Couldn't happen to a nicer guy...

"As soon as publishers learn that their books have won the Caldecott and Newbery medals, the top prizes in children's literature, they hit the reprint button on the presses.

"That's what happened last week after Kevin Henkes' Kitten's First Full Moon won the Caldecott as the best picture book...

"Henkes, 44, says he was 'euphoric' when he heard about the award because it will ensure that his book will stay in print for a long time. But he's realistic about the shortage, which could last weeks.


"'I guess it's not wise to have lots of books lying around,' he says, noting that the publishing industry has a 'bottom line' that limits initial printings. 'But I wasn't thinking about that. I was just being happy.'"

Read the whole article.

And a great big WOO-HOO! for this site

Don't you hate having to register for websites just to read an article linked from Yahoo?

Well, no more! BugMeNot.com "was created as a mechanism to quickly bypass the login of web sites that require compulsory registration and/or the collection of personal/demographic information (such as the New York Times)."

I *love* awards shows...

From the New York Times: "Roll out the red carpet: the publishing industry is trying to apply some glitter to its image with a new book awards program that is a cross between the Oscars and the People's Choice Awards.

A new philanthropy called the Quills Literacy Foundation announced yesterday the formation of the Quill Awards, a slate of 19 annual book awards, most of which will be voted on by the general public."

Read the rest.

Shizzolate this!

I was wondering what that vauge emptiness in my life was and then I stumbled across Snoop Dogg: Tha Shizzolator, which allowed me to see how the posts on this blog would look after Snoop "traaanslate[d]" it for me.

My life is fuller now.

Go, Bobby!

From Yahoo!: "Bob Dylan, the unofficial poet laureate of the rock 'n' roll generation, has now been officially placed alongside such literary greats as Philip Roth and Adrienne Rich, not to mention biographies of Shakespeare and Willem de Kooning. All were among nominees announced Saturday for the National Book Critics Circle prizes." Read the rest.

Commenting

Comment This! is experiencing financial need. Although I made a contribution, the service has still only reached 5% of its goal. Just in case the goal isn't met, I am adding the blogger comments feature so that future comments won't be lost should Comment This! cease. (I love y'all so much, I'd hate to lose your comments.)

Your library needs this

Check out the site of the award-winning (no, really!) film, Doggy Poo. There's a book, too! Wonder what Tech Services will think when that one comes through...?

What time is it?

Check the Human Clock.

Thanks to lalcorn for the link.

Libraries matter.

Now you can visit a web site that acknowledges this and even sells "Libraries matter" wristbands!

Salutations!

Yahoo! reports that "Julia Roberts, Oprah Winfrey and John Cleese have joined the voice cast for 'Charlotte's Web,' a feature film adaptation of E.B. White's classic children's book."

The casting choices sound fabulous, but look what Hollywood did to Stuart Little... I will now commence praying, "Please don't wreck Charlotte's Web; Please don't wreck Charlotte's Web; Please don't wreck Charlotte's Web..."

Booktastic!

Yet another new game I will cross my fingers and hope someone will gift me with. (There's even a good chance of finding playmates for this one, since there's a whole category of "no wrong answer" questions.)

Poetry from the Stars

The British Association for the Advancement of Science has "received a number of poems from some rather well-known names from the science and science-fiction world." Big names, too, like Terry Pratchett and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker.

Read the poems.

Thanks to CatalogueAnnie for the link.

In Memoriam

From Yahoo!: "Mystery writer Charlotte MacLeod, whose specialty was the "cozy" mystery and whose protagonists were often amateur sleuths, has died at the age of 82.

"MacLeod died Friday in a Lewiston nursing home...

"...Her books eschewed graphic violence, sex, gore and vulgar language."

Read the rest.

From the New York Times: "Elizabeth Janeway, who began her career as a best-selling novelist in the 1940's and later distinguished herself as a critic, a lecturer and an early advocate of the women's movement, died yesterday at a retirement home in Rye, N.Y. She was 91...

...Most of Ms. Janeway's earlier books were novels that focused on family situations and occasionally the pressures on women of modern society and were cited for their psychological acuteness and good sense." Read the rest.

More Award Winners

The winner of the 2005 Printz Medal is Meg Rosoff for how I live now.

The Printz Honor winners are Kenneth Oppel for Airborn, Gary D. Schmidt for Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, and Allan Stratton for Chanda’s Secrets.


The winner of the Coretta Scott King John Steptoe New Talent Author Award is Barbara Hathaway for Missy Violet and Me.

The winner of the Coretta Scott King Author Award is Toni Morrison for Remember : The Journey to School Integration.

The Coretta Scott King Author Honor books are The Legend of Buddy Bush by Sheila P. Moses, Who Am I Without Him? : Short Stories About Girls and the Boys in Their Lives by Sharon G. Flake, and Fortune’s Bones : The Manumission Requiem by Marilyn Nelson.

The winner of the Coretta Scott King John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award is Frank Morrison for Jazzy Miz Mozetta (written by Brenda C. Roberts).

The winner of the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award is Kadir Nelson for his illustrations of Ellington Was Not a Street (written by Ntozake Shange).

The Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor winners are Jerry Pinkney for illustrating God Bless the Child (written by Billie Holiday), and Leo and Diane Dillon for illustrating The People Could Fly : The Picture Book (written by Virginia Hamilton).

The recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award is Francesca Lia Block.

Sadly, no Pura Belpre Awards this year. This award is "presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth." Unfortunately, it seems they only look for such a positive depiction every two years. Well, next year, then...

And we have some winners!

The winners have been announced!

The winner of the 2005 Caldecott Medal is Kevin Henkes, author and illustrator of Kitten's First Full Moon.

The Caldecott Honor winners are Barbara Lehman who wrote and illustrated The Red Book, E. B. Lewis who illustrated Coming On Home Soon (written by the equally amazing Jacqueline Woodson), and Mo Willems who wrote and illustrated Knuffle Bunny.

The winner of the 2005 Newbery Medal is Cynthia Kadohata for Kira-Kira.

The Newbery Honor winners are Gary D. Schmidt for Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, Gennifer Choldenko for Al Capone Does My Shirts, and Russell Freedman for The Voice That Challenged a Nation : Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights.

The Siebert Medal went to Russell Freedman for The Voice That Challenged a Nation : Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights..

The Siebert Honor awards went to James Rumford for Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing (translated into Cherokee by Anna Sixkiller Huckaby), Sy Montgomery for The Tarantula Scientist (photographs by Nic Bishop), and Barbara Kerley for Walt Whitman : Words for America (illustrated by Brian Selznick).

The recipient of the Mildred Batchelder Award is Joelle Stolz for The Shadows of Ghadames (translated to English by Catherine Temerson).

The Margaret Batchelder Honor winners are Bodil Bredsdorff for The Crow-Girl : The Children of Crow Cove (translated by Faith Ingwersen) and David Chotjewitz for Daniel Half Human and the Good Nazi (translated to English by Doris Orgel).

The Andrew Carnegie Award was won by Weston Woods for The Dot.

Russell Freedman will deliver the 2006 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture.

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal was awarded to Laurence Yep.

That's all I have so far (thanks to Child_Lit!). As soon as I find out the winners of the Printz, Coretta Scott King, and other awards, I'll be blogging away.

Happy Birthday, Dr. King

"I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsom and jetsom in the river of life unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.

"I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.

"I believe that even amid today's motor bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men.

"I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up...

"I still believe that we shall overcome."

-- from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech

The suspense is killing me...

This is it, folks, the day they announce the winners of the children's book awards at ALA.

I have no guesses (unlike last year), but I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see Kevin Henkes recognized for Kitten's First Full Moon. That's the pick of the Toledo Blade -- and dozens of others:

"Psst … Want a hot literary tip? Here it is: Kitten's First Full Moon (Greenwillow / HarperCollins, $15.99), written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes, is the odds-on favorite to win the Caldecott Medal this year. That's the word from hundreds of librarians, literary experts, and children's book lovers who have spent recent weeks sifting through piles of books and trying to predict the winners of this year's Caldecott and Newbery medals."

It's such a lovely, almost perfect book that it's winning would please me. (My great hope is just that it's easier to find out the winners this year than it was last, when I drove myself and my staff nearly crazy.)

I'll update y'all as soon as I hear anything...

Film in honor of Dr. King

In honor of the upcoming Martin Luther King holiday on January 17, CodePink has produced an inspiring internet flash movie that reveals just how out-of-sync the White House is with Dr. King’s message of peace and love.

Watch the film.

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Read Teddy

Build-a-Bear is currently featuring a "Read Teddy," a cute plain little bear. Sadly, he doesn't come with a little book, but "Build-A-Bear Workshop donates a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Read Teddy to First Book to provide new books to children from low-income families as well as to other literacy organizations." Warm fuzzies and good deeds rolled into one!

Thanks, Amy, for the info.

Oh happy day!

I was ever so pleased to find that all of the amazing and inspiring billboards and commercials produced by the Foundation for a Better Life are available on their website. You can also nominate your own hero. Yay!

Because of Winn-Dixie film

Check out the trailer for the upcoming film, Because of Winn-Dixie. There's also a cute film website. While you're at it, check out award-winning author Kate DiCamillo's website. And, if you haven't yet read the book, get thee to a library and check it out, post haste!

Bonus: register for your chance to receive an advance screening pass!

Something librarians can do to help...

From UNESCO:

"In this hour of calamity the National Library and Documentation Services Board (NLDSB) of Sri Lanka seeks assistance from the international community and especially from the IFLA members to reconstruct/repair the damaged libraries and the restoration of the damaged books and other library material.

According to the preliminary estimates the damage to the buildings and to the other infrastructure facilities is huge and donations in the form of either library material or financial assistance are sought from the international library community."

There is information on the UNESCO site about where the library community can send assistance as well as contact information if you have more questions.

Read the rest.

(I have been weeding books again. Many of them are in fine shape, but just do not circulate by us. Perchance my Director will let us ship some to Sri Lanka... I will ask.)

I want this!

I think I might have a hard time getting anyone to play it with me, though. Maybe The Boy... (Kind of a sobering thought to think that a 14-year-old might actually kick my butt when I eventually get this edition...)

Via con Dios, Dave Barry!

"There comes a time in the life of every writer when he asks himself -- as Shakespeare, Tolstoy and Hemingway all surely asked themselves -- if he has any booger jokes left in him.

"For me, that time has come."

Dave Barry writes his final column. (For now?)

Whew! That was a close one!

Libraries in Buffalo and Erie County won't be closing after all: "B&ECPL staff wish to extend a sincere thank-you to the thousands of people who expressed support for the Library System during this recent fiscal crisis. Whether you shared your concern with public officials, spoke passionately at public hearings, attended a rally, involved your neighbors, wrote a letter to the editor of your local paper, signed a petition (More than 41,000 signatures were received!) or distributed printed information, your efforts made a tremendous impact. The collaboration this community exhibits in times of adversity must be commended. Although funding from Erie County has been reduced from 2004 levels, the B&ECPL will continue its work to provide you and your family with the highest quality library services possible in 2005." Hours will be cut, but the libraries remain open.

For now.

In Memoriam

"Will Eisner, the artist who revolutionized comic books with the popular newspaper supplement The Spirit and taught generations of soldiers how to maintain their equipment with the Joe Dope series, has died. He was 87." Check out his web site or read an obituary. There's also a nice interview here.

Shirley Chisholm had guts

Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman elected to Congress and a 1972 presidential candidate, has died at age 80.

From Yahoo!: Chisholm, who took her seat in the U.S. House in 1969, was a riveting speaker who often criticized Congress as being too clubby and unresponsive. An outspoken champion of women and minorities during seven terms in the House, she also was a staunch critic of the Vietnam War...

...Once discussing what her legacy might be, Shirley Chisholm commented, "I'd like them to say that Shirley Chisholm had guts. That's how I'd like to be remembered."

Read the rest.