Blog
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#DrawingDiversity: ‘The Wheels on the Tuk Tuk’ illustrated by Jess Golden
The Wheels on the Tuk Tuk by Kabir Sehgal and Surishtha Sehgal, illustrated by Jess Golden (Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster, January 2016). All rights reserved. @simonkidsuk
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Give a Child a Book of Hope
By Darcy Pattison, Author
I appreciate that the CBC Diversity Bookshelf addresses all sorts of diversity, from ethnic to family situations and beyond. If you glance down their list of 67 topics on the Goodreads Bookshelf, there’s likely a topic that tugs at your heart.
In sixth grade my parents divorced and my mother remarried, this time to a man who was an alcoholic. Several years later, she divorced him and soon remarried — again to an alcoholic.
Despite being an avid reader, I certainly never saw my situation reflected in children’s books! Yet 11 million children live with alcoholic parents (http://www.alcoholism-statistics.com/family-statistics/). Add in those who live with parents who abuse other substances, and it’s a huge demographic that faces overwhelming situations. Often it leads to messy divorces, single-parent families, and other special needs.
Why aren’t these situations represented more in children’s books? Partly because difficult family situations aren’t entertainment.
So, do we write children’s books to entertain, to teach, or to stand on a soapbox? The answers are complex. I wrote my contemporary retelling of the Hansel and Gretel story, Saucy and Bubba, because I wanted my experiences to help children facing caregivers who are substance abusers. I wanted those kids to know it’s okay to want to be safe. It’s okay to need help and to ask an adult for help. It’s okay to want your Daddy to love you and to expect that he will take care of you.
Near the story’s climax, Saucy is hiding under a truck and her father is searching for her. At one point, he leans against the truck, not knowing that Saucy is close enough to touch him. She yearns for Daddy to find her, but she holds back because of the alcoholic stepmother, Krissy. When Daddy goes back inside the house with Krissy, Saucy makes the difficult decision to live with her aunt until things are better.
Scenes like this one bring a certain darkness to a story, even if the events carry the weight of truth. It’s in the tradition of Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt, and The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson. Both of these award-winning books tell of painful truths, but they manage to do so with respect for the child reader. I especially like Paterson’s statement that she always ends her stories with a note of hope. Fortunately, Saucy’s story also ends with hope that the family will work things out and come back together.
In the end, I write to tell a truthful story that will touch someone deeply; I write with the reader — the troubled child — in mind. And children need many things from the pages of a book: entertainment, escape, sympathy, or a deep identification with a character. And most especially, children need hope.
Darcy Pattison has three novels on the CBC Diversity Bookshelves. Saucy and Bubba (sample chapter) is a contemporary retelling of the Hansel and Gretel story with characters who live with substance abuse caregivers; Longing for Normal is the story of two foster kids who are fighting for a place to call home—using just a simple bread recipe; Vagabonds is an American animal fantasy that is a metaphor for the immigrant experience. Translated into nine languages, Darcy’s book, The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman was an Irma Black Honor Award winner and her other books have received starred reviews in Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus, and BCCB.
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Library of Congress Now Accepting Applications for the 2016 Literacy Awards
Washington D.C. — Applications are now being accepted for the 2016 Library of Congress Literacy Awards, which are made possible through the generosity of David M. Rubenstein, co-founder and co-CEO of …
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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s New York Times Best Seller A Long Walk to Water Reaches One Million Copies Sold
BOSTON, MA – Global learning company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) is marking an important milestone for New York Times Best Seller A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park …
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SCBWI Announces On-The-Verge Emerging Voices Award Winners
The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is pleased to announce the 2015 On-The-Verge Emerging Voices Award winners. The annual award, established by SCBWI and funded by Martin and …
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African-American Experience Children’s Book List
An outgrowth of her work at the NYPL, the book list spans picture books to middle grade, fiction and nonfiction published between 2011 and 2016. Highlights include: Knock Knock: My …
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Candlewick Press Announces Title and Publication Date for 5th Installment in the Bestselling Timmy Failure Book Series
SOMERVILLE, MA – February 3, 2016 – The title character in Stephan Pastis’ hugely popular middle grade series will continue his push for detective agency domination this year. Candlewick Press …
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How Libraries Support Teen Parents
Literacy programs that center on storytelling, bookmaking, singing, and parent-child conversation are just a few ways that libraries are connecting with teens and their children. We need to help [teen parents] …
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Never-Before-Published Details About Wizarding Schools Revealed in New Content by J.K. Rowling Available On Pottermore
Orlando, FL – New information about several wizarding schools, including the name and location of the North American school, were revealed in the latest writing by J.K. Rowling, available on …
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Happy 10th Anniversary, First Second!
To commemorate this milestone, First Second is sharing recommended reading lists with favorite titles — including works by National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Gene Luen Yang. Whether you’re a …
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#DrawingDiversity: ‘Happy in Our Skin’ illustrated by Lauren Tobia
Happy in Our Skin by Fran Manushkin, illustrated by Lauren Tobia (Candlewick Press, August 2015). All rights reserved.
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Macmillan’s Flatiron Books Expands into YA
Founded as a nonfiction imprint in 2013, Flatiron will expand into the world of young adult fiction. Inaugural titles include Meredith Russo’s If I Was Your Girl and Alison Umminger’s American Girls — both YA debuts. Our …
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Jazz Jennings, Teen and Transgender Advocate, to Publish Memoir With Crown Books For Young Readers in June 2016
New York, NY — Crown Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, has acquired BEING JAZZ: MY LIFE AS A (TRANSGENDER) TEEN by 15-year-old Jazz Jennings, …
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Kate DiCamillo’s Upcoming Novel Selected for ‘One Book, One South’
As part of the program, SIBA member bookstores will hold events throughout April 2016, culminating in a May 6 Facebook event in honor of Children’s Book Week. The thing that is …
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Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger Makes Its Humble Debut
A long time ago, origami was mainly in the shape of swans or flowers, but then Tom Angleberger came along with Origami Yoda, teaching the wise ways of taking paper …
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National Ambassador Gene Luen Yang on Inclusive Reading
Yang believes that the key to creating a more diverse and inclusive society lies in “Reading Without Walls.” A piece of the solution is empathy. I think encouraging people to …
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Statement From Scholastic On Claim of Self-Censorship By Advocacy Groups
New York, NY – PEN and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) issued a statement on Friday, January 22, 2016, questioning Scholastic for withdrawing the book, A Birthday Cake for …
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Debra Samdperil Named Assistant Executive Director of Programs, the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers
NEW YORK – January 21, 2015 – The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, a 501(c)(3) national nonprofit organization whose mission is to identify students with exceptional artistic and literary …
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#DrawingDiversity: ‘Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton’ by Don Tate
Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton by Don Tate (Peachtree, September 2015). All rights reserved. @peachtreepublishers
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Scholastic’s Self-Censorship: A Birthday Cake for George Washington
NEW YORK, NY — The National Coalition Against Censorship and the PEN American Center released a statement criticizing the decision by Scholastic to pull the book A Birthday Cake for George Washington …
