3 Things I Am Doing Today...What's YOUR Fingerprint?

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Howdy, Campers, and Happy Poetry Friday! (The link to PF and my poem are below.)

Today's TeachingAuthor topic is "What are you working on now?" An alternate topic I could have chosen was: "Since the ALA awards were announced this week, what is your reaction as a writer to the success/acclaim for other writers. Does it inspire you, or make you envious?

All last year I was thinking about the fact that we are each a fingerprint. We can only help another so much. Ultimately, each person must discover what works in her life; what her fingerprint is.

So...what am I working on now? You mean, what am I doing today?

Well. 

That's a tough one.

To be honest...

I'm not sure.

I'm so tired of the dead bodies of stories that stretch back for decades. It's not that they are unfinished. Most of them are finished. The problem is that they're not quite right. I listen to my critique group or a workshop teacher or a mentor or my best friend but mostly myself...and know that I haven't quite touched the heart of the story; it doesn't yet move the reader. I haven't gone deep enough.

I hear their comments, each given kindly in the belief that I can fix the story and then--TA-DAH! I'll send it off with a note in its lunchbox to an editor and it will roll back to me on a rose covered float with a publishing contract in hand.

I hear them. I understand that I need to jump from this lily pad to that one, by the far edge of the pond... But I can't seem to make the changes. I don't know how.

photo by me

This is hard to admit!

In my over-thirty year career as a children's book author and poet, I've seriously considered leaving the profession once before.

I remember that I was driving two hours home from ALA in San Diego on a rainy night. I had just come from a private party, celebrating an award for the book of a dear friend. And I was sobbing.

I passed a billboard featuring a beautiful baby. Maybe I should quit writing and adopt a baby, I thought.

I didn't know if I could go to one more conference where there seemed to be so much success. It was if I had stepped into Facebook where only fabulous things happen to people. I couldn't stand it anymore.

That's not exactly how I feel now. I can celebrate other people's success today. I wish I were feeling anger or rage or defiance. I'm not. What I'm feeling is heart-sickness.

So, what am I working on now? Figuring it all out: who I want to be. What I want to do. Whether I ever want to write again. (That last sentence is not exactly true. Keep reading.)

Some of this upheaval is due to the current political landscape. Part of me feels I have to stop my life and help save the world. But maybe part of me wants to do this precisely because that would be easier than wading through my confusion and sadness. Hard to know.

So here's what I'm doing:

1) For today, I am writing one poem and also writing beside my sister TeachingAuthors. I love writing a poem a day, which I've done since April 1, 2010. I send them to my friend and he sends me his. I won't stop writing a poem a day, nor will I stop blogging, which has opened a door for me I didn't even know was down the hallway.

2) For today, I have not quit my verse novel...the one I wrote and which was accepted for publication by Dial Books for Young Readers over a decade ago and then cancelled, and which I've been writing and finishing and rewriting and rewriting and not writing and nearly setting fire to since 2002. It's bubbling just under my skin. For today I am letting it bubble.

3) For today, I am listening to my own fingerprint. Just for today I am not listening to mentors or workshop leaders or best-selling writing books or even my beloved fellow writers. Just for today, I am listening to what feels right for me, teaching what feels right for this class, for this poem, for this picture book, for this novel. Maybe what I write doesn't fit into today's publishing world. And I have zero desire to self-publish. But still I think about my verse novel almost every day. Mostly with sadness, but with a touch of desire. And some small hope that maybe I haven't yet lived the part of my life that needs to be added to it to complete this book. And others, too.

"I haven't yet lived the part of my life..." Yet is a powerful word.

A month after the election, I was reading about the eyes of flies, for reasons which escape me now:

"House fly eyes are compound organs that are comprised of thousands of individual lenses. Compound eyes are capable of detecting both the polarization of light and color spectrums unseen by humans.” http://www.orkin.com/flies/house-fly/house-fly-eyes/

Reading that triggered the poem I wrote that day, which even I don't understand:

WHAT KEEPS ME GOING
by April Halprin Wayland

"Why," asked Sir Spider, "are you an optimist, friend Fly?"

"I've iridescent eyes," said the ever watchful fly...

and then she said, "Good-bye!"

poem (c) 2017 by April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.

For today, those are three things I am doing and an odd poem. That's my fingerprint. What's yours?

Thank you, Beyond LiteracyLink for hosting today ~

Posted by April Halprin Wayland with the help of Eli, who slept quietly on his doggy couch while I wrote.

Hello Again

Happy New Year!  I'm happy to be back this week as a "guest blogger" -- especially on this most exciting day when the children's book world celebrates its equivalent of the Academy Awards.

As most of you probably know, you can follow the live feed of the ALA announcements here:
http://live.webcastinc.com/ala/2014/live/

Yay, librarians!  Yay, writers, illustrators, and editors!

I have been enjoying my hiatus from blogging duties to relax, read (gasp), and yes, even work on my own writing -- that is, when I'm not teaching, working at my day job, or schlepping my kids all over central Maryland.  The opportunity to "fill the well," as they say, has been much needed and most welcome.

While I have been on a bit of a reading binge, I admit that I haven't run out to acquire most of the (I'm sure fabulous) books on this year's Mock Newberys lists.  [Here, by the way, is an awesome Mock Newbery blog.] I have made no secret in the past of my populist tastes, and a colleague I respect very much who writes literary fiction recently said something very revealing to me.  She shared that she enjoyed dabbling in writing for kids because "it's okay to have a happy ending."  The fact that it's not okay to have a happy ending in "serious" works probably wholly explains my populist taste.  As someone who's suffered from depression my entire adult life, I frankly don't enjoy reading books that depress me.  

(courtesy of Way Off Broadway)

Over the holiday break, my daughter was cast in a local production of The Sound of Music, and we have been glorying in listening to My Favorite Things on endless repeat.  I also introduced her to my favorite childhood show, The Brady Bunch, and she prefers it to all of our Netflix offerings. Eight is such an amazing age -- that blend of wit, innocence, intelligence, ignorance.  I honestly wish I could freeze this moment in time forever. 

But while I grew up in an era of Little House and The Waltons, it's now a world of Dance Moms and the Kardashians and Justin Bieber.  The catch word is "edgy."  Scan the list of acclaimed books, and count how many feature dead parents, siblings, mental illness, war, or some combination thereof.  Certainly these books are necessary and important, and I would never want to imply otherwise. I also greatly appreciate the fact that today there is a place for heroines like Katniss (even if I can't bring myself to read anything about vampires or dystopian societies).  At the same time, I wish there were more appreciation today for the literary "comfort food" that sustained me through my childhood.  I believe there is still an appetite for the cozy, (and yes, cozy can be realistic!) family stories that I loved and that my daughter still loves today.

In some ways, our kids are so sadly wise in the ways of the world.  Yesterday I had to tell my daughter about a mass shooting at "our" local mall, which we visited just last week.  Experienced in "duck and cover" drills as she is, she barely reacted to the horrifying news.  At the same time, I never thought that I would have an almost-nine-year-old who still believed in Santa -- and she is far from alone among her peers.  Technology is, I'm sure, a big part of the reason -- in this Internet age, Santa's rapid transit feats no longer seem quite so impossible; and those video chats and apps featuring the "man" himself add credibility, too.  But I also suspect that our kids want to cling to the innocence of childhood, to be kids longer than they are often allowed to be.

At least in the field of picture books, happy innocence is still the rule.  If you're looking for something to warm your heart, don't forget to enter the giveaway for Jill Esbaum's delightful new book, I Hatched!
Click here for contest details.

Congratulations to Jill on her recent book birthday and to all of today's ALA nominees and winners! -- Jeanne Marie

Caldecott's 75th Anniversary! Poetry Friday! And Zounds--Sounds!

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Howdy, Campers!

First of all, I'd like to apologize for pushing the "publish" button instead of the "save" button when I was composing this post yesterday.  As a result, my weird and clearly unfinished post went out to our subscribers above Carmela's wonderful Wednesday Writing Workout (which I highly recommend reading.)  Oy!

Onward...to Poetry Friday!

Thank you, Amy of The Poem Farm for hosting today!

My poem is below.  :-)

Breaking News: the American Library Association is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Caldecott Award at its annual conference!  Right now--right this very minute!

Here's one fascinating fact from the ALA's beautifully put together scrapbook of all things Caldecott:

Until 1958, an artist could not be awarded more than one Caldecott Medal unless the committee's vote was unanimous. In his letter responding to the news, Robert McCloskey expresses his surprise at winning the award a second time.

Except for his first picture book and his last one, Robert McCloskey won either a Caldecott Medal or a Caldecott Honor for every picture book he published. 

And check-out Brian Selznick's design of the 75th anniversary logo.

Here's a 1:03 minute video of last year's Caldecott honor winner, John Rocco, talking about The Phone Call...the moment he learned he'd won the Caldecott honor for his book, Blackout:

and here's a funny-weird 1:49 minute video about getting ready for
this year's Newbery/Caldecott banquet...

And, yes, it's Poetry Friday!  My poem was inspired by Carmela's Wednesday Writing Workout, in which author Melanie Crowder suggests that sounds can spark writing ideas.

But where to start--what sound?  How about applause--applause for all Caldecott winners (and those hard-working Caldecott committee members)? There are so many different kinds of applause, including this and this--which is the applause before a concert begins.  That's the sound that stuck with me.  Here's my rough draft:

INSPIRED BY THE SOUND OF EXPECTANT APPLAUSE
by April Halprin Wayland

On stage:
tune strings,
star in the wings.

In your seat:
fleet squeaks,
copious creaks.

Clap-clap-clap!
Toe-tapping beat,
Impatient feet!

Rise in your seat,
stomp on the floor,
awaken your core!

And even before his wild art starts,
roar
for more!
poem © 2013 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved

TeachingAuthors will be taking a vacation from July 1-July 12, 2013.  Ta-ta!  Bye-bye!  Take time to write! See you soon, Raccoons! 

By April Halprin Wayland, who thanks you from the bottom of her little heart for reading all the way to the end. 

Announcing Our Book Giveaway Winner, a Writing Exercise, and Poetry Friday!

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Howdy, Campers!  Author and illustrator Barney Saltzberg is a generous soul, and in his Friday the 13th interview, he offered an autographed copy of his fun and amazing book, BEAUTIFUL OOPS to one of our readers.

And the lucky, randomly chosen winner is...

Sarah Albee--yay, Sarah (who's an amazing author--check out her website)!
Here's Sarah's Beautiful Oops:
My oops moment happened when I was a very junior editor at Sesame Street. I was editing my first big book, a SS songbook (because I was the only editor in my dept who could read music and play piano). I went over to Jeff Moss's house (composer of Rubber Duckie) to show him some song arrangements, and when we got to People In Your Neighborhood (his song) we both stared at the composer credit, which read Joe Raposo (his long-time rival and writer of Bein' Green, among many others). Jeff was notoriously curmudgeonly, and I knew there was a good chance he would flip, even though of course it was just galleys and there would be plenty of opportunity to change it. So I quickly made a joke about it (along the lines of how interchangeable he and Joe were, whatevs). After five tense seconds, he grinned broadly. And we became fast friends.

So...drawing the winning name, watching the exciting announcements of the ALA awards (I felt as if I were in the audience!) and reading Carmela's, Mary Ann's, JoAnn's, Esther's, and Jeanne Marie's fabulous and thought-provoking posts about awards, got me to thinking about winning...

photo courtesy morguefile.com

...which inspired this poem for Poetry Friday, graciously hosted today by Jim at HeyJimHill!

WINNING
by April Halprin Wayland


I sit under this tree
to sit under this tree.


Not to win anything.
Just me and tree.


If the wind happens to drop
a sweet plum in my lap, though,


I would never say no
to a plum.

Today's Writing Workout: WINNING AND LOSING

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1) Take a few minutes to think about how do you feel about winning and losing. About tests and competitions. About gold stars, trophies and medals.

2) On paper, brainstorm your childhood winning and losing memories. Think back to the night before a competition...or the day of. Or the day after.

3) Circle the memory that calls to you.

4) Write a poem or story using this memory as the seed.

5) And remember to write with joy!  Write as if you're finger painting!

(ALL Teaching Authors' Readers are winners.

This tiara's for you.)

poem and drawing (c) 2012 April Halprin Wayland

Interview Wednesday, and a Bit More on the ALA Awards

I'm hosting the Kidlit Interview Wednesday round-up here on our TeachingAuthors blog this week. Actually, I'm writing this post on Tuesday afternoon, but I'll schedule it to go live just after midnight (with my fingers crossed) so that early risers and bloggers around the world can share their links whenever it's convenient. If you have an interview you'd like to share, just post a comment below containing the url. The interview should meet the criteria listed at the end of this post. I'll check back during the day to add your links to this post. If you have a blog related to reading, writing, or publishing books for children and you'd like to host Interview Wednesday, visit the official Kidlit Interview Wednesday sign-up page.

You'll find the interview roundup below. First, I want to say a bit more about the ALA awards, the topic of our current series of posts. Yesterday was the first time I've watched the announcements live (thanks to the ALA webcast). I joined the program in progress, just as they announced that the winner of the Coretta Scott King Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement was Ashley Bryan. A shiver of delight went through me--I'd heard Ashley Bryan read years ago at one of our Vermont College residencies. His reading was electrifying! His love of story and poetry and literature shone through in his voice, gestures, and facial expression. I'll never forget that day. So yesterday when they announced the winner of the Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, I was thrilled to hear not only his name, but also the cheers and applause of all the attendees expressing their approval. Congratulations to author-illustrator Ashley Bryan on his well-deserved award!

Yesterday, Mary Ann shared the titles of the winners of the Newbery, Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, and Printz winners. You can read the entire list of ALA award winners in their official press release. You can also watch the webcast of the ALA award announcements.

If you're looking for more great titles to read after you finish the ALA award winners, head over to the official SCBWI blog for links to other award lists. Or consider signing up for the Newbery reading challenge being hosted by a K-5 teacher-librarian at the Watch. Connect. Read. blog or the Caldecott reading challenge organized by a K-8 library media specialist at LibLaura5.

And now, for the Interview Wednesday roundup so far:

• Be sure to read April's great interview with author-illustrator Barney Saltzberg here on our TeachingAuthors blog. Barney has some terrific advice about writing rhyming stories, and he shares a fun writing exercise. He also talks about the inspiration for his inspiring picture book Beautiful Oops. And don't forget--you have just until 11 pm CST today, Jan. 25, to enter for a chance to win your own autographed copy of Barney's book. See April's interview for all the giveaway details.
• My good friend Karen Schreck and her "book twin," Katherine Grace Bond, interview their Sourcebooks editor, Leah Hultenschmidt at the Crowe's Nest blog.
• On Monday, the Literary Rambles blog featured a fun panel interview with five middle-grade girls who love to read. I especially enjoyed one girl's response to the question: Are there things your favorite authors could do that would make you more likely to visit their website, their blog, or become a fan on Facebook? Her answer: Write more books. :-) 
• Iron Guy Carl at the Boys Rule! Boys Read! blog has posted a fun interview with Lenore Look, author of the Alvin Ho books. 
• Laurina at We Love Children's Books shared an interview with Jack Gantos about Dead End in Norvelt, his newly-crowned Newbery winner
• And, speaking of award winners, my co-blogger JoAnn shared two more interviews: Virginia Euwer Wolff's interview with Thanhha Lai regarding her National Book Award and Newbery Honor Winner Inside Out & Back Again, and Chris Raschka's interview with NPR about his Caldecott Honor Book, A Ball for Daisy.
• Margo at The Fourth Musketeer shared an interview with Kristin Levine author, author of The Lions of Little Rock, a historical novel set in 1958.
• Today, Heidi at Geo Librarian posted an interview with Kate Coombs, author of Hans My Hedgehog: A Tale from the Brothers Grimm.
• Greg Pincus also posted an interview today on The Happy Accident blog. He asks children's author Eve Yohalem about social networking, self-publishing vs traditional publishing, and building a platform. 
• And how could I forget: On Monday, The Pen and Ink blog posted an interview with picture book author Bill Kirk. 

Do you know of an interview that meets the following criteria? If so, please post the url in the comments below. I'll check back later to add the new links you provide.

1.The interviews must be with someone in the field of children’s/young adult literature, including authors, illustrators, editors, agents, and librarians.

2. Interviews may feature writing tips, illustration tips, cyber tips, etc., as long as the information pertains to children's/young adult literature.

3. Interviews may be written, audio, or video.

Happy writing (and reading!)
Carmela

Envelope please...and the winners are...

      In case you haven't been parked in front of a computer since the crack of dawn, hoping for leaking news from the Newbery-Caldecott committees, here they are--the 2012 American Library Association award winners:
     Newbery--Jack Gantos for Dead End in Norvelt

     Honors--Eugene Yelchin--Breaking Stalin's Nose
                   Thanhha Lai--Inside Out and Back Again

     Caldecott--Chris Raschka for A Ball for Daisy

     Honors--Patrick McDonnell--Me...Jane
                   Lane Smith--Grandpa Green
                   John Rocco--Blackout

     Coretta Scott King Award Author:  Kadir Nelson for Heart and Soul
                                           
     Honors--Patricia McKissack--Never Forgotten
                   Eloise Greenfield--The Great Migration

     Illustrator--Shane W. Evans for Underground:  Finding the Light to Freedom

     Honors--Kadir Nelson--Heart and Soul


     Printz--John Corey Whaley for Where Things Come Back

     Honors--Maggie Stievater--Scorpio Races
                    Craig Silvey--Jasper Jones
                    Christine Hinwood--The Returning
                    Daniel Handler (aka "Lemony Snicket")--Why We Broke Up

     Congratulations, one and all. And now let the speculations fly! All over the country book lovers are cheering or gnashing their teeth or wondering why it will take "one to three weeks" for Amazon to get the book in stock. (Answer...the publisher was caught without sufficient inventory for a huge sudden sale rush.)

     I shall keep my own observations to myself, except for the fact that I have never been right about the big awards. The closest I have gotten to predicting correctly is for the honors books (this year I had Inside Out and Back Again on my list). Mysterious are the ways of The Committees.

     Other observations--this is the first time in a long time that there was not one single dystopian novel on the list! Can life be getting better??  There were a lot of historical novels (yippee, since I write historical novels). Only one truly contemporary book (Why We Broke Up).  All the award winning illustrators were also the authors of their books.  What does this mean? I have not the slightest idea.
 
    All I know is that I have a lot of good reading ahead of me (I did read all the Newbery honors and winner in advance, but none of the Printz books).

Mary Ann Rodman
P.S. You can still enter our drawing for an autographed copy of Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg. Read April's interview. Then post a brief comment sharing an "oops" in your life and how you (or someone else) turned it into something beautiful. Be sure to include an email address (format: teachingauthors at gmail dot com) or a link to an e-mail address. Or you can e-mail your comment to teachingauthors at gmail dot com with "Contest" in the subject line. Entry Deadline is Wednesday, January 25th, 11 p.m. (CST). You must have a U.S. mailing address to win. The winner will be announced on January 27th. Good Luck!

Working My Way through the Year's Best Books

Esther's heart quickens in January with thoughts of authors and illustrators about to be surprised with happy news. Mine jumps for joy at the end of each year with the buzz about praiseworthy new books to read. I scour the award lists for intriguing titles and authors whose names I recognize. Here are some sources to browse for your next exciting read:

Cybils awards are given each year by bloggers for books and book apps in eleven children's and young adult categories: Book Apps, Easy Readers & Early Chapter Books, Fantasy & Science Fiction (Middle Grade), Fantasy & Science Fiction (Young Adult), Fiction Picture Books, Graphic Novels, Middle Grade Fiction, Nonfiction for Middle Grade & Young Adult, Nonfiction Picture Books, Poetry, and Young Adult Fiction.

The CCBC-Net listserv holds monthly discussions about literature for children and young adults. Every December, members discuss their favorite books of the year.

The Mock Newbery 2012 group on Goodreads has 537 members; the group chose Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt as its winner. Honors included Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu, Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai, and A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.

USA Today called Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai and Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt favorites in several polls.

Mock Newbery awards are held by many schools and libraries. Some results are posted online:

Heavy Medal, a Mock Newbery Blog from School Library Journal, posted results and a description of the deliberations from the Rockridge branch of the Oakland Public Library for the annual Mock Newbery. Their winner? Amelia Lost by Candace Fleming. Honor books were A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and I Broke My Trunk! by Mo Willems.

Other results were reported from Queens Library, including the winner, Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt and one Honor, Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick. The Maryland Library Association's winner was also Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt.

After discussing thirty titles, the ACPL Mock Newbery from the Children's Services department of the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, selected one winner, Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai, and one honor book, Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt.

As I pore over each article, I'm adding new titles to my must-read list and deliberating about my own favorites. Happy reading!
JoAnn Early Macken

P.S. You can still enter our drawing for an autographed copy of Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg. Read April's interview. Then post a brief comment sharing an "oops" in your life and how you (or someone else) turned it into something beautiful. Be sure to include an email address (format: teachingauthors at gmail dot com) or a link to an e-mail address. Or you can e-mail your comment to teachingauthors at gmail dot com with "Contest" in the subject line. Entry Deadline is Wednesday, January 25th, 11 p.m. (CST). You must have a U.S. mailing address to win. The winner will be announced on January 27th. Good Luck! 

Those Medals and Medallions!

I confess: my heart quickens this time every January when I think about the children’s book creators whose lives are about to be fortuitously changed, thanks to the awarding of a literary medal.

The night before the American Library Association announces the recipients of its awards for distinguished children's books, I fall asleep contented, knowing someone somewhere is about to be surprised!

[Note: ALA announces the awards Monday, January 23, at 7:45 am CST from the Dallas Mid-Winter Meeting.]

Two of last year’s winners, first-time author and Newbery medalist Clare Vanderpool (Moon Over Manifest, Delacorte Press) and first-time illustrator and Caldecott medalist Erin Stead (A Sick Day for Amos McGee, Roaring Brook Press) gave all book creators hope.

To me, giving hope to the reader is what our Children’s Book World is all about.
Jeanne Marie said it best in her Monday post when she reminded us we are writing for children.
To my way of thinking, a children’s book must always leave the reader hopeful. Not with the proverbial happily ever after ending; simply with the possibility that we could live happily ever after.

The brilliant editor Jean Karl, who headed Atheneum and discovered award-winning authors Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Judy Viorst and E.K. Konigsburg, wrote, “A good children’s book respects a child’s intelligence, his pride, his dignity, and most of all his individuality and his capacity to become.”

I have but one Very High Bar when it comes to choosing award-winners: Is this a book I’d want to passionately read aloud to my fifth graders, were I teaching? Is this a character who could and would change the way my students view themselves, each other, the world?

For those reasons, I so wanted Jack Gantos’ Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000) to win the Newbery. There’s an ADD Joey in every classroom, waiting to be understood.

For that reason, I so wanted Ruth White’s Little Audrey (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008) to win too. These are Hard Times in which we live; wouldn’t it be nice to know that if Audrey could make it in her depressed Virginia coal-mining town in 1948, so could we today. Booklist editor and reviewer Ilene Cooper starred this book, describing it as “tough and tender.”

Jennifer Richard Jacobson’s as small as an elephant (Candlewick Press, 2011) is tough and tender too and my hopeful Newbery pick.

Here’s the press release:

“Ever since Jack can remember, his mom has been unpredictable, sometimes loving and fun, other times caught in a whirlwind of energy and "spinning" wildly until it's over. But Jack never thought his mom would take off during the night and leave him at a campground in Acadia National Park, with no way to reach her and barely enough money for food. Any other kid would report his mom gone, but Jack knows by now that he needs to figure things out for himself — starting with how to get from the backwoods of Maine to his home in Boston before DSS catches on. With nothing but a small toy elephant to keep him company, Jack begins the long journey south, a journey that will test his wits and his loyalties — and his trust that he may be part of a larger herd after all.

Here are but two of the many starred reviews:

“This simply written but emotionally rich tale of an 11-year-old boy abandoned by his bipolar single mother will kindle profound responses in young readers." — Booklist Starred Review

“…Jacobson has great success putting readers inside Jack’s not-always-thinking-things-through mind, and by the end of the story, nicely tied together by the elephant theme, Jack comes to realize that he hadn’t been alone, that family and people he didn’t even know were there for him in a 'makeshift herd.' The happy yet realistic ending leaves Jack (and readers) 'light-headed with hope.'” – Horn Book

And here’s what Jennifer wrote:

"I believe in Jack and his ability to understand his mother in shades of gray. I believe in his ability to be fiercely independent: to try and try and try . . . and at the same time to recognize that he needs others. That others are right there, waiting to catch him."

I want young readers everywhere to know Jack, to take heart and hope from his quietly-powerful story.

Ironically, I’m cheering on between shades of gray (Philomel, 2011), Ruta Sepetys’ first novel, for Prinz attention.
The novel is based on Sepetys’ family. It tells the story of 15-year-old Lina who in 1941 is pulled from her Lithuanian home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death in a prison camp.
The concluding Author’s note begins with the words of Albert Camus: “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”

I am obviously, unabashedly all about Hope. 
(Were this post about the Cubs, I'd tell you this year is The Year!)

Yesterday, the Association of Jewish Libraries announced the 2012 Sydney Taylor Book Award winners.

Hurrah! and Mazel tov! to Michael Rosen and Robert Sabuda for their Younger Readers winner Chanukah Lights (Candlewick), Susan Goldman Rubin for her Older Readers winner Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein (Charlesbridge) and Robert Sharenow for his Teen Readers winner The Berlin Boxing Club (Harper Teen/HarperCollins).

My fellow TeachingAuthor April Halprin Wayland and her picture book New Year at the Pier (Dial, 2009) won this honor in 2010.

As luck would have it, one very cold January afternoon in 2003, I was one of those “someone’s, somewhere,” when AJL’s Dr. Libby White phoned to tell me my picture book Chicken Soup By Heart (Simon and Shuster, 2002), gorgeously illustrated by Rosanne Litzinger, would be wearing a Sydney Taylor gold medallion.

I hadn’t even known the book was being considered!

I sat on my living room couch for 30 minutes, waiting for Dr. White to phone me back, to tell me she’d made a terrible mistake.

When she didn’t call, I finally pinched myself, teared a bit, then out-and-out wept.

2011 saw more than 10,000 children’s books traditionally published.

I smile thinking about all those stories,
medaled or not,
making their way to readers,
there for the taking,

and the handful of deserving creators about to be surprised.

I offer my Hurrahs! early, often, sincerely.

Esther Hershenhorn

P.S.

You can win too this January!

Don't forget to enter our latest TA Book Giveaway (from April's most recent post):

To enter our drawing for an autographed copy of Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg, post a brief comment sharing an "oops" in your life and how you (or someone else) turned it into something beautiful. Be sure to include an email address (formatted like: teachingauthors at gmail dot com) or a link to an email address. OR...you can email your comment to teachingauthors at gmail dot com with "Contest" in the subject line. Entry Deadline is Wednesday, January 25th, 11 pm (CST). You must have a U.S. mailing address to win. The winner will be announced on January 27th. Good Luck!

Awards and Accolades

Awards season is officially upon us.  I know this because I sort-of watched three hours of Golden Globes last night, even though I had seen very few of the nominated shows or movies.  Pretty dresses.  (But what was Meryl Streep wearing?)  Some great speeches -- I'm thinking in particular of The Help's Octavia Spencer, quoting Dr. King: "All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance."

Likewise, it is now Awards Season (with capital letters) in the kids' book world.  Each year, it seems that the ALA is inventing a new award to bestow.  (Is it just me?)  I remember being at Vermont College when the Newberys were announced and the flurry of excitement of being in the presence of big-time award-winning authors.  The excitement, the adrenaline.  Heady times.

To be honest, I am THE WORST TA to be kicking off this new topic.  As I have proudly admitted on numerous occasions, I have populist taste.  Many of the "brilliant, dazzling" books that wow awards committees are not the books that excite me.  Of course I have adored (ADORED) many of the Newbery winners through the years.   I was looking at the book discussion lists for this year's awards -- for some reason I have not read many this year, though several are on my dying-to-read list.  Usually the ones I most admire are the ones that make the list but never win.  Quiet books (not too quiet), relatable books, books that I would have read ten times when I was ten years old.  

My daughter is old enough now to vote for our state books awards (the Black-Eyed Susans), and I admit that those are the awards that guide MY reading choices.  We are not writing for Newbery committee librarians, after all.  We are writing for children -- which should always be a labor of infinite dignity and importance. 

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Don't forget to enter our latest TA Book Giveaway (from April's most recent post):
To enter our drawing for an autographed copy of Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg, post a brief comment sharing an "oops" in your life and how you (or someone else) turned it into something beautiful. Be sure to include an email address (formatted like: teachingauthors at gmail dot com) or a link to an email address. OR...you can email your comment to teachingauthors at gmail dot com with "Contest" in the subject line. Entry Deadline is Wednesday, January 25th, 11 pm (CST). You must have a U.S. mailing address to win. The winner will be announced on January 27th. Good Luck!