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!

Reporter Karen Springen of Publishers Weekly has posted a fabulous article on the recent  National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Announcement Ceremonies.  On January 5th, well-known and highly respected author Katherine Paterson was announced as the successor to first children’s ambassador Jon Scieszka.  The Publishers Weekly article gives readers great insight into what took place at the announcement ceremony and highlights the personalities of both Jon and Katherine as well as their thoughts on being a children’s ambassador.

Two paragraphs that are particularly insightful with respect to multicultural literature really struck me:

Scieszka’s ambassadorial platform was reaching reluctant readers. Paterson’s is “read for your life.” With books, she said, kids (and adults) use their “powers of intellect and imagination” and experience “delight.” Stories also teach children about people from other religions, races, and countries, said Paterson, who spent the first three years of her life living in China with her missionary parents. “Books help us make friends who are different from ourselves.”

It bothered Paterson when she heard a librarian say she didn’t buy any Virginia Hamilton books because no black children attended her school. “That’s the very reason you should be buying Virginia Hamilton’s books,” she said. “Because your kids don’t have an opportunity to have friends who are African-American, they should be making those friends in books. Same thing with religion.” Jimmy Carter said becoming friends with Anwar Sadat was the most important thing that happened to him as president, she added. “Neither was trying to convert the other. I love the fact that we might be able to do that in this country—that we might be able to learn to understand each other…. The more we know about each other, the better.”

Congratulations and best wishes, Katherine!   We wish you every success and look forward to the amazing work we know you will do in your new role as National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.

Photo credit: Abby Brack

Press Release:

Katherine Paterson, two-time winner of the National Book Award and Newbery Medal, was today named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. Paterson will serve in the position during 2010 and 2011; she succeeds Jon Scieszka, appointed in 2008, who was the first person to hold the title. Katherine Paterson has chosen “Read for Your Life” as the theme for her platform.

(more…)

The 2009 Cybils (the Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards) Finalists have been announced. Click here to see the list.

Tomorrow, January 5th the  Announcement of the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature will take place. For the past two years, Jon Scieszka has held this position and has done an absolutely outstanding job! Check out the roundup of thank-you posts to Jon compiled at A Year of Reading.

(Click on event name for more information)

Summer Reading Club: Read on the Wild Side~ ongoing until Jan 31, 2010, Australia

Golden Legacy: Original Art from 65 Years of Golden Books Featuring Artwork from Iconic Children’s Books~ ongoing until Feb 28,  Amherst, MA, USA

2009 Bologna Illustrators Exhibition of Children’s Books~ ongoing until Mar 1, Seoul, Korea

Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books Presents: Journey to Adventure~ ongoing until Mar 6, Toronto, ON, Canada

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

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

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

From The Tiger Who Came to Tea to Mog and Pink Rabbit; A Judith Kerr Retrospective~ ongoing until May, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

2009 Cybils (the Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards) Finalists Announced~ Jan 1

Launch of the 5th Romeo Forbes Children’s Story Writing Competition~ Jan 4, Philippines

Announcement of the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature~ Jan 5, USA

Costa Book Awards Winners Announced (formerly the Whitbread Literary Awards)~ Jan 5, London, United Kingdom

Canadian Literature Centre Presents Brown Bag Lunch with Award Winning Poet, Author and Cultural Worker Afua Cooper~ Jan 13, Edmonton, AB, Canada

8th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities~ Jan 13 – 16, Honolulu, HI, USA

21st Annual Children’s Book Illustrators Exhibit~ Jan 13 – Apr 3, Hayward, CA, USA

American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting~ Jan 15 – 19, Boston, MA, USA

Storytelling by Winners of the First Time Writers & Illustrators Publishing Initiative 2009~ Jan 16, Singapore

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art Presents: The Wonder of Words, The Power of Pictures~ Jan 17, Amherst, MA, USA

ALA’s Youth Media Awards Presentations~ Jan 18, Boston, MA, USA

Jaipur Literature Festival~ Jan 21 – 25, Jaipur, India

Book Reading and Signing with Uma Krishnaswami author of Chachaji’s Cup~ Jan 22, New York, NY, USA

ZORA! Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities~ Jan 23 – 31, Eatonville, FL, USA

No Name-Calling Week~ Jan 25 – 29, USA

“Tea with Chachaji” A Musical Production based on Chachaji’s Cup by Uma Krishnaswami~ Jan 25 – Feb 11, New York, NY, USA

Yabun 2010: Celebrating Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Cultures~ Jan 26, Sydney, Australia

Family Literacy Day~ Jan 27, Canada

CCBC Presents: ALA Award-Winning and Outstanding Books for K-5 (video can be watched on-line)~ Jan 27, Madison, WI, USA

Kolkata Book Fair~ Jan 27 – Feb 7, Kolkata, India

SCBWI Tokyo Presents: Cut to the Chase with Patrick Gannon: Discovering and Making Cut Paper Art and Illustration~ Jan 27, Tokyo, Japan

Galle Literary Festival~ Jan 28 – Feb 1, Galle, Sri Lanka

Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias~ Jan 28 – 31, Cartagena, Columbia

Children’s & Young Adults’ Book Fair~ Jan 29 – 31, Marousi, Greece

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Winter Conference~ Jan 29 – 31, New York, NY, USA

Winter Words Festival 2010~ Jan 29 – Feb 7, Pitlochry, United Kingdom

On January 5, 2008 acclaimed children’s author Jon Scieszka was announced as the inaugural U.S. National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. This position, named by the Librarian of Congress, was created to raise national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education, and the development and betterment of the lives of young people. As his two-year term comes to an end (the next National Ambassador will be announced at the Library of Congress on January 5, 2010!), Jon recently reflected on his experiences as National Ambassador in this article published in the The Huffington Post:

How is it possible? This is my last month as the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature – appointed by the Library of Congress and the Children’s Book Council. But I’ve only been to about 33 states and 274 schools, libraries, bookstores, conferences, and festivals in the past two years. And now it’s time to pick a new Ambassador? I still don’t have my Ambassador Attack helicopter.

It has been an incredible run. One of my favorite moments took place in a California school shortly after I was appointed. The kindergarteners made me a beautiful red sash with blue tape letters that spelled A-M-B-A-S-S-A-D-O-R. And then, as I walked into the presentation hall, a group of 5th-graders played an original Ambassador Fanfare, which they had composed, on kettle drum, trumpet, trombone, and xylophone. I put the Fanfare on my iPhone and played it everywhere I went after that.

At an incredibly poor school in Arizona, I got to speak to a very intense group of 3rd-grade writers and illustrators who had never seen any kind of author . . . let alone an Ambassador author. I read some books, talked about the process of writing, explained my job as Ambassador, showed them my official medal, and asked if there were any questions. The first question, from a little girl, was: “Can I try on the medal?”

I loved it. She posed, and I took her picture as Ambassador. Then everyone decided they wanted to try on the medal and be Ambassador for a moment. It was incredibly heart-warming. And you never know what dreams were created that day.

It was great, because the teachers and kids instantly “got” the whole idea of the Ambassador. And they made it even better. I was the same author, but people listened with new interest.

I used my two-year term to work on reaching the reluctant reader: that’s the kid who might be a reader, who could be one, but just isn’t that interested in reading. The new Ambassador will have his or her own program, and ideas on connecting kids with reading. Here is the advice that I have been giving throughout my tenure: (more…)

Jon Scieszka (”it rhymes with Fresca”) was declared the first ambassador for Young People’s Literature, today. The position is the children’s book equivalent of the Library of Congress’s poet laureate program. The new role will entail promoting the importance of reading by reaching out to parents, teachers and children everywhere and, in particular, Scieszka says, “to children who are considered reluctant readers.” Author of many children’s books, including the very successful Time Warp Trio series, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs and Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, Scieszka is also the founder of Guys Read, a literacy program and website aimed at encouraging boys to read.

What should we expect from a guy whose Little Red Hen questions the presence of the ISBN number in the volume she appears on, and who allows her, later on, to be eaten by the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk?… Well, lots of gutsy energy to impart momentum and backbone to his important mission.

(Click on event name for more information)

Announcement of the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature~ Jan 3, USA

SCBWI Speaker Event: Lara Saguisag on “The Filipino Child and Filipino Children’s Literature”~ Jan 7, Makati, Philippines

Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities~ Jan 11 – 14, Honolulu, HI, USA

American Library Association Midwinter Meeting~ Jan 11 – 16, Philadelphia, PA, USA

American Library Association Literary Awards Announced~ Jan 14, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Mumbai International Book Fair~ Jan 16 – 20, Mumbai, India

Cooperative Learning in Multicultural Societies: Critical Reflections Conference~ Jan 19 – 22, Turin, Italy

Costa Book Awards Winners Announced (formerly the Whitbread Literary Awards)~ Jan 22, London, England

Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias~ Jan 24 – 27, Cartagena, Columbia

SCBWI Tokyo Author and Illustrator Showcase~ Jan 26, Tokyo, Japan

Family Literacy Day~ Jan 27, Canada

Kolkata Book Fair~ Jan 30 – Feb 10, Kolkata, India