Google celebrates Mark Twain’s birthday with a doodle Google has dedicated its latest doodle to mark the 176th birth anniversary of American author Mark Twain. The doodle is an illustration of the much loved fence painting episode in the iconic ‘Adventures of Tom Sawyer’.
Perhaps the search giant’s largest doodle yet, the full width drawing panel is mostly conventional compared to some of its recent dedications.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, who wrote under the pen name Mark Twain, created classic characters like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He is considered to be “the first truly American writer”. His genius lay in his distinctive ability to convey wit and wisdom in the same breath.
Although there is no particular reason why Twain’s 176th birthday is particularly special, the story behind Google doodles is something of a mystery and seems at times to be pretty random. The Mark Twain doodle will be available across Google domains in Asia, Europe, and Google’s US website.
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| Manager, Subsidiary Rights, Children's | | |||
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| Offered by: | Simon and Schuster | |||
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| Benefits: | Health, Dental, 401K | |||
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| Duration: | Full Time | |||
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| Location: | New York, NY | |||
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| Requirements: | Simon and Schuster seeks a Manager, Subsidiary Rights to join its team. This individual will report directly to the VP, Director of Subsidiary Rights and will support the Director in primarily domestic licensing efforts with some exposure to foreign rights, as well as, work closely with other departments within the publishing group. Primary responsibilities include: Presenting & licensing S&S Children's titles to book clubs including: Scholastic Book Clubs & Fairs, Direct Brands Book Clubs and Junior Library Guild. Presenting & selling bulk copies of S&S Children's titles to Scholastic Book Clubs & Book Fairs. Working closely with VP, Subrights to submit & license S&S Children's titles to outside UK publishers. Candidates should have a minimum of five years of publishing expereince preferably in subsidiary rights and children's publishing. Excellent verbal and written communication skills are requred, as well as, the ability to multitask and be self-motivated. Must be willing to travel to see customers. Candidate must be well organized, be detail oriented and work independently. Computer proficiency is essential with solid working knowledge of Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook. | |||
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| About Our Company: | Simon & Schuster, a global leader in the field of general interest publishing, is dedicated to providing a diverse range of quality books across a wide variety of genres and printed, audio and digital formats to readers worldwide. The publishing operation of CBS Corporation, one of the world's premier media companies, Simon & Schuster prides itself on its culture of innovation, inclusion, success and the spirit and professionalism of its employees. With career choices covering all aspects of publishing, Simon & Schuster offers exciting opportunities for those ready to contribute, learn, grow and fulfill their dreams. | |||
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| Special Instructions: | To apply online please follow this link https://sjobs.brassring.com/1033/asp/tg/cim_jobdetail.asp?partnerid=25084&siteid=5126&AReq=9978BR&Codes=PublishMarketplace | |||
Illustrator Quentin Blake has been awarded the 2011 Prince Philip Designers Prize.
Quentin Blake
He has also created illustrations for children’s authors [Russell Hoban], Michael Rosen, and Joan Aiken, as well as Dickens and Lear, and has also created his own characters, including Mister Magnolia, Mrs Armitage and Clown.
Blake, who also headed the Royal College of Art’s illustration department from 1978 to 1986, said last night, ’Illustration wants to belong in the design world. I hope this award may be a stiumulus to young illustrators ....’
In his speech last night, Prince Philip told the crowd, ’Go on designing - go on designing different and challenging things. Someone may think you are doing it right.’
Quentin Blake drew a portrait of Prince Philip, which was presented to HRH.
Karen Lotz is the Group Managing Director of Walker Books Ltd., a London-based company that includes the children's publishing companies Walker Books UK, Walker Books Australia, US based Candlewick Press, and a children's television development unit, Walker Productions. She is the President and Publisher of Candlewick Press. The Walker Books Group is one the world's largest employee-owned publishing companies.... I [Ms. Rubin] recently interviewed Karen regarding the future of children's books.
What is your estimate for children's e-books and print books over the next 3 to 5 years?
The children's books market was estimated to be over $3 billion in sales in 2010, approximately 25% of the overall book market. We are beginning to see traction for digital sales of young adult fiction, though children's as a whole is well behind the adult marketplace in terms of what percentage of new releases might be purchased in print versus e-book. Over the next 3 to 5 years, I can imagine that digital will trump print in the majority of cases rather than the exception.... In 5 years you will have an entirely new marketplace of digital reading material for young children, in all new forms - some of which we can't even envision yet.
Sales in children's picture books seem to have fallen in the last decade. Do you believe this trend will continue with e-books?
It's interesting to hear that statistic, because from my perspective, it's not so true. Some of the most successful picture book publishing has happened during the last decade, a period during which we basically doubled in U.S. revenues as a company, and it's been a catalyst for our growth. For Candlewick Press and Walker Books globally, picture book investment continues stronger than ever, and our sales are also very strong, even given the loss of some key retail partners that supported picture books, such as Borders in the U.S. and U.K., and some key chains in Australia. Our other partners, though, including the U.S. independents, are as strong as ever. We do excellent business in China with picture books....
What will Candlewick's products for young readers look like - for print, e-readers, and tablets? How much emphasis are you putting on digital products?
We consider digital editions to be simply another format. We have a very organic process for determining which books go into e-books, just like we do for hardcovers, paperbacks, novelty books, and board books. Every department at Candlewick is involved in making sure that the quality of our e-books is superb and equivalent in every possible way to our beautiful print editions....
Do you see brick and mortar outlets (bookstores, school libraries) continuing to attract the youngest readers?
I believe brick and mortar outlets - and I love that you include libraries in that category - are going to be hugely important for the youngest readers going forward. The experience of being in a room full of books, for a child, is one of the most empowering and exciting experiences one can have.... We know from research that the process of reading aloud to a child is incredibly beneficial and cannot be replaced by mechanical interactions of any kind. Bookstores and libraries are the perfect venues for the communal sharing of books, within families and between professionals and children. I can absolutely see a world where physical book outlets will continue to be places of wonder for young readers, made even better through the best technology being added into the mix, but this will only be true if one thing happens: we must continue to support the importance of reading to our children as a culture....
What will the evolution mean for illustrators and authors of children's picture books? For example, will sound, animation and interactive features become important? Will authors and illustrators become less dependent on publishers?
I really believe that in our new digital world, publishers have the opportunity to be what we always have been: book lovers, spotters and nurturers of talent, cultural drivers, great marketers, thoughtful salespeople, and fanatical caretakers of all the detail. Authors often have wonderful ears, meaning that music, speech and drama are often very natural to them. To employ their talents in new ways is an interesting challenge. For illustrators, obviously the choices and possibilities are endless - no longer being bound strictly by the 32-page forms of the printing presses, for example. But for those authors and illustrators who love the haiku of a printed picture book, and the challenges the limitations pose, I hope those forms will always be there too. They certainly will be there at Candlewick.
(Photos courtesy of Candlewick Press)
(Courtesy of Disney)
"The Muppet Movie" (1979)
"The Great Muppet Caper" (1981)
"The Muppets Take Manhattan" (1984)
"The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992)
"Muppet Treasure Island" (1996)
"Muppets from Space" (1999)
"The Muppets" (2011)
.... With the new Muppets movie now in theaters, longtime fans of the beloved puppets get to revisit old friends with the youngest generation of moviegoers, who are as familiar with the Muppets as their older counterparts.
The Muppets..., created by puppeteer Jim Henson, have been a mainstay on television since 1955 when Sam and Friends aired with a very early version of Kermit the frog. Since then, they have appeared in dozens of other programs, including regular roles on "Sesame Street" since 1969 to guest appearances on "Saturday Night Live" just last week.
The Muppets' longevity and continuous popularity is due to a timeless, changeless quality unique to the puppets, according to John Cech, a University of Florida English professor whose research includes children's literature.
"Our popular culture is mad for the latest fad, the latest 3-D, CGI extravaganza, the dazzlingest dazzle," Cech said in an email. "The Muppets are the opposite of this extreme. They are steady and true to their art and its values. That may seem old-fashioned or passe, but we are forever discovering (or rediscovering) how brilliantly new and fresh this integrity can be."
Well chosen children's literature is an effective way to counter deeply held stereotypes and teach cultural respect.
"There are plenty of "good" books -- well-written, exciting, from respected authors, much-loved by their readers, with well-developed characters -- that are inaccurate, stereotypical, fanciful, or just plain dehumanizing in their depiction of the Native characters," write Naomi Caldwell, Gabriella Kaye and Lisa Mitten in I is for Inclusion.
Yet curriculum writers Guy Jones and Sally Moomaw say, "... with the possible exception of classroom visits by American Indian people, excellent children's literature is the most effective way to counter deeply held stereotypes and help children focus on similarities among peoples as well as cultural differences."
How can parents, teachers and caregivers know which books to choose?
In honor of Native American Heritage Month, Burke Patch presents this sampling of books for kids, which accurately portray Native American culture and history.
1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving by Catherine O'Neill Grace
The embellished story of the first Thanksgiving is put into more accurate context, looking at the lives and perspectives of both the English colonists and the Wampanoag people.
The Butterfly Dance by Gerald Dawavendewa
Flower Maiden has practiced for weeks, but she still is nervous about performing her first butterfly dance.
Counting Coup: Becoming a Crow Chief on the Reservation and Beyond by Joseph Medicine Crow
In this 2008 American Indian Youth Literature Award Winner, Chief Joseph Medicine Crow tells his life story.
Crazy Horse's Vision by Joseph Bruchac
This is a fictionalized account of the Lakota boy who became the leader and defender of his people.
Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom by Tim Tingle
Martha Tom, a young Choctaw, crosses the Bok Chitto River while berry picking, encountering hundreds of plantation slaves longing for freedom. This is another 2008 American Indian Youth Literature Award Winner.
Diamond Willow by Helen Frost
While helping with her family's sled dogs and struggling to fit in, twelve-year-old Willow learns of her history and heritage as an Athabascan in Alaska.
Jingle Dancer by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Jenna works to find enough bells so that she can be a jingle dancer, just like Grandma Wolfe.
Navajo Long Walk: The Tragic Story of a Proud People's Forced March from Their Homeland by Joseph Bruchac
Shedding fresh light on a tragic chapter of American history, this book documents a shameful episode in the 1860s, when U.S. soldiers forced thousands of Navajo to march 400 miles from their homeland to a desolate reservation.
Meet Naiche: A Native Boy from the Chesapeake Bay Area by Gabrielle Tayac
This book introduces Naiche, a Maryland boy of Piscataway and Apache descent, looking at his family, the history of his tribe, and traditional ceremonies and customs still observed.
The Porcupine Year by Louise Erdrich
In the sequel to her award winning books The Birchbark House and The Game of Silence, Erdrich continues the story of Omakayas, a young Ojibwe girl who lives with her family on an island in Lake Superior in 1850.
The Story of the Milky Way: A Cherokee Tale by Joseph Bruchac
When cornmeal is stolen from an elderly couple, the others in the Cherokee village drive off the thief, creating the Milky Way in the process.
Tallchief, America's Prima Ballerina by Maria Tallchief
This picture book autobiography traces the early life of a prima ballerina of Native American descent.
Thanks to the Animals by Allen Sockabasin
When Little Zoe falls from his family's sled, the animals keep him safe until his father returns to find him.
Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back: A Native American Year of Moons by Joseph Bruchac and Jonathan London
Young Sozap learns from his grandfather that like the thirteen scales on a turtle's back there are thirteen moons in a year, each with its own name and story.
For more information and additional titles, see the American Indian Library Association (AILA) website and American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) blog.
What the kids are reading
Reading habits, researchers point out, are hard to map .... So we came up with a survey to get a sense of what urban children aged 3-12 in India’s metros are reading and the role parents are playing in shaping the habit.
The findings are interesting. For instance, 35% children spend an average of 3-5 hours on non-school related reading in a week, 77% parents said their kids read their first book at age 4 or before while 74% parents encourage their kids to read by getting them books home and 14% do so by reading out aloud to them.
According to the survey, while most kids – 72% – have read the authors (Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, Tintin etc) that their parents did, it’s the contemporary foreign titles of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Diary of a Wimpy Kid series that are topping their lists. In terms of genre, the survey threw up comics as the most popular (25%) followed by adventure (20%), fairy-tales (18%) and sci-fi (16%).
Tintin goes HINDI
Comic character Tintin seems to be one of India’s hot favourites, scoring an 18% among books regularly read in the survey, while the animation released earlier this month has become the animated film with the highest opening in India. Sony Pictures India, in fact, brought Spielberg’s animation to India even before its US release.
Given that close to half of India’s population is on the younger side, it’s a good time to be in children’s publishing in India.
LAHORE: An attendance of more than 18,000 was recorded at the two-day Children’s Literature Festival which ended at the Children’s Library Complex in Lahore on Saturday.
Baela Raza Jamil, Director Programs at the Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi, said the organisers had expected a turnout of approximately 5,000, but the response shown by schools, parents and especially the children was very encouraging. “According to our estimates, over 18,000 people showed up at the festival and we are just thrilled by the response,” said Jamil.
The last day of the festival included over 20 book reading sessions, theatrical plays, book launches and puppet shows. Besides the sessions, a book fair with over 15 stalls had also been organised.
English 727
Dr. A. Allison
M 4-6:40 The History of Children’s Literature (Graduate seminar)
Sample Readings: Herge, Tintin: The Blue Lotus
Seth Lerer, Children’s Literature: A History.
Julie Mickenberg and Phillip Nel. Tales of Little Rebels.
Books about the 1930’s for review in the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature, AL 218
Allison, English 727 Reader
Description: This advanced research seminar for children’s literature specialists approaches history in three ways:
1. Longitudinally: representative periodization (strong foundation in literary history is assumed)
2. Diasynchronically: emphasis on children’s/YA literature during and about the 1930’s
3. Thematically: Tracing the presentation of a major concept over time
Assignments include oral/media presentations on supplementary readings, a journal, and two research papers.
English 502 Prof. Allison
Spring 2012, MW 2-3:15
Adolescence in Literature (undergraduate)
Books:
Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian
Horatio Alger, Ragged Dick
Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, Book One
Karen Hesse, Aleutian Sparrow
Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere
Russell Hoban, Soonchild
Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Art Spiegelman, The Complete Maus
Description:
English 502 explores works in which key characters are adolescents as well as works that have been specifically written for adolescents, primarily the contemporary Young Adult novel. Adolescence is a time during which cognitive functions, argumentative capacity, self-identity, ego, sexual relationships and love, societal relationships, authority relationships, justice and conscience, bodily image, career, education--and of course much more--are developed, explored, challenged, outgrown. These issues are depicted in narratives that reveal the keen emotions and observations of teenagers. As we'll see, however, adolescence is as much a cultural construct as a clearly defined biological and cognitive phenomenon.
Some of the most exciting publishing being done these days is in Young Adult fiction, as represented by the booklist. Short stories and movies are part of the course as well.
Movies:Athol Fugard, Master Harold … and the Boys
Osama
Hand-outs
Short stories: “A&P” John Updike; “After the Theater,” Anton Chekov; “Eveline,” James Joyce; “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Joyce Carol Oates; “Greasy Lake,” T. Coraghassen Boyle; “South India Afternoon,” Amal Joseph Jolly
Matilda: The Musical comes to the West End. Everyone’s happy.
Poster for Matilda the Musical
Dennis Kelly’s Matilda: The Musical, based on Roald Dahl’s book about an ultra-special telekinetic young girl’s battles with her fearsome teacher, has finally arrived in the West End, at the Cambridge Theatre, after a highly successful run in Stratford.
Matilda, a bookish girl (played by four rotating girls: Eleanor Worthington Cox, Cleo Demetriou, Kerry Ingram and Sophia Kiely) is not happy with her television-addict family (Josie Walker and Paul Kaye), who think that she ought not to read at all. The headmistress of her school, Miss Trunchbull (Bertie Carvel), is one of the most repellant villains in all of children’s literature – right up there with the Child Catcher.
Matilda manages to defeat Trunchbull; along the way there are many marvellous moments of bumptious fun – and a child gets thrown into the stratosphere. Critics, though they may differ over details, are weeping with joy over the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production as a whole, and reaching deep into their historical and filmic knowledge for apt tyrannical comparisons to describe Carvel’s performance. The kids are great, too.
Cherry on the cake. Charles Spencer in The Daily Telegraph was ecstatic, saying he thought the show would “delight” “for years to come.” There’s something “miraculous’ about it, and – sacrilege! – the show even improves on Dahl’s original. Tim Minchin’s score is “smashing.”
Dr Marilyn Wyatt browses through a book. PHOTO: ABID NAWAZ/EXPRESS
LAHORE: Over 1,000 private and government schools across Lahore participated in the first Children’s Literature Festival, which kicked off here on Friday at the Children’s Library Complex.
The festival was inaugurated by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who commended the efforts of the organisers in putting together such a festival.
“It is vital to inculcate in children the habit of reading and learning through interactive activities,” said the chief minister while addressing a gathering of students, teachers and parents. Sharif, read a story in Urdu, ‘Rehmdil madaari’, to a crowd of hundreds of young children.
Oxford University Press managing director Ameena Saiyid, Baela Raza Jamil of the Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi and Nargis Sultana also spoke at the inauguration ceremony. Dr Marilyn Wyatt, wife of the US ambassador to Pakistan, addressed the young audience, emphasising the need for children to find pleasure in reading. Mentioning her favourite childhood book character, Nancy Drew, Dr Wyatt said reading is the key to learning. Later, Dr Wyatt also read from Tom Sawyer.
....There is a huge variety ... of kids books online accessible right at your own computer.
Many studies have shown that reading to your children can have many priceless benefits and advantages.
For example, a recent study made in Rhode Island Hospital compared two groups of eight months old babies – one group was read to very often from birth, while the other group was not. The study has shown that those children who were read to often, developed their “receptive” vocabularies, indicating the number of words they could understand with an up to40 per cent increase since babyhood, while the non-reading group of babies only increased by 16 per cent.
Indeed, reading to your kids is one of the most effective way of building the neural connections in his growing brain which enhances his early language development and other cognitive functions.
Here is a resource for teachers, parents, librarians as well as kids for all types of reading and educational materials: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/.Click here to find a variety of interactive kids books online: http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/library.htm.
Here is a large collection of hundreds of titles of kids books online on various topics and suitable for different age levels: http://www.biguniverse.com/readkidsbooks.
This is a link to ICDL – International Children’s Digital Library, whose stated mission and goal is to to build a collection of children’s books that represents outstanding historical and contemporary children’s literature from throughout the world.... Click here to access the library: http://www.childrenslibrary.org/icdl/SimpleSearchCategory?ilang=English.
Here is a collection of popular kids books online from KOL Jr. Stories: http://kids.aol.com/KOL/1/KOLJrStories.
This is a link to mightybook.com, a website that features a wide variety of games, song and other educational activities aimed at encouraging children to learn to love reading and improve their reading skills: http://www.mightybook.com/.
One particular website that features free story books for kids stands out among the rest, it’s Story Time for Me: http://storytimeforme.com/series.
