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  • 2014 WNBA Pannell Award Nominees Announced

    General BookstoreAaron’s Books – Lititz, PA Avid Bookshop – Athens, GA Book Passage – Corte Madera, CA Byrd’s Books – Bethel, CT Bookshop Santa Cruz – Santa Cruz, CA Changing …

  • Neil Gaiman Reads ‘Green Eggs & Ham’ Out Loud

    The Fortunately The Milk Writer promised to record this performance if the charity organization Worldbuilders raised half a million dollars during its annual fundraiser. So far, they have managed to …

  • Interview with ‘Reality Boy’ Author A.S. King

    “My characters always come first. When I start a book, I have no idea where it will go or end or what will happen to these people I invent in my head. …

  • Brian Floca & Lynne Cox to Collaborate on Picture Book

    The protagonist is based on a real life elephant seal who is also named Elizabeth. The book will also include more information about elephant seals. Schwartz & Wade, an imprint at …

  • Lemony Snicket Interviews Kate DiCamillo

    “Lemony Snicket: Sometimes we think, Only do things to make our previous selves feel better. I was at a table once with a bunch of writers and we all went around saying …

  • 2014 Rainbow Project Book List Announced

    This year, members of the 2014 Rainbow Project Committee included: Christie Gibrich, chair; Naomi Gonzales; Ingrid Abrams; Erin Iannacchione; Christine Jenkins; Melanie Koss; Jesse Nachem; Victor Schill; Anna White; and Jane …

  • Lemony Snicket Award For “Noble Librarians Faced With Adversity” Announced

    The award, which ALA intends to present at its Annual Conference in Las Vegas, recognizes a librarian who “has faced adversity with integrity and dignity intact.” It will be given …

  • 250 Million Primary School Age Kids Cannot Read, Write, or Perform Basic Mathematics

    “The report found that 130 million are in primary school but have not achieved the minimum benchmarks for learning, and almost 120 million have spent little or no time in …

  • Former Gamers Debut Epic!, First All-You-Can-Read eBook Service for School-Aged Kids

    The company also announced today that it has closed $1.4M in seed funding from Menlo Ventures, Webb Investment Network, Innovation Endeavors, Maven Ventures, Morado Ventures and others. “We’re a team …

  • Rainbow Rowell Lands Two-Book Deal with First Second

    These two books will mark Rowell’s entry into the graphic novel genre. Faith Erin Hicks, a graphic novel writer and artist, has agreed to create the artwork for the first …

  • CBC Diversity: A panelist’s take on the Diversity 101 ALA Midwinter Discussion

    Contributed by Connie Hsu

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    This year, I had the honor of joining some very insightful, experienced, and passionate people on a panel sponsored by the CBC Diversity. The session touched on what CBC Diversity has been up to, with a focus on the Diversity 101 series we feature on our blog, as well as ALSC’s Día initiative, dedicated to helping librarians work with their community to build interest and excitement for literacy dedicated to all children from all backgrounds. You can find out more about Día (short for “Diversity in Action) here. (Shameless plug—their book list includes Ask My Mood Ring How I Feel by Diana Lopéz!)

    Last year’s panel, which you can listen to here, introduced librarians to the CBC Diversity committee and our mission to increase diversity on all levels of publishing, from our authors and the stories they create to the professionals working in every level from this field.  And we in turn learned from a few participating librarians just how brightly passions burned for more attention to this mission.

    This year, we brought a little more diversity to the panel. By diverse I mean that we included a terrific librarian representative (Ana-Elba Pavon from the Oakland Public Library) as well as a larger group of editors from a range of publishers (Dan Ehrenhaft of Soho Teen, Wendy Lamb of Penguin Random House, Cheryl Klein of Scholastic, who was our moderator, and me, representing Little, Brown Books for Young Readers).

    I won’t go into the ditzy details of the conversation, since an audio version will be available in the next couple of weeks. But I can share some helpful takeaways from our overall conversation, prompted by organic discussion among the panelists and the audience members who came up during the Q&A session.

    Generally, a panel consists of experts who share insight and experience with an audience there to learn. In our case, I felt the tone was much different. Under the excellent guidance of Cheryl, our conversations were more centered on what we learned from the resources provided by the Diversity committee and blog and how that has shaped how we approach the books we edit and acquire. We were there to demonstrate how there’s always something more to be learned and how nobody is a true expert. We discussed how some of the Diversity 101 posts have opened our eyes to how marginalized characters are treated in books, in a micro-aggressive (or sometimes flat out aggressive) way, like The Disabled Saint, where Kayla Whaley discusses how disabled characters are often fodder for “inspiration porn” and Alma Flor Ada’s deeply thoughtful and insightful post about the nuances and complexities of Spanish and how to use and respect the language.

    While these posts are eye-opening and educational, we editors often find them intimidating as well. There is so much to think about, and when we push ourselves to work on books featuring diversity, often editing from “outside” our experience, we feel like we’re putting ourselves out there and risking criticism. One request is for all of us, both in the publishing and library world, to try to be open-minded in terms of how successful we personally deem these books. Fear of criticism should not be one of the challenges in bringing good, diverse books to the world, and while we are always aiming for authenticity and top-notch literary value, sometimes we have to step back and relax a little. Dan and Wendy spoke about a future post, where they will touch on this topic in more detail.

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    Ana-Elba shared details about Día and the programming that can be developed around this initiative, directing folks to the Día website, which is packed with information. While Día began with a Latino focus, it now encompasses all kinds of diversity. Ana-Elba shared an example of a good book for Día for this year’s celebration, one that will pull in all readers while expertly incorporating a multicultural theme—Yuyi Morales’s Nino Wrestles the World, which we learned on Monday was this year’s Pura Belpré Illustrator winner. The 17th annual Día de los libros/Día de los Ninos will be held on April 30th this year.

    We had some great suggestions from the audience, such as including more diverse books in book fairs, encouraging book clubs and stores to take these titles, as well as using resources like the Luminarias, a group of Texas librarians who actively reach out to non-Spanish speaking educators. Shelley Diaz of School Library Journal also shared that the magazine will be dedicating an issue this spring to diversity.

    The biggest eye-opener was during the Q&A, where Reforma member Oralia Garza de Cortés asked publishers to be more transparent about our numbers, which meant our stats in terms of the diverse books and authors we publish. She said she felt there were walls between the librarians and publishers, and that they often feel that they aren’t able to reach us. As we sat there, on a panel behind a table a few yards away from the audience, we all realized that perhaps the forum could change for future events like these. Rather than a panel, we can consider an open discussion, where ideas can be shared and cultivated, and to assure that the only walls are the ones that librarians and publishers can break down together, side-by-side.

  • Barnes & Noble Releases an Exclusive Collector’s Edition of ‘Looking For Alaska’

    “Although B&N quietly launched the exclusives program several years ago, it is only in the past year that it has started to gain traction with the publication of another Green …

  • Teachers and Librarians: Apply for the Ezra Jack Keats Minigrants!

    “We are dedicated to continuing our direct support to exceptional educators whose program ideas will foster creativity, cooperation and interaction with a diverse community,” says Deborah Pope, Executive Director of …

  • Sundance Film Festival Alums Marius Markevicius & Ben York Jones Partner on Best-Selling WWII-Era Novel ‘Between Shades of Gray’

    Park City, UT – Sorrento Productions and Tauras Films announced today that they have optioned the film rights to Ruta Sepetys’ New York Times Bestselling WWII-era novel, Between Shades of Gray. The screenplay adaptation was …

  • National Ambassador Kate DiCamillo Wins Her Second Newbery Medal

    The award was announced on Monday January 27th by the American Library Association. DiCamillo, a popular and widely acclaimed author, won the Newbery medal for the first time eight years …

  • American Library Association Announces 2014 Youth Media Award Winners

    PHILADELPHIA — The American Library Association (ALA) today announced the top books, video and audio books for children and young adults – including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery and …

  • ABA Bookstores: Register Now for Find Waldo Local This Summer

    Find Waldo Local stemmed from a similar event at Eight Cousins Bookstore in Falmouth, MA. As in previous years, the number of participating ABA bookstores is limited to 250. Online …

  • Nominate Your Favorite YA Books of 2013: Time Is Running Out!

    Just fill out the form on the Teenreads website by noon (ET) on Friday, January 31. You can vote for titles that are on the provided list or write in …

  • B.J. Novak signs with Penguin Young Readers Group to Publish Picture Book With No Pictures

    New York, NY — Writer and actor B.J. Novak will publish a ground-breaking new “picture book” with Penguin Young Readers Group that reimagines storytelling for a young audience. THE BOOK …

  • Don’t Miss the CBC Diversity Newsletter!

    Click to view CBC Diveristy Newsletter January v. 2 on GLOSSI.COM

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