NEWS AND NOTES
National Book Awards Announced: In November, the National Book Awards named the winners for 2005. The award for young people's literature went to Jeanne Birdsall for her debut novel, "The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits and a Very Interesting Boy," published by Knopf. The story of four girls and their widowed father, the book was best described, Ms. Birdsall said, by a third grader from Long Island who told her, "This book is about being a good listener, even if you're a grown-up."
Author/Illustrator Stan Berenstain Dies:Stan Berenstain, who along with wife Jan created more than 200 books for children, died in November at age 82. The couple is best known for their "Berenstain Bears" series of picture books and easy readers. Their first Berenstain Bears book was published in 1962, and their editor was Ted Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss.
The couple met in art school in Philadelphia, which remained their home city. They had two sons, Leo and Michael, who also write and illustrate children's books.
BayNews needs you! BayNews welcomes any articles, news, ideas on storytime or programs, etc. Just send any articles as a Word attachment to email, to Penny Peck at Pikly@aol.com. Thanks!
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 Gennifer Choldenko. Visit the website for more details and information on this and past conferences.
Contact: Barbara Hood, registrar hood@usfca.edu
Free Workshop on 2006 Summer Reading Program "Paws, Claws, Scales, and Tales"
Librarians who plan to use the 2006 Summer Reading Program theme "Paws, Claws, Scales, and Tales" will enjoy the free half-day workshop to be held on Friday, Feb. 17, 2006 at the San Leandro Public Library, 300 Estudillo Ave., San Leandro, CA, 94577. The workshop will be held from 8:30am -12:30pm, and is free, but due to limited seating please RSVP by email to Ppeck@ci.san-leandro.ca.us and let us know how many plan to attend from your library. Coffee and breakfast refreshments will be served.
Both the children's and young adult/teen summer reading themes will be explored. The teen theme is "Creature Features," and motivating both kids and teens to join will be discussed. Discover ideas for programming, arts and crafts, storytimes, booklists, movie showings, school visits, publicity, PSAs, contests, games, other ways to make 2006 your most successful summer ever!
This workshop is underwritten in part by a LSTA Grant. The California Summer Reading Program is a project of the California Library Association supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Questions? Phone Penny Peck from the San Leandro Library at (510), 577-3954.
Stephanie Stokes, Coordinator
California Summer Reading Program
e-mail: stephanie@casummerreading.org
stephanie@casummerreading.org
Planning A Kids' "Narnia" Program
With the new hit movie "Narnia" in theatres this winter, librarians may want to promote the Narnia books of C.S. Lewis. Here is a Narnia compilation that appeared on the PUBYAC listserv earlier this year. Thanks to librarian Barb Scott for this helpful list of programming ideas:
Enter: through a wardrobe! Or make a wardrobe using a large appliance box.
Crafts:
Make crowns and shields (kings and queens of Narnia)
Aslan mask - punch holes in paper plate, thread yellow wool/yarn through.
Foam snowflake bookmarks (always winter, never Christmas - only one hemisphere in Narnia)
"Many colored sugars" (food mentioned in book). Sand painting (colored sand available from Lakeshore Teacher's Store). You can then layer it in baby food jars.
Games:
Pin the tail/crown on the lion
Narnia Treasure Hunt Find 12 hidden items: Bags of taffy, swords, juices of fireflowers, bows, crowns, lanterns, capes, sacks of potatoes (wrapped in burlap and string), scroll of parchment paper with clue for next game, flute, Narnian book, loaf of bread
Dufflepud Tag The game starts with all players hopping on two feet and the person who is it hopping on one foot. Once the person who is it tags someone, that person is also it and also has to hop on one foot and try to tag people. Keep going for a certain amount of time or until the whole group are Dufflepuds
Statues (freeze game)
Hot Wand - Who stole the White Witches Wand? Children sit in a circle and music plays. They pass the "wand," which can be made or one bought at a toy store. When music ends whoever is holding the wand is "caught" and is out of the game. Alternatively, the person can be a prisoner of the White Witch with a task to perform: 10 jumping jacks, cross eyes, run in place, etc
FOOD:
Bread/toast and jam
Hot chocolate
Sherbet
Fairy cakes/bread
Mincemeat pies (fruit mince?)
Websites to Recommend:
"Picturing Books"
Subtitled "A Website about Picture Books," this website is run by librarian Denise I. Matulka. It is very useful to those of us who review picture books, because it has a glossary of terms to help describe illustration and book design. There is also a section on evaluating picture books, and one on parts of a picture book.
Often it can be difficult to find the right word to describe the media used in the art of a particular picture book, or the style of the artwork. This website offers a very helpful section on how to do that, called "Palette." It defines a medium used, like Woodcut, and lists several picture books that use that medium to help newer children's book reviewers picture that in their minds. She does the same with the area of style, and goes into book design.
Another section gives succinct definitions of the different areas of traditional literature, from legends, to myths, to Tall Tales, fables, folktales, fairy tales, and more! After the definition is a list of children's folktales that fit that category.
New children's librarians will really appreciate the section on storytime, with the list of helpful professional books, and advice on running a storytime. There is also a list of wordless books, long lists of links to author and illustrator websites, publishers websites, and links to awards' lists. Even longtime children's book reviewers will appreciate how all the terms relating to picture book art are collected in one place, and the website's clean lines and ease of use.
Penny Peck, San Leandro Public Library
