Industry News
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Jacqueline Woodson Wins the National Book Award
During the awards ceremony, Ursula Le Guin accepted the 2014 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Neil Gaiman presented her with this honor. (NPR.org)
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‘The True Story of the Three Little Pigs’ Turns 25!
Scieszka says that he and Smith connected instantly: “We were a perfect match, in terms of our sensibilities and humor.” The next challenge was getting an editor on board with their vision. Their …
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Neil Gaiman Talks About the Value of Libraries
“For me, closing libraries is the equivalent of eating your seed corn to save a little money. They recently did a survey that showed that among poor white boys in …
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Pumas, Parrots, and Planets! All the Best Books to Transform Young Readers Into Science Lovers, Selected by Science Teachers!
Check out the newly-announced 2015 Outstanding Science Trade Books, a joint project of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the CBC since 1973!
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Katherine Paterson Names ‘Cry, the Beloved Country’ as a Source of Inspiration
The former National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature feels that this title was “the most important book of my teenage years as it opened my eyes to the oppression in …
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Sotheby’s to Auction Off a ‘Winnie the Pooh’ Illustration
“The illustration featured in AA Milne’s book The House At Pooh Corner. It accompanied the closing scene of Chapter 6, ‘in which Pooh invents a new game and Eeyore joins …
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The ‘Divergent’ Series: ‘Insurgent’ to Be Released in 3D
Santa Monica, CA — Lionsgate, a premier next generation global content leader, today announced that it will release The Divergent Series: Insurgent, the second installment of its Divergent franchise, in …
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Scholastic to Publish Bestselling and Award-Winning Author/Artist Brian Selznick’s ‘The Marvels’ in September 2015
NEW YORK, NY — Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL), the global children’s publishing, education, and media company, announced today that it will publish The Marvels, a multi-layered reading experience in words and pictures by …
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The best kid lit gifts.
Shop now here. Every year since 1919, an official poster celebrating Children’s Book Week has been created by a children’s literature icon. Over the last 95 storied years, masterpieces have …
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Lionsgate & Imagine Nation Form Partnership to Launch ‘The Hunger Games’ On Stage
SANTA MONICA, CA — Continuing the expansion of its global blockbuster Hunger Games franchise into new businesses, Lionsgate, a premier next generation global content leader, is teaming with Dutch media company Imagine Nation and U.S. …
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Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group to Launch the #Cyborgmonday Campaign For ‘Fairest’
“#Cyborgmonday is designed to promote pre-pub buzz for the fourth installment of the fairytale-themed Lunar Chronicles, due from Feiwel and Friends on January 27. The novel continues the saga of …
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Mashable Creates a Two Minute Video Summary About the ‘Harry Potter’ Series
This piece from the “TL;DW” YouTube channel features a script and voice acting by Max Knoblauch and Bob Al-Greene. Al-Greene also provided the illustrations. Noah Sterling tackled the animation. (Mashable)
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The Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database Expands to Include Criteria, Past Recipients for Over 600 National & International Children’s Book Awards
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York, NY — November 11, 2014 – The Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD) – providing reliable one-search access to information, awards, & reviews about Pre K-12 …
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Amazon Editorial Team Unveils Its Choices For The Best Children’s Books of 2014
Baby-Age 2 List Ages 3-5 List Ages 6-8 List Ages 9-12 List Teen & Young Adult List Nonfiction List Top 100 List
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Happy Birthday, Neil Gaiman!
Since transitioning to writing fiction, Gaiman has reinvented himself time and again, straddling multiple genres and forms. His work, which ranges from short stories and poetry to screenplays, has gained …
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‘Peter Rabbit’ Encourages Kids to Eat Healthy and Be Active through New Special Edition Book and Education Campaign
NEW YORK, NY – The globally beloved Peter Rabbit character will be featured in a new health and wellness initiative, Hop to Health, launching this fall. The new kid-targeted campaign …
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CBC Diversity: What? Me Worry?
Like many editors I have a predilection for order, efficiency, and systems. That’s the polite way of putting it. Significant others and family members have at times used descriptors such as anal retentive or obsessive. Point taken. Whatever your word choice, these qualities have served me well in my profession. But beneath these types of endearing quirks (again, the polite label) often lurks a root cause: anxiety.
I come by my anxiety in the most honest way possible—genetics. Go up the family tree a branch or two and you’ll find hospitalizations, shock therapy, alcoholism, panic attacks, and lots of list-making in really tiny handwriting. Fortunately, all that got watered down by the time my X chromosomes paired up, but I would still say that I was an anxious child. I clearly remember standing in my grandmother’s yard at the age of maybe four, pensively noting that life used to be so much easier. Ah, to be a world-weary preschooler.
Over time I learned effective coping techniques, and now my anxiety is simply a part of me that minimally affects my quality of life. But as a young child, I had no words for what I felt, and I had no basis for comparison. I had the sense that other people didn’t feel like I did, and that made me wonder whether something was wrong with me. Mostly I just had no idea what to do with my feelings and lived with a degree of discomfort on a daily basis. I compensated in other ways—I liked routine, I avoided risks and changes, and I became an overachiever and people-pleaser.
Perhaps not surprisingly, I also threw myself into reading, which provided respite from the uncomfortable physical sensations and mental chatter. I recall reading “The New Day” in Richard Scarry’s Best Storybook Ever, in which Little Bear gets out of bed, washes his face, brushes his teeth, combs his hair, gets dressed, makes his bed, and eats breakfast. Each morning I carted the book around with me, following along with each activity in the exact same order, mentally checking off each picture when my task was done. As with many children, predictability made me feel safe and calmed me down. But perhaps I needed it more than most.
There really wasn’t that much awareness about childhood anxiety when I grew up in the 1970s, and I sometimes wonder what difference it might have made if I had been introduced to books that reflected my experience. I think I would have felt less alone, less of an oddball, and well, less anxious.
And so, for everyone out there who knows or loves a worrywart, here’s a baker’s dozen of picture books I wish I’d read as a child (with thanks to my generous Facebook friends for their suggestions).
The Big Test by Julie Danneberg (Charlesbridge): test anxiety
Disappearing Desmond by Anna Alter (Knopf): social phobia
Don’t Forget to Come Back by Robie Harris (Candlewick): separation anxiety
Edward: Unready for School by Rosemary Wells (Dial): school readiness
Felix and the Worrier by Rosemary Wells (Candlewick): general anxiety
Grin and Bear It by Leo Landry (Charlesbridge): performance anxiety
Ready for Anything by Keiko Kasza (Putnam): general anxiety
Scaredy Squirrel series by Mélanie Watt (Kids Can Press): general anxiety
Something Might Happen by Helen Lester (Houghton Mifflin): general anxiety/agoraphobia
A Tiger Called Thomas by Charlotte Zolotow (Hyperion): social phobia
Wallace’s Lists by Barbara Bottner and Gerald Kruglik (Katherine Tegen Books): obsessive compulsive disorder
Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow): general anxiety
When Lions Roar by Robie Harris (Orchard): general anxiety
Yolanda Scott is editorial director at Charlesbridge, where she has edited nearly two hundred books since beginning her career in 1995. She is a co-founder of Children’s Books Boston, sits on the board of directors of the Children’s Book Council, and is a member of the CBC Diversity Committee. She lives near Boston.
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Michael Bond to Appear in a Cameo For the Paddington Movie
“The author has just produced the first Paddington novel to be written in the bear’s own voice. Love From Paddington is a series of letters written to his aunt Lucy …
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Netflix Plans to Develop An Adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events
The company is partnering with Paramount on this project. Back in 2004, Paramount released a film based on this popular middle grade series; that movie featured Jim Carrey as the …
