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Fremantle Children’s Literature Centre 2010 Exhibits~ Australia

Canadian Library  Month: Your Library, Your World~ Canada

National Book Month~ USA

Reading Association of Ireland Annual Conference~ Sep 30 – Oct 2, Dublin, Ireland

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read~ ongoing until Oct 3, USA

Words+Pictures=Book, Contemporary Malaysian Picture Book Illustration~ ongoing until Oct 3, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

National Young Writers’ Festival~ ongoing until  Oct 4, Newcastle, Australia

Mirror, an Exhibition by Children’s Author and Artist Jeannie Baker~ ongoing until Oct 10, Australia

Hispanic Heritage Month~ ongoing until Oct 15, USA

3rd CJ Picture Book Award Submissions Accepted~ ongoing until Oct 20, Seoul, Korea

Dromkeen National Centre for Picture Book Art Exhibit: From the Collection~ ongoing until Oct 24, Riddells Creek, Australia

International Youth Library Exhibit: Shaun Tan, Pictures and Books~ ongoing until Oct 31, Munich, Germany

Entries Accepted for the 2011 PBBY-Salanga Prize~ ongoing until Nov 15, Philippines

The Children’s Bookshow: Stories From Around The World~ ongoing until Nov 17, United Kingdom

Everyday Adventures Growing Up: Art from Picture Books ~ ongoing until Nov 28, Chicago, IL, USA

Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award 2011~ entries accepted until Dec 31, Singapore

Eric Carle: A Feast for the Eyes~ ongoing until  Mar 20, Amherst, MA, USA

Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards for Excellence in Children’s Literature Awards Ceremony~ Oct 1, Boston, MA, USA

SCBWI Presents: Writing and Illustrating Long Walk to Freedom with Author Chris van Wyk and Illustrator Paddy Bouma~ Oct 1, Cape Town, South Africa

The Center for Children’s Literature Presents: The Business of Children’s Publishing~ Oct 1 – 2, Kenosha, WI, USA

Reading Association of Africa Annual Conference: It All Starts with Literacy~ Oct 1 – 3, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

5th Annual Cybils (Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards) Nominations Open~ Oct 1 – 15

The Children’s Book Festival~ Oct 1 – 31, Ireland

Nambook-010: The 5th Nami Island International Children’s Book Festival~ Oct 1 – Nov 15, Nami, Korea

The Horn Book at Simmons: A One Day Colloquium~ Oct 2, Boston, MA, USA

2010 Bologna Illustrators Exhibition of Children’s Books~ Oct 2 – 31, Yokkaich, Japan

Orange County Children’s Book Festival~ Oct 3, Costa Mesa, CA, USA

14th Poetry Africa International Poetry Festival~ Oct 4 – 9, Durban, South Africa

Children’s Book Week: Books Around the World~ Oct 4 – 10, United Kingdom

TaleBlazers Literary Arts Festival~ Oct 4 – 29, Province of Alberta, Canada

Wellesley College Presents: Mitali Perkins “Books Between Cultures: How Stories Help Kids Keep Their Balance”~ Oct 5, Wellesley, MA, USA

2nd Unisa Conference on Reading Promotion and Storytelling for Children and Storytelling Festival for Children~ Oct 6 – 8, Pretoria, South Africa

Ubud Writers and Readers Festival~ Oct 6 – 10, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

Frankfurt Book Fair~ Oct 6 – 10, Frankfurt, Germany

2011 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Nominees Announced~ Oct 7, Frankfurt, Germany

The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award Winners Announced~ Oct 7, London, United Kingdom

No Small Matter: A Fundraiser for Children’s Book Press~ Oct 7, San Francisco, CA, USA

A is for Anansi: Literature for Children of African Descent~ Oct 8 – 9, New York, NY, USA

The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival~ Oct 8 – 17, Cheltenham, United Kingdom

Teachers 4 Social Justice 10th Annual Conference: Teaching for Social Justice – A Labor Of Love~ Oct 9, San Francisco, CA, USA

13th Los Angeles Latino Book & Family Festival ~ Oct 9 – 10, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Japan Writers Conference~ Oct 9 – 11, Tokyo, Japan

20th Annual Monterrey International Book Fair~ Oct 9 – 17, Monterrey, Mexico

Inky Awards Shortlist Announced, On-line Voting Begins~ Oct 12, Australia

Writers Against Racism: A Conversation About Books with Amy Bowllan and Zetta Elliott~ Oct 13, New York, NY, USA

Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Awards Ceremony~ Oct 14, San Marcos, TX, USA

15th Annual New England Conference on Multicultural Education~ Oct 14, Hartford, CT, USA

National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature Presents From Houdini to Hugo: The Art of Brian Selznick~ Oct 14 – Jan 29, Abilene, TX, USA

57th Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards Ceremony~ Oct 15, New York, NY, USA

Sheboygan Children’s Book Festival: Shared Stories. Shared Worlds~ Oct 15 – 17, Sheboygan, WI, USA

Benefit for The 1st Annual El Salvador Children’s Poetry Festival~ Oct 16, San Francisco, CA, USA

CHARACTER COUNTS! Week~ Oct 17 – 23, USA

YALSA’s Teen Read Week: Books with Beat @ your library~ Oct 17 – 23, USA

1st Screening of Library of the Early Mind~ Oct 19, Cambridge, MA, USA

Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival~ Oct 19 – 24, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Chapter & Verse, a Book Club for Adults Discussing Children’s Lit~ Oct 21, USA

Rabbit Hill Festival of Literature: Collaboration~ Oct 21 – 23, Westport, CT, USA

British Columbia Literacy Council 2010 conference~ Oct 22, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Bournemouth Multicultural Literary Festival: Freedom, Books & Imagination~ Oct 22 – 28, Bournemouth, United Kingdom

Celebrate 70 Years of Children’s Book Week~ Oct 23, Minneapolis, MN, USA

SCBWI Children’s Book Seminar~ Oct 23, Bacolod City, Philippines

Kidlitosphere 2010 Conference~ Oct 23, Minneapolis, MN, USA

Américas Book Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature Winners Ceremony~ Oct 23, Washington, D.C., USA

GobbleDEEbook Literature Festival for Children and Teens~ Oct 23 – 30, Chester, United Kingdom

CROCUS 2010: Celebrate Reading of Culturally Unique Stories~ Oct 23 – 30, India

Scottish International Storytelling Festival~ Oct 23 – 31, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

International Youth Library Exhibit: The World in Miniature. The Family in Historic Picture Books and Children’s Literature~ Oct 24 – Aug 31, Munich, Germany

Sharjah International Book Fair and Announcement of the Etisalat Prize for Arabic Children’s Literature Winner~ Oct 26 – Nov 6, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

6th Annual World Matters Festival: Writers -Disturbing the Peace~ Oct 27 – 31, Eltham, Australia

30th Santiago International Book Fair~ Oct 29 – Nov 14, Santiago, Chile

Singapore Children’s Book Club Presents Serene Wee and her novel Present~ Oct 30, Singapore

Tell-a-Story Day~ Oct 30, Scotland

BookFest @ Bank Street~ Oct 30, Manhattan, NY,USA

Waikato Children’s Literature Association Annual Seminar~ Oct 30 – 31, Hamilton, New Zealand

Children’s Literature Festival~ Oct 30, Keene, NH,USA

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National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month~ USA

Book Week~ ongoing until Nov 9, Japan

28th Santiago International Book Fair~ ongoing until Nov 15, Santiago, Chile

The Once Upon a World Children’s Book Award Festival~ Nov 1, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Exhibition by Illustrators and Writers of Children’s Books~ Nov 3 – 27, Pretoria, South Africa

3rd Triennial of Estonian illustrations: The Power of Pictures~ Nov 3 – 30, Tallinn, Estonia

29th Indonesia Book Fair~ Nov 4 – 8, Jakarta, Indonesia

American Association of School Librarians National Conference~ Nov 5 – 8, Charlotte, NC, USA

2009 Bologna Illustrators Exhibition of Children’s Books~ Nov 6 – Dec 6, Ishikawa, Japan

13th Annual Rochester Children’s Book Festival~ Nov 7, Rochester, NY, USA

National Young Readers Week~ Nov 9 – 13, USA

Northern Children’s Book Festival~ Nov 9 – 21, United Kingdom

27th Annual National Black Storytelling Festival and Conference~ Nov 11 – 15, Little Rock, AR, USA

TD National Reading Summit: Reading & Democracy~ Nov 12 – 13, Toronto, ON, Canada

International Conference on Children and Young Adults Literature: Postacards from no man’s land. Promoting teen literature~ Nov 13 – 14, Cagliari, Italy

The World of Children’s Book Publishing with Alvina Ling, Senior Editor Little, Brown Books for Young Readers~ Nov 14, Yokohama, Japan

The 16th Annual British IBBY/NCRCL MA Children’s Literature Conference: Going Graphic – Comics and Graphic Novels for Young People~ Nov 14, London, United Kingdom

Calgary Children’s Book Fair and Conference~ Nov 14, Calgary, AB, Canada

18th Annual Connecticut Children’s Book Fair~ Nov 14 – 15, Storrs, CT, USA

Children’s Book Week: Classic Canadian Reading~ Nov 14 – 21, Canada

Take Home an Original: The Art of the Picture Book~ Nov 14 – 24, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Govenor General’s Literary Award Winners Announced~ Nov 17, Montreal, QC, Canada

TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award Winners Announced~ Nov 17, Toronto, ON, Canada

Children’s Literature Assembly Events at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention~ Nov 19 – 24, Philadelphia, PA, USA

8th Annual International Children’s and Young Adult Literature Celebration~ Nov 21, Madison, WI, USA

National Library Board’s Asian Children’s Festival~ Nov 21 – 29, Singapore

Heart and Soul: Art from Coretta Scott King Award Books, 2006–2009~ Nov 21 – Apr 18, 2010, Chicago, IL, USA

USBBY Co-Sponsored Session at the NCTE Convention~ Nov 22, Philadelphia, PA, USA

CJ Picture Book Festival~ Nov 23- Dec 24, Seoul, Korea

CJ Picture Book Forum~ Nov 24, Seoul, Korea

Golden Legacy: Original Art from 65 Years of Golden Books Featuring Artwork from Iconic Children’s Books~ Nov 24 – Feb 28, 2010, Amherst, MA, USA

Mother Goose in an Air-Ship: McLoughlin Bros. 19th Century Children’s Books from the Liman Collection~ Nov 24 – Apr 18, 2010, Amherst, MA, USA

Salon du Livre et de la Presse Jeunesse: Children’s Books & Magazines~ Nov 25 – 30, France

The Children’s Literature Fair of Seine-Saint-Denis~ Nov 26 – Dec 1, Montreuil, France

Inky Awards Ceremony~ Nov 26, Melbourne, Australia

Bookaroo Children’s Literature Festival~ Nov 28 – 29, New Delhi, India

Guadalajara Book Fair~ Nov 28 – Dec 6, Guadalajara, Mexico

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Canadian Library Month~ Canada

National Reading Group Month~ USA

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read~ ongoing until Oct 4, USA

International Children’s and Youth Literature Festival~ ongoing until Oct 4, Berlin, Germany

3rd Annual Cybils (Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards) Nominations Open~ Oct 1 – 15

National Young Writers’ Festival~ Oct 2-6, Newcastle, Australia

Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards Ceremony~ Oct 3, Boston, MA, USA

21st Yukon International Storytelling Festival~ Oct 3-5, Whitehorse, YK, Canada

2008 Ceremony of Best Books~ Oct 4, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Américas Book Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature Winners Ceremony~ Oct 4, Washington, D.C., USA

Orange County Children’s Book Festival~ Oct 5, Costa Mesa, CA, USA

Children’s Book Week~ Oct 6-12, United Kingdom

13th Annual New England Conference on Multicultural Education~ Oct 8, Hartford, CT, USA

School Library Journal Webcast: Capturing Struggling Readers and Reluctant Readers~ Oct 8

Book It! Cheltenham’s Children’s Literature Festival~ Oct 10-19, Cheltenham, United Kingdom

18th Monterrey International Book Fair~ Oct 11-19, Monterrey, Mexico

YALSA’s Teen Read Week: Books With Bite @ Your Library~ Oct 12-18, USA

“Multicultural Bites” with authors Mitali Perkins, Coe Booth and An Na (part of ReaderGirlz’s celebration of Teen Read Week)~ Oct 13

Ubud Writers and Readers Festival~ Oct 14-19, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

Frankfurt Book Fair~ Oct 15-19, Frankfurt, Germany

55th Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards Ceremony~ Oct 17, New York, NY, USA

IBBY Ireland Conference: Green Gables to Globalization: Crossover, Canada and Children’s Books~ Oct 18, Dublin, Ireland

SCBWI Tokyo Writers’ Day~ Oct 18, Tokyo, Japan

Children’s Literature Council Fall Gala~ Oct 18, Santa Ana, CA, USA

Vancouver International Writers Festival~ Oct 21-26, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The Big Picture Party: Celebrate the Power of Picture Books~ Oct 27, London, United Kingdom

Book Week~ Oct 27-Nov 9, Japan

Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Awards Ceremony~ Oct 30, San Marcos, TX, USA

28th Santiago International Book Fair~ Oct 31-Nov 16, Santiago, Chile

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.

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13th Lima International Book Fair~ ongoing until Aug 3, Lima, Peru

19th Annual Children’s Book Fair~ ongoing until Aug 8, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Children Should Be Seen: The Image of the Child in American Picture-Book Art~ ongoing until Sep 14, Los Angeles, CA, USA

37th Annual Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Summer Conference~ Aug 1 – 4, Los Angeles, CA, USA

SCBWI Golden Kite Awards Presentations~ Aug 3, Los Angeles, CA, USA

37th Annual IASL Conference: World Class Learning and Literacy through School Libraries~ Aug 3 – 7, Berkeley, CA, USA

8th Annual Nueva Paquime Festival~ Aug 3 – 12, Paquime, Mexico

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

Edinburgh International Book Festival~ Aug 9 – 25, Edinburgh, Scotland

74th IFLA World Library and Information Congress~ Aug 10 – 14, Quebec City, QC, Canada

The Canadian Book Camp~ Aug 11 – 15, Vancouver, BC, Canada

CBCA Children’s Book of the Year Award Winners Announced~ Aug 15, Melbourne, Australia

Crichton Award for New Illustrators Winner Announced~ Aug 15, Melbourne, Australia

Children’s Book Week~ Aug 16 – 22, Australia

Fremantle Children’s Literature Centre Open House~ Aug 17, Fremantle, Australia

LIANZA Children’s Book Award Winners Announced~ Aug 18, New Zealand

Library Week~ Aug 18 – 24, New Zealand

Melbourne Writers Festival~ Aug 22 – 31, Melbourne, Australia

Singapore International Storytelling Festival~ Aug 25 – Sep 9, Singapore

Timpanogos Storytelling Festival~ Aug 28 – 30, Orem, UT, USA

National Poetry Week~ Aug 29 – Sep 7, Australia

Queens Book Fair~ Aug 30, Jamaica, NY, USA

My 10-year-old friend Nicky is the quintessential bribable reader. When I went shopping with his mom and older sister recently, Nicky patiently spent several contented hours in a corner of a shoe department, burrowing into The Titan’s Curse, the latest volume in Rick Riordan‘s Olympian-themed Percy Jackson series. Nicky’s mom had sagely bought this hefty tome for him in anticipation of our shopping spree.

For Nicky’s generation, multicultural includes imaginary worlds. Brought up on Harry Potter and undaunted by huge page numbers, he loves books in series. “The Lionboy series [by Zizou Corder] is one of my favorites,” he emailed me. “It’s about a boy who got scratched by a leopard when he was a baby. Ever since then he has been able to speak with cats. After his parents were kidnapped his journey takes him all over the world, including his native continent, Africa. He soon finds out that it’s very hard to get 5 circus lions from France to Africa at the same time he’s trying to save his parents from a mysterious corporation before they get brainwashed.”

Nicky will be busy with Deathly Hallows for the next few weeks, of course, but until he gets hooked on a series, how does he decide what books to read? “This might sound weird, but I usually choose a book by its cover. If the cover looks interesting, I read the summary.” Nicky promises to glance up from his latest read from time to time to comment again for PaperTigers on books he loves. Meanwhile, for a list of series books for kids, click here. And here, for Stephen King’s lovely goodbye to Harry Potter.