Spring Book Reviews Are In!

Thanks to Alida Allison, Emily Moore, and a host of student reviewers (Katrina Blake, Paris Brown, Louisa Garcia, Amanda Hansen, Chris Kane, Francis Merlie, Kayla Nielsen, Jaimee Pease, Natalie Scott, Danielle Seid, Sean Sell, Cat Walker) 24 new book reviews have been published at SDSU's national Book Review Service:

http://childlit.sdsu.edu/reviews/2010SpringReviews.htm

Here you will find:

Picturebooks—Fiction
Beard, Alex. The Jungle Grapevine. New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers. 2009. ISBN 9780810980013. $16.95. Ages 4-8
Berry, Lynne. The Curious Demise of a Contrary Cat. Illus. Luke LaMarca. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006. ISBN 978-1-4169-0211-9. $12.95 U.S./$17.95 CAN. Ages 4-8.
Hansen, Doug. Mother Goose in California. Berkeley: Heyday Books, 2009. 978-1-59714-101-7. $16.95. Ages 4-8.
Jenkins, Steve. Never Smile at a Monkey. Illustrated by Steve Jenkins. Boston, New York, 2009. ISBN 978-0-618-96620-2. U.S. $16.00/ Higher in Canada.
Kitamura, Satoshi. Millie’s Marvellous Hat. London: Anderson Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-7613-5153-5. $16.95 U.S. Ages 4-8.
Mandine, Selma. Kiss Kiss. New York: Golden Books, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-375-96431-2. U.S. $9.99/ $12.99 CAN. Ages 3-7.
Nelson Micheaux, Vaunda. Who Will I Be, Lord? Illustrated by, Sean Qualls. New York: Random House. 2009. ISBN 978-0-375-84342-6. $16.99. Ages 4-8.
Rylant, Cynthia. Snow. Illus. Lauren Stringer. Orlando: Harcourt, Inc, 2008. ISBN 978-0-15-205303-1. $17.00. Ages 4-8.
Seibold, Jotto and Vivian, Siobhan. Vunce Upon A Time. Illustrated by Jotto Seibold. San Francisco, California, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8118-6271-4.
Villeneuve, Anne. The Red Scarf. New York: Tundra Books, 2010. ISBN 978-0-88776-989-4. $17.95. Ages 4+
Willis, Jeane. The Bog Baby. Illustrated by Gwen Millward. New York: Schwartz and Wade, 2009. ISBN 978-0375861765. $16.99. Ages 4-8.
Yates, Louise. A Small Surprise. New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-375-85698-3. U.S. $16.99/ $18.99 CAN. Ages 3-7.
Yeh, Kat. You’re Lovable to Me. Illustrated by Sue Anderson. New York: Random House, 2009. ISBN 978-0-375-86015-7 $15.99. Ages 4-7.
Zenz, Aaron. The Hiccupotamus. Marshall Cavendish Children, 2009. ISBN 978-0-7614-5622-3. $12.99. Ages 3-7.
Picturebooks—Non-Fiction
Aylesworth, Jim. Our Abe Lincoln. Illus. Barbara McClintock . New York: Scholastic Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-439-92548-8. Ages 6-10.
Bang, Molly and Penny Chisholm. Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life. Illustrated by Molly Bang. New York: The Blue Sky Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-545-04422-6. $16.99. Ages 4-8
Barner, Bob. Dinosaurs Roar, Butterflies Soar! San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2009. ISBN 978-0-811-85663-8. $16.99 U.S. Ages 4-8.
Gemignani, Tony. Tony and the Pizza Champions. Illustrated by Matthew Trueman. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2009. ISBN 978-0811861625. $16.99. Ages 4-8.
Rockwell, Anne. Big George: How A Shy Boy Became President Washington. Illus. Matt Phelan. Orlando: Harcourt Inc. 2009. ISBN 9780152165833. $17.00. Ages 4-8.
Winter, Jonah. You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax!? Illus. Carrilho, André. New York: Schwartz & Wade Books, 2009. ISBN 978-0-375-83738-8. $17.99 U.S. / 19.99 CAN. Ages 4-10.
Middle-Grade Non-Fiction
Murphy, Glenn. Inventions. Illus. Leonello Calvetti, Malcolm Godwin. New York: Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers 2009. ISBN 978-1-4169-3865-1. $16.99. Ages 9+
Montgomery, Sy. Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia. Photo. Nic Bishop. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2009. 978-0-618-91645-0. $18.00. Ages 10 and up.
Steckel, Richard and Michele. The Milestones Project: Celebrating Childhood Around the World. Berkeley: Tricycle Press, 2007. ISBN 978-1-58246-228-8 $12.95. Ages 9-12.

Kira Hall to Law School

Congratulations to Kira Hall, M.A. in Children's Literature, who has been admitted to California Western Law School with a full tuition merit scholarship worth $115k. Kira first studied the Law of the Jungle alongside Mowgli in "The Jungle Books."

Martin Woodside, Our Man in Romania

Formerly a student in SDSU's graduate program, Martin Woodside is on a Fulbright Fellowship in Romania (2009-2010) before beginning his doctoral studies in Childhood Studies at Rutgers University (Camden). He files this report from abroad:

The vernal equinox draws nearer, but last week’s weather report called for “code yellow,” which meant more snow, which was kind of hard to believe as it had been snowing pretty consistently since my birthday in December. But it did snow again, all through the week, and spring felt far away. After ten years in sunny California, I suppose I was due at little real winter.

At any rate, snow on one’s birthday means good luck in Romania, a country full of such superstitions and omens. Everyday life here is steeped in the otherworldly, whether it’s a bus full of people crossing themselves as they rumble past a church or the ritual of selecting one of the first nine days of March to forecast your fortunes for the coming year—I picked March 2: sunny in the morning before threatening to rain (but never actually raining) in the afternoon. Some friends invited us to their orthodox wedding this summer, an ornate spectacle which will include an elaborate service (with husband and wife wearing crowns), days of partying and the ritual “kidnapping” of the bride.

Romania’s rich folk tradition also includes a wellspring of folk and fairy tales that are sadly fading from prominence. In fact, the Romanian market seems to have no room for domestic children’s authors at all, and I’ve talked to a number of frustrated writers who were told to try publishing their books in French or English, so they could then be published in translation here. Indeed, the children’s sections of the bookstores here are full of this imported literature, either in translation or (if English) in the original. America is well represented (I was shocked to see my own books from Sterling’s Classic Starts series on the shelves of Bucharest’s swankiest bookstore), with everything from Twilight to My Little Pony, the prominence of the latter making me like it’s 1985 all over again. My proposed research here didn’t involve children’s literature, but I’ve been taking more and more of an interest in this phenomenon.

My proposed research does involve poetry, and so I spend most of my time writing, translating, and hanging out with poets—some of my poems have even been translated into Romanian and will be published at the end of this month. My Romanian language skills are slowly improving, and I’m already well versed in the colorful nomenclature for different types of Romanian drinking establishments—the dingiest dive bar is a “bomba—“ along with a few other things.

Lois and Elizabeth are having a great time as well, especially on our forays out of Bucharest and into Romania’s beautiful countryside, which we plan to see more of once code yellow’s gone for good. We’ve already taken a few trips to the Transylvanian mountains which are particularly stunning and rich with history. Highlights include the city of Sighișoara, with its well preserved medieval citadel left by Saxons brought in to defend the region in the 12th Century, and where we stayed in a hotel that was once the birthplace of Vlad Tepeș (known to some as Dracula), and the Bran Castle outside Brașov, called the Dracula castle even though Vlad Tepes never set foot in it.

And that brings me to touchy subject of the fabled impaler. Do your Romanian friends a favor and lay off the Dracula jokes. They’ve heard it all before, and it’s kind of a sore subject. It’s a good yarn, but Bram Stoker never set foot in Romania, and he wasn’t even that meticulous in his research. Besides, Vlad was actually a hero to the people here, and still is to many, fighting off invading Turks and liberating parts of what makes up modern Romanian for the first time. I mean a joke’s a joke, but they almost built a Dracula theme park here to sate all these incessant touristic yearning. You don’t want that kind of blood on your hands, do you?

San Diego State Children's Author Dies

From June Cummins...

Sid Fleischman, a Newbery Award-winning author who never set out to write for children but flung himself into the field on a dare, died at his home in Santa Monica, Calif., on March 17, the day after his 90th birthday.

Sid Fleischman, a Newbery Award-winning author who never set out to write for children but flung himself into the field on a dare, died at his home in Santa Monica, Calif., on March 17, the day after his 90th birthday....

Presented annually by the American Library Association, the Newbery Award is widely regarded as the Pulitzer Prize of children’s literature. Sid Fleischman received his in 1987 for “The Whipping Boy” (1986, illustrated by Peter Sís). A novella for 6-to-10-year-olds, it centers on the developing relationship between a spoiled young prince and the street urchin engaged to undergo punishments in his stead.

Mr. Fleischman’s work was praised by critics for its sly humor, carefully controlled suspense and dexterous sleights-of-hand — characteristics that had served him well in his previous careers as a magician, Hollywood screenwriter and novelist for adults.

His other children’s books include “Humbug Mountain” (1978, illustrated by Eric von Schmidt), which was a National Book Award finalist; and a multivolume series of tall tales starring Josh McBroom, the owner of a wondrous farm that despite its negligible size — precisely one acre — produces staggering bounty.

Mr. Fleischman’s nonfiction books for young people include a memoir, “The Abracadabra Kid” (1996), and biographies of Houdini and Mark Twain. A third biography, “Sir Charlie,” about Charlie Chaplin, is to be published by Greenwillow Books in June.... While at San Diego State College, he began selling short stories to magazines.

Mr. Fleischman’s studies were interrupted by World War II, in which he served with the Navy in the Pacific. After the war he worked as a reporter on The San Diego Daily Journal and in 1949 earned a bachelor’s degree in English from San Diego State....

Read more in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/books/25fleischman.html?emc=eta1

Astrid Lindgren Award Winner

from Alida Allison ....

Kitty Crowther is an illustrator and author, born in 1970, who lives and works in Belgium. The jury’s citation reads as follows:
Kitty Crowther is the master of line but also of atmosphere. She maintains the tradition of the picture book while transforming and renewing it. In her world, the door between imagination and reality is wide open. She addresses the reader gently and personally, but with profound effect. In her deeply felt empathy with people in difficulty, she shows ways in which weakness can be turned into strength. Humanism and sympathy permeate and unify her artistry.

In Kitty Crowther’s books, text and pictures form an integral whole. Her principal works are her own picture books, including L´enfant racine (2003), La visite de Petite Mort (2004), Le grand désordre (2005) and the Poka & Mine series (2005, 2006, 2007, 2010).

She addresses readers personally using a limited repertoire of tools, principal among them pencil, ink and coloured pencils. Facial expressions, posture and atmosphere are captured with unfailing precision. In Kitty Crowther’s world there are no basic stereotypes. The landscapes in which the stories are set resemble the ones we know, but Kitty Crowther sees beyond them to a world richer in possibilities than we imagine.

One of the cornerstones of her authorship is to show how weakness can be turned into strength. Her loyalty to children is unconditional. The sympathy and intense empathy Kitty Crowther shows with her fictional characters is an expression of the deep humanism that runs through all her works.

Examples of Kitty Crowther’s world of imagery can be downloaded from www.alma.se. For more images and interviews with the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winner and jury, please contact the ALMA office: agnes.lidbeck@alma.se or +46 76 540 10 17.

The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) is the world’s largest prize for children’s and young adult literature. The award, with a total value of SEK 5 million, is awarded annually to one or more recipients. Authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and reading activists are eligible. The award is designed to promote interest in children’s and young adult literature, and to promote children’s rights, globally. An expert jury selects the winners from candidates nominated by institutions and organizations worldwide. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is administered by the Swedish Arts Council.

David Almond wins Hans Christian Andersen medal

An international jury of children's literature experts this afternoon decided to award the world's most prestigious prize in children's literature to British author David Almond.
Almond, who won the Carnegie medal and the Whitbread children's prize with his first children's book Skellig, the story of a boy who discovers an angel in a derelict garage, was selected as winner from authors around the world, seeing off finalists from Iran, Brazil, Sweden and Denmark to win the medal. Given biennially since 1956 by the International Board on Books for Young People for an author's complete works, the award comes with no money but much honour: past winners include much-loved British children's writer Eleanor Farjeon, Pippi Longstocking creator Astrid Lindgren and Moomins author Tove Jansson.

Read about it in The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/mar/23/david-almond-hans-christian-andersen-medal

Children's Book Sales Up in Hard Times

Nielsen BookScan reported that sales of juvenile books were the strongest of any category in 2008, rising 6 percent from 2007. In 2009, Nielsen reported, sales held mostly even. By contrast, last year adult hardcover and mass market paperbacks both declined nearly 4 percent, and trade paperbacks fell 2 percent.
Norris said that sales of children's books are still "very strong." But he cautioned that publishers should not become overconfident. Sales of juvenile books may be skewed because many adults are buying young adult titles such as "Harry Potter" and "Twilight."
Kinney knows from book signings and other events that adults are buying a good number of his "Wimpy" books, 28 million of which are in print in the United States, according to his publisher, Abrams. "Great stories are being told that do not rely on violence or sex or those sorts of things that are the hallmarks of literature that is intended for adults," Kinney said. "I think we focus more on storytelling. There are a lot of adults I encounter who exclusively read children's literature."

more in the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/19/AR2010031901574.html

Death of Sid Fleischman

from Linda Salem regarding an SDSU graduate and well known children's writer...

Sid Fleischman, Newbery author of THE WHIPPING BOY, and countless other
classics has died. Sid turned 90 on March l6th.

ORIGINAL WORKSBEEN TO YESTERDAYS: POEMS OF A LIFE (BOYDS MILLS PRESS)*STARRED REVIEW/SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNALCHRISTOPHER AWARDSCBWI GOLDEN KITE HONOR BOOKCITY I LOVE (ABRAMS)*STARRED REVIEW / SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL *STARRED REVIEW / PUBLISHERS WEEKLYBEST BOOKS OF 2009/ CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARYPITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTENEW COLLECTIONS:AMAZING FACES (LEE & LOW) ILLUSTRATED BY CHRIS SOENTPIETSHARING THE SEASONS (SIMON & SCHUSTER/MCELDERRY BOOKS)ILLUSTRATED BY DAVID DIAZ*STARRED REVIEW / KIRKUS*STARRED REVIEW/ BOOKLIST

Twin Destinies? Cpt. Underpants & Children's Lit

Jackie Stallcup indicates that things are more complicated than they seem. Read the essay in a recent issue of Genre:

http://www.aguynamedwade.com/files/Stallcup_captain_underpants_and_satire_updated.pdf

Graphic Aging at the MLA (in LA Jan 2011)

from Charles Hatfield...

(A last-minute reminder of an MLA opportunity!)
The MLA Discussion Area in Age Studies and the MLA Discussion Area in Comics and Graphic Narratives are collaborating to assemble and propose a joint panel session for the 2011 MLA Annual Convention, to be held 6–9 January in Los Angeles.
Following is a Call for Papers for that session. The submission deadline has been extended to next Friday, March 19. Please pass this on to colleagues in age studies, childhood studies, children's/youth literature and culture studies, comics studies, and other potentially relevant fields!
Graphic Aging: youth, ripening, and intergenerational relationships in Love & Rockets, Likewise, Token, etc. This panel explores how images and understandings of age inform each other in graphic novels, novel graphics, and related media.
Paper proposals might explore the following themes, but need not be limited to these ideas:
* How do graphic novels render and thematize images of youth/aging/old age?
* How are youth, aging, and elderhood rendered, valued, and made visible in graphic narratives and/or film?
* What critical vocabulary is needed for readers to fully explore ages’ visual complexities?
* How does a particular author/artist depict the complexities of age’s vitality, beauty, and grotesques?
* How, or how well, do the comics and graphic narratives of a particular minority or majority community convey that group’s valuations and understandings of aging?
* How do visual depictions of old age reinforce/resist ageist stereotyping?
* When a character ages during the timespan of a text, what is the age-related somatic transformation process?
* In flashbacks for which the "present" of the narrator is multiple decades from the "present" of the story, what is the visual presence of the narrator, and how does that add to the text?
* When comics and graphic narratives transition from text to screen, what is the impact on the visual representations of age?
* What aspects or sights of aging are left to the reader to imagine, and what are part of the text’s images?
* How do the graphic renderings of intergenerational relationships reinforce/resist ageist stereotypes?
* How do expectations about the audience’s age impact images of age in graphic narratives?
Submit 300+ word abstracts by 3/19/2010 to Leni Marshall at marshallel@uwstout.edu.

CFP Ukranian Seminars (Lviv in 2010)

LVIV CITY COUNCIL
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
UKRAINIAN RESEARCH CENTER OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH LITERATURE
79011 Lviv, Stryjskast. 26/6, tel.: +38 032 2758171, +38 067 8769797

_____________№______________
на № ________________________

Dear colleagues,
Ukrainian research center of children and youth literature is pleased to invite you to participate in the seminars dedicated to the investigation of the children’s and youth literature that are going to be held in Ukraine, Lviv during the 2010 at the Department of Education.

The dates for seminars are:
29-30 April. Deadline for the applying is the 1st of April 2010.
27-28 May. Deadline for the applying is the 1st of May 2010.
9-10 September. Deadline for the applying is the 1st of September 2010.
28-29 October. Deadline for the applying is the 1st of October 2010.
25-26 November. Deadline for the applying is the 1st of November 2010.
9-10 December. Deadline for the applying is the 1st of December 2010.

Seminar Languages: Ukrainian, English, German

The seminar papers will be published in advance in the specialized scientific magazine of Ukrainian Research Center of Children and Youth Literature. The requirements are as follows:
Up to 12 pages (0.5 printer's sheet – 20 000 characters);
Times New Roman font, 14 point type, Normal style, 1.5 line-to-line spacing, 2.5 cm margins; English.
5 EUROS per one page of the paper upon acceptance notification

Deadlines: An application forms and the papers have to be sent till the Deadlines on the e-mail: urccyl@gmail.com.

If you have any questions, please, ask Ulyana Hnidets, PhD, Associate Professor,
The President of UKRAINIAN RESEARCH CENTER OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH LITERATURE: +38 067 8769797.

Organizing Committee
Registration form
Thematically seminars “Literature. Children. Time”
2010, Ukraine, Lviv

First Name

Last Name

Institution

Position

Title of the paper

Seminar/dates

Address/ Street

Town/City

Country

Phone number

E-mail

Accommodation

Arrival

Departure

SDSU Students Review Burton's "Alice"

Given all the brouhaha surrounding the release of Tim Burton’s "Alice in Wonderland," Jerry Griswold asked his students to review the film. The essays appeared on the blog of Parents' Choice. Here are the reviews of: Paris Brown, Amanda Hansen, Chris Learned Kane, Francis Merlie, Jaimee Pease, Natalie Scott and Danielle M. Seid.

British Boys & Girls Books, 1850-1950

Two Kiwi authors, Charles Ferrall and Anna Jackson (both at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand) examine British boys and girls books in the Victorian era and up to World War II. Here you will find out about: the stiff upper lip, the rattling good adventure story, school chums, detectives, going native, and more. Juvenile Literature and British Society, 1850--1950 (Routledge, 2010). http://www.routledge.com/

Curious George Exhibit in NYC until August 1 2010

Curious George, the impish monkey who has become an icon of children’s literature, is the centerpiece of a new exhibition at The Jewish Museum in New York... Read about it in School Library Journal: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6722744.html?industryid=47074

http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/curiousgeorge

an interesting essay on: http://blog.seattlepi.com/bookpatrol/archives/198650.asp?from=blog_last3

Child Lit & Environment (Toronto Conference)

Children's Literature and the Environmental Imagination symposium held earlier this month at the University of Toronto's Trinity College. Speakers included renowned Harvard professor Lawrence Buell, who literally wrote the book on the matter of how literature represents the natural environment in his 1996 work The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing and the Formation of American Culture, but this was the first time he had focused on children's literature specifically, he said. He and the other panelists—authors M.T. Anderson, David Almond, Susan Cooper, Sarah Ellis, Tim Wynne-Jones, and environmental journalist Marguerite Holloway—seemed to generally agree that while no one book is likely to change the world, children's literature can have a significant impact...

Read in Publishers' Weekly: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/452678-Toronto_Conference_Studies_Ways_to_Cultivate_Environmental_Imaginations.php

St. Patrick's Day is March 17

Of Irish descent on my mother’s side and having lived for a time in Ireland, I can tell you that the inhabitants of the Emerald Isle don’t at all care for the impression left by the movie “Darby O’Gill and the Little People”--or advertisements for the cereal Lucky Charms–that they are a “fairy” people: a somehow daffy and inebriated race surrounded by green-clad leprechauns. Nonetheless, there is, in fact, something special about Irish storytelling in the way it readily embraces folkloric materials and its more matter-of-fact inclusion of fairies, Little People, and their kind. In that regard, scholar Declan Kiberd mentions the story of an American anthropologist who asked a Galway woman whether she believed in fairies and had this reply: “I do not, sir–but they’re there anyway" . . . Jerry Griswold on "Ireland and Irish Children's Stories":

http://www.parents-choice.org/article.cfm?art_id=240&the_page=reading_list&CFID=4422393&CFTOKEN=46504753

On Burton's "Alice" (audio), KPBS Radio "These Days"

Discussion of Tim Burton's movie "Alice in Wonderland" on "These Days," KPBS Radio (San Diego). Host: Maureen Cavanaugh. Guests: Beth Accomando, Scott Marks, and Jerry Griswold. March 10, 2010. Between (approximately) the 11:00 and 23:30 minute marks.

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/mar/10/oscar-recap-alice-wonderland-red-riding-and-prophe/

Beth Accomando on Burton's "Alice"

The images are perversely sumptuous and make the film fun to watch. Yet Burton has lost the ability to tell a story. His penchant for weirdness is clearly on display but weirdness without a good story or compelling characters can get wearisome. He balanced weirdness and good storytelling in films such as “Edward Scissorhands” and “Ed Wood,” but has been less successful since...

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/mar/05/alice-wonderland/

On Tim Burton's new film "Alice in Wonderland"

Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland was a promising movie from the very start. The new cinematic technologies of 3D and CGI (computer-generated imagery) almost seemed to have been invented for this famously hallucinatory story. And the offbeat sensibilities of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp seemed a perfect match to those of the story’s author, Lewis Carroll . . .

Jerry Griswold on Tim Burton's new film "Alice in Wonderland"

http://blog.parents-choice.org/?p=159

SDSU Grad Students Off to Oz Conference

from Alida Allison....

"OZ: THE BOOKS" is conference co-sponsored by The Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature (California State University, Fresno) and The International Wizard of Oz Club. It will take place May 14-16, 2010 at The Arne Nixon Center. Five SDSU graduate students have been invited to present papers at the conference:

Diana Ferrell: "The Bremen Musicians and Others in Oz"

Desi Sullivan: "L. Frank Baum and Harriet Beecher Stowe: Using Sentimentalism to Inspire a Female Audience"

Sean Printz: "Reconciling Lack: Masculinity in Oz"

NaToya L. Faughnder: “Bow to Her Gracious Presence: Utopia, Dystopia, and Oz"

Rebecca Hershberger-Howat: "Inside or Outside of Oz: Placing Baum’s The Woggle Bug Book Within the Oz Series"

Internship Literary Agency

LITERARY AGENCY INTERNSHIP
The Zack Company, Inc. (TZC), a small, full-service literary agency representing authors of fiction and nonfiction, currently seeks two spring and/or summer interns.
TZC offers interns a wealth of hands-on experience in the world of publishing. Interns at TZC acquire valuable "real world" experience and publishing skills. Working in an active environment, TZC interns gain insight into the field of publishing and literary representation and learn the many functions of a literary agency. Our program enables students to develop confidence and marketable skills in a real-life business setting.
Interns generally work with numerous current clients and potential clients and responsibilities generally include:
 Reading and reporting on prospective clients’ works*
 Reading and providing editorial feedback on current clients’ projects*
 Reviewing and auditing author royalty statements
 Maintaining and updating database sources and webpages
 Writing press releases
 Drafting pitch or submission letters and following up on active submissions
* Like any job in publishing, most of your reading will be done at home, on your own time.
† It should be noted that this internship is not directed at aspiring authors or those who hope to teach creative writing in the future. This is a hands-on business opportunity.
Interns also gain practical experience with many different types of computer software. Interns will also perform various administrative tasks for client-related projects and internal needs.
TZC is looking for outgoing, articulate students who are conscientious, well-organized, detail-oriented, and entrepreneurial, have good writing skills and are capable of multi-tasking. Majors in communications, accounting, business, MIS, journalism, English† or marketing are all welcome. Must be a current student at college junior or senior level of study.
Interns must be available for 16 hours per week (minimum four-hour blocks). This is an unpaid internship.
It is strongly suggested that you visit the agency’s web site at www.zackcompany.com and review the FAQ lists and the various author biographies and titles, so that you know exactly what kinds of books TZC represents.
Interested candidates should email a resume as an attached file, along with a brief writing sample (a recent paper will do), and a cover letter that discusses why they would like the job and what kinds of books they read for fun to springsummer2010@zackcompany.com. (If you fail to submit a writing sample, we will be unable to respond.)

Naomi Lesley in "The Looking Glass"

"The Making of Rebecca" and the Education of the Ideal Adult
Naomi Lesley

Abstract
In “‘The Making of Rebecca’: and the Education of the Ideal Adult,” Naomi Lesley undertakes a pedagogical and ideological exploration of the tensions inherent in Kate Douglas Wiggin’s consummately Romantic depiction of childhood, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. Lesley focuses on the relationship between Wiggin as nostalgic author and Wiggin as educational reformer, and in the problematic constructions of both children and adults by those tensions inherent in American culture at the turn of the twentieth-century. The subtle subversions of Romantic childhood by Progressive pedagogy—and vice versa—provide provocative areas for further discussion and scholarship.

Full Text: HTML
The Looking Glass: new perspectives on children's literature

Summer Abroad Program: British Child Lit

http://www.britishstudiesprogram.org/

Classics of Children’s British Literature 6 semester hours in ENG 497 or 597Dr. Jameela Lares, The University of Southern Mississippi
This course will explore British children’s literature in its rich historical and geographical context. Course activities will combine the reading of literary classics with visits to the actual places which generated them and with presentations on various aspects of literature by noted British specialists. Speakers in former years have included such well-known figures as Brian Alderson, Mary Cadogan, Jenni Calder, Pat Pinsent, Brian Sibley, Gillian Spraggs, Ann Thwaite, and Nigel Wood. We will visit fantasy sites in Oxford associated with Lewis Carroll, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and more recently with Harry Potter; cross Pooh Bridge in Milne’s Ashdown Forest; find traces of Long John Silver in Stevenson’s Edinburgh; and look for Peter Rabbit in Potter’s Lake District. In London, we will explore the appeal of Dick Whittington to city apprentices four hundred years earlier; walk about the maritime world of Greenwich Village and think of Jim Hawkins sailing to Treasure Island, visit the Old Royal Observatory and experience a child’s wonder of having a foot in each hemisphere at the Greenwich Meridian, and see Kensington Garden to understand how J. M. Barrie could find Peter Pan in the magical park across the street. Throughout, we will look at how various texts are constructed as literature and how they reflect historical, cultural and psychological realities. Although the course will be organized around a literary understanding of the texts, we will also look some to the fields of education, bibliography, and entertainment.

Johnny Depp, Comic Con, Burton's Alice

Sean Sell writes ...

This Johnny Depp website has some interesting information about Tim Burton's appearance at last summer's Comic-Con.
http://www.ohjohnny.net/alice/alicenews13.html

Sean