Australian author and literacy ambassador Chris Cheng was recently awarded the 2009 Lady Cutler Award, given by the Children’s Book Council of Australia, for his services to children’s literature. One of the ways in which Chris has gone/goes above and beyond his call is by bringing literature to children himself, both through scheduled school visits and more informal, spontaneous connections. His commitment and enthusiasm can be gleaned from the following notes, sent per my request, about reading Christmas stories to children these past few weeks:

One of the joys of being a children’s book author (and a teacher by profession) with a wife who is a teacher librarian, is that I am able to drop in to her school on a regular basis to read to the children. One of my favourite classes to read to is Kindergarten. Reading to little ones daily is one of the things I miss about not being a fulltime classroom teacher.

This year I have visited them quite a few times, simply to have the thrill of reading aloud and getting their reactions to the books. I love the fun of making the characters’ voices (if the text says ”he screams”, I will scream!), of making the sounds to accompany the text, of “reading” the pictures with the children… In the past few weeks I have spent a few afternoons there, reading Christmas stories. Since it’s a Catholic school, it is very easy and appropriate to share the religious significance of Christmas with the children through books. Some books focus on the traditional story of the birth of Jesus; some are told from the viewpoint of the animals in the manger; others celebrate the more secular Christmas images—the reindeer, the present laden sack; Santa Claus; snow…

In some Australian Christmas books Santa Claus appears not in a red thickly lined suit, but in board shorts and sun hats (there is definitely no snow Downunder at Christmas time!). He drives a car, instead of a sleigh, pulled not by reindeer but by kangaroos. I like to expose children to both traditional and non-traditional Christmas books.

In addition to reading the stories aloud, I talked to the students. I asked for their impressions, opinions, perceptions, interpretations. We talked about the illustrations and the words used in the books. This year they talked much about presents. Not just receiving presents, but giving mums and dads presents. I really loved it when, inspired by the books we read, the children started talking about their own experiences and plans:

“We go to church the night before Santa comes.”
“I’m giving a present to my mum.”
“We light candles.”
“I’m getting my dad a present.”
“I’m making my own present and it’s a secret, but I can tell you.” (It’s a wonderful privilege to be let in on their secrets!)

Now the school year has ended in Australia. The classrooms are all packed, along with the Christmas decorations. The children are home on holidays—and busy, I imagine, making those secret presents. And it’s a nice, comforting thought to know that, through books, they will continue to learn about the joys of Christmas in all its widely different interpretations—and when it comes to helping spread the joy of reading these and other books, they know they can count on me!

For more on Chris’ work and his reaction to receiving the award, check out his website, and Susanne Gervay‘s (winner of the award in 2007) post about this year’s award dinner, which Chris “attended” via skype from Hong Kong.

60 Australian Poems, edited by him, came out this year by Random House Australia.

In this interview, author and illustrator Shaun Tan talks to BookBits about his book Tales from Outer Suburbia, which has just won the Children’s Book Council of Australia Older Readers Book of the Year Award.

With thanks to Fiction is like a box of chocolates for highlighting this. I do so agree with what they say: “Some people have a talent, but few are as multi-talented and original as Shaun Tan.” After The Arrival and now Tales from Outer Suburbia, what will he take our breath away with next?

The Children’s Book Council of Australia has just announced the winners of this year’s awards. I’ve spotted two of my favorite books of the past year among them: Shaun Tan’s Tales from Outer Suburbia (Winner, Older Readers Book of the Year) and Home and Away by John Marsden, illustrated by Matt Ottley (Honour, Picture Book of the Year). Read this rather sobering post from The Book Chook outlining the awards and highlighting possible changes afoot in Australian publishing and their potential effect on the many wonderful small independent publishers in Australia.

Just One More Book has this podcast about Ten Days and Nine Nights: An Adoption Story by Yumi Heo.

Shelf Elf has a review of Mitali Perkins‘ Secret Keeper (you can also read PaperTigers’ review here).

And read Chicken Spaghetti’s great post, “Neesha Meminger on Kids’ Books by South Asian Authors” – including Neesha’s South Asian selection of books she would add to the CCBC’s list of “50 Multicultural Books Every Child Should Know” – apparently soon to become 75… – Hmmm – take a look at the list and tell us what you would add…

(Click on event name for more information)

Lima International Book Fair~ ongoing until Aug 5, Lima, Peru

2009 Bologna Illustrators Exhibition of Children’s Books~ ongoing until Aug 16, Tokyo, Japan

READ!Singapore 2009 – Dreaming A Good Read~ ongoing until Aug 31, Singapore

Exhibition of Children’s Book Illustrations~ ongoing until Aug 31, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Enchanted Worlds – Art of Fairy Stories & Mermaid Tales exhibition~ ongoing until Sep 5, Lancashire, United Kingdom

Exhibition – Drawings from the Heart: Tomie de Paola Turns 75 ~ ongoing until Nov 1, Amherst, MA, USA

Picture Perfect: Art from Caldecott Award Books, 2006-2009~ ongoing until Nov 8, 2010, Chicago, IL, USA

Korean History & Culture and the Korean American Experience Sixth Annual Seminar for K-12 Educators~ Aug 3 -7, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Faraway Places – Real and Imagined Journeys with YA Authors Judith Simpson, John Nicholson and John Danalis~ Aug 4 – 5, Melbourne, Australia

Tokyo Reading Association Conference~ Aug 6, Tokyo, Japan

The 38th Annual SCBWI Summer Conference~ Aug 7 – 10, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Kazakhstan Reading Association Conference~ Aug 8 – 10, Astana, Kazakhstan

The 19th Biennial Congress of IRSCL: Children’s Literature and Cultural Diversity~ Aug 8 – 12, Frankfurt, Germany

LIANZA Children’s Book Awards Ceremony~ Aug 10, Wellington, New Zealand

Library Week~ Aug 10 – 16, New Zealand

6th Pan-African Reading for All Conference in Conjunction with Tanzania National Book Week~ Aug 10 – 14, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

The Canadian Book Camp~ Aug 10 – 14, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Bookgig on the Road with Author and Illustrator Heath McKenzie~ Aug 10 – 21, Australia

Edinburgh International Book Festival~ Aug 15 – 31, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

On-line Launch for the 2009 Inky Awards~ Aug 20, Australia

Seminar on Reading Promotion and Storytelling for Children~ Aug 20 – 21, Pretoria, South Africa

Children’s Book of the Year Award Winner Announced~ Aug 21, Australia

The Crichton Award for New Illustrators Winner Announced~ Aug 21, Australia

Melbourne Writers Festival~ Aug 21 – 30, Melbourne, Australia

Children’s Book Week: Book Safari~ Aug 22 – 28, Australia

2009 Bologna Illustrators Exhibition of Children’s Books~ Aug 22 – Sep 27, Nishinomiya City, Japan

World Library and Information Congress: 75th IFLA General Conference and Assembly “Libraries Create Futures: Building on Cultural Heritage”~ Aug 23 – 27, Milan, Italy

Storylines Festival of New Zealand Children’s Writers and Illustrators~ Aug 23 – 30, New Zealand

Manila International Storytelling Festival~ Aug 28 – 29, Manila, Philippines

Western Australia Spring Poetry Festival and National Poetry Week~ Aug 28 – Sep 4, Australia

Taranaki Children’s Book Festival~ Aug 31 – Sep 5, Taranaki, New Zealand

Singapore International Storytelling Festival~ Aug 31 – Sep 12, Singapore

The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) is proud to sponsor the longest running children’s festival in Australia: Children’s Book Week. Celebrating its 63rd birthday this year, Children’s Book Week will take place August 16th -22nd with the theme “Fuel your Mind”. Schools and public libraries from all over Australia will spend the week celebrating books and Australian authors and illustrators. Classroom teachers, teacher librarians and public librarians will offer a plethora of activities: author and illustrator visits, workshops, theatre acts, competitions, and storytelling relating to the theme in an effort to highlight the importance of reading.

CBCA is a volunteer run, not-for-profit organization comprised of individual members who are passionate about children’s and young adult literature. To help promote Children’s Book Week as well as their Book of the Year Awards, they offer a range of merchandise that can be purchased to decorate schools and classrooms for Book Week. This year Australian author and illustrator Shaun Tan, winner of the 2007 CBCA Picture Book of the Year Award for his book The Arrival, has designed the vibrant, eye-catching posters.

On Friday, August 15th, as a kick-start to Children’s Book Week, the CBCA will announce and present their 2008 Book of the Year awards in the following categories: Older Readers, Younger Readers, Early Childhood, Picture Book, and the Eve Pownall Award for Information Books. The shortlists for these awards were announced in April and at the same time the unique CBCA Junior Judges’ Project (JJP) was launched. The CBCA Junior Judges’ Project encourages children to do their own judging of the shortlisted books in the annual CBCA Book Awards, based on similiar criteria to those used by the CBCA Book of the Year judges. Once the Short List is announced, students guided by their teachers are encouraged to read the shortlisted books and, based on the judging criteria, select their Winner and two Honour Books in one or more categories and cast their votes online, either through their teachers or individually.