Painted Words and Spoken Pictures: A conference titled "Painted Words and Spoken Pictures" is planned for Saturday, October 6, 2007, on the Fresno State campus. Presented for authors, illustrators, teachers, librarians, collectors, and fans of children's and young adult literature, the conference is sponsored by The Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children's Literature at California State University, Fresno, and the North Central California Chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Conference speakers will include:

Aliki, the award-winning author or illustrator of 200 children's books including How a Book is Made, William Shakespeare and the Globe, My Five Senses, and The Play's the Thing.

Karen Cushman, the Newbery-winning author of The Midwife's Apprentice; Catherine, Called Birdy; The Ballad of Lucy Whipple; Matilda Bone; Rodzina; and The Loud Silence of Francine Green.

Yuyi Morales, illustrator of Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez, Sand Sister, and Los Gatos Black on Halloween, and the author/illustrator of Little Night and Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book, winner of the Pura Belpré Medal for illustration.

Carolyn Yoder, author of George Washington: The Writer and the forthcoming John Adams: The Writer and editor of Calkins Creek, the United States history imprint of Boyds Mills Press.

The cost is $85 with discounts for members and for early registration. Manuscripts may be submitted for critique for an extra charge. The deadline for submissions or early registrations is August 6. For information send e-mail to anc@listserv.csufresno.edu or call (559) 278-8116. Web site: www.arnenixoncenter.org

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!

Kate Greenaway Medal: Meg Rosoff's Just in Case has won the 2007 Carnegie Medal, and Mini Grey's The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon has won the Kate Greenaway Medal. Follow the link to the site to read about these and the other books that were on the shortlist. http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/2007awards/

Letters to ACL

At the April 2007 ACL meeting, Newbery winning author Susan Patron (who is also a children’s librarian) visited and join us for a conversation on “The Higher Power of Lucky” and censorship issues. She followed up her visit with this thoughtful letter:

Dear Elizabeth and members of ACL,
   Your warm welcome made it feel like a homecoming, and I was extremely honored to be able to join your group today. I’m grateful for your kindness and support, and for all your (delicious) questions. No company is better than that of librarians when they’re talking about books. Thanks for letting me talk about mine with candor among colleagues.
                                                                                                          Susan Patron

MEDIA WATCH

Raven, Nancy. Watersongs: Flowings from Seas & Rivers. Lizard’s Rock Music, 2006. $15.00, plus $5 S/H. www.lizardsrockmusic.com

Subtitled “A World-Wide Collection for Kids,” Bay Area folksinger Nancy Raven has collected a wealth of songs celebrating rivers and oceans. Nearly all are traditional songs, and a few are sung in Spanish. This is her 11th CD.

Monterey resident Raven has appeared at many libraries, leading singalongs and performing folk music. She was a preschool teacher for 50 years, and sings and plays the guitar with authority and a rich alto voice. Several other Monterey musicians and singers join her on the CD, making a classic recording that will be popular for a long time.

The musical accompaniment is all acoustic instruments, from guitar to harmonica, mandolin, banjo, to various percussion instruments from around the world. The depth and richness of the musical instruments are a welcome divergence from too much of kids music done with synthesizers.

The CD includes the lyrics of each song written out in the liner notes, making it great for schools who want to use it to teach these traditional songs. Because nearly all California children live close enough to drive to the ocean, this is a relevant collection of songs for our libraries and schools. Plus, it is enjoyable even for adults to listen to in the car or at home!

“Talking Nautical” is a great interactive song, that teaches kids what to call things on a boat. It is a cumulative song, and should be fun for teachers taking children on a field trip on a ship.

Some well-known songs are included, from the lullaby “Dance to Your Daddy” to the rousing “Sardines, Hey!” from African-American culture. A unit on ecology, preserving our environment, or science could all incorporate songs from this collection. “Geoduck Song,” which features children singing with Nancy on the recording, is a great way for kids to learn about this creature.

This CD is also appropriate for geography and social studies units, due to the historical nature of many songs. There is a song from Italy, a few from Hawaii, England and Ireland, Australia, and several from the United States. “Banks of the Sacramento” is a shanty with the same melody as “Camptown Races,” and would be great for 4th grade classes learning California history.

All libraries will want this for both the children’s CD collection and for the adult folk music sections, and schools will find it beneficial, too. But parents will really welcome this collection, since it is refreshingly “authentic,” especially in comparison to most other children’s recordings.

Penny Peck,
San Leandro Public Library

“Winnie the Pooh” Programming Ideas

Recently, there were some great ideas posted on the PUBYAC Listserv on holding a “Winnie the Pooh” party. This could be a great preschool program; more elaborate than a storytime but manageable with just a few staff and volunteers.

Games
Tigger Bounce Contest/Game: try different types of bounces - jumping, hopping, jumping jacks, twirling jumps, etc.

Blustery balloon game: the classic “don't let the balloon touch the floor.”

Pin the Honey Pot on Pooh: use a picture of Pooh and make several honey pots. It works just
like Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Or, do Pin the Tail on Eeyore.

Pooh Sticks: use a rain gutter cut in half and kids drop their sticks in and then used wind power [blowing] to get them down the "river," the only rule was they couldn't touch them.

Honey Pot Free throw: toss small balls into a Winnie the Pooh style honey pot.

Snacks
Honey cakes and apple juice.

Crafts
Have them make their own maps of imaginary lands: you could just draw or do cut and paste for common geographic features, trees, rivers, houses, mountains etc.

Have them make their own hundred acre woods character. What animal would they be, what name would they have, what kind of house would they live in.

Make name tags from wood style drawing that looks like the sign on Pooh's tree.

Tigger Pop up cards: items needed - A good coloring image of Tigger,
Then cut 1 inch x 6 inch strips of orange construction paper And 5 1/2 inch x 8 inch pieces of white card stock. Fan fold the orange strip to make the 'spring' (Tigger's tail)
Glue one end of the spring to the back of the Tigger and the other end to the middle of the card stock. You could even pre-print a 'Tigger-ism' or phrase on the card stock, or part of the Tigger song "They're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy, Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun!"

Have a printed 'Hunny' jar to color, then make pom pom bees ( with google eyes) to glue on around it.

Websites
http://www.lavasurfer.com/wtp/pooh teachers.html