Notes from The Max

2011 Children's Book Week

Starting next Monday, May 2nd, it will be time again for Children's Book Week, the oldest national literacy event in the United States. From May 2nd to May 8th, young readers across the country will celebrate the world of books, authors and stories.

Events will be held in several states throughout the week, but the official celebration will kick-off on Saturday April 30th, as National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Katherine Paterson hosts an event in New York City. Among her other duties during the week, Paterson will also judge the CBW writing contest. Co-sponsored this year by the Bookemon website, children will be able to write and illustrate their own picture book and submit it to the contest. The winner will receive a gift certificate, allowing him or her to have his or her book printed and shared with family and friends.

Other official Children's Book Week events will take place at Wellesley Booksmith in Wellesley, MA. On May 2nd, children's author Jacqueline Davies will read from her book, The Lemonade Crime, served alongside - what else - lemonade. On Thursday May 5th, middle-grade and young adult author Karen Day will be at the store. If you're unable to attend any in-store events, you can celebrate online with Story Snoops. The website will be hosting a series of interviews with various authors, including 2011 Newbery Award winner Clare Vanderpool.

The highlight of Children's Book Week remains the Children's Choice Book Awards, which are given to books voted on by children and teens. Many popular books are among this year's middle grade and teen finalists, including The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan, It's a Book by Lane Smith, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, and Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. Awards will also be handed out to the Author of the Year and Illustrator of the Year. Readers can vote online until April 29th.

For more information about Children's Book Week, please visit the CBW website.

 

Literary March Madness

Leave the basketballs to the sports fans and grab your books!

It's March Madness and while basketball aficionados are glued to the television watching their favorite teams play game after game, literature fans have their own way of celebrating with several annual "battle of the books." Various publications and websites hosted battles relating to literary fiction, fantasy novels, children's book and even cookbooks; there's something for every reader.

Each year, School Library Journal takes charge of the children's and young adult March Madness by hosting The Battle of the Kids' Books. During this friendly competition, 16 of the very best children's books from the previous year are pitted against each other. Led and moderated by the Battle Commander, SLJ selects judges from the children's literature world to read, then choose, between two of the books. This year's judges include well-regarded authors such as Francisco Stork, Mitali Perkins and Grace Lin.

Choosing between two worthy, but often quite different, books is a difficult task for these judges. Many times, several of the books have won numerous awards - how can one possibly stack up against another? Each judge writes a blog post explaining his or her thought-process and, essentially, defending his or her ultimate choice. Some judges even get creative with their decision - author Barry Lyga wrote his as a one-act play between himself and his clone. Readers participate by voting for their favorite book in the "Undead" poll, which gives the winner a second chance and allows that book to come back from "the dead" to battle against the final two contenders.

There are always surprises during the Battle of the Kids' Books and 2011 is no exception. Among them: One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia has already been knocked out of contention in round one! Williams-Garcia book was a 2011 Newbery Honor book, winner of the 2011 Coretta Scott King Book Award, winner of the 2011 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction AND a 2010 National Book Award finalist. And yet it seems even the mighty One Crazy Summer couldn't stand the heat of Battle of the Books.

Though it may come back in the final round as the "Undead" winner, Williams-Garcia's loss proves that during March Madness - even March Madness with books - anything can happen.

Coming Soon: 2011 Essay Judging

Last week, the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring and spring means it's time once again to pick this year's Max Warburg Fellows.

The Max Warburg Courage Curriculum's 2011 Essay Judging - our 20th Anniversary Year Essay Judging - will take place on Wednesday, March 2, 2011, at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square. We will gather in the conference rooms on the Lower Level of the McKim Building.

As in years past, we will have two sessions: a morning session from 9am to 12pm and an evening session from 5:30pm to 8:30pm. Each session will begin with a brief introduction to the essay judging process by our coordinator, Lexa Marshall. Essay judges work collaboratively to choose the best possible essay for inclusion in our 20th volume of The Courage of Boston's Children.

If you are interested in attending or would like more information, please visit the Events page of our website.

2011 Amelia Bloomer Project List

There are many books available that encourage young readers to dream big and celebrate what makes them unique. Each year, the Amelia Bloomer Project, part of the ALA's Feminist Task Force, sets out to find and recommend the best books for young girls - and boys - from birth to age 18.

Each recommended book has significant feminist content, excellent writing and is age appropriate for a specific age group. These books celebrate and honor strong, smart girls - many of whom act courageously to break barriers, bring about change and help others - and give children of all ages (and genders) examples to look up to.

Amelia Bloomer Project's Recommended Titles are divided into three categories: young readers, middle readers and young adults. Each category is furth divided by fiction and nonfiction. The AB Project also releases a Top Ten list, featuring books that are appropriate for all ages.

The Amelia Bloomer Project is currently accepting field nominations for its 2012 list. If you have a book you would like to nominate, read through the book criteria and then fill out a form. Nominations are open until October 1, 2011.

5th Annual CYBIL Awards

On January 1st, the organizers of the Children's and Young Adult Bloggers Literary Awards (more commonly known as CYBILs) announced the finalists for the awards.

The CYBIL awards seek to reward children's and young adult authors (and illustrators) who write and create books that have both high literary merit and "kid appeal." The CYBIL organizers describe the award as "organic chicken nuggets: we're yummy and nutritious." The CYBILs strive to bring children's and YA literature bloggers together to form a community, to highlight the best reviews of children's and YA books and provide a space for book bloggers to communicate with one another.

This year, CYBILs will be awarded in 11 different categories, including (1) middle grade fantasy and science-fiction; (2) young adult fantasy and science-fiction; (3) middle grade novels; (4) young adult novels; and (5) middle grade and YA nonfiction. Among the finalists in these categories were some of the recent recipients of ALA's Youth Media Awards:

• Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes (MG Fantasy/Sci-Fi; a Coretta Scott King Author Honor book)
• Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (YA Fantasy/Sci-Fi; the Printz Medal winner)
• Stolen by Lucy Christopher (YA Novels; a Printz Honor book)
• The Dark Game: True Spy Stories by Paul Janeczko (MG and YA nonfiction; a YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Honor book)
• Kakapo Rescue by Sy Montgomery (MG and YA nonfiction; winner of the Robert F. Sibert Medal)

For a full list of all CYBIL finalists, please visit their website. The winners of the CYBIL awards will be announced on February 14th.

2011 Youth Media Awards

Earlier today, the American Library Association announced the winners of the 2011 Youth Media Awards.

The Newbery Medal is given to the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The 2011 Newbery Medal winner is Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool. This year's Newbery Honor books are: Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman, Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus, One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia, and Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm.

The Michael L. Printz Awards is awarded for excellence in young adult literature. Paolo Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker won the Printz Award, while the following four books are Printz Honor books: Stolen by Lucy Christopher, Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King, Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick and Nothing by Janne Teller. 

The Margaret A. Edwards Award honors an author, as well as a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature. The 2011 Edwards Award was given to Sir Terry Pratchett.

The YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults during a November 1 – October 31 publishing year. Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing by Ann Angel is the 2011 Excellence winner. Four other books were finalists for the award: They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti; Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement by Rick Bowers; The Dark Game: True Spy Stories by Paul Janeczko; and Every Bone Tells a Story: Hominin Discoveries, Deductions, and Debates by Jill Rubalcaba and Peter Robertshaw.

The Alex Awards are given to the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences:

• The Reapers Are the Angels: A Novel by Alden Bell
• The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
• The House of Tomorrow by Peter Bognanni
• Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue
• The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant
• The Radleys by Matt Haig
• The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton
• Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
• Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard by Liz Murray
• The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To by DC Pierson

Please visit the ALA's website for a complete list of winners.

Best of 2010

As the year winds down to a close, here is a look at some of the best children's and young adult books from 2010.

• School Library Journal released its "Best of 2010" list, divided into fiction, nonfiction and picture books. According to SLJ editors, fantasy books continue to dominate the top spots, with books that are "frightening, edgy, wildly funny, electrifying, and magical, with protagonists fighting evil in brilliantly created new landscapes, realms, and kingdoms, as well as in our world."
• SLJ also released its list of the Best Adult Books For Teens, books that are typically published for adult audiences but that will also appeal to older teen readers. This list has fiction and nonfiction selections and includes one of the most buzzed-about books of 2010, Emma Donoghue's Room.
• Kirkus Reviews divded its list of top 2010 books into children's and teens categories, then further subdivided the books by genre (such as books that "make you think," sci-fi and historical fiction). Kirkus culled their list from the thousands of reviews they write each day, selecting the best of the very best.
• Like SLJ, Publisher's Weekly distinguished their best 2010 children's and YA books by sorting them into three categories: fiction, nonfiction and picture books. The fiction category contains books for both middle grade and high school readers, and includes many of the books that earned starred reviews from PW earlier in the year.
• Boston-based children's publishing magazine Horn Book offered up their Fanfare 2010 list, revealing its best children's and young adult books of the year. In addition to picture, fiction and nonfiction books, Horn Book also singles out folklore and poetry books.
• Bookselling powerhouse Amazon.com goes into great detail with its Best Books of 2010 lists: there are lists for both middle grade readers and teens, and editors' picks and customer favorites. And for those tech-savvy readers with a Kindle or e-reader, Amazon also lists its choices for the best e-books of the year. 
• If the above selections weren't enough, there are list "best of 2010" lists from Barnes and Noble and the Columbus Dispatch and for local readers, Boston Globe's 10 Glittering Stars of 2010.

Several books appeared on a number of lists, indicating both widespread popularity and critical acclaim. These titles include Alchemy and Meggy Swan (Karen Cushman), Revolution (Jennifer Donnelly), Incarceron (Catherine Fisher), One Crazy Summer (Rita Williams-Garcia), Will Grayson, Will Grayson (John Green and David Levithan), Mockingjay (Suzanne Collins), Countdown (Deborah Wiles) and Fever Crumb (Philip Reeve).

Taken all together, these lists provide a glimpse into a year in children's and young adult publishing. And, as we move towards the new year, more books will start to get their time in the spotlight as we anticipate the Newbury and Printz awards, which will be announced at the American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting in January.

The Weather Outside is Frightful

Here in Boston, it's the season for warm coats, hats, gloves and scarves as the temperature drops and snow starts to fall. Inspired by the winter season, here are some cold and icy reading suggestions for middle grade and teen readers. Be warned, though: you might want to make sure you have a blanket near by, just in case you start to shiver.

• A Kingdom Far and Clear - Novelist Mark Helprin teamed up with award-winning illustrator Chris Van Allsburg to create a trilogy of illustrated novels: Swan Lake, A City in Winter and A Veil of Snows. Set in a fictional wintry world, this trio of stories retells the classic ballet Swan Lake, then imagines the tumultuous consequences and events of years later. 
• The Golden Compass - The first novel in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series, this book sees young Lyra Belacqua travel to the cold, arctic north and to Svalbard, home of the armoured ice bears. 
• Brian's Winter - In this alternate ending to Paulsen's Newbery Honor-winning book Hatchet, Brian's Winter imagines what would have happened if Brian had not be rescued and instead had to learn how to survive in the wilderness during the winter.
• Ice - In this novel based on "East of the Sun, West of the Moon," Sarah Beth Durst weaves a modern-day fairy tale. Cassie, who lives in an Arctic research station with her father, has her life change in an instant when a polar bear approaches her and asks her to be his bride.
• Odd and the Frost Giants - In this Neil Gaiman story written for World Book Day, Odd is a young Norseman who leaves his village and befriends a trio of animals, who are really gods in disguise and who need his help to outwit the Frost Giant.
• The Snow-Walker Trilogy - from the author of the highly praised Incarceron (Catherine Fisher) comes this trilogy of people ruled by an evil snow-walker, her half-human son and the clever girl determined to see the rightful heir back on the throne. 

Enjoy!

December News from The Max

December - and cold weather - are officially here. In between holiday shopping and seasonal parties, you may have missed some of the literary-related news in recent weeks, so here's a quick overview from The Max:

• Finalists for a couple of American Library Association Youth Media Awards have been announced. YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association, a branch of the ALA has revealed the five finalists for the Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults award and the William C. Morris Award, which honors a book written for teens by a previously unpublished author. The nonfiction finalists include Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing; They Call Themselves the KKK; Spies of Mississippi; The Dark Game; and Every Bone Tells a Story. The Morris finalists are: Hush; Guardian of the Dead; Hold Me Closer, Necromancer; Crossing the Tracks; and The Freak Observer. The winner will be announced at ALA's Midwinter Meeting in January, along with the winners of the Newbery, Caldecott and Printz awards.
• Saturday December 4th was the First Annual Take Your Child to a Bookstore day. The grassroots campaign was started to encourage parents and guardians to bring their children to a bookstore and hopefully instill a lifelong love of reading. Bookstores across the country - including some in Medford and Andover, MA - particpated by scheduling family-friendly activities. Organizers hope to make this event a yearly occurance.
• A new social networking site called Figment is aimed at literary-minded teens. The project, which launched on Monday December 6th, allows teen writers and readers to post their own writing - whether it's a novel in progress, short stories, poems or more - and then give and receive feedback from the community of users. Approximately 4,000 teens registered as Figment users in the first day. 
• Scholastic, which is the largest publisher and distributor of children's books, recently released a list of the top 10 trends in children's literature for 2010. Among the popular trends are a growing young adult audience (thanks to the many adults who read YA), an increased interest in both dystopian fiction and mythology-based stories, more books in a diary or journal style and less attention on picture books.

Any big stories you think we missed? Let us know in the comments!

Happy Thanksgiving from The Max!

During this season of Thanksgiving, The Max would like to take the time to say "thank you" to all of those who help make our work successful: our Board of Trustees, our donors and supporters, our volunteers, Courage Curriculum teachers, students (past, present and future), parents and guardians. We are truly grateful!

We wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving filled with family, friends, fun and lots of pumpkin pie! And, of course, lots of reading!

All the best,

Elizabeth and Meredith

[Photo via Google Image Search]