Year: 2016
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Library of Congress Selects Early Elementary Teacher-in-Residence
Teresa St. Angelo, a kindergarten teacher from Manalapan, New Jersey, has been selected to serve as the 2016-2017 Teacher-in-Residence at the Library of Congress. Since 2000, the Library has recruited …
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Debuts on the NYT Children’s Best Sellers Lists
The following books made the list: Middle Grade Hardcover: Dog Man by Dav Pilkey (Scholastic) Gravity Falls: Journal 3 by Rob Renzetti (Disney Press) The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan (Disney-Hyperion) The …
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How I Got into Publishing: Luana Horry, Editorial Assistant at HarperCollins Children’s Books
“Child, what are you going to do with that degree?”
I was full of pride on the day I graduated college—until Grandma Lynell asked me that simple question. You would think that someone with a nearly perfect GPA and two graduate school acceptance letters would know exactly how to respond. My goal was to become a professor of African-American literature and black feminist thought. But I hung my head low because I felt that I had not only tricked myself into thinking I was completely sure of my life’s goal, but that I had also duped those women and men who sacrificed so much for me to be able to walk across the stage that day.
I laughed it off and went about celebrating, but Granny’s question hit me—hard.
I love the world of academia and the learning process; however, I didn’t have the spiritual energy or the financial freedom to pursue a doctorate. So during that post-graduation summer, it was the Beyoncé music that I listened to, the Jamaican food that I ate, and the books that I read that kept my spirits up.
In the fall though, I got serious about my life and started applying for any and every job I could. I turned the music down and put the food down—but could never put the books down. In Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates speaks about his reawakening during and after college. It reminded me of the one thing in life that has never failed me: my passion for reading great stories and telling stories of my own. Working with books became a mission for me.
I soon landed an interview with Editor Benjamin Woodward at a small nonprofit publisher, The New Press. He asked me what I was reading and I immediately launched into critiques of and praise for W.E.B. DuBois’ Black Reconstruction. Like a true book nerd. He hired me as an intern the next week.
The New Press will forever have a special place in my heart because it introduced me to a reality that I never knew existed—one in which you could build your career around reading, cultivating, and loving literature. I was there for just a few months when I realized that the books that stayed with me the most were actually children’s books.
When I was a kid, books about little black girls with afro puffs and little brown boys with wide brown eyes were not easy to find. I vaguely remember some, but they were always presented to us as separate and different and were read only during Black History Month. Why, I wondered, were stories about me worthy of only momentary and fleeting celebration? Of course, now I think differences in identity are wonderful, but when I was young I felt ostracized, so much so that I shied away from books about African Americans.
It felt important to me to build a career in an industry where I could make a difference in the lives of children like my niece, who deserve better than a peripheral reading and cultural experience. She deserves abundant, honest stories about black and brown people all year long. So I found another internship, this time at Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, before being hired as editorial assistant at HarperCollins.
My happiness was boundless when my manager hired me at Harper—and it remains that way. I have the opportunity to help diversify the workplace, but also to diversify the list using both of my degrees (I hope Granny is proud). My new goal is to work hard and to one day acquire books that include a variety of cultural values, sexual and gender orientations, racial identities, and socioeconomic/political perspectives. It truly is an exciting time to be in publishing!
Luana Horry—I graduated from SUNY New Paltz in 2015 with a double bachelors in English and Black Studies, and am currently pursuing a master’s degree in Africana Studies, with a focus in literature. I am an editorial assistant at HarperCollins Children’s Books. I live in Queens, New York and my favorite thing to do besides reading is trying new recipes.
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Scientific Fact: ‘Ada Twist, Scientist’ is the Fastest Selling Picture Book of the Year
New York, NY — Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS, announced today that Ada Twist, Scientist is the fastest selling picture book release of the year. The …
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Klutz Teams Up With World’s Largest Restaurant Chain Subway For Activity-Based Kids’ Meal Promotion This Fall
NEW YORK, NY — Klutz® announced today a promotion in which more than 30,000 Subway® restaurants across the United States, Canada, Aruba, and the Bahamas will be offering four exclusive …
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Library of Congress Literacy Award Winners Announced
Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced the winners of the 2016 Library of Congress Literacy Awards today at the Library of Congress National Book Festival gala. The winners are WETA …
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Sony’s Columbia Pictures Teams Up With Frederick Warne & Co., Part of Penguin Random House UK, For Peter Rabbit™
CULVER CITY, CA and LONDON, UK – Columbia Pictures has teamed up with Frederick Warne & Co., part of Penguin Random House UK, for Peter Rabbit™, a new live-action/CG motion picture …
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Four Debuts on the Indie Bestsellers List
The following books have made the list for the second consecutive week: Children’s Illustrated: Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty, illus. by David Roberts (Abrams Books for Young Readers) Eek! Halloween! by …
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Submit for the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award
Publishers are invited to submit books for consideration before December 15, 2016. Click here for more information on the awards program, including submission guidelines. # Contacts:Ellen Ruffin, Curatorde Grummond Children’s …
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Pottermore launches unique online experience from J.K. Rowling, enabling users to discover their Patronus
London, England, 22 September, 2016 – One of the most famous magical elements in J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World becomes accessible to all for the first time today, as Pottermore launches …
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Scholastic Reports First Quarter Fiscal 2017 Results
Solid Revenue Gains in all Segments, Led by Children’s Books on Strong Harry Potter Sales New York – September 22, 2016 – Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL), the global children’s publishing, …
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Creator of #1000BlackGirlBooks Launches ‘Marley Mag’
In her new publishing venture, Dias interviews such icons as ballerina Misty Copeland and director Ava DuVernay. I want to change the way we imagine black girls in books and in culture …
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National Book Festival Summer Writing Contest Winners Announced
The Library of Congress today announced the winners of its “A Book That Shaped Me” Summer Writing Contest, a program that asks rising fifth- and sixth-graders to reflect on a …
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National Ambassador Gene Luen Yang’s Reading Without Walls Podcast: Episode 6 with Thien Pham
Through his platform, “Reading Without Walls,” Yang hopes to inspire readers of all ages to pick up a book outside their comfort zone. In episode six of his podcast, Yang …
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National Ambassador Gene Luen Yang Awarded a MacArthur Fellowship
Yang, who is currently on tour for the second book in his Secret Coders series, hopes to put the grant towards his work as a comics creator and as National …
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Little, Brown Emerging Artist Award
The inaugural prize will be judged by Caldecott Medalist and Caldecott Honor artist Jerry Pinkney along with members of the Little, Brown editorial team. Diversity is, in fact, the keynote of the initiative. …
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The Alliance For Young Artists & Writers Receives Grant From The New York Life Foundation to Support Grieving Teens
NEW YORK, NY – Nearly one in 20 children in the U.S. will lose a parent before the age of 16* – and, now more than ever, there is a …
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Why I Write about the Immigrant Experience
Contributed by Reyna Grande, Author
I learned to read in English in the 8th grade. As a child immigrant from Mexico struggling to adapt to the American way of life, I had a hard time finding my experiences reflected in the books given to me by my teachers at school or the librarian at the public library. Closest were the works of the Chicana writers I’d read in college, such as Sandra Cisneros and Helena María Viramontes, where I found bits and pieces of myself. But I did not find books that spoke directly to my experience as a child immigrant.
I did find books about adult immigrants and the struggles that adults—like my parents— experience when they arrive in the United States: low paying jobs, abuse and discrimination in the workplace, fear of deportation, struggles to assimilate and learn English, and the hardships of navigating and understanding the nuances of American culture and society. But as a child, wasn’t I as much a part of the immigration narrative? Weren’t my pain and heartbreak, struggles and triumphs, also worth telling? Didn’t I also risk my life and fight just as hard for my dreams?
Why weren’t children’s voices being heard?
I read and I read, though I’d always felt a void—a yearning, a missing piece that I desperately wanted to find. What I wanted most of all: to not feel invisible. Where was the book that spoke to the trauma of being a child immigrant; to being separated from your parents when they go in search of opportunities, leaving you behind as you wait for years; to being afraid that your parents have abandoned you or replaced you with American children; and to running across the border, attempting to evade the ever-watching eyes of border patrol and knowing if you’re caught, you’ll never be reunited with your parents? Where was the book that spoke about the effects of separation and how immigration can turn both parents and children into strangers?
When I complained to my creative writing teacher, she said something that I’ll never forget: “Reyna, sometimes you have to write the book that you want to read.”
And I went home, visualizing that book. I knew in my heart what it was, yet I was frightened. What if I was incapable of writing it? What if I wasn’t a good enough writer? Perhaps I should leave the project to someone else. Surely, one day, someone would write that book. It just couldn’t be me.
One day, the UC Santa Cruz creative writing department hosted an event for Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and invited her to speak about her work to an auditorium full of literature majors and aspiring writers. Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston was the very first author that I met in the flesh! Seeing her on stage made my dream of being a writer feel more real. There she was, a real author standing under the bright stage lights. She was tiny, just as small as I was at 5’0”, but she held herself with such confidence and spoke with such conviction that a minute into her talk, I stopped seeing her as small. She was larger than life and I clung to her every word as she spoke about her memoir, Farewell to Manzanar. Though it was about the effects of the Pearl Harbor bombing on Japanese-Americans, I still related to the story. As a woman of color, I knew what it was like to be marginalized, to constantly have to prove how American I was, and to always have to fight for my right to remain.
When Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston spoke that night, something changed inside me. Watching her talk about how she found the courage to write about her experiences in an internment camp, hearing her answering our questions, then sitting at a table while we all lined up to meet her, shake her hand, and have our books signed, I felt completely and utterly inspired. It was this moment—her book, her words, her presence—that I felt empowered as a woman and writer of color.
Many of the students waiting in line were in tears—especially those students who were Japanese-American—and kept telling her, “Thank you for writing our story. You’ve inspired me to keep fighting.”
And I went home that night thinking about the book inside of me that I wanted to write but was afraid to. I remembered what my creative teacher had said to me, and I knew then that I needed to find the courage to do it.
Now, when I visit school campuses to speak about The Distance Between Us, I am proud to be the writer up on stage inspiring young people to tell their stories. Through my books, I hope I can empower a new generation to find the courage to write the books that they want to read.
Reyna Grande is an award-winning novelist and memoirist. She has received an American Book Award, the El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, and the Latino Book Award. Her second novel, Dancing with Butterflies, received critical acclaim. In 2012, she was a finalist for the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Awards for her memoir The Distance Between Us. Her works have been published internationally in countries such as Norway and South Korea.
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On the Need for Children’s Literature in Translation
Some of Hahn’s favorite book and comics from childhood hailed from countries outside his home in Britain. In order to expand exposure to international voices, Hahn is teaming up with …
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ALA Awarded IMLS Grant to Offer Free Community Engagement Training For Libraries
CHICAGO, IL — The American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office has been awarded $243,922 by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program …
