A Sea Change In Diversity Of Children's Literature & International Nelson Mandela Day

JANE ADDAMS CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD CALL FOR COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP

The Jane Addams Peace Association seeks committee members for the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Committee (JACBA). We are looking for members with diverse perspectives and identities among parents, teachers, librarians, activists, and child advocates, all with knowledge of children’s literature. JACBA selection committees are comprised of nine to twelve people serving three-year terms. Applications are due no later than Monday, August 19, 2019. APPLICATION FORM

Special Note for 2019/2020

JAPA announces changes in the JACBA selection process and its calendar year. The award remains grounded in its established guidelines for book eligibility and criteria while stepping into a more intersectional, representative, democratic, and public process. Please note the following:

The award year will transition from a calendar year to November 1 of one year to October 31 of the next.
To facilitate this transition, books published between January 2019 and October 31, 2019, will NOT be considered for the award.
A year-long selection process, based in monthly meetings via an online collaborative platform, will be followed with the publication of shortlists of nominees for Younger and Older Children in October of each year.
Winning and honor titles in each category will be announced at the end of January.
Initially, flexibility in term lengths for individual members will be needed to assure a staggered rotation of committee members in future years.

PLEASE SHARE THIS CALL WIDELY

INTERNATIONAL NELSON MANDELA DAY 2019: BOOKS ON THE ICON KIDS NEED TO READ

Award-winning author-illustrator Kadir Nelson narrates the story of the global icon in this book in free verse coupled with glorious illustrations. The young readers are sure to be inspired by Mandela’s efforts and struggle to create a more just world.

CHARTING THE SEA CHANGE IN DIVERSITY OF CHILDREN’S BOOKS, FROM THE 1950’S TO NOW

A short but sweeping journey through African American experience fills “The Undefeated” by Kwame Alexander; illustrated by Kadir Nelson. The prefix “-un” unifies a pantheon of powerful words to recall a proud but often painful past. “Unforgettable” for those like Jesse Owens; “unflappable” for painters and poets; “unafraid” for audacious black soldiers fighting for an imperfect Union; “unspeakable” for the Middle Passage slave trade and later murdered youth in Birmingham, Ala., and Ferguson, Mo….

WE LIVE IN A DIVERSE WORLD. THE BOOKS KIDS READ SHOULD REFLECT THAT

When I jumped into “Piecing Me Together” by Renee Watson last fall, I walked away with a new perspective on the ways students of color may feel when offered opportunities (with the best of intentions) that don’t feel like opportunities to them at all. And I can still conjure inspiration for new beginnings and courageous acts from Jacqueline Woodson’s “The Day You Begin.”

THIS WRITER’S JOB: GET YOUNG PEOPLE TO SEE POETRY EVERYWHERE

Who are the cultivators of contemplation in U.S. society? One of them is Naomi Shihab Nye, the latest young people’s poet laureate. She encourages slowing down as a way to see the extraordinary in every life.

“It’s easy to turn an eye away from the people who don’t match us and try to find just the ones who do,” she says. “But when you do that I think you’re destined, in true America, for heartbreak and loneliness.”

SVA AND SAN DIEGO COMIE-CON: 2019 PREVIEW

In The Factual and The Actual, author and illustrator John Hendrix will discuss the potential for exploring science, history, space and other non-fiction topics through sequential art. His young adult graphic novel, The Faithful Spy, told the true story of a World War II resistance fighter and was published last fall.

MALALA YOUSAFZAI MEETS PRIVATELY WITH 20 OMAHA PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS

Be kind, Malala told the students. Do good work. Don’t let fear guide you. And understand the importance of education.

A LIFE OF LEARNING ABOUT – AND FROM – ANIMALS

We typically hear what scientists have learned about animals. And Sy Montgomery’s career as an author and naturalist has taught her plenty about animals, from octopuses to moon bears. Along the way, Montgomery has also been learning from the animals she has studied and cared for, and those lessons are the focus of her latest book, How To Be A Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals.