and Fairyland; and Tiffany Aching, a young girl on a sheep farm in Scotland, doesn't know yet that she's just the witch to handle it. Luckily, aide comes in the unlikely shape of the Wee Free Men-very rude and powerful fairies."

     Sure it's nice to have the extended plot and flavor of the story, but think of yourself when you're trying to read through a bunch of reviews, and consider what suffices to help your colleagues make a purchasing decision.

     At the editing table, we really can only do light revisions, as we did for the Wee Free Men.  The kind of drastic rewrite that I did just now has to come from the reviewer. It's much easier to self-edit if you let your review sit overnight.  I know: who gets their reviews done on time? I have a feeling that my Wee Free Men review was a last-minute ordeal. 

               Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library

 

   The Subaru/SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books celebrates outstanding science writing and illustration for children and young adults. The prizes are intended to encourage the writing and publishing of high-quality science books for all age groups. AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) and SB&F believes that through good science books this generation, and the next, will have a better understanding and appreciation of science.

The prize committee, made up of scientists, science literature experts, and members of the American Library Association's Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), have narrowed hundreds of submitted books down to these finalists in each category:

About Mollusks: A Guide for Children by Cathryn Sill; illustrated by John Sill. (Peachtree, 2005)

Mosquito Bite by Alexandra Siy & Dennis Kunkel. (Charlesbridge, 2005)

A Mother's Journey by Sandra Markle; illustrated by Alan Marks. (Charlesbridge, 2005)

Stars Beneath Your Bed: The Surprising Story of Dust by April Pulley Sayre; illustrated by Ann Jonas. (Greenwillow, 2005)

Genius: A Photobiography of Albert Einstein by Marfe Ferguson Delano. (National Geographic, 2005)

Gorilla Doctors: Saving Endangered Great Apes by Pamela S. Turner. (Houghton Mifflin, 2005)

Guinea Pig Scientists: Bold Self-experimenters in Science and Medicine by Leslie Dendy and Mel Boring. (Henry Holt, 2005)

The Prairie Builders: Reconstructing America's Lost Grasslands written and photographed by Sneed B. Collard III. (Houghton Mifflin, 2005)

Electric Universe: The Shocking True Story of Electricity by David Bodanis (Crown, 2005)

The Grail Bird: Hot on the Trail of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker by Tim Gallagher (Houghton Mifflin, 2005)

Insights from Insects: What Bad Bugs Can Teach Us by Gilbert Waldbauer (Prometheus, 2005)

Invisible Allies: Microbes That Shape Our Lives by Jeanette Farrell (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005)

The Amateur Naturalist by Nick Baker (National Geographic Society, 2005)

Backyard Science by Shar Levine & Leslie Johnstone. (Sterling, 2005)

Cool Chemistry Concoctions: 50 Formulas that Fizz, Foam, Splatter and Ooze by Joe Rhatigan & Veronika Gunter. (Lark Books, 2005)

I Fall Down by Vicki Cobb. (HarperCollins, 2004)

Wild about Weather: 50 Wet, Windy and Wonderful Activities by Ed Brotak. (Lark Books, 2004)

One winner in each category will be selected by the judging committee by mid-December. The 2006 Subaru/SB&F Prize winners will be honored at a ceremony which will take place at the AAAS Annual Meeting in St. Louis on February 18th, 2006 at 2:00pm, in conjunction with the free Family Science Days event.

AAAS would like to thank Subaru for their continued support and commitment to improving science literacy among children and young adults.

For more information, please visit www.sbfonline.com/prizes

 

Handsome and popular Jason tries to come to terms with his irascible, often absent father and his growing attraction to the quiet, studious Kyra.

After fifteen-year-old Jeremiah is mistakenly shot by police, the people who love him struggle to cope with their loss as they recall his life and death, unaware that 'Miah is watching over them.

Despite serious obstacles and setbacks, fourteen-year-old Keisha pursues her dream of becoming an Olympic swimmer and medical doctor.

While studying the Harlem Renaissance, students at a Bronx high school read aloud poems they've written, revealing their innermost thoughts and fears to their formerly clueless classmates.

Recovering from the recent suicide of her ex-boyfriend, senior class president Keisha Montgomery finds herself attracted to a dangerous, older man.

Seven teens facing such problems as pregnancy, closeted homosexuality, and abuse each describe in poetic forms what caused them to leave home and where they found home again.

Five strangers share a beach house during their summer vacation.

All thirteen-year-old Raspberry can think of is making money so that she and her mother never have to worry about living on the streets again.

Raven, a teenage mother and high school dropout living in a housing project, decides, with the help and sometime interference of her best friend Aisha, to study for a spelling bee which could lead to a college preparatory program and four-year scholarship.