All things Dr. Seuss were in the air Monday at the 42nd branch of the New York Public Library, including a sea of students sporting Cat in the Hat  hats in an attempt to set a Guinness Book World Record, a read-aloud of Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon, and even a visit from the Cat in the Hat himself. These festivities marked Random House Children’s Books and Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ launch of the “Hats Off to Dr. Seuss!” campaign, a yearlong celebration of the famed children’s book author that coincides with the 75th anniversary of The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins.

This first stop for the campaign also included an announcement of a new partnership between Random House Children’s Books, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, and the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation, an organization dedicated to finding a cure for pediatric cancer.

Throughout his career, Frasconi wrote and illustrated numerous children’s books, many of which were critically recognized. The American Library Association awarded its Caldecott Honor to his bilingual picture book The House That Jack Built/La Maison que Jacques a Batie (Harcourt, 1958), and a Notable Book Award to his bilingual The Snow and the Sun/La Nieve y el So (Harcourt, 1961). The Snow and the Sun also won a Horn Book Fanfare Award.

Frasconi’s other notable works for children include illustrations for Gabriela Mistral’s Crickets and Frogs: A Fable in Spanish and English (Athenium, 1972), which the American Institute of Graphic Arts presented in its Children’s Book Show from 1973–1974, and Mistral’s The Elephant and His Secret (Atheneum, 1974), which was chosen as a Child Study Association’s Children’s Book of the Year.

In 2005, relying once more on his trademark woodcuts, he illustrated a new edition of Langston Hughes’ poem in the picture book Let America Be America Again (Braziller, 2005). School Library Journal described his portrayal of the poem’s characters as “powerful,” with “especially moving faces” and “expressions that are at once individual and universal.”

Born in 1919 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Frasconi was raised in Uruguay but moved to the United States in 1945 after World War II. At age twelve, he worked as a print-maker’s apprentice and eventually went on to study at the Art Students’ League in New York. He briefly worked as a guard at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, where he later he presented his first solo art show.

Originally inspired by the woodcuts of Paul Gaugin, Frasconi’s own distinguished art career spanned over fifty years. He illustrated more than 100 books, including works by Pablo Neruda and Jorge Luis Borges, and his artwork has appeared in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Library of Congress, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, and in exhibitions worldwide.

His major acclaimed work, “The Disappeared,” depicts the torture, incarceration, and deaths of citizens in Uruguay during dictatorship. The dramatic series of woodcuts took him 10 years to complete.`

His first children’s book, the Caldecott Honor Anansi the Spider (Holt, 1972), based upon his animated film, retold the traditional West African tale of the clever and mischievous trickster. In his Caldecott Medal-winning Arrow to the Sun (Viking, 1974), McDermott once more recast one of his animated films in picture book format. The book retold the Pueblo tale of a boy who journeys to the sun to seek his father.

McDermott received both a Caldecott Honor and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Award for Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest, (Harcourt, 1993), a Native American tale of the birth of the sun which School Library Journal described as an “amusing and well-conceived picture book.”

In recent works such as Creation (Dutton, 2003), Pig-Boy: A Trickster Tale from Hawai’i (2009), and Monkey: A Trickster Tale from India (both Harcourt, 2011), McDermott turned to Aztec, Hawaiian, and Buddhist traditions to continue with his convention of bringing folklore to life.

In addition to his work as an author and illustrator, McDermott regularly shared his views on his craft with others through lectures and presentations. In 2001, he gave several talks in Japan, where his books have long been popular, and in 2003, he presented a discussion on picture book art at the Maui Writers Conference in Hawaii.

Born in 1941 in Detroit, McDermott displayed a passion for art early in life. At the age of four, he took classes at the Detroit Institute of Arts. McDermott went on to study at Cass Tech and then later at Pratt Institute in New York on scholarship. He then started a career as a filmmaker, producing short animated features on folklore, including “Anansi the Spider,” which garnered the American Film Festival Blue Ribbon in 1970.

“Gerald had an unusual talent for reaching both kids and adults; the six trickster tales he published with Harcourt certainly show his ability to reach across generations,” said Jeannette Larson, editorial director of Harcourt Children’s Books, who worked with McDermott. “His grasp of the cultural heritage behind his stories was impeccable, yet his books were never weighed down by his depth of knowledge. Every story is distilled to its essence; each one has a vein of humor that makes it accessible to even the youngest readers. And his artwork! Always stunning.”

“She lies like this mostly so that she can feel her hip bones against the floor, hard like rocks, leaving bruises.” In Alyssa Sheinmel’s Stone Girl (Knopf, 2012; Gr 9 Up), 17-year-old Sethie’s constant appraisal of her body has nothing to do with pride in her appearance; rather, it’s a symptom of the girl’s all-consuming desire for perfection and self-control.

A whip-smart, disciplined but tightly-wound senior at an elite Manhattan high school, Sethie is preoccupied with maintaining a sleek, slender body, overcoming her family’s financial obstacles to attend an Ivy League university, and retaining the attention of Shaw, the attractive but inattentive and capricious boy she’s dating. The overachieving teen has always engaged in ritualistic behaviors regarding food (counting calories, drinking large quantities of water before bed). However, her issues soon begin to escalate after she meets Janey, her confident and self-assured foil, whom Sethie views as physically ideal and who introduces her to bulimia. The realization that Shaw sees her not as a girlfriend but merely as a means for sexual gratification threatens to push Sethie further over the edge.

While Sethie’s descent is not portrayed as graphically as in books such as Laurie Halse Anderson’s Wintergirls (Viking, 2009) or Lesley Fairfield’s Tyranny (Tunda, 2009) (both her mother and a close friend intervene before her condition becomes extreme), the author thoroughly depicts the thought processes of someone suffering from an eating disorder through the girl’s obsessively vigilant observations about her own and others’ bodies: she admires Janey’s protruding clavicles, wishes that her own ribs are visible enough to count, and often catalogs what she perceives to be her facial flaws. Sheinmel has said by writing The Stone Girl, she sought to depict not a seriously ill adolescent but rather, “the girl who skates on the precipice of her disorder, not quite diving in.” As a result, Sethie’s plight will resonate not only with teens who have dealt with eating disorders but with any reader who has felt the unyielding pressure to conform to a just out-of-reach ideal.

Weighing in at  more than 400 hundred pounds, the 17-year-old title character of Erin Jade Lange’s Butter (Bloomsbury, 2012; Gr 9 Up) is physically restricted by his body–but more importantly, his size has resulted in his leading a merely half-lived life. He faces ridicule from his classmates; he is a gifted musician but his crippling self-consciousness prevents him from playing in public; and though he’s in love with the gorgeous, popular Anna, his interactions with her are limited to anonymous online conversations. When the bullying goes too far, he decides to commit suicide by overeating and creates a website where he will broadcast his own death. The site goes viral, and soon the obese teen is adopted by a popular clique that takes a morbid interest in Butter’s macabre plans.

While the hellish situations Butter’s tormentors have subjected him to are depicted in unflinching detail (he earns his nickname when a sadistic classmate force feeds him a stick of butter), his strong voice keeps this novel from becoming overwhelmingly bleak or melancholy. His wry observations are at times self-deprecating but never self-pitying (“See, there’s another awesome side effect of being 423 pounds: life-threatening diabetes”), and readers will root for this surprisingly appealing character. Lange keeps this dark novel firmly grounded in the realm of realism, refusing to veer down an artificially positive path in which Butter’s weight loss or social success is assured. Despite the unusual and potentially off-putting subject matter, however, Butter will provide plenty of fodder for in-depth discussions on depression, bullying, and familial dysfunction long after the book is over.

For many teenagers, the fantasy of becoming thin and attractive carries the same allure as a fairy tale ending. Fittingly, in Skinny (Scholastic, 2012; Gr 7-10), a story about an overweight 15-year-old girl named Ever who loses weight through gastric-bypass surgery, author Donna Cooner frames her protagonist’s physical transformation as a modern-day Cinderella story.

The novel opens with Ever as the long-suffering, overlooked member of her family: the mother whom she adored is dead, her father and stepmother barely acknowledge her, her gorgeous, airhead stepsisters view her with scorn, and except for one friend–the brilliant but awkward Rat–Ever is a pariah at school. But following her surgery, she sheds her drab, dull image in favor of a vibrant, new persona. Ever moves up the social hierarchy at school, finds herself flirting with an attractive and charming boy who barely acknowledged her before her weight loss, and develops the confidence to flex the musical and acting skills she’s been hiding for years.

However, Skinny is far from a simple makeover story, and Cooner expertly portrays the disconnect between Ever’s outward appearance and her inner emotions. The nagging voice in her head that continually expresses her feelings of self-doubt (“You’re still fat and ugly. Ugly. Ugly.”) refuses to be silenced, and she finds herself dissociating from her rapidly changing body (“I stare at my bare forearms on the desk. It’s like someone put the wrong arms on my body. Overnight.”). Not only are the technical aspects of this surgery explained in comprehensible terms, but readers will also easily relate to the emotional rollercoaster that accompanies Ever’s sudden metamorphosis.

Many teens cast a critical eye upon their perceived blemishes or physical flaws, but for the title character of Cris Beam’s I Am J (Little, Brown, 2011; Gr 9 Up), his body is a virtual prison that prevents him from living the life he wants. A biological female who considers himself male, J has coped with a body he views as foreign by shortening his name from “Jeni” to “J,” by hiding the curves that disgust him with oversize t-shirts, and by cropping his hair. But once he learns that there are other transgender individuals like him, J feels free to express his true gender for the first time. Complications arise when he tries to explain his feelings to others. J’s Puerto Rican mother and Jewish father have sacrificed for years so that their child can attend college, and they see his desire to obtain testosterone supplements and live as a man both as frightening and as a potential distraction from academic achievement.

Beam’s stark, straightforward prose sets the tone of the realistic, often harsh world J inhabits: his appearance results in bullying from others and his–not entirely unfounded–fears of disappointing his parents drive him to temporarily run away from home. Never romanticized, J’s raw, painful experiences are authentic; however, his small triumphs–such as successfully passing as male when he flirts with a girl or publicly displaying his photographs–infuse the novel with a genuine sense of hope. This unorthodox but poignant coming-of-age narrative sheds light on the gender issues with which many teens and adults are still unfamiliar.

Meghan McCarthy, Susan Kuklin, Sue Macy, and Deborah Heiligman at NYPL’s Ethics & Nonfiction Panel.

The best juvenile nonfiction strives to be both entertaining and enlightening, but writing a book that is both factually accurate and enjoyable can be a big challenge, says author and illustrator Meghan McCarthy. McCarthy was on hand recently to discuss these issues with some of her peers at New York Public Library’s latest literary panel, “Ethics and Nonfiction,” held on January 5. NYPL Youth Materials Specialist—and SLJ blogger—Betsy Bird moderated.

For these authors, a strong commitment to conveying the truth is paramount. When Deborah Heiligman wrote Honeybees (National Geographic, 2002), it wasn’t until the last possible minute that she noticed a factual error that the book’s illustrator had made: several bees are depicted flying in curlicues, not in a beeline as the insects actually travel. While it was too late in the publishing process to correct the mistake, Heiligman’s consternation over this relatively minor detail illustrates the strict allegiance that many authors have to accurately representing their subjects.

Panelists addressed the tension between crafting a good story and correctly portraying their subject. “It’s so hard to…infuse the story with excitement and stick to the letter of the law,” said Sue Macy, who wrote a precise history of women’s basketball in Basketball Belles (Holiday House, 2011) but wished that the book had been more entertaining in places. “I fight myself on this all the time because you want people to read the book but you also want to be accurate.” She is currently dealing with this very issue as she works on a picture book on women’s roller derby in the 1940s. One moment in her book—a character jumping over the railing during a game—may not have actually occurred, but Macy (who will note for readers that this detail represents creative license on her part) believes this addition will enliven the narrative.

Though Heiligman disagreed with Macy about this particular example, she, too, acknowledged the difficulty of adhering to the facts when constructing a narrative. In her picture book The Boy Who Loved Math (Roaring Brook, 2013), the story of Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdös, she eliminated a line about how her subject’s sisters died of scarlet fever while he was being born, stating that she felt this would set a depressing tone and distract young readers from the rest of the book.

Authors also discussed the problem of how to proceed when not all the facts are available to them. When Susan Kuklin wrote Iqbal Masih and the Crusaders Against Child Slavery (Holt, 1998), the story of a Pakistani boy who became an activist against child labor, she came across conflicting information about the boy’s death. Unsure whether his death at age 12 was an accident or murder, she included both possibilities in her book. In this case, this was a “blessing in disguise,” as it provided opportunities for students to debate this question for themselves.

Panelists concluded by discussing the problem of information that some might see as inappropriate for younger readers. When working on Mary Leakey: In Search of Human Beginnings (W.H. Freeman and Co., 1995), Heiligman had some reservations about depicting Leakey’s affair with Richard Leaky, wondering if it would affect book sales, but ultimately included it. Macy said that when she was recently asked to write a middle-grade book on astronaut Sally Ride, she needed to be able to include that Ride had a same-sex partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy. Though her publishers were wary of the book being labeled a coming-out biography, Macy felt strongly that she needed to incorporate Ride’s relationship with O’Shaughnessy in order to honestly portray her life.

Ultimately, Heiligman’s words underscored the importance of accuracy in children’s nonfiction: “We have to make the choices as nonfiction writers to be…honest and true.”

Elementary and Middle School

BRANSFORD, Nathan. Jacob Wonderbar and the Interstellar Time Warp. illus. by C. S. Jennings. 262p. Dial.Feb. 2013. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-8037-3703-7. Gr 4-6

D’LACEY, Chris & Jay D’Lacey. Rain & Fire. 304p. Scholastic/Orchard. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-545-41453-1. LC 2012014374. Gr 5-8 A companion guide to the Last Dragon Chronicles . Gr 5-8

FREDERICK, Heather Vogel. Wish You Were Eyre. 464p. (The Mother Daughter Book Club Series). S & S.2012. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-3064-8; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-1-4423-4199-9. Gr 6-9

FRIEDMAN, Laurie. Mallory and Mary Take New York. Bk. 19. illus. by Jennifer Kalis. 152p. Darby Creek. Mar. 2013. Tr $15.95. ISBN 978-0-7613-6074-2; ebook $11.95. ISBN 978-1-4677-0962-0. LC 2012019008. Gr 3-5

GUTMAN, Dan. Miss Kraft Is Daft! Bk. 7. illus. by Jim Paillot. 112p. (My Weirder School Series).HarperCollins/Harper. Jan. 2013. pap. $3.99. ISBN 978-0-06-204215-6. Gr 2-3

GUTMAN, Dan. You Only Die Twice. Bk. 3. 289p. (The Genius Files Series). HarperCollins/Harper. Feb. 2013.Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-06-182770-9; PLB $17.89. ISBN 978-0-06-182771-6; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-0-06-220284-0. Gr 5-8

HOLUB, Joan & Suzanne Williams. Pandora the Curious. Bk. 9. 256p. (Goddess Girls Series). S & S/Aladdin. 2012. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-5975-5; pap. $5.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-4935-0; ebook $5.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-4936-7. Gr 3-6

IRWIN, Bindi & Chris Kunz. Bindi: Behind the Scenes: The Wildlife Games. 192p. Trafalgar Square. Feb. 2013.pap. $11.99. ISBN 978-1-86471-839-3. Gr 3-6

KAIN, P.G. Dramatic Pause. Bk. 3. 288p. (Commercial Breaks Series). S & S/Aladdin. 2012. pap. $6.99. ISBN 978-1-4169-9788-7; ebook $5.99. ISBN 978-1-4169-9791-7. LC 2012948208. Gr 5-8

KESSLER, Liz. Emily Windsnap and the Land of the Midnight Sun. Bk. 5. illus. by Natacha Ledwidge. 272p.Candlewick. Feb. 2013. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-5824-3. Gr 4-6

KINNEY, Jeff. The Third Wheel. Bk. 7. illus. by author. 224p. (Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series). Abrams/Amulet.2012. Tr $13.95. ISBN 978-1-4197-0584-7. Gr 4-8

LASKY, Kathryn. Star Wolf. Bk 6. 246p. (Wolves of the Beyond Series). Scholastic. Jan. 2013. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-545-27962-8. LC 2012029320. Gr 4-6

MCCLINTOCK, Norah. Change of Heart. Bk. 7. 218p. ISBN 978-0-7613-8317-8; ISBN 978-1-4677-0701-5; ISBN 978-1-4677-0963-7.
–––– . In Too Deep. Bk. 8. 224p. ISBN 978-0-7613-8318-5; ISBN 978-1-4677-0702-2; ISBN 978-1-4677-0964-4.
ea vol: (A Robyn Hunter Mystery). Darby Creek. Mar. 2013. Tr $27.93; pap. $8.95; ebook $20.95. Gr 6 Up

MCDONALD, Megan. Stink and the Freaky Frog Freakout. Bk. 8. illus. by Peter H. Reynolds. 160p. Candlewick.Feb. 2013. Tr $12.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-6140-3; pap. $4.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-6422-0. Gr 1-3

MATT AND DAVE. Yuck’s Fart Club. illus. by Nigel Baines. S & S. 112 p. Jan. 2013. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-8153-4; pap. $4.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-8152-7; ebook $5.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-8154-1. LC 2012027627. Gr 3-4

PILKEY, Dav. Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxers. Bk. 10. illus. by author. 224p. Scholastic. Jan. 2013. pap. $9.99. ISBN 978-0-545-17536-4. LC 2012944030. Gr 3-6

RIORDAN, Rick. The Mark of Athena. Bk. 3. 608p. (The Heroes of Olympus Series). Hyperion/Disney. 2012.Tr $19.99. ISBN 978-1-4231-4060-3. LC 2012017264. Gr 5-9

SELFORS, Suzanne. Smells Like Pirates. Bk. 3. 384p. (Smells Like Dog Series). Little, Brown. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-316-20596-2. LC 2012028738. Gr 4-7

SMITH, Roland. I, Q: Kitty Hawk. Bk. 3. 230p. (I, Q Series). Sleeping Bear. 2012. Tr $15.95. ISBN 978-1-58536-605-7; pap. $8.95. ISBN 978-1-58536-604-0. Gr 5-8

SNIEGOSKI, Tom. Quest for the Spark. Bk. 3 . illus. by Jeff Smith. 288p. (Bone Series). Scholastic/Graphix.Jan. 2013. Tr $22.99. ISBN 978-0-545-14105-5; pap. $10.99. ISBN 978-0-545-14106-2. LC 2012025128. Gr 4-8

High School

CHIMA, Cinda Williams. The Crimson Crown. Bk. 4. 598p. (Seven Realms Series). Hyperion/Disney. 2012.RTE $18.99. ISBN 978-1-4231-4433-5. LC 2011053079. Gr 8 Up

CONRAD, Lauren. Starstruck. 294p. (A Fame Game Novel). HarperCollins/Harper. 2012. Tr $18.99. ISBN 978-0-06-207980-0. Gr 5 Up

CREMER, Andrea. Rise. 388p. Philomel. Jan. 2013. Tr $18.99. ISBN 978-0-399-15960-2. LC 2012012263. Gr 10 Up The continuation of the series that began with Nightshade and Wolfsbane .

DESTEFANO, Lauren. Sever. Bk. 3. 384p. (The Chemical Garden Trilogy). S & S. Feb. 2013. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-0909-5; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-0913-2. LC 2012015702. Gr 9 Up

EDWARDS, Eve. The Rogue’s Princess. Bk. 3. 272p. (The Lacey Chornicles) Delacorte. Jan. 2013. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-0-385-74093-7; PLB $20.99. ISBN 978-0-375-98976-6; ebook $10.99. ISBN 978-0-375-98339-9.Gr 9 Up

ESTEP, Jennifer. Crimson Frost. 384p. (A Mythos Academy Novel). Kensington/KTeen. Jan. 2013. pap. $9.95. ISBN 978-0-7582-8146-3. Gr 9 Up

FITZPATRICK, Becca. Finale. 464p. (The Hush, Hush Saga). S & S. 2012. Tr $19.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-2667-2; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-2669-6. Gr 9 Up

GODBERSEN, Anna. The Lucky Ones. 374p. (A Bright Young Things Novel). HarperCollins/Harper. 2012. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-0-06-196270-7. Gr 9 Up

KINCY, Karen. Foxfire. Bk. 3. 297p. (An Other Novel). Flux. 2012. pap. $9.99. ISBN 978-0-7387-3057-8. LC 2012019102. Gr 9 Up

LACKEY, Mercedes & Rosemary Edghill. Sacrifices. Bk. 3. 304p. (Shadow Grail Series). Tor. Apr. 2013. Tr $21.99. ISBN 978-0-7653-2852-0; pap. $21.99. ISBN 978-0-7653-1763-6; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-1-4299-9719-5. Gr 7-10

LORE, Pittacus. I Am Number Four: The Lost Files: The Legacies. 416p. 2012. pap. $9.99. ISBN 978-0-06-221110-1.
–––– . The Rise of Nine. 416. Feb. 2013. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-0-06-197458-8.
ea vol: (I Am Number Four Series). HarperCollins/Harper. Gr 7 Up

MOORE, Stephanie Perry & Derrick Moore. Settle Down/Be Real. Bk. 4. 310p. ISBN 978-1-61651-887-5.
–––– . Shake It/Got Pride. Bk. 5. 309p. ISBN 978-1-61651-888-2.
–––– . Yell Out/Do You. Bk. 3. 336p. ISBN 978-1-61651-886-8.
ea vol: (Lockwood Lions Series). Saddleback. 2012. pap. $14.95. Gr 7 Up

SCHREIBER, Ellen. Full Moon Kisses. 224p. (A Full Moon Novel). HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Bks. Jan. 2013. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-0-06-198653-6. LC 2012949623. Gr 7 Up

SHEPARD, Sara. Ali’s Pretty Little Lies. 292p. Jan. 2013. ISBN 978-0-06-223336-3. LC 2012950661.
–––– . Burned. 324p. 2012. ISBN 978-0-06-208192-6. LC 2012949622.
ea vol: (Pretty Little Liars Series). HarperCollins/HarperTeen. Tr $17.99. Gr 9 Up

SHIELDS, Gillian. Destiny. 374p. HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Bks. 2012. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-0-06-200041-5. Gr 7-10 The conclusion to the series that began with Immortal , Betrayal ,
and Eternal .

SMITH, Alexander Gordon. Execution. Bk. 5. 352p. (Escape from Furnace Series). Farrar. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-374-36224-9; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-0-374-32239-7. LC 2012004870. Gr 7-10

SMITH, L. J. Destiny Rising. Vol. 3. 394p. (The Vampire Diaries: The Hunters Series). HarperCollins/HarperTeen. 2012. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-0-06-201773-4.
Gr 9 Up

TANIGAWA, Nagaru. The Indignation of Haruhi Suzumiya. tr. from Japanese by Paul Starr. 224p. Little, Brown.2012. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-0-316-03900-0; pap. $8.99. ISBN 978-0-316-03899-7. LC 2012013848. Gr 7 Up

’Tis the season for prizes, including the 2012 Edublog Awards. Announced yesterday, the winners and runners-up include “Best Individual Blog,” “Best Twitter Hashtag,” and “Best Individual Tweeter.”

Sponsored by blogging service Edublogs, the awards are determined by a nomination process open to the general public, and winners and runners-up are chosen by vote. The awards were started in 2004 as a response to schools, districts, and educational institutions blocking the use of social media with the intention of promoting the importance and relevancy of these sites.

SLJ’s “Cool Tools” columnist Richard Byrne garnered both “Best Ed Tech/Resource Sharing Blog” and a runner-up award for “Best Individual Blog” for his site Free Technology for Teachers, where he provides practical tips for incorporating technology into the classroom. From apps that help students keep track of homework assignments and platforms for peer tutoring, to infographics on the solar eclipse and programs providing an in-depth look at human anatomy, Byrne’s site has something for everyone.

Bibliophiles looking for a site melding tech and kid lit will appreciate John Schumacher’s (aka Mr. Schu) Watch. Connect. Read (pictured), which was runner-up in the “Best/library/librarian blog” category. Exploring the world of book trailers, Schu’s blog also features interviews with authors and illustrators, revisits Newbery and Caldecott-winning books, and recently included the highlights of a Twitter chat about the “Babymouse” and “Lunch Lady” graphic novels. “Best Library/librarian blog” winner, Educational Blog, Iliana Ilieva-Dabova shares tips and suggestions for Bulgarian teachers creating lesson plans.

For educators eager for apps but overwhelmed by the vast selection, there’s the Edublog category “Best Mobile App.”: The winner, Flying Books, is based upon William Joyce’s short film and picture book The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (Atheneum, 2012), the story of a man who follows a flying book into a library where he spends years working. Runners-up included apps for Dropbox, which lets  users  share videos and images, Evernote, for storing ideas and notes, and the Night Zookeeper Drawing Torch, a game that features animals and monsters and that lets players tap into their drawing abilities.

“Best Student Blog” and “Most Influential Blog Post” went to Jaden, a student in California who blogs on subjects ranging from the past presidential election to the “Hunger Games” series at Jaden’s Awesome Blog. In “Ten things I’ve learned from blogging,” the fifth-grader shared wise words about lessons learned while creating a social media presence. Tips:  “When people are nice enough to comment on your blog, comment back so they will return to your blog,” “Don’t post pictures of yourself,” and “Add gadgets to make your blog the best it can be.”

The winner of the “Best Twitter Hashtag,” #UnfollowBullying was started by  the Elk Grove Unified School District as a way to take a stance against cyber-bullying. Best Hashtag runners-up included #comments4kids, providing ways for students and teachers to find blogs they’d like to comment on, and #slpeeps, for speech and language professionals.

@SpeechyKeenSLP won the “Best Individual Tweeter” award, while @ictmagic and @RossMannell were among the runners-up.

Making the most of Twitter was a common thread in this year’s awards. The runner-up for “Most Influential Blog Post,” “Nomenclature and basic functions of Twitter” by Lexical Linguist, for example, gives novices a “101” introduction to the social media platform, sharing pointers about hashtags, privacy issues, and how to interact with other users.

Other winners included Jamie Forshey, instructional technology coach and teacher at the Bellwood-Antis School District in Central PA, who took “Best New Blog,” for Edutech for Teachers and Tim Rylands, an experienced teacher from the UK known for his integration computer games and technology into the classroom, who won Edublog’s “Lifetime Achievement” award.

The award was first created two years ago and honors nonfiction titles published for young people ages 12-18.

The 2013 finalists are:

Titanic: Voices from the Disaster (Scholastic) by Deborah Hopkinson, an intricate examination of that fateful night that incorporates stories from Titanic survivors as well as detailed facts.

Bomb: The Race to Build — and Steal — the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon (Roaring Brook) by Steve Sheinkin, an enthralling, suspenseful account of how the work of scientists, spies, and saboteurs resulted in the atomic bomb.

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 (Farrar) by Phillip Hoose, which explores a species of bird that migrates hundreds of thousands of miles over the course of its life.

Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different by Karen Blumenthal (Feiwel & Friends) by Karen Blumenthal, a nuanced portrait of the late entrepreneur and innovator that delves into both his life and his myriad accomplishments.

We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March (Peachtree) by Cynthia Levinson, a meticulously researched photo-essay that chronicles the narratives of four young people involved in the Birmingham Children’s March.

“The committee is very proud of the five finalists,” Angela Frederick, chair of YALSA’s Nonfiction Award committee told SLJ. “I think each author succeeded in telling a true story in a fascinating way, and that is what will attract teen readers. There were many wonderful nonfiction books published for teens this year, and the committee struggled to narrow it down to the five that were ultimately chosen.”

YALSA will host a reception honoring both the finalist authors and the winner, as well as YALSA’s Morris Award winner and finalists, at a reception from 10:30 am to noon on January 28 in room 606 of the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle.

Members of the 2013 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults award committee are: Chair Angela Frederick, Nashville (TN) Public Library; Ruth Allen, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR; Roxy Ekstrom, Schaumburg (IL) Township Library; Angie Manfredi, Los Alamos (NM) County Library System; Judy Nelson, Pierce County Library System, Tacoma, WA; Maren Ostergard, King County Library System, Issaquah, WA; Laura Pearle, VennConsultants, Carmel, NY; Adela Peskorz, Metropolitan State University Library, Saint Paul, MN; Jennifer Rothschild, Arlington (VA) Public Library; Sara Morse, Nashville (TN) Public Library; and Gillian Engberg, Booklist, Chicago.

Sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the award recognizes a book written for young adults by a debut author.

The 2013 finalists are:

Wonder Show (Houghton Harcourt) by Hannah Barnaby, a dark tale of historical fiction about a teenager who joins a traveling sideshow as she searches for her father.

Love and Other Perishable Items (Knopf) by Laura Buzo, an unflinchingly honest story following a fifteen-year-old and her intense, but one-sided, crush on an older co-worker.

After the Snow (Feiwel & Friends) by S.D. Crockett, in which a teen boy searches for his family in a bleak, dystopian world of freezing temperatures, crowded cities, and a fascist government.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post (HarperCollins/Balzer & Bray) by emily m. danforth, a complex and poignant coming-of-age story of an adolescent girl, wrestling with the death of her parents and her own sexuality, who is sent to a conversion camp for gay teenagers.

Seraphina (Random) by Rachel Hartman, a fantasy about a girl who inhabits a world where dragons and humans uneasily coexist—and who is hiding a potentially devastating secret.

The finalists “may be first-time published authors, but they are writing with great polish and sophistication, and their books have themes or topics that are really relevant to teens’ lives,” Joy Kim, chair of YALSA’s Morris Award committee, told SLJ. Representing a wide range of topics and genres, the finalist list “reflects that teens have diverse reading interests,” she said.

The finalists and the winner will be honored at a reception hosted by YALSA, as well as YALSA’s Nonfiction Award finalists and winner, from 10:30 a.m. to noon on January 28 in room 606 of the Washington State Convention center in Seattle.

The award is named for William C. Morris, an influential pioneer in the world of publishing who advocated marketing books for children and young adults.

Members of the 2013 William C. Morris Award Committee are: Chair Joy Kim, Pierce County Library System, Tacoma, WA; Lee Catalano, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR; Diane Colson, Palm Harbor (FLA) Library; Michael Fleming, Pacific Cascade Middle School Library, Issaquah, WA; Sarah Holtkamp, Chicago Public Library; Shelly McNerney, Blue Valley West High School, Overland Park, KAN; Anne Rouyer, New York Public Library; Judy Sasges, Sno-Isle Libraries, Marysville, WA; Vicky Smith, Kirkus Reviews, South Portland, ME; Sandy Sumner, administrative assistant, Morehead (KY) State University Camden–Carroll Library; and Ilene Cooper, Booklist consultant, Chicago.

Kinney initially planned to publish comic strips in the same vein as those he grew up reading in The Washington Post, such as The Far Side or Calvin and Hobbes. When he wrote his first manuscript, the intended audience was adults. “I wanted Diary of a Wimpy Kid to be for grown-ups who had forgotten what it was like to be a kid,” Kinney told the audience during the event, which was broadcast live from Clayton High School in Missouri. But when his publishers persuaded him to market the series to kids instead, it was the beginning of a blockbuster career that shows no signs of slowing down.

These fun, fast reads center on Greg Heffley, a hapless but hilariously self-aware middle-schooler who ranks himself either the 52nd or 53rd most popular kid at school. Kinney uses a mixture of diary entries and simple, stick-figure drawings to chronicle how the beleaguered pre-teen navigates the various obstacles in his life, from Rodrick, his older brother whose sole mission is to torment Greg, to the phenomenon of middle school, which he describes as “the dumbest idea ever invented.” The Third Wheel takes Greg and his wimpy sidekick, Rowley, into unchartered territory—the school dance, girls, and dating.

Students and librarians alike adore the Wimpy Kid novels, but in his talk, Kinney underscored the long process it took to reach his current level of fame. He began working as a cartoonist when he was a student at Villanova University, drawing a character named Igdoof, an endearingly awkward freshman who would serve as a prototype for Greg Heffley. However, it would take another 14 years before Kinney published anything.

Kinney also described some of his inspirations. He attributes many of his drawing techniques to Big Nate author Lincoln Peirce, with whom Kinney corresponded for several years when he was a young, aspiring cartoonist. Kinney also said that he drew on his own childhood for some of Heffley’s misadventures. A scene of Greg in a swimsuit hiding out in the bathroom to avoid his swim team coach in the second Wimpy Kid book, Rodrick Rules, came straight from Kinney’s own experience.

The author also emphasized the labor that goes into writing and illustrating his novels. He typically writes twelve to thirteen full drafts of each. “They say writing is rewriting, and you should believe that. Your first effort is not your best,” he said. Kinney also described the painstaking process of designing and illustrating The Third Wheel. He spent 17 hours a day during the month of August refining the book’s illustrations and examined over 200 different paint swatches to find the perfect shade of brown for the cover.

Kinney also spoke of the opportunities brought by fame, including the thrill of seeing a giant Greg Heffley balloon aloft as part of the 2010 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. He encouraged students to pursue their passions: “I want to encourage every kid who has a creative thought to just develop it and believe in it, because one day your dream will fly.”

Librarian Allie Bruce reads Where the Wild Things Are to children at the Bank Street School for Children

As the disruption of schools in the wake of Hurricane Sandy continues to evolve—with 44 buildings in New York City sustaining severe damage—school librarians have stepped up to do their part. From educators reaching out to offer donations to those affected by the crisis, to librarians compiling resources to give emotional support to their students, the library sector is serving the community in this time of need.

Because libraries have a social function as well as an educational one within the school, many librarians will face unique challenges in the coming weeks, according to Meghann Walk, a librarian at Bard High School Early College Manhattan. She’s concerned about how the hurricane will affect her students. As BHSEC Manhattan is located in Zone A (a mandatory evacuation area), the school will temporarily relocate to its sister school, BHSEC Queens in Long Island City, about six miles away.

Two boys read together at the Bank Street School for Children.

Walk is keenly aware that students will be spending more time gathering in the library to share their experiences, but she also must ensure that they adhere to their schoolwork after a week of missed classes. “It’s going to be even more difficult than usual to figure out how to balance the ‘shushing’ librarian that helps students focus on their studies, and the ‘free range’ librarian that lets students engage in whatever (respectful) conversation they see fit,” says Walk.

Listservs were a godsend, enabling many librarians to communicate with each other during Sandy, including Andrea Swenson. A middle and high school librarian at East Side Community School, located on East 12th Street. Swenson has had experience with evacuations, as her school relocated to P.S. 1 and Norman Thomas High School in September as a result of structural damage. Swenson reached out over NYCSLIST, a listserv for New York City school librarians, in order to offer advice to those confronting the daunting task of moving to other buildings. Because librarians are members of the faculty who know most students, she says that they can support the emotional needs of students going to a school in a new building or neighborhood. Simply being visible and engaging with students one-on-one can be a comfort during an upsetting time. Swenson says that librarians “are in a unique position to support the community…[and] to provide…stability and…a friendly face.”

Other librarians support a sense of community even outside of their school environments. Margaux DelGuidice found that the Freeport Memorial Library in New York’s Nassau County, where she works part-time as a children’s services librarian, was a place of refuge for those affected by the hurricane. DelGuidice, who also serves as the librarian at Garden City High School, braved dangerous road conditions to make it to the public library on the evening of October 31. That night, the library was packed, with hoards of people crowding in to watch news updates on television or to take advantage of the available WiFi.

DelGuidice also described the vital social role of the Freeport Library, where many local residents come for English lessons. These patrons, in particular, she says, greatly appreciated having access to information from a trustworthy, authoritative source during such a frantic, frightening time.

DelGuidice also related a story of two boys in costumes who arrived with their father after trick-or-treating. Instead of asking for candy, the children gave staff members some of their own treats, and their father told the librarians, “Thank you for being here.”

Like Walk and Swenson, DelGuidice anticipates her school’s library filling an important need as students return to classes. The library is generally a hub of activity for her students, with hundreds visiting each day, and DelGuidice welcomes the opportunity to share useful information with her students and their parents, such as where to go for food or water distribution.

Children at the Bank Street School for Children read together.

At the Bank Street School for Children, a private preK to eighth grade school on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, the library offered childcare on Friday, November 2, to local parents who needed to go to work. Librarian Allie Bruce organized read alouds of several books by Maurice Sendak. Older children participated in informal discussions about censorship of Sendak’s In the Night Kitchen (Harper & Row, 1970), and helped read to the younger kids.

Cheryl Wolf, a school librarian, has received an outpouring of support after Sandy. Her library serves both the Neighborhood School and P.S. 63, two elementary schools in the same building located on East3rd Street. Though she still hasn’t been able to assess damage to her library, Wolf has already received offers of book donations from a group of teachers from across the country she had met at a recent National Endowment of the Humanities seminar.

Librarians have also used NYCSLIST to brainstorm ideas for relevant materials. Wolf already has several books that she’s planning to use with her elementary school-aged students, such as Kirby Larson and Mary Nethery’s Two Bobbies (Walker, 2008), Isabella Hatkoff’s Owen and Mzee (Scholastic, 2008), (picture books about animals who have survived disasters) and Myron Uhlberg’s A Storm Called Katrina (Peachtree, 2011). She also plans to create a bookmaking station in her library to give students the opportunity to write about hurricane experiences.

Overall, these librarians have worked to establish a support network in a time of crisis, both for each other and for their patrons. “I think people were just glad to have that human connection,” says DelGuidice, “someone to give them accurate information about the recovery efforts and assistance with deciphering all that happens next.”

Elementary and Middle School

BASYE, Dale E. Precocia: The Sixth Circle of Heck. Bk. 6. illus. by Bob Dob. 464p. Random. Feb. 2013. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-375-86835-1; PLB $19.99. ISBN 978-0-375-96835-8; ebook $10.99. ISBN 978-0-375-89885-3 . Gr 6-8

BLADE, Adam. Call to War. Bk. 3. 176p. (The Chronicles of Avantia Series). Scholastic. 2012. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-0-545-36156-9. LC 2012017288. Gr 5-7

BORGENICHT, David & Alexander Lurie. Deadly Seas: You Decide How to Survive. illus. by Yancey Labat. 208p. (The Worst-Case Scenario: Ultimate Adventure Series). Chronicle. Nov. 2012. RTE $12.99. ISBN 978-1-4521-0917-6. Gr 4-7

CHICK, Bryan. Traps and Specters. Bk. 4. 308p. (The Secret Zoo Series). HarperCollins/Greenwillow. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-06-219222-6; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-0-06-219224-0. LC 2012018010. Gr 4-6

DAVIES, Jacqueline. The Candy Smash. Bk. 4. 240p. (The Lemonade War Series). Houghton Harcourt. Jan. 2013. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-0-544-02208-9; ebook $15.99. ISBN 978-0-544-03567-6.
Gr 3-5

GIFF, Patricia Reilly. Sky High. Bk. 7. illus. by Alasdair Bright. 68p. (Zigzag Kids Series). Random/Wendy Lamb Bks. 2012. Tr $12.99. ISBN 978-0-385-74274-0; PLB $15.99. ISBN 978-0-375-99074-8; pap. $4.99. ISBN 978-0-307-97701-4; ebook $4.99. ISBN 978-0-307-97702-1. LC 2011049999. Gr 2-4

HARPER, Charise Mericle. Just Grace, Star on Stage. illus. by author. 208p. (Just Grace Series). Houghton Harcourt. 2012. Tr $15.99. ISBN 978-0-547-63412-8; ebook $15.99. ISBN 978-0-547-63413-5. Gr 2-4

HUNTER, Erin. Yellowfang’s Secret. Bk. 5. 528p. (Warriors: Super Edition Series). HarperCollins/Harper. 2012. Tr $18.99. ISBN 978-0-06-208214-5; ebook $11.99. ISBN 978-0-06-208217-6. LC 2012019087. Gr 4-6

KIRBY, Stan. Captain Awesome Takes a Dive. Bk. 4. ISBN 978-1-4424-4203-0; ISBN 978-1-4424-4202-3; ISBN 978-1-4424-4204-7. LC 2011023401.
––––. Captain Awesome, Soccer Star. Bk. 5. ISBN 978-1-4424-4332-7; ISBN 978-1-4424-4331-0; ISBN 978-1-4424-4334-4. LC 2011023402.
––––. Captain Awesome Saves the Winter Wonderland. Bk. 6. ISBN 978-1-4424-4335-8; ISBN 978-1-4424-4335-8; ISBN 978-1-4424-4336-5. LC 2011028700.
ea vol: illus. by George O’Connor. 128p. (Captain Awesome Series). S & S/Little Simon. 2012. Tr $14.99. pap. $4.99. ebook $5.99 Gr 1-3

LANE, Andrew. Black Ice. Bk. 3. 278p. (Sherlock Holmes: The Legend Begins Series). Farrar. Jan. 2013. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-0-374-38769-3. Gr 6-9

LYGA, Barry. Yesterday Again. 352p. (Archvillain Series). Scholastic. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-545-19654-3; ebook $16.99. ISBN 978-0-545-52032-4. LC 2012014423. Gr 5-7 MCDONALD,

Megan. Judy Moody’s Mini Mysteries and Other Sneaky Stuff for Super-Sleuths. illus. by Peter H. Reynolds. 128p. (Judy Moody Series). Candlewick. 2012. pap. $4.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-5941-7; ebook $4.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-6199-1. Gr 2-4

MCMANN, Lisa. The Trap Door. Bk. 3. 192p. (Infinity Ring Series). Scholastic. Feb. 2013. Tr $12.99. ISBN 978-0-545-38698-2; ebook $12.99. ISBN 978-0-545-48457-2. Gr 4-6

MUCHAMORE, Robert. Divine Madness. Bk. 5. 384p. (Cherub Series). S & S/Pulse. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-1-4169-9944-7. LC 2006922520. Gr 6-9

PARK, Linda Sue. Trust No One. Bk. 5. 192p. (The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers Series). Scholastic. Dec. 2012. RTE $12.99. ISBN 978-0-545-29843-8. LC 2012939109. Gr 3-6

PEACOCK, Shane. Becoming Holmes. Bk. 6. 244p. (The Boy Sherlock Holmes Series). Tundra. 2012. Tr $17.95. ISBN 978-1-77049-232-5; ebook $10.99. ISBN 978-1-77049-291-2. LC 2011938781.
Gr 5-9

PEIRCE, Lincoln. Big Nate Makes the Grade. illus. by author. 224p. (Big Nate Series). Andrews McMeel. 2012. pap. $9.99. ISBN 978-1-4494-2566-1. LC 2012936748. Gr 3-6

RUSSELL, Rachel Renée. Tales from a Not-So-Smart Miss Know It All. Bk. 5. illus. by author. 322p. (Dork Diaries Series). S & S/Aladdin. 2012. Tr $13.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-4961-9; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-4962-6. Gr 5-8

SIMON, Coco. Mia’s Boiling Point. Bk. 10. 144p. (Cupcake Diaries Series). S & S/Spotlight. 2012. pap. $5.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-5396-8; ebook $5.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-5397-5. Gr 3-5

SYLVESTER, Kevin. Neil Flambé and the Tokyo Treasure. Bk. 4. illus. by author. 352p. (The Neil Flambé Capers Series). S & S. 2012. Tr $12.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-4288-7; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-4298-6. Gr 5-8

VAN DRAANEN, Wendelin. Sammy Keyes and the Showdown in Sin City. illus. by Dan Yaccarino. 270p. Knopf. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-375-87053-8; PLB $19.99. ISBN 978-0-375-97053-5; ebook $10.99. ISBN 978-0-307-97408-2. Gr 5-8

VERNON, Ursula. Nightmare of the Iguana. Bk. 8. illus. by author. 208p. (Dragonbreath Series). Dial. Jan. 2013. Tr $12.99. ISBN 978-0-8037-3846-1. LC 2012010861. Gr 2-4

High School

ALEGRÍA, Malín. Falling Too Fast. Bk. 3. 2012. ISBN 978-0-545-40242-2.
––––. No Second Chances. Bk. 4. Nov. 2012. ISBN 978-0-545-40243-9.
ea vol: 192p. (Border Town Series). Scholastic/Point. pap. $5.99. Gr 7 Up

CAST, P.C. & Kristin Cast. Hidden. Bk. 10. 302p. (House of Night Series). St. Martin’s/Griffin. 2012. Tr $18.99. ISBN 978-0-312-59442-8; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-1-250-01415-3. Gr 10 Up

GARCIA, Kami & Margaret Stohl. Beautiful Redemption. Bk. 4. 464p. (Beautiful Creatures Series). Little, Brown. 2012. Tr $18.99. ISBN 978-0-316-12353-2; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-0-316-21460-5. LC 2012022870. Gr 7 Up

HOFFMAN, Mary. City of Swords. 356p. (Stravaganza Series). Bloomsbury. 2012. Tr $18.99. ISBN 978-1-59990-842-7. LC 2011045197. Gr 7 Up

JAMES, Ellie. Fragile Darkness. 338p. (Midnight Dragonfly Series). St. Martin’s/Griffin. Nov. 2012. pap. $9.99. ISBN 978-0-312-64704-9; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-1-250-01823-6. Gr 9 Up

JONES, Carrie. Endure. Bk. 4. 262p. Bloomsbury. 2012. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-1-59990-554-9. Gr 7 Up

LYNCH, Chris. Casualties of War. Bk. 4. 192p. (Vietnam Series). Scholastic. Jan. 2013. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-545-27023-6. Gr 7 Up

OLIVER, Lauren. Requiem. 400p. HarperCollins/Harper. Mar. 2013. Tr $18.99. ISBN 978-0-06-201453-5; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-0-06-220296-3. Gr 8 Up The final book in the trilogy that began with Delirium and Pandemonium.

REED, Jaime. Fading Amber. Bk. 3. 312p. (The Cambion Chronicles). Dafina. Jan. 2013. pap. $9.95. ISBN 978-0-7582-6926-3. Gr 8 Up

REVIS, Beth. Shades of Earth. Bk. 3. 370p. (Across the Universe Trilogy). Penguin/Razorbill. Jan. 2013. Tr $18.99. ISBN 978-1-59514-399-0. Gr 10 Up

Librarians can creatively “indigenize” their library—make their space welcoming to Native students—in a number of ways, from visual displays to accurate research tools, says Debbie Reese, Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Illinois. Reese’s website, American Indians in Children’s Literature, provides a critical look at Native people’s portrayal in books for young people and the school curriculum.

Because so many library resources “are outdated and/or biased in ways that continue to present American Indians as victims, savages, or tragic heroes,” Reese advocates using materials written from a Native perspective. She lists examples of appropriate sources on her website, including Native America in the Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia (Garland, 1996) and the Encyclopedia of North American Indians (Houghton Mifflin, 1996).

Within the library space, Reese suggests hanging posters of Native authors, and/or posters with the word “Read” in different Native languages. She also recommends that educators and students research the tribes that lived in their area and obtain a wall clock written in the Native language they spoke.

For elementary and middle school reading, librarian Robin Levin recommends Tim Tingle’s Crossing Bok Chitto (Cinco Puntos, 2006), an illustrated retelling of a Choctaw legend about a friendship between a native girl and a slave boy during the 1800s, to spark discussion about the connection between Native and African-American history.

The Bok Chitto River was historically the boundary between Indian territory and white man’s land, and any slaves who made it across were considered free, says Levin, a librarian at Fort Washakie School on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, home to people from the Shoshone and Arapaho tribes.

Levin also suggests the work of Caldecott award-winning author and illustrator Paul Goble, who was himself adopted into the Lakota tribe. In her view, Goble’s illustrations are both beautifully done and respectful to the tribes that he portrays.

This month, Levin will also be showing the film Up Heartbreak Hill to students and members of her community. This PBS documentary follows two Native teens who have the chance to leave their home on the Navajo reservation in order to pursue academic and athletic dreams. Following the screening, a panel of students will field questions from the audience.

Levin underscores the importance of events like this, which allows Native students the opportunity to speak about their own experiences: “This gives them an opportunity to establish a firm and positive self-identity,” fostering their confidence that “they have skills that are marketable simply by being who they are.”

On November 2, Levin will also give a presentation entitled “Taken from My Home: Indian Boarding Schools and the Holocaust in Perspective” at Aims Community College in Colorado as part of the college’s Human2Human Diversity Series. She will show clips from her film Taken from My Home, a documentary about Indian children who were forcibly removed from their families and re-educated at Indian boarding schools, a practice that went on from the late19th century to 1975, when the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act was passed.

Novelist Debby Dahl Edwardson also chronicled this period in her book My Name Is Not Easy (Amazon, 2011), a National Book Award finalist, about a young Alaskan boy and his brothers who undergo wrenching hardship at such a school in the 1960s. At her presentation, Levin will discuss how diaries and personal testimonies from adolescents are an insightful way to exploring both the Indian boarding school experience and the Holocaust.

Reese and Levin both stressed librarians should make such initiatives, and up-to-date information about Native culture, a part of library and classroom activities at all times, not just during National Native American Heritage Month. Reese says, “Libraries can get us there, but we’ll need your help year-round, not just in November.”

Listen to Karen Cushman introduce and read from Will Sparrow’s Road

Author Karen Cushman is no stranger to the medieval and Renaissance world. Her first novel, the Newbery Honor book Catherine Called Birdy (1994), examined the period from the perspective of a noble-born girl waiting to be married off, who feels frustrated by her limited role in society. Though Cushman’s latest work, Will Sparrow’s Road (November 2012; Gr 5-8, both Clarion), is set during 16th-century England, its title character lives a life that Birdy could only “[fantasize] about as she sat inside embroidering.” Bold and impetuous, Will Sparrow does whatever he must to survive. After being sold to an innkeeper by his father, the boy narrowly escapes a fate as a chimney sweep. Later, he stumbles upon a fairground where he works for a charlatan and a magician before joining up with a traveling sideshow of oddities that features a dwarf, the preserved body of a mermaid, and—strangest of all—Grace Wyse, a girl whose hirsute countenance resembles that of a cat. In this story of a young boy’s journey, Cushman immerses fans of historical fiction in the vibrant, stimulating world of the Renaissance fair.

You’ve written several books set during Medieval and Renaissance England. What compels you to return to this setting so often?

My fascination with this time period has been around for years. I started long ago with Anya Seton and Rosemary Sutcliff and progressed through medieval music and fairs, and collecting things like the 15th-century illuminated manuscript page that hangs on my wall. My father’s family is Polish, my mother’s German and Irish, so the English were certainly never heroes to either side of the family. But somehow England, the England of long ago, spoke to me.

Renaissance fairs, as recreated these days, are tremendous fun, with their period costumes, flowery “Milady”-laden language, drinking mugs, and roasted turkey legs. These events, alive with music and dance, archers and knights on horseback, are based on the traditional ones of medieval and Renaissance England, equally colorful, raucous, and outrageous. I thought it might be an interesting setting for a book.

Then while researching broadsides and ballads for Alchemy and Meggy Swann (Clarion, 2010), I discovered an odd but popular genre of broadsides—those illustrating birth defects, or, to use the language of the time, monstrous births, both human and animal. Such anomalies were often displayed at these spectacles and, presto, the two ideas came together as Will Sparrow joins a troupe of “oddities and prodigies” traveling from fair to fair in Elizabethan England.

In your author’s note, you mention that though you ordinarily write female characters, a girl would not have survived long on her own during this period. Was it a challenge to create a male protagonist?

I think the times were still brutal enough that a girl traveling alone would have been in grave danger. And in a world with so little privacy, I do not believe she could effectively disguise herself as a boy. So Will Sparrow was born. It was indeed a challenge to try and get inside the skin of a boy. In my first attempts I fear Will was more like a girl who wore pants and spat. It took a lot of observation and research before I could come up with what I hope is a not a stereotype but a realistic boy.

How much did gender shape the story? Will Sparrow’s Road has a very animated, lively tone, whereas Catherine Called Birdy evidences a more cloistered feel.

I’m not surprised that Catherine Called Birdy has a more cloistered feel. The lives of young women in medieval England were much more circumscribed and rigid than the life a young male would enjoy. It was important to me to build a world for both Birdy and Will that was honest and believable, true to their character, their gender, and the times.

Over the course of the novel, Will is sold to an innkeeper by his father, makes theft a regular habit, and often goes hungry. Is it freeing to write historical fiction, where you can place your young protagonists in far more dangerous situations than in books set during the present?

I fear some children today face situations just as dangerous as those of the past. What historical fiction does free me to do is to write about children alone, on their own, with no one responsible for them. There were no orphan homes or social workers or Child Protective Services. The options for a homeless child were dismal. Writing about children of long ago allowed me to explore the idea of being entirely on one’s own. I think young readers (and many of us older folks) are intrigued by the idea of who we are as individuals separate from our families, from our homes, from any adult help. What would we do if left to our own devices? How would we survive? Would we be whiny victims or resourceful and courageous? Would we be the same people we are now or would we grow to be different? What kind of family might we create for ourselves?

Will initially views Grace Wyse, the girl with the “face of a cat,” as monstrous but comes to realize that she is fully human. Would someone of the period be able to look beyond Grace’s appearance?

Grace Wyse was inspired by the portrait of Antonietta Gonzales on the cover of The Marvelous Hairy Girls (Yale University Press, 2009) by Merry Wiesner-Hanks. Antonietta, her father, and most of her brothers and sisters suffered from hypertrichosis, an extremely rare genetic condition that made them unusually hairy. There have been 50 documented cases worldwide since the 16th century. The Gonzales family is probably the most famous because of the number of paintings, books, and medical case histories that feature them. Unlike most people marked with such irregularities, the family was not shunned or mocked; dressed in ruffs and elaborate jewel-trimmed gowns, they were welcome visitors in the courts of Europe, though sometimes treated more like pets than people.

Most “oddities and prodigies” would have had a much more difficult existence than the Gonzales family. Few people were accepting of those who were different, who were often considered cursed, marked by the devil, or punished by God. Even physical disabilities called for abuse as Meggy Swann with her crooked legs learned. Will Sparrow was fortunate enough to spend a great deal of time with Grace and so get to know the person behind her extraordinary appearance.

TeachingBook.net resources on this interview »»»

Listen to Karen Cushman introduce and read from Will Sparrow’s Road

Bullied when she was a girl, author and illustrator Frieda Wishinsky got payback by using her childhood persecutor as source material for her books. So Long Stinky Queen (Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2000) is about two elementary school students who turn the tables on a bossy classmate, while You’re Mean, Lily Jean! (Albert Whitman, 2011), shows how a little girl finds a funny, effective way to stand up to her older sister’s overbearing new friend.

Wishinsky, the author and illustrator of over 60 picture books, says that her experience of being bullied taught her the importance of asserting herself. One of several authors participating in “Bullying in Books for Youth,” a New York Public Library Children’s Literary Salon on October 20, she advises using humor to outsmart bullies, much as her characters have done.

Authors Paul Griffin, Madeline George, and others on the panel, which coincides with National Bullying Prevention Month, discussed their personal encounters with cruel classmates, the healing power of books, and their advice to young people today—the bulliers along with the bullied.

Like Wishinsky, author Susane Colasanti drew from her own experiences when writing her semi-autobiographical novel Keep Holding On (Viking, 2012) about an abused girl who is teased and taunted by cruel classmates. “My purpose with every book is to reach out to teens and help them feel less alone,” she said.

Moderator Betsy Bird, NYPL youth material specialist and School Library Journal blogger, observed that current books often give the topic nuanced treatment by blurring the lines between bully and victim or by depicting perpetrators sympathetically. For instance, Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers (Scholastic, 2012), about two boys who take revenge on their tormenter with a series of pranks that soon become far worse than the original bullying.

Others concurred that the persecutor/victim divide is not always so clear. Paul Griffin, who has worked with incarcerated and at-risk teens since 1989, observed that bullies themselves are often victims of abuse. His own young adult novel, Stay with Me (Dial, 2011), includes a scene where a persecuted boy lashes back at his attacker, becoming a victimizer himself.

Similarly, author Colasanti imbued the antagonist of Keep Holding On (Viking, 2012) with a complex backstory and motivation for her malicious actions. Like Griffin, she feels that books showing bullies as well-developed, realistic characters, rather than one-dimensional villains, are much more powerful.

The authors also touched on how books can lead to positive changes in the lives of their readers. Griffin described an experience with a troubled teen during a school visit. One student responded enthusiastically when Griffin read a passage depicting a graphic act of brutality from one of his novels. Griffin learned that the teen was being severely bullied and was on the brink of violently retaliating. According to Griffin, “That kid that day needed to hear that scene” in order to voice his problems—bibliotherapy in action—and the author was able to ensure he received the support he needed.

George’s novel, Looks (Viking, 2008), about the unlikely bond between two outsiders—a silent overweight girl and a sharp-tongued anorexic poet—may provide therapeutic value of a different sort, she suggested. The book’s ambiguous ending offers only a “very slender thread of hope” that life will improve for her protagonists, she said. Panelists agreed that starkly realistic, honest works like this with uncertain resolution often resonate most with teens, as they did with George when she was a young adult.

Participants concurred that the best way for young people to cope with bullying is by having the courage to reach out to others. Griffin advocated getting young people together to discuss their problems, and Wishinsky agreed: “Don’t be that isolated kid, get a friend. If you can give anyone advice, it’s get a friend…so you’re not alone.”

Space are meaningless without meaningful connections with adults and peers in libraries. #engchat

October 22, 2012 6:55 pm via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@meenoorami

Meenoo Rami

Moran, Superintendent of the Albemarle County Public Schools in Charlottesville, VA, and Socol, a special education technology scholar at Michigan State University’s College of Education in East Lansing, emphasized that it’s crucial to the survival of librarians that they keep up with today’s technology driven world.

But how imperative are ebooks? Many tweeters cautioned against wholeheartedly embracing this technology. Middle school librarian Deven Black (@devenkblack) reminded participants that access to ebooks in poorer schools is limited. Jenn Cook (@cookout70), an associate Professor of English and Education at Rhode Island College, warned that abandoning physical books may make libraries less inclusive: “Just like when millionaires talk about poverty, when we assume that ‘change’ means going digital/virtual, we leave many behind.”

Similarly, Buffy Hamilton (@buffyjhamilton), a high school teacher in Canton, GA, and blogger at The Unquiet Library, urged restraint among librarians who view electronic materials as “a one size fits all solution.” Though ebook distributors like OverDrive may seem to hold all the answers, she noted, not all libraries can afford them, and their content may not be essential or interesting to students.

Participants agreed that librarians must maintain traditional skills—such as readers’ advisory—but also be savvy to new trends in order to stay relevant. Becky Fisher (@BeckyFisher73), an educator in Charlottesville, VA, tweeted that “Contemporary librarians have to understand contemporary means of accessing and making information!” and encouraged them not to fear sites like Wikipedia. Going back to basics, librarian Kathy Kaldenberg (@scsdmedia) stressed the importance of encouraging a love of literature: “Hands down. The most effective thing we do at our library is read the books and give personal recommendations.”

Librarians aired frustration that administrators on tight budgets do not always accept evidence showing that libraries improve student learning. Julie Goldberg (@juliegoldberg), a librarian in Rockland County, cited a three-year study conducted by the Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries (CISSL) at Rutgers University showing that school libraries have a positive effect on student achievement  but lamented that “many decision-makers are unaware.” Hamilton tweeted, “many librarians are attempting to lead change but meet tremendous resistance from admin and faculty.”

Participants agreed that libraries should be warm and innovative environments, but opinions differed over whether they should also maintain quiet spaces. Shannon DeSantis (@shdesant), a library science graduate student at Syracuse University, tweeted that “the days of the shush library should be over. We want our space to be collaborative and welcoming!” On the other hand, Fisher spoke for many participants when she described her ideal space: “We are looking at providing cozy, quiet, curl up with a book spaces as well as noisy, collaborative, make things happen ones.”

Though participants had many diverse ideas about what future libraries must look like in terms of space and technology concerns, the belief that librarians are vital to the success of a school was a constant. Meenoo Rami (@meenoorami), founder and moderator of Engchat, underscored that what students need most is committed librarians: “Space are meaningless without meaningful connections with adults and peers in libraries.” Participants who want to continue the conversation can use the Twitter hashtag #sljsummit to follow Socol and Moran’s thoughts about the evolution of libraries at the Leadership Summit.

SLJ talked with Newman about how she came to write October Mourning, her use of poetic forms, and the challenges of writing about this painful topic.

You have a personal connection to this tragedy. How did that lead you, over a decade later, to write this book?

Matthew Shepard’s death has haunted me since October 1998, when I gave the keynote speech for Gay Awareness Week at the University of Wyoming. Matt was a member of the school’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered Association, the group that sponsored my visit. He had planned to attend my presentation. So I feel a sense of responsibility to help the world remember him.

On October 12, 2009, the eleventh anniversary of Matt’s murder, I attended a performance of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later—The Epilogue, which brought my experience in Wyoming rushing back at me. At the time, I was serving as the Poet Laureate of Northampton, MA. I had created a project called “30 Poems in 30 Days,” which involved 75 poets writing a poem a day during the month of November to raise money for a local literacy group. After watching the performance, I knew that my  poems would explore the impact of Matthew Shepard’s death.

Throughout the book, you employ many poetic forms, from haiku to found poems. What made you choose these particular styles?

A long series of poems on the same subject needs variety of form to keep it interesting.

I have always loved writing in form, because it brings me closer to my material while distancing me from it at the same time. Looking at whatever I am writing about, over and over, brings me closer to my subject. Paying particular attention to technique such as line breaks, enjambment, and punctuation gives me the distance I need to focus on language.

You write from the perspectives of many people involved, as well as inanimate objects. Why did you choose this technique?

I wanted to explore the impact of Matthew Shepard’s murder from as many vantage points as possible. We will never really know what happened at the fence that night. There were three people there. One person is dead, and the two who are still living have told conflicting stories. Since I could not find out the truth, I set out to explore my truth. I used my imagination to call upon the silent witnesses to the crime to see what I could learn, including the truck in which Matt was kidnapped, the fence to which he was tied, the shoes he was wearing, and the moon and stars that watched over him through the night.

Was it difficult to write from the point of view of the antagonists?

No. It needed to be done to complete the book. I wrote these poems in the same way I wrote all the poems in the collection: with my heart in my throat.

How does your choice of  poetic form, rather than straight narrative, impact the telling of this story?

As a poet, my tool is language, so I try to use language in as many ways as possible, seeking to exploit multiple meanings of words to maximum effect. In a poem, and especially in sparse poems like the ones in October Mourning, every word counts. And many words do double duty, which gives multiple meanings to many of the lines.

Can you describe the research you did in preparation for this book?

I wrote the first draft before I did any research at all. I wanted to see what was lodged in my brain and my heart from my experience of being in Wyoming in October 1998. After I finished the first draft, I researched obsessively. I read all I could about Matt’s murder. I had seen The Laramie Project in New York when it first opened, so I refreshed my memory by reading the script and renting the movie. I watched other videos as well. Then I revised, revised, revised, and added some poems.

After many drafts, I traveled to Laramie so that I could walk on the prairie, feel the cold Wyoming wind, go out to the fence, and see the last thing Matt saw. I also pored through the Matthew Shepard archives at the University of Wyoming, which was very interesting because the coverage in the local papers was very different than in the national newspapers.

Was there anything you discovered in the course of your research that surprised you?

I had written a poem about an animal keeping watch over Matt as he spent the night alone tied to the fence on the prairie. I had an intuitive feeling that an animal was there watching him, comforting him, and protecting him. But I couldn’t figure out what kind of animal it would be.

Then I read Judy Shepard’s memoir, The Meaning of Matthew. In it, she says that one of the first people on the scene saw a deer lying next to Matt. As this person approached, the deer got up and ran off, as if the animal knew that someone had arrived to take care of Matt. And I thought, “Of course it was a deer. Deer are so gentle and nurturing.” What surprised me was that my own intuition was right. I knew an animal had cared for Matt; I just didn’t know what kind of animal it was.

Your work focuses on a real event, but you fictionalized the thoughts and feelings of the various people involved. How did you navigate between nonfiction and fiction?

I never set out to write a journalistic account of the events of the murder of Matthew Shepard. I set out to explore the impact of Matt’s murder upon the world. So while it was important for me to be as accurate as possible in terms of the facts of the crime, it was also important for me to exercise “poetic license,” as it were, to explore the emotional truth or the heart of the story. As I say in the introduction, the book is “my side of the story.” It’s impossible for me to be objective about such hate and violence.

It was important for me to include the “notes” section at the end of the book, which steers people toward sources of factual information. I hope my book inspires others to write poems about Matt Shepard’s murder, or other such events, to better understand them and to work towards making the world a safe place–so that something like this will never happen again.

while i still am team dewey, i embrace almost every other thing about metis. this in nutshell is my eternal problem, wanting both #sljdewey

October 11, 2012 8:56 pm via TweetChatReplyRetweetFavorite

@LizB

Liz Burns

Some questioned the decision to throw out Dewey entirely instead of just adjusting it to user needs. Though Liz Burns (@LizB), a librarian at the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, who blogs at SLJ’s A Chair, a Fireplace & A Tea Cozy, remained wary of wholeheartedly embracing Metis, she appreciated the concept of “librarians using MLS skills to totally customize to community.”

Similarly, Stacy Dillon (@mytweendom), an elementary school librarian at Little Red School House, relayed how she relies upon a customized version of Dewey that uses separate sections for biographies and graphic novels. Nevertheless, Kaplan argued that Dewey is too flawed, stating that simply tweaking it would be, “like taking a size 6 dress and cutting it down. Better to start with a new pattern.”

Participants responded to criticisms that abandoning Dewey means oversimplifying the library experience. Melissa Techman (@mtechman), a K-5 school librarian in Charlottesville, VA, tweeted that it is “not dumbing down to consider usability.” She later mentioned that, for example, patrons often find it frustrating that books on mummies are not categorized next to those on Ancient Egypt.

Still-Schiff also disagreed with claims that jettisoning Dewey is anti-intellectual. Because Metis’s structure is so child-centered, she believes that it encourages more rigorous thinking. (For example, students themselves engaged in the decision-making; they made the choice to group materials on whales with those about aquatic animals rather than with those about mammals and to put books about athletes with other sports titles instead of with biographies.) Still-Schiff wrote: “Hierarchical thinking isn’t dumbing down; it is higher order work than memorizing or writing numbers.”

Several librarians praised the use of Dewey for its teachable moments. Dillon said that instructing students in how to use the traditional system “gets kids thinking about organization.” Similarly, KarinLibrarian (@KPerry) advocated teaching students better search skills and said that learning Dewey “isn’t just a library skill. Math teaches decimals too. Part of life.”

However, Giffard finds teaching a numerically based approach to young children with limited math and reading skills to be counterproductive. Kaplan raised the point that Metis is a superior tool for teaching categorization because its structure is much more logical. In reference to domestic animals being classified under the Dewey class 600 (applied sciences) rather than 500 (science and animals), she quipped, “Try telling someone that dogs belong in Technology.”

Some librarians are also considering revamping their fiction collections, by grouping books according to genre instead of by author. Techman finds that students are more likely to find new books using this system, and Tamara Cox (@coxtl) likes it because “she can SEE what shelves are empty (popular) and order more to meet demand.”

Though Dewey still has its supporters (with Burns lamenting that many librarians’ Dewey Decimal call number tattoos may soon become irrelevant), overall most were open-minded about the possibilities of evolving newer library systems. Cox (@coxtl) encouraged other librarians “to at least THINK about our sacred cows and make sure we’re serving our kids, not tradition.”

Speaking at New York’s 92YTribeca on October 3, Lowry said her readers often asked whether Jonas, the 12-year-old protagonist in The Giver, ever saved Gabriel, the baby he attempts to rescue as he flees his community. The novel is about Jonas’s disillusionment with his utopian world and his struggles with its hypocrisy.

Although Lowry briefly alludes to Gabriel still being alive in her third book, Messenger (Houghton, 2004), the idea for Son was born when she decided to describe what became of him as he grew up. Then, during the writing process, she “became diverted by [her] own imagination and created a whole new character who became the center of the fourth book.”

Speaking with interviewers Anna Holmes, founder of the popular website Jezebel.com, and Lizzie Skurnick, author of Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading, and a columnist for Jezebel.com’s Fine Lines, Lowry explored the stories behind some of her best known titles, her fans’ reactions to The Giver, as well as book banning and censorship.

Lowry, who will talk about Son at a free SLJ webcast November 7, discussed some of the personal connections and the stories behind her well-known works. The image on the cover of The Giver, for example, is a photograph she took in 1977 of the painter Carl Nelson while she was writing a magazine article about him. Lowry later discovered that Nelson was blind during the last five years of his life, but used his memory of vibrant flowers and colors to continue enjoying to paint. Lowry compared Nelson to the title character of The Giver, an old man who holds the memories of the true pain and pleasures of life despite living in a rigid, circumscribed world.

Lowry also told the backstory of her Newbery-award winning novel Number the Stars (Houghton, 1989). Set in 1943 during the German Occupation of Denmark, the book centers around a young girl whose family is involved with the rescue of Danish Jews. After discovering that a close friend lived in Denmark during World War II and learning about how Danes involved with the Resistance were able to save almost all Danish Jews from concentration camps, Lowry was inspired to write the novel to share this courageous story with others.

In light of Banned Books Week, Lowry addressed censorship. Lowry is familiar with the issue because The Giver has often been challenged due to themes of euthanasia and suicide. She believes that calls for book removals are often rooted in good intentions. Much like the inhabitants of the safe, controlled society in The Giver, concerned parents just want to protect their children, she explains. However, according to Lowry, books are the best way to expose children to new and potentially frightening ideas.