Carole Boston Weatherford Tells The Story Of The Amazing Grace

JOHN NEWTON’S SONG OF PRAYER

You’ve sung the words countless times. You’ve heard the song in many places. But did you know the true story of the classic hymn?

Most people haven’t, but in “How Sweet the Sound,” author Carole Boston Weatherford tells it with couplets more powerful than a storm at sea; indeed, this book is little more than a poem written in descriptive style, but sparsely, which lends more weight to each careful word.

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NOTABLE AUTHORS AND ILLUSTRATORS HIGHLIGHT THE IMPORTANCE OF REPRESENTATION

Many contemporary children’s books are both mirrors and windows, showing children the connections among all people. (Andy Ryan / Getty Images)

“Collaborating with Salva Dut to write ALong Walk to Water provided me with a window in a way that I never could have imagined — not just for me but for the young readers of the book, who have subsequently reached out to communities in South Sudan. Those readers have gone from looking in the window to leaping right through it!” — Linda Sue Park, Author of A Long Walk to Water

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‘UNDOCUMENTED’ IS A PICTURE BOOK THAT’S NOT JUST FOR KIDS

There are millions of undocumented workers in the United States. That part of the workforce is economically significant but not often heard from. Author and illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh, a dual Mexican and American citizen who grew up on both sides of the border, is trying to tell the story of some of those people in a picture book. Tonatiuh has nine previous books, all meant for children, but his latest, called “Undocumented: A Worker’s Fight,” is aimed at adults.

LESLEY UNIVERSITY AUTHORS WIN MASSACHUSETTS BOOK AWARD HONORS

Goodman won the best Picture Book/Early Reader Award for “The First Step: How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial.” The book tells the true story of Sarah Roberts, the brave girl who fought to desegregate Boston’s public schools in the 1800s.

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CELETE NG, MICHAEL BESCHLOSS, LUIS ALBERTO URREA, AND JACQUELINE WOODSON TO HEADLINE TEXAS BOOK FESTIVAL GALA

Jacqueline Woodson won the National Book Award for her book “Brown Girl Dreaming,” and is also the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, the winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, the Newbery Honor Medal, the Caldecott Medal, and the Poetry Foundation’s Young People’s Poet Laureate among others. Her new book, “Harbor Me” focuses on issues of race, immigration, and incarceration from the perspective of six troubled students.

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HOW NAOMI SHIHAB NYE’S POEM ‘VALENTINE FOR ERNEST MANN’ CHANGED MY CREATIVE LIFE COMPLETELY

In the poem, Nye describes how poetry is found and created organically — not ordered. She writes:

“So I’ll tell a secret instead:

poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes,

they are sleeping. They are the shadows

drifting across our ceilings the moment

before we wake up. What we have to do

is live in a way that lets us find them.”

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HOW DO WE TELL A NEW GENERATION OF TEENAGERS ABOUT THE VIETNAM WAR?

The first photos in Elizabeth Partridge’s ambitious BOOTS ON THE GROUND: America’s War in Vietnam underline the fact that this was a young person’s conflict. Teenagers and those who had recently been teenagers formed the majority of ground troops “in country.”

But Partridge omits other facts about Vietnam that run against certain American exceptionalist myths…

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SAVE THE DATE: JANE ADDAMS CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD CEREMONY

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2018 AT 2:30 PM

777 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA FL 2 (44TH & 1ST)

A memorable afternoon of award presentation and responses by authors and illustrators. Meet and talk with the honored guests, including Award winners and honorees. Enjoy a reception and an opportunity for book signing after formal presentation of the awards. All the award books will be available for purchase. This event is free and open to all. Reservations are not needed. Can’t come to NYC? Follow the ceremony as it is live streamed! (Details of streaming to be announced at a later date.)

Jane Addams Peace Association

Jane Addams Peace Association