Picture Book Month is an international initiative to designate November as Picture Book Month, encouraging everyone to celebrate literacy with picture books. Founder, Dianne de Las Casas (author & storyteller) and Co-Founders,  Katie Davis (author/illustrator), Elizabeth O. Dulemba (author/illustrator), Tara Lazar (author), and Wendy Martin (author/illustrator), are putting together their worldwide connections to make this happen.

In October 2010 The New York Times published an article, “Picture Books No Longer A Staple for Children.” The controversial article incited a barrage of responses from the children’s book industry, many in defense of the venerable picture book. In addition, the digital age has ushered in an unprecedented amount of ebooks and, with devices like the iPad, the color Nook, and the Kindle Fire, picture books are being converted to the digital format. In this digital age where people are predicting the coming death of print books, picture books (the print kind) need love. And the world needs picture books. There’s nothing like the physical page turn of a beautifully crafted picture book.

Each day during November picture book authors have contributed a short essay on Why Picture Books Are So Important. The  Picture Book Month website also features links to picture book resources, authors, illustrators, and kidlit book bloggers. So stop by and check out the essays, and all the rest of the material (including calendars and celebration ideas and much more) for Picture Book Month at www(dot)picturebookmonth(dot)com. Join the celebration and party with a picture book!

The Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) is a non-profit organization which promotes mutual understanding and cultural cooperation among people in Asia and the Pacific, particularly in the fields of culture, book development, and literacy promotion. Since its beginning, ACCU’s literacy programs have focused on disadvantaged groups, such as those with limited education opportunities in rural areas, in particular girls and women. ACCU provides monetary and technical support to create regional versions of posters, booklets, games and puppets thereby making its literacy programs relevant to local life, culture, and languages.

For its Book Development projects, ACCU produces, translates, and distributes children’s books throughout Asia and trains local experts in an effort to contribute to the strengthening of local children’s book production. ACCU sponsors the Noma Concours for Picture Book Illustrations, which showcases the talents of up-and-coming illustrators, graphic designers and artists in Asia, the Pacific, Africa, Arab States, Latin America and the Caribbean. Click here to read PaperTigers’ recent interview with illustrator Wen Hsu, winner of the 2008 Noma Concours Grand Prize; and here to view our gallery featuring some of her award-winning illustrations.

This past March, ACCU held a symposium entitled “Artists of Children’s Books in Asia, Africa and Latin America”. Children’s book authors, illustrators (including Wen Hsu) and publishers from Costa Rica, Japan, the Philippines and Sudan were invited to Japan to share their thoughts on current issues in children’s book development in their respective countries, and to discuss the role of picture books in culturally diverse societies. A booklet containing the panelists’ papers is now available for download. To download selected papers, use the links below:

* Current Situation of Illustrators and Children in Costa Rica – Wen Hsu (Costa Rica)
* The Complicated Pleasure of Children’s Books – Karina Bolasco (Philippines)
* The Current Situation for Illustrators and Children’s Books in Sudan – Alaeldin Elgizouli Naeim (Sudan)
* Children, Festivals and Traditional Culture – Tajima Yukihiko (Japan)
* Picture Books Are More than Just Educational Tools – Tanaka Naoto (Japan)

(Click on event name for more information)

Guadalajara Book Fair~ ongoing until Dec 7, Guadalajara, Mexico

Jewish Book Month~ ongoing until Dec 22, Canada and USA

Artifacts of Childhood: 700 Years of Children’s Books Exhibition~ ongoing until Jan 17, Chicago, IL, USA

Summer Reading Club 2009~ ongoing until Feb 15, Australia

Over Rainbows and Down Rabbit Holes: The Art of Children’s Books Exhibition~ ongoing until Mar 8, Amherst, MA, USA

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI Tokyo) Illustrators Exhibition~ Dec 1 – 14, Tokyo, Japan

Australian Poetry Slam 2008 – National Finals~ Dec 4, Sydney, Australia

Dromkeen Annual Literary Luncheon and Presentation of the Dromkeen’s Librarian Award~ Dec 5, Riddells Creek, Australia

University of the Philippine’s Writer’s Day~ Dec 5, Manila, Philippines

Barefoot Books Young Storyteller Competition Winners Announced~ Dec 6, Bath, United Kingdom

5th Annual Frostburg Storybook Holiday: A Community Celebration Through Children’s Literature~ Dec 6, Frostburg, MD, USA

Meet Four Children’s Authors From Pemmican Publications, Canada’s Only Dedicated Métis Press~ Dec 6, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Nordic Festival at Seven Stories, The Centre for Children’s Books~ Dec 6 – 7, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

PJ Lynch “The Champion of Picture Book Illustration in Ireland”~ Dec 8, Dublin, Ireland

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Meet the Author Event~ Dec 10, Paris, France

2008 Governor General’s Literary Awards Presentation~ Dec 10, Ottawa, ON, Canada

1st International Conference on Popular Culture and Education in Asia~ Dec 11 – 13, Hong Kong

American Identity in Children’s Literature Symposium~ Dec 13, Chicago, IL, USA

The Best of the Best in 2008: Distinguished American Picture Books for Children~ Dec 13, Amherst, MA, USA

Artist Reception for Illustrator Felipe Dávalos and his Exhibit “Tiempo de Niños/ Time for Children”~ Dec 13, Sacramento, CA, USA

Mantles of Myth – The Narrative in Indian Textiles~ Dec 13 – 15, Jaipur, India

6th Annual Houston Latino Book & Family Festival~ Dec 13 – 14, Houston, TX, USA

Exhibit: The Magical Toy Shop -Trade and Enterprise in Children’s Books~ Dec 13 – Mar 6, Toronto, ON, Canada

4th Karachi International Book Fair~ Dec 26 – 30, Karachi, Pakistan

Regular readers of this blog know I’m a big fan of Bob Raczka’s art books for kids, and his newest one is a special treat–a book of paintings of readers! Artful Reading (Lerner Books) continues Raczka’s winning formula of rhyming lines, great reproductions, and generous author’s notes. His selection of paintings spans five centuries, with subjects of all ages and circumstances caught in the act of reading. The cover art, Picasso’s “Two Girls Reading,” (scroll down at the link for the image) is followed by 22 more paintings, all wonderfully evoking the joys of the printed word. Vermeer’s famous “Woman in Blue Reading a Letter” is here, along with Carl Spitzweg’s charming “The Bookworm” (a man high on a library ladder–and engrossed in a book) and Harlem artist Jacob Lawrence’s “The Library,” packed with readers. Notes on the paintings include such details as books the artists liked to read and obscure factoids about the painters. (Did you know Picasso created almost 34,000 book illustrations?)

“Read while you work. Read while you ride. Read what you want. It’s for you to decide,” Raczka advises, each tip illustrated with a suitable painting. (Edward Hopper’s “Compartment C, Car 293” accompanies “Read while you ride.”) Bob Raczka is a curator extraordinaire who clearly loves children and paintings, and now we know how much he loves reading and books as well. While avid young readers and fledgling artists will doubtless love Artful Reading, I suspect even reluctant readers and artists will be cajoled by the enticing images and rhymes of Rackza’s exhibition-in-a-book. For more from me about Raczka’s books, click here. And here’s another blogger’s take on Artful Reading.