Summer Reading: Alida Allison on KPBS Radio

Professor Alida Allison discussed Summer Reading and Children's Books on "These Days" (KPBS Radio), June 28:

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/jun/28/best-new-childrens-books-summer/

New Research on Picture Books & Essay by Carole Scott

From Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer....

For all of you who are interested in picturebook research: an essay collection with contributions by renowned scholars working in this field has been published by Routledge. Title: New Directions in Picturebook Research. Editors: Teresa Colomer, Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer, Cecilia Silva-Díaz Publisher: Routledge (Series: Children's Literature and Culture) For a thorough description, go to:http://www.taylorandfrancis.com/books/details/9780415876902/

and with an essay by SDSU's Carole Scott: "Frame-making and Frame-breaking in Picturebooks"

Boston October 2: Horn Book Symposium

A Unique EventJoin the Horn Book and Simmons College for a unique event for librarians and children’s literature professionals. "The Horn Book at Simmons" is a one-day event discussing and celebrating the 2010 class of Boston Globe–Horn Book Award recipients. Full details of the curriculum and faculty will be announced following the announcement of this year’s winners in early June.

More at: http://www.hbook.com/hbas/default.asp

Neil Gaiman Wins Carnegie Medal

The science fiction and fantasy novelist Neil Gaiman has added the UK's top children's literature prize to his roster of awards, as The Graveyard Book wins the Carnegie medal...

More in The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jun/24/neil-gaiman-carnegie-graveyard-book

Recommended Summer Reads for Kids

From SDSU's News Center...

By Gina Jacobs
School’s out for summer! And what would summer vacation be without a good book?
SDSU’s National Center for the Study of Children’s Literature has new recommendations to help parents pick the best books for kids—ones that will not just sharpen reading skills but keep their attention, too!
What to look for in a good kids' book
Alida Allison, professor of children’s literature, said there are a few things parents should look for when choosing a book for their child....

More at http://newscenter.sdsu.edu/sdsu_newscenter/news.aspx?s=72195

Kate De Goldi & NZ Children's Books

Wellington writer, Kate De Goldi has been awarded the $100,000 Creative New Zealand Michael King Writers’ Fellowship to research and write a non-fiction book about children’s literature.The Creative New Zealand Michael King Writers’ Fellowship is New Zealand’s largest writing fellowship and supports established writers to work on a major project over two or more years. De Goldi’s project will investigate the extraordinary story of New Zealand historian, writer and researcher Susan Price and her efforts to encourage children to read and cherish the great body of 20th century children’s literature in English. Over three decades Susan Price has gifted many thousands of books to more than 50 children, all books carefully selected according to each child’s age and developing interests. To one child in particular she has sent, between birth and 16 years, more than 6,000 books, effectively contstructing a personal library of great children’s literature. This library and the relationships around it will be the subject of De Goldi’s research.

http://www.booksellers.co.nz/book-news/trade-news/michael-king-fellowship-recipient-announced-thursday-10-june-2010

2010 Boston Globe / Horn Book Awards

The 2010 BGHB winners are:
Fiction and Poetry
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (Lamb/Random House)
Nonfiction
Marching for Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Don’t You Grow Weary by Elizabeth Partridge (Viking)
Picture Book
I Know Here by Laurel Croza, illustrated by Matt James (Groundwood)

The 2010 Honor Books are:
Fiction and Poetry
The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan, illustrated by Peter Sís (Scholastic)

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow)
Nonfiction
Anne Frank: Her Life in Words and Pictures by Menno Metselaar and Ruud van der Rol (Roaring Brook/Flash Point)

Smile by Raina Telgemeier (Scholastic/Graphix)
Picture Book
It’s a Secret! by John Burningham (Candlewick)

The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown)

More at: http://www.hbook.com/bghb/current.asp

Summer Abroad? Reading Tips

Parents who need ideas about how to plan vacations with their children should get Christina Hardyment’s Heidi’s Alp. It’s a wonderful book that I’ve read a half dozen times. Hardyment’s notion was to take her kids around Europe visiting sites associated with favorite children books: to read Heidi in the Alps, Babar in France, Pinocchio in an Italian gondola, and “Sleeping Beauty” when visiting a German fairy-tale castle....

Jerry Griswold on Storybook Travel:

http://www.parents-choice.org/article.cfm?art_id=205&the_page=reading_list&CFID=5585050&CFTOKEN=48417801

The Gary Soto Literary Museum (Fresno, California)

The Gary Soto Literary Museum will open in Fall 2010 at Fresno City College. Soto writes that besides an archive for his materials, the Museum will also serve as "a beacon of literacy" encouraging literacy among young readers in Fresno and beyond.

See: http://www.garysoto.com/museum.html

Program for 2010 ChLA Conference

The Program for the 2010 Conference of the Children's Literature Association (June 8-11, Ann Arbor, Michigan): http://chla2010.emuenglish.org/ProgramChLA2010.pdf

SDSU is well represented there. Faculty member June Cummins and Joseph Thomas will talk about their in-progress biographies. A number of students (past, present, & adopted) will also be making presentations: Naomi Lesley, Sean Printz, NaToya Faughnder, and Kate Slater.

"Lost" (the TV Series) & Children's Lit

Maria Tatar on the conspicuous references to Children's Literature in the television series "Lost":

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tatar/2010/06/06/lost-childrens-literature/

UK: Hay Festival: Audiocasts

Keeping up with the UK at the Hay festival, children's authors Mal Peet, Kjartan Poskitt and William Nicholson, while Julia Eccleshare assesses the longlist for the Guardian children's ficton prize. See the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/audio/2010/jun/03/hay-festival-children-literature

Belgian Illustrator Wins Astrid Lindgren Award: Video

Illustrator Kitty Crowther received the world's largest children's literature award in a ceremony on 1 June. The 5 million SEK (approx 490,000 EURO) Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award was presented by H.M. Queen Silvia of Sweden in the presence of the Swedish Minister for Culture. On receiving the award, Kitty Crowther comments: "This is a huge honor. I think of this award as a huge tree, covered with spring flowers, with its roots in Sweden." . . .

More at: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/video-from-synaptic-digital-and-the-astrid-lindgren-memorial-award-belgian-illustrator-receives-worlds-largest-childrens-literature-award-95457089.html

Whatever Happened to Reading for Fun?

From Words Alive: www.wordsalive.org

Fewer adults and children are reading for pleasure than ever before even though those who read less, don’t read as well and have lower reading proficiency scores. That may not be surprising, but current statistics also show that those who don’t read for fun do poorly in every academic subject. How serious are the effects of this drop in pleasure reading? By conventional standards, less than one third of all high school seniors can now read proficiently. Click here to read “Whatever Happened to Reading for Fun” by Jerry Griswold, Professor, National Center for the Study of Children’s Literature, San Diego State University.

Interview: Natalie Merchant: Children's Poetry & Children

Video interview of Natalie Merchant by Granta Magazine... on children's poetry and children:

Interview: Natalie Merchant Online Only Granta Magazine