• June 25-30, 2015     ALA Annual Conference         San Francisco, CA



• Fri, July 10, 2015     ACL Meeting      9 am         Oakland PL



• Fri, August 14, 2015     ACL Meeting      9 am         Oakland PL



• Fri, September 11, 2015     ACL Meeting      9 am         Oakland PL



• Fri, October 9, 2015     ACL Meeting      9 am         Oakland PL

The Poetry Foundation has named four-time Newbery Honor recipient Jacqueline Woodson the Young People's Poet Laureate for a two-year term. Born in Ohio and a long-time Brooklyn resident, Woodson's many novels, picture books, and poetry include the 2015 National Book Award winner Brown Girl Dreaming. www.poetryfoundation.org/foundation/press/2015/186506

Chris Riddell Named U.K. Children's Laureate:

Author and illustrator Chris Riddell has been named the Children's Laureate in the United Kingom, succeeding Quentin Blake and Anthony Browne. www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/67058-chris-riddell-named-u-k-children-s-laureate.html

Berkeley School Libraries Offer Summer Reading Suggestions:

Librarian Mary Ann Scheuer lists books for different grade levels that she compiled for the Berkeley school libraries. Check out her blog for PDFs that are easy to print, that you can offer children visiting your library this summer: http://greatkidbooks.blogspot.com/p/summer-reading-suggestions.html

Librarian of Congress Appoints Juan Felipe Herrera Poet Laureate:

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington announced the appointment of Juan Felipe Herrera as the Library's 21st Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, for 2015-2016. Herrera, who succeeds Charles Wright as Poet Laureate, is the first Hispanic poet to serve in the position. The new Poet Laureate is the author of 28 books of poetry, novels for young adults, and collections for children, most recently Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes (2014), showcasing inspirational Hispanic and Latino Americans. His most recent book of poems is Senegal Taxi (2013).

Herrera was born in Fowler, California, in 1948. As the son of migrant farm workers, he moved around often, living in tents and trailers along the road in Southern California, and attended school in a variety of small towns from San Francisco to San Diego. In 1972 he graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a bachelor's degree in social anthropology. He then attended Stanford University, where he received a master's degree in social anthropology, and in 1990 received a Masters of Fine Arts at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Marissa Moss Finishes Amelia's Notebook Series:

Marissa Moss announced that she is concluding the popular tween fictional journal series featuring Amelia, who has appeared in books over the past 20 years, which have sold more than five million copies. The final book is titled Amelia's Middle-School Graduation Yearbook and was published in April 2015 by Moss's publishing company Creston Books. www.berkeleyside.com/2015/05/18/berkeley-author-marissa-moss-says-goodby-to-amelia-a-character-that-has-delighted-readers-for-20-years

Jane Addams Awards Announced:

The 2015 Jane Addams Book Awards, celebrating peace and social justice, were announced on April 28, 2015.
• The winner for Younger Children is Duncan Tonatiuh's Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation.
• The winner for Older Children is Teri Kanefield's The Girl from the Tar Paper School: Barbara Rose Johns and the Advent of the Civil Rights Movement.
Both books were published by Abrams.

Two honor books in the Older Children category were named:

• Revolution by Deborah Wiles (Scholastic)
• Silver People: Voices from the Panama Canal (HMH)

Two honor books were also named in the Younger Children category:

• Whispering Town by Jennifer Elvgren (Kar-Ben)
• Shooting at the Stars: The Christmas Truce of 1914 by John Hendrix (Abrams)
.
www.janeaddamspeace.org

2015 Lambda Literary Awards Announced:

Tim Federle received the 2015 Lambda Literary Award in the category of LGBT Children's/Young Adult, for Five, Six, Seven, Nate! (Simon & Schuster, 2014), announced on June 1 in New York City. www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-lambda-literary-awards-20150602-story.html

Roger Sutton, editor in chief of The Horn Book, and Rebecca Stead, the 2010 Boston Globe-Horn Book Fiction Award winner for When You Reach Me, announced the 2015 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winners on May 27, 2015. Celebrating their 49th year, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards are among the most prestigious honors in the field of children's and young adult literature. A Winner and two Honor Books were selected in each of three categories: Picture Book, Fiction, and Nonfiction.
Picture Book Award Winner:
• The Farmer and the Clown by Marla Frazee, published by Beach Lane Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division

Picture Book Honor Winners:
• It's Only Stanley by Jon Agee, published by Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Group USA
• Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers, published by Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguin Group USA

Fiction Award Winner:
• Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms by Katherine Rundell, published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Fiction Honor Winners:
• Egg & Spoon by Gregory Maguire, published by Candlewick Press
• Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman, illustrated by Brendan Shusterman, published by HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

Nonfiction Award Winner:
• The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming, published by Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children's Books

Nonfiction Honor Winners:
• The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club by Phillip Hoose, published by Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Macmillan Children's Publishing Group
• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, published by Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Group USA

More information can be found by visiting the awards website: www.hbook.com/boston-globe-horn-book-awards.

The awards are chosen by an independent panel of three judges appointed by Mr. Sutton. The 2015 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards judges are: Chair, Barbara Scotto, co-director of Children's Literature New England; Jessica Tackett MacDonald, collection development librarian at the Boston Public Library, specializing in youth and teen collections; and Maeve Visser Knoth, librarian at Phillips Brooks School in Menlo Park, California. More information on The Horn Book at Simmons can be found at www.hbook.com/bghb-hbas.



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Using radio-controlled cars loaned by the high school robotics club, have some races to see which car wins. The club members will actually race the cars, and each child who enters will receive a red or a blue dot to indicate which car to root for! If their car wins, they receive a sticker; actually, everyone will receive a sticker but the winning group gets first pick. Do this activity in groups of 15 to 20 children; afterwards have them move onto the other activities. Then, repeat the activity with the next 20 children.

There will be several stations (listed below), appealing to different age groups from young children to tweens and teens.

• 1.Arts Bots: tinkergroup.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/squishy-circuits-and-artbots.
  Make Art Bots using electric toothbrushes from the Dollar Store. Limit to the first 25 children. Cost - $25 for toothbrushes. There is a fun variation using the same supplies, along with an old CD, called Doodlebots: .http://makeitatyourlibrary.org/play-technology/doodlebot360#.VJ3KcXcO4eA


• 2.Brush Bots: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAjWU2vTZTk.
  Make Brush Bots as seen here. Supplies: Toothbrushes donated by a local dentist. Other materials such as foam tape and wire are part of our usual supplies. Cost - $20 for the CR2032 coin cell batteries (approx. 80 cents each on Amazon.com).


• 3.Hexbugs:
  The high school robotics club will bring their Hexbugs, which are robotic toys made from kits: www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=C6927) to make small skateboard robots: tinkergroup.wordpress.com/page/3. This activity will be limited to those 10 years old and up for safety reasons. Free - no supplies needed since everything will be provided by the club.


• 5.Glowing Faerie Headdress:
  Make these cool light-up �tiara� style headdresses using fiber optic fabric ( www.instructables.com/id/Glowing-Leaf-Faerie-Headdress/). Cost: Fabric is $10 per yard and can make up to 50 headdresses, coin cell batteries are approx. 80 cents each, and LED lights are approx. 10 cents each. Library has all other supplies: glue gun, dried flowers, copper wire, glitter, fabric paint, etc.


• 6.Magnets:
  This activity is geared toward very young children, preschool through 2nd grade (or ages 2-7). Learning about magnets is a fun precursor to learning about robots: librarymakers.blogspot.com/2013/05/wonderworks-magnets.html . This is a relatively free-form play activity. The library already has the needed supplies of magnets, a variety of small metal items, and plastic containers.


• 7.Sail Car:
  Another fun activity for the younger children, this simple craft introduces the physics concepts of lift and drag: http://makeitatyourlibrary.org/play-technology/simple-sail-car#.VJ3K0XcO4eA . Free - the library already has all the craft materials to make these wheeled toys.


• 8.LEGO free play area:
  When children have finished all the stations or are waiting for their turns at the busier stations, they can go to the free play area set up with various LEGO and Duplo blocks. The library already owns these supplies. Like all of the stations, this will be monitored by teen volunteers to make sure it is safe.

Cost of supplies for arts and crafts, etc.: Approx. $120 for craft supplies, coin cell batteries, electric toothbrushs, LEDs, fiber optic fabric. Other craft materials are already on-hand. Cost of refreshments (food, beverages, and paper supplies): $50 for water and fresh fruit.

Twenty high school volunteers, to man all the stations, plus Friends volunteers to man the refreshment table.

What kinds of book displays and/or related booklists or handouts will you prepare? Books on robots and robotics, as well as children's books on electronics in general. This display would include:

Also check out Steven Engelfried's "Robo Reads" in School Library Journal, April 2015, v. 61, no. 4, p. 48-51.

Willems, Mo. . Don't Pigeonhole Me! Two Decades of the Mo Willems Sketchbook.. Disney, 2013. 280p. $40. ISBN 978-142314436-6.

Although he may be best known for his books that began with Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Mo Willems should not be pigeon-holed as a writer solely for young people. This compilation shows his adept touch as a cartoonist for adults, with humor that includes asides to politics, sex, marriage, and other topics. Adults who are fans of Willems will enjoy this compilation of sketchbooks that began as mini-portfolios to obtain work. Most of the things included in the early chapters are one-panel cartoons, similar to what you would see in New Yorker magazine. These were also published by Erzatz, a humor magazine. This led to Willems' career in animation and later as an award-winning writer and illustrator of books for children.

Each chapter begins with a brief introduction on what was going on in Willems' life at the time of that sketchbook. Also, each chapter has a different colored background which helps to keep them separate. The large size and book design makes this perfect for the coffee table. Some of the sketchbooks later evolved into picture books for children, featuring the pigeon character, or Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs. Because they are arranged chronologically, they show his evolution as an artist. The first books are mainly skilled ink cartoon drawings, but later works show him using shading, watercolors, crayons, and other media.

One thing that is consistent is Willems' clear sense of humor, which has a wide appeal. Some cartoons are purely visual, while others rely on a caption or dialogue for the joke. Although some cartoons will have child appeal, there are nudes and adult jokes that are not appropriate for young readers; this is fine for teens. It would make a great gift for fans of the San Francisco Cartoon Art Museum.


Penny Peck,
SJSU iSchool

Last month in Part I of our semi-annual Board Book Round-up, we discussed new board book series and individual titles released in early 2015. Today in Part II we will finish the Round-up with new books featuring popular characters, and board books derived from picture books.

Cousins, Lucy. Maisy's Tractor. Candlewick, 2015. 16p. $5.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-7305-5..

Maisy the little white mouse is back in this simple description of farm activity. Part of a series of Maisy board books that focus on transportation, many Maisy fans may not know what a tractor is, but that's fine. There is a push for children to learn more about where their food comes from, so this farm story will help meet that goal. The deeply saturated full color cartoon illustrations are a great match to the text. Another "Maisy" success!

Anon. "Tiny Tab" series. Illus. by Jannie Ho. Nosy Crow, 2015. 8p. $7.99 each.
Cutie Pie Looks for the Easter Bunny. ISBN 978-0-7636-7599-8.
Pookie Pop Plays Hide-and-Seek. ISBN 978-0-7636-7600-1..

This series debuted last year, with sturdy tabs that a toddler could use. Often tabs are too fragile or too small for this age group, but that is not the case with this charming series with a "hide and seek" theme. Each book has four very sturdy pull tabs (two on the side, two on the top), that the child can pull to reveal characters or items hidden in a cut-out. For example, pull the tab and see where friends are hiding, or where Easter eggs are hidden.

The full color cartoon style illustrations are charming and suit the stories; the mechanics of the book naturally fit into the pictures. The cut-outs in trees or flower beds are painted the same colors as the backgrounds so they also are incorporated into the pictures in a natural way that doesn't break up the illustrations. Jannie Ho is an accomplished illustrator.

The text, which is not attributed to an author, is straight-forward and helps the child know what to find. For example, it asks "Is the Easter Bunny in the playhouse?" This series is very successful and will be popular.

Davies, Benji. "Bizzy Bear" series. Nosy Crow, 2015. 8p. $6.99 each. Bizzy Bear Knights' Castle. ISBN 978-0-7636-7602-5.
Bizzy Bear Zookeeper. ISBN 978-0-7636-7603-2..

In this series of board books with sliding tabs, a bear is involved in different vocations. The text has the rhythm of a jump-rope rhyme: "Bizzy Bear, Bizzy Bear, at the zoo. Bizzy Bear, Bizzy Bear, I see you!" The repeated name will encourage toddlers to participate in reading the simple story.

The sliding tabs help to reveal aspects of the story, from opening a croc's mouth to moving Bizzy's sword. The color cartoon illustrations and the sliding tab mechanics work well together and should please the intended audience.

Lee, Mark. 20 Big Trucks in the Middle of the Street. Illus. by Kurt Cyrus. Candlewick, 2013/2015. 30p. 2013/2015. $7.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-7650-6. Spanish edition: 20 Camiones Grandes en Medio de la Calle. ISBN 978-0-7636-7651-3..

With short and bouncy two-line rhymes, toddlers can count the many vehicles in this realistic story of a traffic jam. The artwork may have been digitally generated but has a warm feel, while depicting a variety of trucks that kids can identify (garbage, mail, tow, delivery, and more). There is a great overhead illustration where the child can count each of the trucks. This is fun, has a counting element, and will certainly be popular.

Martin, David. Peep and Ducky. Illus. by David Walker. Candlewick, 2013/2015. $6.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-7243-0..

The board version of this sweet story is successful, since the original picture book was relatively small in size. Plus, the simple cartoon illustrations (mixed media that resembles watercolors with ink outlines), on white backgrounds, work well in this small size. Each spread features the title characters, a blue bird and yellow duck, in a park, without a lot of extraneous detail. The text features four line rhymes per page, describing their playtime, which includes a potty break, making this perfect for toddlers.

McBratney, Sam. There, There. Illus. by Ivan Bates. Templar, 2013/2015. 32p. $7.99.ISBN 978-0763675653..

Father bear consoles Hansie who has several accidents (skinned knee, etc.), with the title phrase. Listeners will repeat the title anytime someone has an injury, but the text is somewhat lengthy for the toddler audience. The full color artwork resembled color pencil with deep watercolors, and is adept but like the text, a little on the sweet side. The picture book version is preferred over the board book, but this is not as memorable as McBratney's popular "Guess How Much I Love You" series.

McCourt, Lisa. I Miss You, Stinky Face. Illus. by Cyd Moore. Scholastic, 1999/2014. 32p. $6.99.ISBN 978-0-545-74848-3..

The narrative of this book is very similar to Brown's Runaway Bunny - mom tells her child over the phone that she will get back home no matter what. The child offers various scenarios that could interfere: what if the plane forgets how to fly, or the balloon runs out of hot air? The child's dialogue is in a deep blue typeface that looks hand-lettered, and Mom's is in a small, regular font, but there is too much text for a board book. In the picture book, the text and detailed illustrations look fine, but don't work in the board version as they are too small

Mitton, Tony. Dinosaurumpus! Illus. by Guy Parker-Rees. Scholastic, 2002/2014. 30p. $6.99.ISBN 978-0-545-69480-3..

One of my favorites to offer at a dinosaur storytime, the picture book version is the preferred edition of this colorful rhyming book. Each page has several sentences of text, describing various types of dinos (eight different species), with onomatopoeia and a repeated chant that will inspire audience participation. But the board version is too small to hold all of that text and the full color cartoon illustrations; stick with the picture book version.

Stein, David Ezra. Dinosaur Kisses. Candlewick, 2013/2014. 30p. $6.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-7389-5..

Dinah hatches and stomps and eats many things in her path, but wants to try a kiss. Unfortunately, that involves biting whatever she is kissing, even another newly hatched dinosaur. This is fun and silly, and doesn't really make sense, but toddlers will relate to the anarchy and the full color cartoon dinos and very brief text.

Surplice, Holly. Guinea Pig Party. Nosy Crow, 2012/2015. 24p. $7.99.ISBN 978-0-7636-7604-9..

In this rhyme similar to "Ten in a Bed," (the popular storytime fingerplay), guinea pigs star as party guests. The illustrations feature cartoonish guinea pigs, easy to pick out and count, due in part to the cream colored backgrounds and pleasing but limited amount of detail. This is a very successful adaptation, since the toddler audience can count the expressive characters, see both the numeral and word for each number, and guess each answer due to the rhyming text. Even if your library owns the picture book version, you will want to own multiple copies of this board book.

Willems, Mo. Who Says That, Cat the Cat? Balzer+Bray, 2010/2014. 20p. $6.99.ISBN 978-0-06-230654-8..

Previously part of What's Your Sound, Hound the Hound?, an easy reader, this board book is similar to Sandra Boynton's humorous animal board books. As they prepare for a tea party, Cat asks each animal to make a sound, which the audience can call out - Woof, Moo, and so on. But when Cat gets to Bunny, it gets complicated! The cartoons are in a deeper shade than Willem's "Pigeon" series, making it easy for very young children to guess the animal shown. This is a successful adaptation of the picture book.

Wilson, Sarah. Love and Kisses. Illus. by Melissa Sweet. Candlewick, 1999/2014. 22p. $6.99.ISBN 978-0-7636-7391-8..

Perfect for Valentine's Day, this simple tale describes a kiss that is passed from one animal to another, like a game of "Telephone." The kiss begins and ends with a young girl and her cat, and the rhyming text is clear - ask the child to identify each animal that is shown. Sweet's inviting watercolors focus just on the girl and one or two animals per page, making this a book that is accessible to toddlers.