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Month: June 2013

  • Diversity in the News

    June 20th – June 27th, 2013

    NEW BLOG ALERT
    • July 1—31: Disability in Kidlit —Organized by Kody Keplinger and Corinne Duyvis, the blog series  “will feature posts by readers, writers, bloggers, and other peeps from the YA and MG communities discussing disability and kidlit.” Call for bloggers now closed.

    ON OUR RADAR
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  • Saundra Mitchell Edits the ‘Defying the Dark’ YA Anthology

    Fifteen of these contributions came from established authors. Prior to publication, Mitchell sent out a call for submissions to never-before-published writers. More than one thousand two hundred pieces were sent …

  • John Corey Whaley Pens ‘Noggin’

    In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the author explained that “the initial idea was sort of an accident. I was working on another book at the time and the idea …

  • June 2013 Census—Numbers We “Know”

    On June 13, 2013, the Census Bureau released an article that was eye-opening, but not necessarily shocking. For the past few years many of us have understood that the make-up of our nation is changing and shifting. Publishing professionals have followed the many news articles published in the last year that raise the subject of the evolving population of our country and observed that children's books don't reflect that evolution. As industry professionals, we read and  we are listening. These issues are the very reason that CBC Diversity was formed. The CBC Diversity initiative was organized before the first controversial article with the tone of "wake up and see all the white kids on covers--not OK" in 2012 was written. The publishing industry gets it. But seeing change takes time (it takes about a year + to make a book) and it requires widespread collaboration from everyone involved in children's books (librarians, teachers, booksellers, agents, parents, writers, illustrators, etc.) to solve the problem.

    That being said, sitting around Diversity Dialogue sessions where industry professionals come together in a safe environment to discuss how to "solve the problem" can be frustrating at times. We all "know" that there are a whole lot of, say, Latinos who need good mirror books, but reaching that audience is easier said than done. We "know" the market is there, but is it really? Stupid question, right? Of course it's there, but just so everyone is on the same page, here are some interesting tidbits directly from the June 13, 2013 Census Bureau report to really think deeply about.
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  • Debut Novelist Chelsey Flood to Release New Teen Novel, ‘Infinite Sky’, with Atheneum Books for Young Readers in Summer 2014

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York, NY – Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, announced today plans to publish Infinite Sky, a story that asks if it …

  • What Does Today’s YA Offer to Readers?

    “It’s not just that young adult contains growingly diverse characters, though it does, or that it pushes the limits on sexuality, gender, and identity — though it does, in books …

  • Why Does There Continue to be a Lack of Diverse Kidlit?

    “When it comes to diversity, children’s books are sorely lacking; instead of presenting a representative range of faces, they’re overwhelmingly white. How bad is the disconnect? A report by the …

  • The Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy Establishes the Bell Picture Book Awards

    A nine-member CLEL selection committee will choose one title in each of five categories representing an early literacy practice: Read, Write, Sing, Talk, and Play. Winning titles will demonstrate content …

  • This Week on Girls Scouts’ The Studio: Writing Duo Stephanie Wallingford and Dawn Rynders

    “What is our writing process like? Typically we get together for a brainstorming session, which includes everything from constructing couplets (some that are complete jokes) to structuring an entire book …

  • Writing Sympathetic (Gay) Characters

    Originally posted on the Diversity in YA blog by Brent Hartinger.

    If you’re an author, how do make and keep your main character sympathetic?

    You could write a whole book on this very topic — in fact, many have. I confess, I find it a fascinating one, mostly because it was exactly this idea of “likable” protagonists that made me start writing fiction in the first place.

    Some writers reject the whole notion that main characters must be sympathetic (and to a degree, I would agree: jerks and anti-heroes absolutely have their place in the world, in certain kinds of stories).

    But when I started writing back in the 80s and early 90s, I found myself completely frustrated by the main characters in so many books I was reading, especially the gay books. I was looking for characters I could relate to, and too many of the ones I was reading were way too whiny and self-destructive for my taste.

    My partner and I used to joke that there was a name for the genre: *sshole fiction.
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  • Penguin Young Readers Group Develops New Literacy App

    “The app features engaging narration, but also incorporates the ability for users to record the stories themselves via their devices’ installed microphones. Tools such as this are released in time …

  • Scholastic Acquires Young Adult Series by Bestselling Author Ally Carter

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York, NY – Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, has acquired North American rights to Embassy Row, a three-book young adult series by New York Times bestselling …

  • The Jim Henson Company Partners With Penguin Young Readers Group To Launch “The Dark Crystal” Author Quest

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Hollywood, CA – The Jim Henson Company and Grosset & Dunlap, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group, are reaching out to fans and fantasy writers to enter The …

  • Susann Cokal Writes Her Debut YA Novel

    The story follows a young seamstress and a royal nursemaid in the Scandinavian city of Skyggehavn. Candlewick Pres will release the book on October 8, 2013. more at Goodreads▸▸

  • Tony DiTerlizzi Finishes a First Draft for ‘The Battle for WondLa’

    To design the book cover, DiTerlizzi reacquaints himself with the protagonist Eva Nine and draws inspiration from Les Misérables. “Émile Bayard‘s iconic image of Cosette sweeping from Victor Hugo’s 1862 …

  • Make a Donation to Every Child a Reader Through Better World Books

    Better World Books is “not a traditional company with an add-on “cause” component. Social and environmental responsibility is at the core of our business. You could say it’s in our …

  • New Novel by Shannon Hale Entitled ‘Dangerous’

    “Maisie Danger Brown just wanted to get away from home for a bit, see something new. She never intended to fall in love. And she never imagined stumbling into a …

  • Maile Meloy & Ian Schoenherr Collaborate on ‘The Apprentices’

    Artist Ian Schoenherr created the jacket and thirty eight black and white illustrations for this book. Penguin Young Readers Group released it on June 04, 2013.   more at Maile …

  • YALSA Announces 2013 Teens’ Top Ten Nominations

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The nominees for the annual Teens’ Top Ten have been announced today in honor of Celebrate Teen Literature Day by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). …

  • Summer Reading Book Offers Observations on Summer Slide

    “One program in rural Florida puts books into the hands of children from low-income families with weekly bookmobile visits and has evolved to include more intensive one-on-one tutoring, while a …

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