Blog
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New National Program Offers Unique Tools for Early Educators to Promote Young Children’s Brain and Language Development
NASHVILLE, TN — Global learning company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) and Too Small to Fail, in partnership with the National Head Start Association (NHSA) and the National Association for Family …
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The Undies Case Cover Awards
Nominations are open now through November 1, 2016 for the inaugural Undies. Anyone – including publishers – can nominate titles! Visit Design of the Picture Book for a case cover gallery. For more details …
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The Children’s Book Council and DOGObooks.com Reprise Partnership on Summer Reading Program
Tiburon, CA May 24, 2016 — For the fourth consecutive year, the Children’s Book Council is proud to partner with DOGObooks.com on their annual Summer Reading Program. The DOGObooks Summer Reading program …
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Diversity in the News: May 2016
The newsletter is a valuable resource for librarians, teachers, booksellers, parents and caregivers, publishing professionals, and children’s literature lovers. Find thought-provoking articles, diverse new releases, and more in this month’s issue and sign …
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Scholastic Announces 2016-17 National Advisory Council Featuring Leading Educational Experts
New York, NY — Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL), the global children’s publishing, education and media company, has announced the 2016–17 National Advisory Council (NAC) comprised of leading experts in pre-K–12 education. …
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Registration Opens for Nation’s Most Unique Writer’s Conference
Registration Opens for Nation’s Most Unique Writer’s Conference New Brunswick, NJ – Registration is now open for the nation’s most unique writers conference. The 47th Annual Rutgers University Council on …
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Announcing Our Children’s Book Week 2016 Bookstore Display Contest Winner!
As the winner of the official Children’s Book Week Display Contest, Wild Rumpus will receive a visit from a 2016 Children’s Choice Book Awards winner or finalist author/illustrator! View photos of …
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Mighty Media Press Announces Two Winners in the 26th Annual Midwest Book Awards
DEDICATED TO HELPING BUILD CREATIVE, CURIOUS, AND SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS KIDS, MINNEAPOLIS PUBLISHER MIGHTY MEDIA PRESS ANNOUNCES THREE FINALISTS AND TWO WINNERS, INCLUDING ONE LOCAL AUTHOR. Minneapolis, MN—The 26th Annual Midwest Book Awards …
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#DrawingDiversity: ‘Tough Guys (Have Feelings Too)’ by Keith Negley
Tough Guys (Have Feelings Too) by Keith Negley (Flying Eye Books/Nobrow Press, November 2015). All rights reserved. @nobrowpress @keithnegley
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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Launches Interactive App that Turns Study into a Game
BOSTON, MA – Global learning company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) today announced the release of StudyPop, a mobile interactive study game that students can play with their friends and classmates. The …
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Children’s Book Week 2016 Photo Recap!
Communities nationwide celebrated the joy of reading with story times, scavenger hunts, and countless other activities. Thanks to all our kid-lit friends for making this the best Book Week yet! …
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Wilson Southern Middle School’s Holocaust Project Receives AASL Roald Dahl Miss Honey Social Justice Award
CHICAGO, IL — Ann Yawornitsky, Jennifer Sarnes and Melissa Zawaski from Wilson Southern Middle School in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, are the recipients of the 2016 American Association of School Librarians’ …
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DK Launches Braille Line of Picture Books
The series includes board and nonfiction books, pairing braille and textured images with printed text to make stories accessible for both sighted and visually impaired readers. These books are a …
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Librarians Bring Books to Child Refugees
A task force of REFORMA, Children in Crisis is run entirely by volunteers working closely with librarians to support literacy in both Spanish and English among detained youth. Founder Oralia Garza de Cortes spearheaded the …
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The 2016 Guide to the Newbery and Caldecott Awards
CHICAGO, IL — Updated to include the 2016 award and honor books, “The Newbery and Caldecott Awards: A Guide to the Medal and Honor Books, 2016 Edition,” published byALA Editions, …
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Introducing the Hallmark Great Stories Award
Hallmark honors new children’s picture books that celebrate family, friendship and community; inaugural winner to be announced in March 2017 KANSAS CITY, Mo. (May 11, 2016) — In keeping with …
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Industry Q&A with Author Leopoldo Gout
Tell us about your most recent book and how you came to write/illustrate it.
My new book is titled Genius – The Game. It is the first in a series of books about child prodigies from diverse backgrounds who come together to change their stars and the world. The launch pad for their revolution is a competition called the Game. There, they will compete with 200 other prodigies in a contest that will not only test their brains but also challenge their ideals.
Genius – The Game explores the outer reaches of technology, the explosive power of young minds, and the bonds of family. It is filled with big ideas and even bigger emotions. But more than just a book, the Genius series is a movement – it is my call to the youth of the world: liberate your minds and you can liberate the planet.
Do you think of yourself as a diverse author/illustrator?
I am an immigrant. Born and raised in Mexico, I went to art school in England before I came to the US ten years ago.
Who is your favorite character of all time in children’s or young adult literature?
I don’t have just one. I love many things about many characters. And they’ve all helped me form who I am today. Some of them include: Max from Where the Wild Things Are, because we all have a secret island we imagine ourselves escaping to (so long as we’re back for supper). Jack in Lord of the Flies, because it’s scary how the darkness can hit us at any moment (and where I come from, you never forget that it’s always looming right around the corner). Of course, I also like Harry Potter. In fact, I like to think of Genius as being a kindred spirit – but instead of using magic, the kids in Genius use their minds.
Hypothetically speaking, let’s say you are forced to sell all of the books you own except for one. Which do you keep?
Ah! What a nightmare. Where would I be without my books?! That’s a tough question and my answer changes frequently but I have never fallen out of love with The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov. The book has everything, from a deep sense of humanity – including all our best and worst traits – to a fantastically grounded inventiveness.
What does diversity mean to you as you think about your own books?
I consider all of us immigrants. It might have happened 100 million years ago, but we all trekked up out of the ocean and onto the land! And all of us are diverse. Sure, there are majorities and minorities and I celebrate the distinctive cultures we’ve developed, but we are all people – all driven by the same needs and emotions. I like to think of my characters less as products of their unique environments or backgrounds and more as humans of the world. This, in fact, is the message at the heart of my books.
What is your thought process in including or excluding characters of diverse backgrounds?
It is not a process. It is instinctual. It’s the reflection of the world I live in. As an artist, I studied sculpture with people from many countries – from Egypt to Japan. As a director and producer, I spent years making music videos with a whole range of diverse people – from elite hip hop artists like Mos Def and Ahmir Questlove from the Roots to David Byrne. Right now, I’m exploring a project with Idris Elba and a Chinese/Thai writer…Truth is: I want my books to be filled with the most exceptional, flawed, emotional, and brilliant characters. If you get beneath the surface, you find that most people come from diverse backgrounds. There is no quota system in my stories, the only thing that drives their creation is my passion, my deepest need, to write realistic but fascinating characters.
Final thoughts
What I see is simple: People lack an understanding of how diversity enriches our culture. The more voices we have in a conversation, they better that conversation will be. I’m not immune to this either. Just recently, my brilliant friend Marlon James taught me incredible things about the West Indies that I was completely ignorant about.
Leopoldo Gout, the producer behind Days of Grace, which A.O. Scott of the New York Times called “a potent and vigorous film,” is also a writer, artist, and filmmaker. He hails from Mexico, studied Contemporary Art at Central Saint Martins in London, and now resides in New York City with his wife and two children.
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Dan Brown’s International Blockbuster ‘The Da Vinci Code’ to be Adapted For Young Adults
New York and London —The Random House US and Penguin Random House UK children’s divisions of Penguin Random House will jointly publish a young adult adaptation of Dan Brown’s The Da …
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PJ Lynch Announced as Laureate Na NÓg by President Michael D. Higgins
On Tuesday 17th May, 2016, author and illustrator PJ Lynch was announced as the fourth Laureate na nÓg, Ireland’s laureate for children’s literature, at a special event at the Arts Council’s …
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Commemorating 100 Years of Roald Dahl
The redesigned hardcovers will hit bookstores on September 6, 2016! The new book covers are a part of a year-long celebration of Dahl by Penguin Young Readers and the Roald …
