WHOSE LIFE STORIES ARE BEING NEGLECTED IN PICTURE BOOKS? – MAY 4
The event will tackle key issues related to diversity such as whose life stories are celebrated versus whose are often ignored and not told. The event will also take a look at how thoughtfully these life stories are written for young readers, and look at which authors are telling these stories.
A deep-dive panel discussion about the making of award-winning picture book biography, Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave. The panel will include the book’s author Laban Carrick Hill, illustrator Bryan Collier, and art director Patti Ann Harris.
A panel discussion around the theme of diversity in picture book biographies. Panelists will include author and illustrator Javaka Steptoe…
MARTIN’S BIG WORDS BY DOREEN RAPPAPORT & BRYAN COLLIER
‘EVERY CHILD SHOULD FIND THEMSELVES IN A BOOK’ SPEAKING WITH ILLUSTRATOR MELISSA SWEET
Her (Melissa Sweet’s) next book, due out in June, is a collaboration with Kwame Alexander, called How To Read A Book: A Focus on Non-Fiction.
“Every child entering a library, entering school, is going to pick a different book. It’s imperative for them to find their book.”
She says that not every kid is going to be attracted to the most popular or classic children’s books.
“It could be the quirkiest book on the planet, that maybe didn’t have a big market, and that kid, they see themselves in that book,” she says. “Every kid needs to see themselves in a children’s book and we need as many as we can publish that are true, and authentic, and speak to a child.”
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IT’S POETRY MONTH, AND “THE UNDEFEATED” CELEBRATES AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO PERSEVERED
Each month, “The Reading Quilt” provides a short review of a book that teachers can use to spark conversations about culture and race, along with a learning activity that may help students understand human behavior.
…rare is the teacher who shelves Seuss and Silverstein to celebrate the poetry of a People. Penned by Kwame Alexander and illustrated by Kadir Nelson, The Undefeated (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019), is a tribute to the African American warriors who refused to taste defeat.
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COMING VERY SOON 2019 JANE ADDAMS CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT
GEORGE ELLA LYON TO SPEAK AT BEREA COLLEGE COMMENCEMENT
Originally from the mountains of Harlan, Kentucky, Lyon says growing up surrounded by extended family and their stories helped develop her voice as a writer. Her Appalachian roots figure prominently in much of her work. Lyon has written more than 40 books, including the poetry collection “Mountain,” which won the Lamont Hall Award in 1983, and “Catalpa,” which was named Appalachian Book of the Year in 1993.
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AT TED, SARAH KAY AND JACQUELINE WOODSON SHOW HOW YOUR STORY DICTATES YOUR LIFE
..Jacqueline Woodson shared her legacy as a storyteller. It goes well before her, back to her Southern ancestors who were stripped of their African identities and pulled into slavery. They were not allowed to become literate because, as she shared, knowing and sharing our story empowers it. It is our identity.
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IMAGINATION: NOTES FOR SESSION 6 OR TED2019
Jacqueline Woodson, award-winning author and savorer of stories
- Big idea: Reading slowly is a simple, fulfilling way to counter the whiplash of technology and the speed of life today.
- How? Take your sweet time, says Jacqueline Woodson. Stories should not only be honored but savored, too.
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BESTSELLING AUTHOR JACQUELINE WOODSON’S NEW BOOK COMING OUT SOON
Jacqueline Woodson’s upcoming novel Red at the Bone is a multi-generational story for adults which is set in Brooklyn. Red at the Bone explores subjects like identity, class, status, ambition, parenthood and gentrification. The book highlights how sometimes young people have to make important decisions which have long-lasting impact, even before they figure out themselves.
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STATE OF WONDER
Jacqueline Woodson is making up for lost time. In her celebrated books — especially those for young audiences — she creates the characters that were noticeably absent from her own childhood reading material. Many of these characters are people of color, who she hopes her readers will see as reflections of themselves, or windows to different experiences.
LISTEN HERE…
THE FLATWATER TALES RETURNS JUNE 1
The Flatwater Tales Storytelling Festival, featuring three world renowned storytellers, returns to Oak Ridge on Saturday, June 1.
(Among the three…)Carmen Agra Deedy, an award-winning author and teller from Decatur, Georgia, is a renown children’s author and storyteller. Born in Havana, Cuba, she came to the U.S. as a refugee in 1964.
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BOOK REVIEW: TAKE THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED…AND TAKE THIS BOOK WITH YOU
Based gently on actual historical events and a few real people, this is one of those books that can yank a kid back nearly a hundred years in time, to a reality they might only know from schoolbooks. To do that, author Joseph Bruchac lends no romance to anything in his book: people die in “Two Roads,” racism is harsh, poverty happens, and folks go hungry. That won’t scare kids, so much as it’ll put Depression-era life into a perspective they can understand while they’re reading an absolutely fine coming-of-age story.
