The Bologna Children’s Book fair is set to begin Tuesday, March 23rd in Bologna, Italy.  As all of us children and young adult lit fans know, the Bologna Children’s Book Fair is the most important international event dedicated to children’s publishing.  2010 will be the 47^th edition of the fair and is expected to be a great one: over 20,000 square meters of exhibition space have been booked,  over 1,200 exhibitors from over 60 countries are confirmed, and  a jam-packed programme of events has been released. A small sampling of the highlights:

The 2010 Guest of Honor at the Illustrators Exhibition will be Slovakia, presenting a selected exhibition of it’s best illustrators. A cultural programme featuring Slovakia will be taking place at various locations throughout Bologna during the fair.

Bologna Children’s Book Fair – SM Foundation International Award for Illustration. This winner of this  new award, reserved to young illustrators (under 35) selected for the 2010 Illustrators Exhibition, will be announced on March 25.

Illustrators Exhibition. Once again, a wealth of works by illustrators (well-known professionals and emerging talents) will  be on display. The 2010 international jury has selected 87 artists for the 2010 Exhibition from 2,456 candidates from 58 countries.

BolognaRagazzi Awards 2010. Check out Marj’s recent post on these awards.

Authors Cafe. A new feature for 2010, the Authors Cafe is the place to be to meet authors and talk books. Discussions will include: prospects for the literary scene, reading experiences in troubled areas, and debuting authors in Bologna.  To meet illustrators and get involved in their discussions, head on over to the Illustrators Cafe.

The Astrid Lindgren Award announcement will be broadcast live to Bologna from Sweden on March 24th. This is especially exciting for us as  PaperTigers was invited to submit nominations for the award!

Also exciting for us is that three members from our team will be in attendance at this year’s Fair: Aline, Marj and myself.  If you are going to be there too let us know as we would love to meet up with you. If you can’t be there, keep an eye here on our PaperTigers’ blog as we will be posting regularly to share some of our highlights with you! We’ll also be uploading  our photos to this Flikr account.

School Library Journal’s Battle of the (Kids’) Books competition has begun.  Patterned after the wildly popular March Madness, when college basketball teams vie against one another in a “bracket” scheme, the “Battle of the Kids’ Books” pits 16 topnotch children’s books against each other and asks popular children’s book authors authors to choose a winner. It’s a fast-paced event with the 16 books that open the contest  whittled down to eight books by the second week, and four books on the third week. A winner will be chosen on Monday, April 6, by Newbery Medalist Katherine Paterson, who is the new National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature.

Yesterday, in round one, match one, Jim Murphy chose Deborah Heiligman’s Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith over Phillip Hoose’s award-winning Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice. Today’s battle, judged by Nancy Farmer, pits Fire (Kristin Cashore) against Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Jacqueline Kerry). Click here to see the schedule. Spread the word and get involved in the event: you could win a 2010 Battle of the Kids’ Books t-shirt!

The Middle Country Public Library in Centereach NY, USA, currently has an exhibition entitled “The Creative Worlds of Lynne Barasch”. Ongoing until May, the exhibit features six of Lynne’s books (including Hiromi’s Hands and First Come the Zebra) with interactive stations relating to each title.

First Come the Zebra has been selected for the 2010 Spirit of PaperTigers Book Set. Click here to read Aline’s post exploring the particular reasons why it was selected, here to read Aline’s interview with Lynne, and here to see images from the book.

Share a Story – Shape a Future’s second annual Literacy Blog Tour started today, and this year’s theme is “It Takes a Village to Raise a Reader.” Now let’s show the world what being a virtual community of book lovers committed to helping kids become hungry readers really means, by joining in the conversation and sharing our personal stories and perspectives!

Today’s Literacy Blog Tour host is Terry Doherty @ Scrub-a-Dub-Tub. For a complete list of hosts and topics, see here. And check these for a taste of some of PaperTigers’ posts on literacy:

Thoughts on Literacy: Going Where the Children Are
Books at Bedtime: Win-Win!
Our Literacy Future

Written and directed by Alison Duddle and based on the book Little Leap Forward: A Boy in Beijing, written by Guo Yue and Clare Farrow, the stage production of Little Leap Forward is touring again this Spring in the United Kingdom. Click here to see the tour dates and here to read Marjorie’s post from last year when she went to the show. Little Leap Forward is presented by the Horse + Bamboo Theatre Company in creative partnership with Barefoot Books Ltd and The Royal Exchange Theatre. With set design by Bob Frith, the production incorporates mask, puppetry, shadows and animation with original music by Loz Kaye. The music also includes the distinctive flute playing of Guo Yue (recorded).

Little Leap Forward: A Boy in Beijing has been selected for the 2010 Spirit of PaperTigers Book Set. A wealth of information about the book can be found here on our PaperTigers main website.

Hinamatsuri Dolls

Today is Girls’ Day or Hinamatsuri in Japan.  And we’ll be celebrating it at our house by putting up our hina dolls and having festival foods.  As Japanese Canadians growing up in Alberta, we never celebrated Girls’ Day.  So why do I celebrate it now?  Two reasons –  because I have a daughter and feel it is important to transmit to her the customs of her heritage culture.  And because, it’s also just fun!

March 3 in Japan feels like spring and the peach blossoms that decorate the array of hina dolls displayed for the day make it feel all the more that way.  Here in wintry Canada, blossoms are still far off, but celebrating Girls’ Day here helps me anticipate the season.  Of course, we’ve made adjustments to the differences in climate.  Instead of the clam broth or chirashizushi that is traditionally served on Girls’ Day, I usually make a thick and hearty clam chowder that’s good for fending off a ‘liony’ March wind.  And I sometimes buy tulips for the table — the first flowers to appear in grocery stores around here that signal the coming season.

Have you ever celebrated a traditional festival day with your kids that you never celebrated growing up?  Do tell!

Donna German, Editor at Sylvan Dell Publishing, passes along the following:

To help parents and teachers explain the recent earthquake tragedies to their children, Sylvan Dell has posted its Pandas’ Earthquake Escape e-Book on its homepage free for the next 30 days. The company hopes that having access to this e-book will help children understand the shifting plates and dynamic earth forces at work.

Sylvan Dell encourages parents and teachers to listen to the news, read the picture book, use the 6-page non-fiction educational section in the back of the book, and then use the 50-page cross-curricular Teaching Activities section online in order to create a teaching moment from these tragic events.

Pandas’ Earthquake Escape, written by Phyllis Perry with illustrations by Susan Detwiler, follows the adventures of a mother panda, LiLing, and her cub, Tengfei, for several days after the devastating earthquake that hit China two years ago. Perry’s story follows the two pandas’ quest to survive outside the comfort of their reserve.

The eBook features read-aloud, auto page flip, and selectable English and Spanish text and audio. This title is also available in hardcover and paperback. To access Pandas’ Earthquake Escape, click here.

On behalf of everyone here at PaperTigers, our thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the recent tragic events in Chile and Haiti.

(Click on event name for more information)

Bath Literature Festival~ ongoing until Mar 7, Bath, United Kingdom

Exhibition of Joy Mallari’s Artwork From the Book Doll Eyes~ ongoing until Mar 9, Makati City, Philippines

Entries Accepted for the Growing Up Asian in America Contest~ ongoing until Mar 10, San Francisco, CA, USA

The Making of the Word Witch: The Poetic & Illustrative Magic of Margaret Mahy & David Elliot~ ongoing until  Mar 14, Ashburton, New Zealand

21st Annual Children’s Book Illustrators Exhibit~ ongoing until Apr 3, Hayward, CA, USA

Heart and Soul: Art from Coretta Scott King Award Books, 2006–2009~ ongoing until Apr 18, Chicago, IL, USA

New York Public Library Exhibit: 2010 Caldecott Winner Jerry Pinkney’s African-American Journey to Freedom~ ongoing until Apr 18, New York City, NY, USA

Read Across America Day~ Mar 2, USA

Papirolas Festival for Children and Youth~ Mar 2 – 7, Guadalajara, Mexico

20th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair~ Mar 2 – 7, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

World Book Day~ Mar 4, United Kingdom and Ireland

New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards Finalists Announced and On-Line Voting Begins~ Mar 4, New Zealand

Irish Society for the Study of Children’s Literature Conference Mar 5 – 6, Dublin, Ireland

The Environmental Imagination and Children’s Literature~ Mar 5 – 6, Toronto, ON, Canada

Shanghai Literary Festival~Mar 5 – 21, Shanghai, China

Western Washington University Children’s Literature Conference~ Mar 6, Bellingham, WA, USA

Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) Choices Day and Charlotte Zolotow Award Presentation~ Mar 6, Madison, WI, USA

SCBWI Conference: Creating Diversity in Children’s Literature~ Mar 6, Frederick, MD, USA

SCBWI Writers’ Day with Holly Thompson (Includes a session entitled “Plotting Across Cultures: A Workshop on Writing Intercultural Fiction”)~ Mar 6 – 7, Hong Kong

YALSA’s Teen Tech Week~ Mar 7 – 13, USA

Share a Story – Shape a Future, A Blog Tour for Literacy~ Mar 8 – 14

SCBWI Presents From Literature to Theatre~ Mar 9, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Writing Across Cultures~ Mar 9 – 10, Hong Kong

13th Time of the Writer International Writers Festival~ Mar 9 – 13, Durban, South Africa

New Zealand Post Writers & Readers Week~ Mar 9 – 14, New Zealand

IBBY Ireland Celebrates Hans Christian Andersen~ Mar 10, Dublin, Ireland

California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE) Annual Conference~ Mar 10 – 13, San Jose, CA, USA

Emirates Airline Festival of Literature~ Mar 10 – 13, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The Arabian Reading Association (TARA) and the Teachers of Young Children (TOYC) 2010 Conference~ Mar 11, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

The Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival~ Mar 11 – 14, Hong Kong

The 14th Annual Charlotte S. Huck Children’s Literature Festival~ Mar 12 – 13, Redlands, CA, USA

My Biggest Writing/Illustrating Challenge and How I Solved It with Panelists Elise Broach, Lita Judge, Grace Lin, Sara Pennypacker~ Mar 13, Amherst, MA, USA

Storytelling by Winners of the First Time Writers & Illustrators Publishing Initiative 2009~ Mar 13 and 20, Singapore

Tucson Festival of Books~ Mar 13 – 14, Tucson, AZ, USA

Children’s Book Week~ Mar 13 – 28, Belgium

42nd Annual Children’s Literature Festival For Children in Grades 4-10~ Mar 14 – 16, Warrensburg, MO, USA

Somerset Celebration of Literature: Reading Locally, Learning Globally – Creating a Universal Experience~ Mar 15 – 19, Mudgeeraba, Australia

Into the Wood: Antonio Frasconi’s Art for Children~ Mar 16 – Jun 13, Amherst, MA, USA

All Saints’ College 9th Festival of Children’s and Young Adult Literature~ Mar 17 – 19,Bull Creek, Australia

40th Annual Conference on Children’s Literature~ Mar 19 – 20, Athens, GA, USA

Multicultural Literature Advocacy Group Presents Books By the Bay 2010 Annual Multicultural Literary Conference~ Mar 19 – 21, Mobile, AL, USA

World Storytelling Day~ Mar 20

Stories Day and Night: A Celebration of Storytelling~ Mar 20, Singapore

Music for Literacy~ Mar 20, Stafford, TX, USA

The Norman Lindsay Festival of Children’s Literature~ Mar 20 – 21, Faulconbridge, Australia

Harmony Day~ Mar 21, Australia

World Poetry Day~ Mar 21

Exhibit of Sally Rippin’s Illustrations for Peeking Ducks~Mar 22 – Apr 11, Melbourne, Australia

Hans Christian Andersen Award Winners Announced~ Mar 23, Bologna, Italy

Once Upon a Time . . . Children’s Book Illustrators, Then and Now~ Mar 23 – May 27, Oakland, CA, USA

Public Library Association’s National Conference~ Mar 23 – 27, Portland, OR, USA

Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Winners Announced~ Mar 24, Vimmerby, Sweden

Salon du livre de Paris~ Mar 26 – 31, Porte de Versailles, France

38th National Book Fair & 8th Bangkok International Book Fair~ Mar 26 – Apr 6, Bangkok, Thailand

Discovering Buried Fairy Tales: Adventures of a Scholarly Scavenger~ Mar 27, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Margaret Mahy Day~ Mar 27, New Zealand

The Piece by Piece Storytelling Mash-Up~ Mar 28, Toronto, ON, Canada

Here’s a beautiful Paper Tiger made by Aline’s daughter, looking very much at home alongside a pile of books!

To find out how you can make one too, click here - and then don’t forget to send a photo to blog(at)papertigers(dot)org!

Zohreh Ghaeni, president of 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury, has created a new website which provides information on the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Awards’ candidates. The award, named after Danish author Hans Christian Anderson and known as the “Little Nobel Prize” of children’s literature, is an international award given biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) in recognition of a “lasting contribution to children’s literature”. There are two categories of award winners: authors and illustrators. For  the 2010 Awards, 28 writers and 27 illustrators have been nominated by 32 different IBBY National Sections. The winners will be announced at the IBBY Press Conference at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair on Tuesday, 23 March 2010.