notable Notables

Thanks goodness for the ALA Notables list--it's a great consolation when favorite titles find a home there.  I do wish the Notables didn't have to include all of the other ALA award winners and honor books; it seems redundant.  Fortunately, they also include books by international authors and illustrators (which are not eligible for the Newbery or Caldecott), so April and Esme, Tooth Fairies by Bob Graham (Candlewick) is on the list, as well as The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood (illustrated by Renata Liwska; Houghton Mifflin), and, in the Older Readers category, Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve (Scholastic).

Other notable Notables I haven't mentioned elsewhere (there were lots in my Caldecott Hopefuls post!): Rubia and the Three Osos by Susan Middleton Elya, illustrated by Melissa Sweet (Hyperion); and Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Josee Masse (Dutton).

Which of these should I review first?  (Yes, I'm still reviewing 2010 titles.  It's a copyright date, not an expiration date!)

Maybe a Newbery story

Here's my story: I met Rita Williams-Garcia at ALA last summer.  She was signing One Crazy Summer (Amistad).  I hadn't come prepared to buy any books (I know; silly me!) and was counting out my loose change in hopes of having enough for one copy when someone at the booth took pity on me and let me have it for the cash I had on hand.  I was debating whether to ask Ms. Williams-Garcia to sign it to Leo or Milly and decided to ask her to sign it to both, remarking that they could fight over who got to keep it after it won the Newbery.  At that point,  the same someone (thank you!) handed over another copy and Rita came out from behind the signing table, gave me a hug and whispered, "From your lips to God's ear."  I hope so!

Art and books together

I've been reading and writing about art and museum-related children's books--and there are so many, from nonfiction picture books to middle grade novels--since bookstogether began in 2007; more so since last fall when I became a school docent candidate at the National Gallery in Washington, DC.  Now I'd like to focus my attention (and yours!) on art and children's books together.

Not to worry:  I'll still post about the Newbery Award, and Swedish children's literature, and what we're reading more generally.  But I'm excited about this new focus for bookstogether, and I hope you'll join me here for author interviews, reviews, activities, and links related to art and children's books.

Ambassador Katherine Paterson

This just in:  Katherine Paterson will be named the next National Ambassador for Young People's Literature tomorrow (PW, SLJ, and NYT).  She succeeds Jon Scieszka, who was our first ambassador and by all accounts (Mary Lee has collected some from around the kidlitosphere in thank-you post at A Year of Reading) did a bang-up job.  Thank you, Jon Scieszka!

And congratulations, Katherine Paterson!  I'm so pleased with her appointment.  Paterson has always been a favorite of mine; I'll read anything she writes (including her essays on religion and writing).  Most recently, that was her latest novel, The Day of the Pelican (Clarion, 2009), about an Albanian girl and her family who have to flee from Kosovo (and has anyone else noticed that there were a number of excellent middle-grade novels that involved wars in 2009?).  Most often, it's Bridge to Terabithia.