The uniquely interactive Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons (Candlewick, 2003), which kicked off the entire “Ologies” series of intricately designed novelty books, is celebrating its 10th year in print.  Librarian Tim Wadham, in his original School Library Journal review, predicted the gorgeously illustrated book would be “hugely attractive to children,” and he was right.

Global sales of the series—which includes Eqyptology, Wizardology, Pireateology, Mythology, Monsterology, Spyology, Oceanology, Vampireology, Alienology, and Illusionology—have topped 17 million books, with Dragonology alone accounting for 6 million of those, according to the publisher.

The series is published in more than 42 languages, and the brand has expanded to include a destination website for fans, board games, Wii games, and merchandise.

Candlewick is marking the occasion with a new anniversary edition, a free downloadable activity kit, and a brand new release in the series: Dinosaurology: The Search for a Lost World.

It’s been twenty years since Rodman Philbrick introduced us to Freak, the Mighty (Blue Sky, 1993), the tender story of the friendship between Kevin, who is suffering from Morquio syndrome, and insecure Max. The book has found a home in many classrooms over the years due to its ever-timely theme of bullying. Amy Gillespie, Librarian at Hill Top Preparatory School in Rosemont, PA, tells School Library Journal that the book is used in her school in an illuminating way. Just like in the book, “students are asked to create their own alternative dictionary” with at least one entry for each letter of the alphabet, she says. Her favorite entry? “Phone book: a cheap booster seat.”

Blue Sky has released a 20^th anniversary edition of the book with 32 pages of extra content including an author interview and letters from fans.

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of the U.S. publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Scholastic sponsored a contest to give public libraries the opportunity to win Harry Potter party packs.

Scholastic is also marking the occasion this year with new paperback editions of the entire “Harry Potter” series, complete with brand new cover art by author/illustrator Kazu Kibuishi. The new editions are available separately, and in November as a boxed set known as the complete “Hogwarts Library.” The set will include a supplement to the seven-book series featuring Quidditch Through the Ages, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard. All sales from this boxed set will support the charities Lumos and Comic Relief.

Patricia Polacco is celebrating the 25^th Anniversary of The Keeping Quilt (S&S, 1988) in two unique ways. In the original story, a quilt made from scraps of family clothing is passed from mother to daughter for over a century. For the 10^th anniversary Polacco updated the story with milestones of her own family. This year, the author again brings readers up to date on her family story.

Polacco has also written a companion book,The Blessing Cup (S&S), in which she tells of her great-grandmother’s life before leaving Russia and the legacy of the family’s china tea set.

In New York City, the Morgan Library  is celebrating the 70^th anniversary of The Little Prince with a special exhibit of the original manuscript and color illustrations that the library owns. The exhibit is set to run from January through April, 2014. Notably, although Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s philosophical book about a pilot and a boy from an asteroid is considered a classic children’s book, it has long been a cult favorite among adults, especially college students.

The book touches on topics such as happiness, fortitude, and love. It has been translated into over 250 languages, and sold more than 200 million copies. And though it is considered a “French” children’s classic, Saint-Exupery actually wrote the book while in exile in New York during World War II; it was not published in France until 1946.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s 70th anniversary edition includes two audio CDs, narrated by Academy Award nominee Viggo Mortensen, of the unabridged text, along with an exclusive download.

This year, Roald Dahl’s darling 5-year-old genius Matilda (Viking, 1988), marked her 25^th year with the opening of her own musical on Broadway, plus a  blog tour earlier this summer by 25 established voices from the kid lit blogosphere. Each day, a different blogger posted about Matilda and answered one of five questions about their relationship with the novel.

In addition, the author’s official website and publisher, Penguin Young Readers Group, are sponsoring a Matilda 25^th Anniversary Read-athon Sweepstakes, giving readers a chance to win books. The contest runs until September 23, 2013.

Although Kenneth Grahame’s The Reluctant Dragon was first published in 1898, it was Holiday House’s 1938 edition— illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard—that brought the story into the mainstream of children’s literature. “It belongs in every child’s library,” said Library Journal of the book in its 1938 review. “It belongs wherever it finds a kindred spirit.” Shepard’s illustrations were so endearing that the publisher selected the drawing of the little boy who reads “natural history and fairy-tales” to be the company’s official logo to this day.

In September, Holiday House will officially release a 75^th anniversary edition of this tale of a kind-hearted dragon and a clever boy; it features a gold embossed jacket and an introduction by kid lit historian Leonard Marcus.

Celebrating its golden anniversary this year is Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever; ironically, it was first published ironically by Golden Books. In the past 50 years, it has sold more than 4.5 million copies in the United States and been translated into 28 languages. It was this book that launched Scarry’s career as a best-selling author.

Over the years, the various editions of the book have evolved to accommodate changing styles and mores; the latest is anniversary edition that was released on July 23.

In 1964, Leo Lionni’s beloved Swimmy (Knopf, 1963)—which School Library Journal called “an exquisite picture book”—received a Caldecott Honor. It’s a simple story of a little fish, the lone survivor of a school of fish swallowed by a tuna, who devises a plan to camouflage himself and his new companions. This book has long been incorporated into curricula projects in elementary schools, to illustrate the art of collage or to interest kids in learning more about sea life.

The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, for example, features the book and related activities on its website’s Treasures @ Sea section, while the State of North Carolina has activities related to the book on Learn NC that includes a Common Core correlation.

For its 50th anniversary this year, Knopf has released a special Swimmy edition that features a poster.

Also marking its 50th anniversary this year is Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are (Harper, 1963), which was given the Caldecott Award the same year as Swimmy‘s Caldecott Honor. Sendak’s death last year brought much focus on his life and work, and that has carried through to this year’s celebration of one of his most famous and beloved works. Before his death, Sendak approved the digital enhancement of his original illustrations for the anniversary edition.

And in honor of that anniversary, the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco put together a special exhibit offering a heart-warming glimpse behind the scenes of the unusual creatures that fill Sendak’s stories. Though that exhibit completed its run on July 7, another is still touring the country. “Where the Wild Things Are: Maurice Sendak in His Own Words and Pictures,” can be viewed in Atlanta at the William Breman Jewish Heritage and Holocaust Museum, and then the Young at Art Museum in Davie, FL.

Bryan’s reading aloud from his book to the warmly receptive crowd was a tough act to follow but publisher Justin Chanda piqued our interest by noting, “It’s rare to be reminded why you are in the business,” as he introduced The Boy on the Wooden Box, a Holocaust memoir. The book, which debuts late this month, is the story of Leon Leyson, a boy who was saved by Oskar Shindler. Unfortunately, Leyson died before seeing the book’s release.

I was also excited to learn that Bill Joyce, author the of multi-platformed The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (2012) will publish, in cooperation with Moonbot Studios, The Mischievians, a story of global mischief-makers, and that Phyllis Reynolds Naylor will end her “Alice” series with Now I’ll Tell You Everything. In the new book, Alice updates her life up to the age of 60.

In September, Brian Floca’s long-awaited Locomotive will chug onto many of our bookshelves. The month also brings “Talk Like a Pirate Day” (the 19th), which will be celebrated with Pirates Love Underpants, the latest in author Claire Freedman and illustrator by Ben Cort’s “underpants” franchise.

October will also see some timely releases. Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin have reunited their barnyard friends for Halloween in Click, Clack, Boo!  Also for Halloween is The Power of Poppy Pendle by Natasha Lowe, a sweet story about a good witch with bonus recipes.

And then the preview became dogs galore, with the introduction of Debra Frasier’s Spike: Ugliest Dog in the Universe; God Got a Dog by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Marla Frazee; and Bob Dylan’s If Dogs Run Free, based on one of his lesser-known songs. Dylan isn’t the only celebrity with a book based on a song this year: Jewel has debuted Sweet Dreams, while John Lithgow’s Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo will drop in October. Both books come with CDs.

What do you get when you team up two zany guys like Jon Sciezska and Mac Barnett? You get a redo of a benign book entitled Birthday Bunny into the hilariously entertaining Battle Bunny. It’s a picture book with fun illustrations by Mathew Myers that kids of all ages will find amusing. Who could resist a book that is described as a “hip kid’s Elements of Style” featuring a Tim Burton-ish teacher?

You should also be checking out Thrice Told Tales: Three Mice Full of Writing Advice by Catherine Lewis, illustrated by Joost Swarte.

A couple of trilogies-plus-one books are on their way: Rick Yancy’s Final Descent, the fourth in his “Monstrumologist” series, and Fire and Ash, the fourth book in Jonathan Maberry’s Rot & Ruin series.

Sharon Messenger and Lisa McMann prove to be busy ladies with several books on the fall list. Messenger will debut Keeper of the Lost Cities: Exile and Let the Sky Fall. McMann has three upcoming titles this fall, Island of Fire, the latest in her “Unwanteds” series—described as Hunger Games meets Harry Potter—Bang, the second in her “Visions” series, and Don’t Close Your Eyes.

Those looking for books to meet your Common Core needs will have a wealth of titles to choose from on S&S’s list. For interesting stories about real people, try Jeanette Winter’s Henri’s Scissors, a true life story about Matisse, or The Tree Lady, which tells the story of Katherine Olivia Sessions, the woman responsible for the millions of trees and plants that populate Balboa Park in San Diego. And Let’s Go Nuts! Seeds We Eat may fit nicely into a science curriculum.

Lastly, I was delighted to learn that two-time Caldecott Medalist Nonny Hogrogian and her husband, Newbery Honor Medalist David Kherdian, have collaborated on a new book: Come Back, Moon, which will be released in October.

It’s also exciting to find out that Simon & Schuster has launched a website and app for the parents and educators of beginning readers called Ready To Read; it features classroom guides, activity sheets, and certificates.

Moss published his first children’s book, Zin! Zin! Zin!, at the age of 69. It uses the instruments in an orchestra to illustrate the concept of counting and the parallel concepts of solos, duets, trios, etc. Illustrated by Marjorie Priceman, the book received a star review from School Library Journal and was awarded the 1996 Caldecott Honor.

In her SLJ review, Jane Marino called the book, “A delight for music classes as well as a great introduction to the concert hall” and noted, “This title will surely be met with applause.”

The book came about when a family member who worked for Simon & Schuster viewed a scrapbook kept by Moss’s wife, Anne, of all the poems he wrote to her and his children on various special occasions. “The book came together magically,” Moss once said. “I look at it as the moment when I integrated my love of books and music into a tangible form that could be shared with the world.”

The author also said that his love of doggerel inspired him to write such lines as “Fine FRENCH HORN, its valves all oiled/Bright and brassy, loops all coiled,” and “FLUTE that sends our soul a-shiver;/FLUTE, that slender, silver sliver.”

The composer and arranger Marvin Hamlisch wrote a score for orchestra to accompany the book and, in 1998, Moss read his work accompanied by Hamlisch and the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Moss went on to write two other music-themed books. Our Marching Band (Putnam, 2001) is a story of young instrument-toting hopefuls who transform themselves into an energetic, smartly uniformed band, while Music Is (Putnam, 2003) uses rhymes to talk about the importance of music. In its review of the latter, SLJ notes that the text shows how music “appears in all aspects of our lives, from the mundane ‘music in the elevator,/sometimes music on the phone’ to the exciting ‘Brass or strings, when played with brio,/lift my spirits to the sky.’”

Moss was born in Brooklyn on November 17, 1926, and grew up surrounded by music and books. His father owned a beauty parlor where the radio was always tuned to WQXR (the same station where Moss would later make his career in broadcasting). As a child he frequented a second hand bookshop, where he found Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, as well as adventure stories by Jack London, James Oliver Curwood, and Zane Grey.

At seventeen he joined the Army and, after World War II, he entered the field of radio. He is survived by his wife Anne, four children, and two grandchildren.

In an interview with the Parent’s League of New York, Moss once said that the final lines from Music Is provide a fitting coda to his sentiments about music and its influence on his life:

If there never had been music,
If it never did exist,
What would life be without music?
Think of what we would have missed!

None other than Mo Willems made a guest appearance at the event, telling attendees that, after a decade with Pigeon, he wanted to write “a dirty book.”  Therefore, in April of 2014, The Pigeon Needs a Bath will debut, what Willems calls, “the most fecal book” he’s ever written. During Willems read of the book, the audience—as all Pigeon lovers do—quickly joined in participating in the books refrain.

Author and poet, Marilyn Singer was also in attendance, and shared her upcoming book, Rutherford B. Who Was He: Poems About the Presiden (December), illustrated by John Hendrix. It is a great book for teaching facts about the president using poetry.

Here is an example:

Theodore Roosevelt
A city boy who loved the country,
an animal lover, who loved to hunt.
A Rough Rider, rancher and a scholar,
a diplomat, yet also blunt.

He took on greedy corporations
and foreign powers with this trick.
A president should speak quite softly,
but always carry a very large stick.

A book trailer for the new title has also been created:

Hidden among the veteran writers at the presentation was Cristen Terrill, a debut author. She treated the attendees to a reading from All Our Yesterdays, her time travel young adult novel told in a dual narrative that takes place both in the present and past.

Another YA title that was featured was Elizabeth Wein’s Rose Under Fire (September).  Set in a concentration camp during World War II, it is told from the point of view of Rose Justice, an American pilot (and poet) who is shot down and sent to Ravensbrück.

We were also introduced to a new British import, the series “Lockwood & Co.” by Jonathan Stroud.  The first book in the series is The Screaming Staircase (September), which features a group of kids who open the Physic Detection Agency to battle an epidemic of ghosts in London.

Yet Don’t Play with Your Food (January), Bob Shea’s tale of how a group of bunnies outsmart a monster was the highlight of the preview for many.  It was performed by the Disney Hyperion folks, who donned hand puppets to act out scenes from the book.

The Bibliotheque nationale de France in Paris is part of a modern complex of four office towers.

Depaire first arranged for me a visit and tour of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, a modern complex consisting of four office towers that is in stark contrast with most of Paris, and there I met with Annick Lorant-Jolly, chief editor of the Revue des livres pour enfants, and Nathalie Beau, who is in charge of France’s international affairs regarding children books.

I learned that the business of children’s books is relatively young in France, with beloved French iconic characters created in America, such as Madeline, still barely known to French children. In fact, it wasn’t until the 1970s that children’s books began to come into their own in the country, with public libraries creating the first children’s sections. Beau herself was responsible for the first children’s library in Strasbourg (the capital of the Alsace region in eastern France, and seat of the European Parliament).

Annick Lorant-Jolly, director of the National Center for Children’s Literature, and Nathalie Beau, who is in charge of France’s international affairs regarding children books.

At the moment, over half of the children and young adult titles in France are translations from other countries, with the United States well represented. Any American librarian would feel comfortable browsing bookstores and libraries and seeing such familiar covers and titles such as Jules Feiffer’s  Aboie Georges! (Bark George! HarperCollins, 1999), John Green’s Nos Etoiles Contraires (Fault in Our Stars; Dutton, 2012), or Siobhan Vivian’s La Liste (The List; Push, 2012).

America has its share of “rock star” authors and illustrators such as Brian Selznick, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Mo Willems but I was surprised to learn that it is not the case in France.“There is something strange between childhood and adulthood,” Annick Lorant-Jolly told me. In France and other Mediterranean cultures, “childhood isn’t cherished in the same way” as in America, she said.

A display of children’s reading materials in one of France’s public library branches.

But that is changing with Le Genevrier, a publisher who is bringing the Caldecott Medal and Honor books to the French public for the first time. In what is called Caldecott Collection, it plans to publish many titles with a few notable changes. Robert McCloskey’s Blueberries for Sal (Viking, 1948) will be Blueberries for Lily, while the title of Lynn Ward’s The Biggest Bear (Houghton, 1952) has been changed to The Bear Who Loved the Maple Sugar.

Both Beau and Lorant-Jolly also shared several French authors and illustrators that are popular, some of which are available in English translations. Benjamin Chaud, an illustrator for young children, has with Ramona Badescu the “Pomelo” series, which is available in English from Enchanted Lion Books. Audrey Poussier is another popular illustrator whose titles are published in France by l’ecole des loisirs, who is celebrating its 25th anniversary as a publisher of children’s books.

A collection of French children’s books.

One of the most popular French children’s books of recent time is Chien Bleu (l’ecole des loisirs, 1989) by Nadja. Unfortunately, this magical tale—about a mysterious big, blue dog and the girl who befriends him—is difficult to find in English.

Graphic novels for all ages are abound in France and thanks to Toon Books, the popular Claude Ponti is available to American audiences with Chick and Chickie Play All Day! Many in the US are familiar with the illustrator, Olivier Tallec. He has created art for more than 50 books for children, including Waterloo and Trafalgar (Enchanted Lion Books) and the well-known “Rita and Whatsit” series (Chronicle Books). In 2010, Big Wolf & Little Wolf was chosen as a Batchelder Honor Book. Also known to American audiences is Popville (Roaring Brook, 2010) by Anouck Boisrobert and Louis Rigaud, a clever pop-up book that shows urban expansion. It was chosen a Best Book by Bank Street College in 2011.

Bookstores, as well as libraries, throughout France are typically abuzz with activity.

One of the most popular children’s book authors for middle grades in France was born in Newark, NJ. Susie Morgenstern has written more than 70 books, and has been award the Mildred Batcheldor Award for literature first published in a language other than English for Sweet Letters from 0 to 10 (Viking 1998) and for Joker (l’ecole des loisirs, 1999).

As in the United States, books for teens tackle serious subjects like self-discovery, deportation, and separation.  Florence Aubry is one such author whose books have touched upon road rage, alcoholism, and unbridled sexuality. I was shown Le garcon talisman (Rouergue, 2012), a novel about an albino boy in Tanzania who is hunted because albino bodies are prized; in the book, it is believed their hair or a piece of their flesh can achieve incredible power.

Notably, school libraries in France are mandated only on the secondary level, yet there is much collaboration with the public libraries on all levels. It was interesting to see that in many towns in France, the public library is house in historic buildings. Many of these buildings are older than the United States! Both bookstores and libraries were buzzing with activity that proved that an old French reading campaign still holds true, “Happiness Through Books.”

For a slideshow of the entire trip, click the photo below:

Best Christmas, a story that first appeared in McCall’s Magazine, starred an unlikely family of children, the Herdmans, who take over a church Christmas pageant (mainly because they heard snacks were served). In the end, the children give an unconventional and surprisingly touching interpretation of the Christmas story. “The Herdmans bring a chaotic sincerity and authenticity to the evening that is truly moving,” said School Library Journal in its review.

In the United Kingdom, the book is known as The Worst Kids in the World (Red Fox, 1996). Robinson went on to write two sequels featuring the Herdmans, The Best School Year Ever (Harper, 1994) and The Best Halloween Ever (HarperCollins, 2004).

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever has sold over 800,000 copies and was adapted into a play, first performed in Seattle at the Children’s Theater in 1982. ABC television also produced a television movie of the story in 1983 starring Loretta Swit, for which Robinson wrote the screenplay. Elaine Stritch read the audio version of the book.

In 2012 the book was named the No. 73 Top Children’s Novel in the YA list compiled by SLJ blogger Betsy Bird, based upon recommendations from her readers.

The original 1972 cover.

“She made an original Christmas story that was honestly real, human and touching,” Bird said in her entry. “Her book lasted and lasted and lasted and remains pretty much the top Christmas chapter book for kids out there outside of A Christmas Carol.”

Catherine Balkin, former executive at Harper and founder of Balkin Buddies, which arranges author visits to schools and libraries, says Robinson was “funny, charming, and kind.” Balkin also notes that, “Barbara spent many years going around the country visiting schools and talking to students. This well-loved author will be missed by a great many students, including those who are now adults.”

Robinson was born in Portsmouth, Ohio on October 12, 1927, to Theodore L. and Grace Mooney Webb.  After her father’s death when she was three years old, her mother, a teacher, raised her alone.

She attended Allegheny College, from which she received an honorary doctorate of letters later in life.  In 1949, she married John F. Robinson of Berwyn, PA.

After college, Robinson worked as a librarian in Sewickley, PA. One of her earliest published works is Across from Indian Shore (Lothrop, Lee and Shepard, 1962).

Robinson is survived by two daughters, Carolyn and Marjorie, and three grandchildren: Tomas, Marcos, and Lucas.

Youth services division presidents Gail Dickinson (AASL), Shannon Peterson (YALSA), and Starr LaTronica (ALSC) pose with the ALA’s new Declaration for the Right to Libraries.

Right out of the gate, Barbara Stripling, ALA’s incoming president, drew upon the theme “Libraries Change Lives” in kicking off the organization’s “America’s Right to Libraries” campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the variety of services that libraries provide throughout the country. As part of her presentation, Stripling unveiled the Declaration for the Right to Libraries and reminded attendees that ALA is hoping librarians from all types of libraries will gather hundreds of thousands of patron signatures in the coming months. ALA plans to structure a one- or two-week window later this year when school libraries in particular across the country can host signing ceremonies, creating opportunities for ALA to leverage strong national media coverage and public support for the cause.

In the meantime, the initial promotion of the declaration is proceeding as planned. “At Board III, I signed [the declaration] flanked by immediate past-president Susan Ballard and President-elect Terri Grief,” AASL President Gail Dickinson tells School LibraryJournal.  “It was also  presented at Affiliate Assembly, so that our state affiliates are also aware. I am sure that both the legislation and the advocacy committees are working to publicize it.”

As promised by ALA last month, a new implementation task force has already been formed to continue the work of the School Library Task Force. The new committee will be co-chaired by Gina J. Millsap, CEO of Topeka Shawnee County Public Library (KS) and Terry Kirk Grief, AASL president-elect.

“The increased emphasis on preparing all students to be college and career ready and the widespread adoption of the Common Core State Standards and integration of technology have opened an unprecedented door to school library leadership,” the ALA leadership says.

Adds Margaux DelGuidice, a 2013 Movers & Shaker, “Meeting with fellow members of the AASL/YALSA/ALSC Joint Task Force on the Common Core in person and making out the work we will do together,” was one of the key moments in her conference experience this year.

Technology was also front-and-center, with recommended lists for apps and websites creating lots of buzz, attendees say. For the first time ever, AASL announced its list of Best Apps for Teaching and Learning; the committee’s selections were made using the AASL’s Standard’s for 21^st Century Learning as a guide. And for the fifth year, the organization announced its Best Websites for Teaching and Learning in six categories, including media sharing, curriculum collaboration, and social networking.

Additional AASL business included updates from Dickerson on the search for a new AASL executive director. “Conducting a search for this position, which is so important to school libraries, is a thoughtful and reflective process, with a lot of discussion to ensure that the person selected is our best candidate from a pool of highly qualified applicants,” she tells SLJ.

In addition, ALSC announced three Summer Reading Lists for kindergarten through eighth grade. Each of the lists has 25 titles selected by the organization’s Quicklists Consulting Committee and its School-Age Programs and Services Committee.

Generating a stir during the conference was Chris Harris, coordinator of the school library system for the Genesee Valley (NY) Educational Partnership, who introduced the new “Here Be Fiction” program during the “Maintaining Teen E-Collections” presentation. The program makes fiction available in ebook format to school librarians. August House, Bancroft Press, Picture Window Books, Lerner, and Stone Arch Books are the first publishers to be involved. With the program, librarians will be able to download such titles as Kate McMullan’s Nice Shot Cupid (Stone Arch, 2011) to a mobile device or reader. The program will go live on July 15, when selected school librarians around the country will have free access during their summer vacations to read and review ebook fiction.

ALA also spotlighted a number of authors are helping libraries have access to digital media through its new “Authors for Library Ebooks” campaign, which aims to assist ALA in its negotiations with publishers on reaching a sustainable solution for library ebook lending. Cory Doctorow, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Jodi Picoult are just some of the participating authors who have sign on in support of great access to ebooks through libraries.

Says Le Guin, “So, dear reader, if your library doesn’t have the e-book you’d like to read, please don’t complain to your librarian. Complain to your publisher. Tell him to wake up and get real.”

Adds Picoult, “Whether it’s a digital file or a paper copy, I want readers to find my books—and all books—in their libraries. I stand with libraries—and I invite other authors to join me in the campaign for library e-books for all.”

Inaugural brunch attendees build with blocks to illustrate Stripling’s collaboration theme.

A highlight of the conference, youth librarians tell SLJ, was the programming centered around STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education, which was presented by the ALA Public Programming Office in conjunction with NASA and the Space Science Institute. Two sessions introduced new resources now available to libraries to introduce students and patrons to STEM topics: a traveling exhibit, Discover Tech: Engineering Make a World of Difference, and a new STEM online community, STARnetLibraries. The exhibit will be traveling around the country for the next year, while the site’s goal is connect libraries with STEM professionals.

Some conference attendees also enjoyed last Tuesday’s inaugural brunch to welcome Stripling and the new division presidents, with tables were decorated with Legos and building blocks to illustrate Stripling’s call for collaboration and building connections.

The close of the conference also marked the retirement of Julie Walker, AASL executive director.  The association is in the process of selecting her successor.

10. Artist Alley

Graphic novelists Dave Roman and Raina Telegemeier in ALA’s Artist Alley.

In ALA’s artist alley, attendees had the opportunity to hear and meet such graphic artists as Gene Luen Yang—where he spoke about Boxers & Saints (First Second, 2013), his two–volume graphic novel about the Boxer Rebellion—and Dave Roman and Raina Telegemeier, graphic artists and spouses.

9.  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Arthur Levine on the exhibit floor unveils the new cover.

On Saturday, June 29, publisher Arthur Levine unveiled the new cover for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by award-winning illustrator Kazu Kibuishi, the fourth of seven trade paperback editions with new covers illustrated by New York Times bestselling author and illustrator Kazu Kibuishi. The covers are being reissued in celebration of the 15^th anniversary of the U.S. publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the first book in J.K. Rowling’s bestselling series.

8. Paws to Read

The Illinois Library Association was on hand during the conference to share details of its planned 2014 Summer Reading Program, “Paws to Read,” which features Tad Hills as its sponsored illustrator and his character of Rocket as the program’s mascot. The campaign is part of the children’s outreach efforts of the Illinois Reading Enrichment and Development (iREAD) program.

7. StarWalk Kids Media

Amy Kellman, retired head of children’s services at the Carnegie Library, Seymour Simon of StarWalk Kids, and Scholastic’s Lori Benton share a few moments on ALA’s exhibit floor.

Another fascinating exhibit was that of StarWalk Kids Media, an eBook company founded by award-winning children’s science author Seymour Simon. The company showcases the work of award-winning authors and illustrators such as David Adler, Stephanie Calmenson, and Doreen Rappaport.

6. Newbery Superstars!

Newbery Medalists Katherine Paterson, Katherine Applegate, and Patricia MacLachlan.

HarperCollins hosted three of its Newbery winners at the same time at its booth on the exhibit floor: Katherine Paterson (Bridge to Terabithia, 1978 and Jacob Have I Loved, 1981); Katherine Applegate (The One and Only Ivan, 2013); and Patricia MacLachlan (Sarah, Plain and Tall, 1986).

5. Gareth Jones Sings

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Gareth Jones, British children’s author of Constable and Toop (Abrams, 2013) and the “Ninja Meerkats” series (MacMillan), brought his ukulele to serenade librarians in the exhibits.

4. Movers & Shakers

2013 Movers & Shakers Margaux DelGuidice, Matthew Winner, and Rose Luna.

I ran into many terrific librarians throughout the conference, but it was a special treat to spend time with some of the school and children’s services librarians who have been named Movers and Shakers by Library Journal over the years. The opportunity to mingle and meet with many of the Movers & Shakers was also a highlight for one of the 2013 honorees, Margaux DelGuidice, she says.

3. Live @ Your Library

Ellen Hopkins presented 26 authors on the exhibit floor to promote the work of  Live @ Your Library.

Live @ Your Library, a national initiative from ALA’s Public Programs Office, provides grant opportunities for libraries looking to present cultural programming for adults and families to explore important issues. The group’s offerings at ALA this year were quite rich, with 26 critically-acclaimed and best-selling authors being brought to the exhibit floor to read from their books and answer questions.

2. Scholastic Readers Theater

Authors Gordon Korman, Brandon Mull, Kirby Larson, Kat Fall, Kathryn Erskine and Jeffrey Brown

Not content to simply announce its new titles, Scholastic hosted a star-studded Sunday brunch event with authors Gordon Korman, Brandon Mull, Kirby Larson, Kat Fall, Kathryn Erskine and Jeffrey Brown each performing excerpts of their newest kids’ titles in a version of Readers Theater. The award for best performer goes to Brandon Mull for his versatility.

1. Giada De Laurentiis

Rocco Staino, SLJ contributing editor, and Giada De Laurentiis.

It is always wonderful to meet a celebrity at ALA, and this year it was the chef Giada De Laurentiis, who was there to promote Recipe for Adventure: Naples (Grosset & Dunlop).  It is the first in a series that will bring her characters around the world on adventures centered around food.

“I have never entered a school library for a visit without noticing one of Elaine’s books,” says Alix Finn, author of Towering (HarperTeen, 2013). “Elaine’s boundless energy was an inspiration to many, and her giving personality made her a friend. She will be greatly missed by many.”

This April, she was part of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) School Library Month Community Gallery. “A school library is the jewel of any school. It’s a place where students can learn and grow,” Landau said. “There’s no better place for anyone to be!”

Always an advocate for librarians, she dedicated each book in her “The Best Dogs Ever” (Lerner) series to a different member of the profession, including Carl Harvey, past president of AASL and school librarian at North Elementary School, Noblesville, IN.

“Elaine easily tackled non-fiction topics and made them so understandable for student readers,” Harvey tells School Library Journal.  “She certainly will be missed, but her memory will live on each and every time one of her titles is checked out and enjoyed by a child.”

Another book in the series was dedicated to Diane Chen, who in 2012 said of Landau’s work: “Often when I pick up a nonfiction title that reads clearly and is popular with students, I look to see who the author is and discover…Elaine Landau.”

Says Landau’s editor at Lerner, Sara Hoffman: “There are no words to express the sorrow I feel over the loss of Elaine Landau, an immensely talented longtime Lerner author whom I was also privileged to call a friend. Elaine’s impact on the school and library publishing world is immeasurable, as is her impact on those of us fortunate enough to have known her.”

Many of Ms. Landau’s titles have been included on prestigious awards lists and have also received a number of honors including: ALA/YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, International Reading Association’s Children’s Choice and IRA Young Adult Choice, NCSS/CBC Notable Children’s Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies, NSTA/CBC Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children, Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Books of the Year.

“Besides being an extraordinary nonfiction writer, Elaine was a mentor to many in the Florida SCBWI and her boundless energy and encouragement were an inspiration to fellow writers, many of whom considered a good friend,” says Catherine Balkin, founder of Balkin Buddies, which arranges author visits to schools and libraries. “Elaine’s contributions to children’s non-fiction will live on in her many readers, and those of us who had the privilege to know her personally will miss her greatly.”

Landau is survived by her husband, Norman Pearl, and her son, Michael Pearl.

The Caldecott Medal was awarded to 32-year-old Jon Klassen for This is Not My Hat (Candlewick). In accepting the award, Klassen fondly referred to his book—about a sneaky fish and the stolen hat he adores—as his “little guy,” and said he was happy that its subtle humor and message had resonated with readers. Klassen is also a Caldecott Honoree this year for Mac Burnett’s Extra Yarn (HarperCollins); he is only the second illustrator with this achievement in the award’s history.

Katherine Applegate, winner of the John Newbery Medal for The One and Only Ivan (HarperCollins), spoke about her long road to the Medal after a varied writing career, commenting that she was not ‘a late-blooming” success. The 56-year-old winner read from a Harlequin Romance novel that she once wrote. “A woman’s body is like a piano,” she said. “You are definitely a Steinway, baby.”

Unlike her early work, Applegate’s Newbery-winning turn is a poignant YA story of a long-captive gorilla. In her remarks, Applegate recalled her youth and specifically the time that she was introduced to Doctor Doolittle and Charlotte’s Web, books in which, like the Ivan of her book, the principal protagonists were talking animals. “You have to write the book that has to be written,” she quoted Madeleine L’Engle. “And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”

Applegate went on to praise the optimism of children and to thank the members of the Nerdy Book Club, whose online enthusiasm brought recognition to Ivan.

In accepting the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, Katherine Paterson thanked “all the librarians and teachers,” noting, “many children would never know my books if it was for you.” The award is given to an author whose books have made a substantial and lasting contribution to literature. The 80-year-old Paterson is a two-time Newbery and National Book Award winner, and has served as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. The Wilder award comes forty years after the publication of her first book, The Sign of the Chrysanthemum. In closing, Paterson praised the audience and the event, which she said was for “celebrating all of you who nourish the lives of the young.”

Librarian Suzanne Walker donned pins representing the 75 Caldecott Medalists.

The evening’s entertainment was not only found on the stage. The audience was filled with many librarians dressed in their Caldecott-themed fashions and accessories, such as Starr LaTronica, youth services/outreach manager at the Four County Library System (NY) and president-elect of ALSC, who sported earrings and shoes adorned with Caldecott Medals. Elizabeth Bird of the New York Public Library, picture book author and SLJ blogger, wore an outfit that featured all of this year’s Caldecott books. And all 75 Caldecott winners were present on the dress of Suzanne Walker from the Indiana State Library in the form of individual pins that she created for each winning book.

Katrina Taylor and Charlene Mckenzie, librarians from St. Paul, MN, are annual attendees of the dinner; both enjoy the event for different reasons, they told School Library Journal. While McKenzie appreciates getting to see the authors and illustrators who “create the magic of the book,” Taylor says, “it is so inspiring to have a celebration of children’s literature.”

Though Marciano is best known for carrying on the Madeline legacy created his grandfather, Ludwig Bemelmans, he puts his brush aside to write a middle school novel about a “truly horrible boy” in The 9 Lives of Alexander Baddenfield (October). Says editor Sharyn November, “The evil text and art by Sophie Blackall play off each other. It has a bit of Charles Addams.”

Humorous for entirely different reasons, the title of the day had to be Why Dogs Eat Poop (October), by Francesca Gould and David Haviland, a nonfiction tome all about the gross-but-true things you never knew about animals. Believe it or not, the book will help meet Common Core State Standards.

In the same vein, Penguin has created a comprehensive Nonfiction Guide [PDF], a guide to its popular nonfiction titles grouped into overlapping grade bands: K–4, 4–8, and 7 and up. The books are organized thematically by science, history, and social studies, and each grade band has an associated text set, with nonfiction and historical fiction titles surrounding one specific topic: Art & Artists (K–4), Heroes (4–8), and the Civil Rights Movement (7 and up). There is also an author study on Jean Fritz.

Also in October—just in time for National Bullying Prevention Month—is the debut of Until It Hurts to Stop, Jennifer R. Hubbard’s (@JennRHubbard) novel that examines the lasting effects of bullying. Penguin has also created materials on this important topic: the Pledge to Play Nice kit.

The program, which is geared for grades PreK–3, contains a poster with activities aligned to Common Core State Standards, along with a pledge (created by Llama Llama author and illustrator Anna Dewdney), and stickers and certificates for pledge takers.

On a lighter note, food will take center stage this fall in two celebrity books. Haylie Duff’s (@HaylieK) The Real Girls Kitchen (October) aims to help young girls become foodies, while the first book in the “Recipe for Adventure” series by Giada De Laurentis, Naples, is a story centered around a Pizzafest.

Raccoons also like pizza, and in the Secret Pizza Party (September) by Adam Rubin, illustrated Daniel Salmieri (@rubinsalmieri), readers can follow a raccoon on his quest for his favorite food. And perhaps the most famous raccoon of all kidlit, Rascal, is turning 50 this year; in celebration of the event, a special anniversary edition of the Sterling North book will be released.

New titles are also on the horizon from even more familiar names, like Eric Carle’s Friends (November) and QB1 from Mike Lupica, which drops in September just in time for football season.

QB1, which has been described as “Friday Night Lights meets the Manning brothers,” also marks the launch of Penguin’s “Read to the End Zone” sweepstakes. Kids at schools and libraries will be encouraged to read as many Lupica books that they can, with each book counting as 10 yards. Once kids “reach the end zone,” they can enter the sweepstakes for a chance to win a Penguin-sponsored Superbowl party for their classroom or library, and a Skype visit with Mike Lupica the week before the big game in January. The contest will run from September to December.

Fall also marks the end of some best-selling series, such as Anthony Horowitz’s final Alex Rider book, Russian Roulette: Story of an Assassin, and Adam Gidwitz’s finale to his fairy tale series, The Grimm Conclusion. Both books will be available in October. Meanwhile, fans of Marie Lu’s (@Marie_Lu) “Legend” series will get closure to her trilogy with Champion, set for November.

In September, we also see the start of a new series:  T.A. Barron—known as the “Merlin Man” because of his best-selling Merlin series—will debut his take on a new myth with Atlantis Rising.

Penguin also has the holidays covered. Beginning with Ten Orange Pumpkins (September), a new counting book by Stephen Savage (@savageartist) for Halloween, followed up in October with Loren Long’s An Otis Christmas and Jon Agee’s Little Santa, the story of Santa as a youth.

Groundhog Weather School and the reissue of the updated The Buck Stops Here: The Presidents of the United States will both be popular in February and year round.  The updates for The Buck Stops Here were done by the 94-year-old Alice Provensen.

The reissue of Jack: The Early Years of John F. Kennedy will also be a welcome addition in 2014 for marking the fiftieth anniversary of the president’s assassination.

And on a personal note, as a resident of the Hudson Valley, I am always attuned to books set in upstate New York.  Ones to watch for this fall include Printz Award winner Meg Rosoff’s Picture Me Gone  (October), which features a girl and her father traveling from London to New York State to find a missing friend, while Carol Goodman’s Blythewood is set against historical events at a 1911 Hudson Valley boarding school, where mysterious happenings are afoot.

I also plan to add these titles to my nightstand:

The Creature Department (November) by Robert Paul Weston. Razorbill has teamed up with Framestore, an animation company, to create the creatures from the book so that they, as well as the author, will be available for classroom Skype visits. See the animated book cover here.

The Girl Who Heard Colors (September) by Mary Harris, illustrated by Brantley-Newton, is a picture book that introduces the five senses and synesthesia, an ability to perceive one sense with another. Lady Gaga, Duke Ellington, and Jimi Hendrix all have been synesthetes.

The Fantastic Family Whipple (August) by Matthew Ward. This debut middle grade story is about a boy who has to deal with menacing clowns while trying to find a world record to break.

Brotherhood by A.B. Westrick (@ABWestrick) is a middle grade story set during the reconstruction era that has two brothers involved with the KKK during its formation.

Closing the event, Julie Berry (@JulieBerryBooks), gave an emotional reading—due to the love she has for the character, she told the crowd—of a passage from her new book, All the Truth That’s in Me (September). The YA novel tells the story of Judith, a young girl in colonial times who becomes speechless after a horrifying trauma.

The exhibit spans five centuries with one of the earliest items being a rare copy of Aesop’s Fables with His Life: In English, French & Latin illustrated by Francis Barlow dating from 1666. Visitors are taken through the history of children’s books as it relates to history, the arts, popular culture, and technological change.  A children’s book is a “message in a bottle” that shows the “hopes and dreams of each generation,” Leonard Marcus told a group of reporters who previewed the exhibit recently.

Both children and adults can step into the Great Green Room of Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight Moon (Harper & Row, 1947) or answer questions relating to children’s books that appear on a monitor.  Children can also slip through Alice’s Rabbit Hole or pet a fur wall devoted to Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are (Harper & Row, 1963).

While researching objects for the exhibit, Marcus solved a mystery. He had come across an ivory carving of Tweedledee and Tweedledum (characters from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland) without any documentation. Photos of the objects were sent to other children’s literature collections to solicit information. A letter from Carroll in the collection of Philadelphia’s Rosenbach Museum & Library explained that it might be from a parasol handle originally given to the “real” Alice by Carroll. Marcus turned the carving over to find the hole for the umbrella handle.

The familiar names of Garth Williams, Madeleine L’Engle, Maurice Sendak, and Judy Blume are featured in the section entitled “Raising a Ruckus,” which focuses on books that caused controversy in their day.  Superman, the Avengers, and the Justice League make an appearance in the “Lights Out: Reading Under the Covers” area, which is devoted to kids and comics.

At the turn of the last century it was common for libraries to have signs stating “No Dogs or Children Allowed.” Some of the librarians who helped change that custom are featured in the exhibit. Anne Carroll Moore, a New York Public Library’s children’s librarian, is featured; she began the library’s Best Books List, co-founded Children’s Book Week, and helped launch the Newbery and Caldecott Medals. Also included is Pura Belpré, the New York Public Library’s first Puerto Rican librarian. She began bilingual story hours and, in 1996, the American Library Association and its affiliate REFORMA began an annual award named in Belpré’s honor to recognize outstanding Latino writers and illustrators.

The exhibit, which is free to attend, opens June 21, 2013, and will run through March 23, 2014.

School librarians Irene Kwidzinski and Dawn Robson.

The event is the brainchild of Lionel Bender, the co-founder of book packager company Bender Richardson White, which produces children’s illustrated nonfiction, and Sally Isaacs, author of more than 40 children’s nonfiction books. They invited such notable names in nonfiction as Vicki Cobb, Roxie Munro, and Melissa Stewart to serve as presenters.

A Walk-In Storybook.

Vicki Cobb, often called “the Julia Child of science” because of her classic Science Experiments You Can Eat (HarperCollins, 1972), presented the keynote address, “Winning the Nonfiction War.”

Cobb presented a call-to-arms to the group by asking, “Is nonfiction an art form?” Praising the Common Core for recognizing the importance of nonfiction but criticizing its reliance on high stakes testing, Cobb also asked, “How can kids learn to be critical thinkers by reading homogenized passages?”

Cobb also discussed her work with INK Think Tank: Authors on Call, which brings authors into schools via videoconferencing to work with students on research projects. As part of her presentation, she conferenced in Sarah Svarda, head librarian at Discovery School in Murfreesboro, TN. Svarda—who has been named teacher of the year by her school district—invited Cobb to work with her fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students as a mentor on individual inquiry projects.

Next up was Roxie Munro, author and illustrator of over 35 books including EcoMazes (Sterling, 2010), who discussed how she has transformed herself by learning to embrace transmedia. She now works across multiple platforms that enable her to augment the reality of her print books.  In September she will introduce Kids Interactive Walk-in Storybooks, available from K.I.W.I. Storybooks. She has also active in creating apps to go along with her books.

Patricia Stockland of Lerner.

Publishers also shared their visions for nonfiction at the event. Patricia Stockland, editor-in-chief of Lerner Publishing, told the group, “We are not just looking at a book as a print product,” noting that nonfiction is rich in metadata, which helps to enhance e-books with additional content and other materials.

Melissa Stewart—author of 150 nonfiction books including No Monkeys, No Chocolate (Charlesbridge, 2013)—explained how she has joined forces with other authors and librarians to create The Uncommon Corps, a group that works to champion nonfiction for kids and to educate about the different ways nonfiction is presented by authors. For example, some books present information as fast facts while others use a narrative that tells a story.

Attendees came from across the country with many school librarians among them. Louise Simone, librarian at the Sheridan School in the Washington, D.C., and author, questioned the heavy emphasis on technology. “I’m not sure if digital media is everything we want it to be,” she said.

Irene Kwidzinski, retired school librarian from New Milford, CT, and Dawn Robson, library media specialist in the Sachem School District on Long Island, both attended the event because they wanted to see nonfiction from the creators’ side.

“The McKissacks, Fred and Pat, made my life more difficult by setting amazingly high standards of research and knowledge about African American history and culture,” Walter Dean Myers, noted author and current National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, tells School Library Journal. “It is a difficulty for which I will be forever grateful.”

Librarians echo this praise. “Fredrick McKissack was a valued and venerable contributor to the body of nonfiction literature for children,”  Starr LaTronica, outreach and youth services manager for New York’s Four County Library System and president-elect of ALSC, tells SLJ. “His scrupulous research and an eye for specificity and detail blended seamlessly with the narrative composed by his wife Patricia to bring the period or the person to life.”

In these times when nonfiction literature plays such an important role in meeting the Common Core State Standards, the McKissacks’ books play an important role, librarians tell SLJ.

“McKissacks’ titles inspire further inquiries by their breadth, depth, and accuracy,” says Lisa Von Drasek, curator of the Children’s Literature Research Collections, University of Minnesota.  “As librarians we often speak of the serendipity of interest, the stumbling across a book then being captured by the story. I am certain that I had no prior knowledge or interest in a history of African-American whalers between 1730 and 1880, yet the Mckissacks were able to weave the threads of abolition, seafaring, economics, and sociology into a riveting history.”

The McKissacks’ book A Long Hard Journey: The Story of the Pullman Porter (Walker, 1989), won both the CSK and Jane Adams awards, and it was also named an ALA Notable Book and recognized on the New York Public Library “Books for the Teen Age” list. The couple won a second CSK Award in 1995 for Christmas in the Big House (Scholastic, 1995).

Many other titles by the couple were well received and reviewed over the years. African-American Inventors (Millbrook, 1994), was praised in School Library Journal by reviewer Margaret Hagel, who said, “This title fills a real need; its readable text gives information not often  found in books on inventions or on U.S. history.”

In 1999, Fred went solo with Black Hoops: The History of African Americans in Basketball (Scholastic, 1999). At the time, Richard Luzer said in his SLJ review that McKissack “did not shy away from controversy,” noting that the book “makes a unique and important contribution for this age range and should not be missed.” He also praised it for its candor and historical coverage.

When contributing to the Exquisite Corpse Adventure for the Library of Congress, the pair discussed their collaboration process:

According to Fred, “There is no magic formula. Pat and I talk all the time.”

“After talking through a project,” Pat continued, “We outline it. Then Fred does most of the digging and the research, and I write it up on the computer and run off a hard copy. Fred fact-checks and refines it, and then gives it back to me to make his changes and any more of my own.

“Then we run off another hard copy and keep doing that until it satisfies us both,” Fred added.

He was born Fredrick Lemuel McKissack on August 12, 1939, in Nashville, TN. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, he attended Tennessee State, where his romance with Patricia Carwell blossomed. The couple married in December,1964. They moved to St. Louis, MO, after he accepted a job as a civil engineer, and they resided in the area until his death. In 1982 he sold his contracting business and became a full-time writer with his wife, who survives him.

He is also survived by three sons, Fredrick McKissack Jr. of Fort Wayne, IN, Robert McKissack of St. Louis, and John McKissack of Memphis, TN; and five grandchildren. Donations in memory of McKissack can be made to the National Kidney Foundation and the United Negro College Fund.

On the heels of being named the recipient of the CSK Award yet again for his latest book, I, Too, Am America (S & S, 2012), Collier invited School Library Journal  into his home and studio in Hudson Valley, NY—where CSK Award-winning illustrators James Ransome and Charles Smith also live—for a tour and interview about his life, his art, and the creative process.

You’re known for using detailed collages in your illustrations. Are you a collector of various items that you can use for this purpose?
Well, I am always on the lookout, but mostly I just use old fashion magazines for their patterns and inspiration for creating mood or light. I will see a pattern on a dress and also see the color schemes. I incorporate the collage in my work; there is no real rhyme or reason on how. There isn’t more watercolor than collage or collage than watercolor.  It just has to feel right.

Do you storyboard your books before beginning to create the artwork?
I do a quick storyboard [but] I drive editors crazy because when I bring in the original artwork it doesn’t look like the storyboard. Something else happens in the process of making the art and the collage. New ideas come into play that seem to be more important to me or more profound to the text. I follow that. The storyboard just gives me a semblance of where I think I am going but I really never know until I start putting it together. I leave that door open to make sure it happens.  I don’t want to be steadfast to any ideas I had a month ago. I want to see what happens on the fly.

You have used the lives of real historical figures as the basis for some of your books.  What type of research do you conduct before creating your artwork?
For Dave the Potter, I was so intrigued by this brand new history that I went to the plantation in Edgefield, SC. I needed to go there because there really wasn’t much on the Internet or the libraries about Dave. I wanted to see the ground that Dave walked on and the sky he walked under and I wanted to be in his presence and I wanted to hold the pots that he had signed and did poetry on. I had to figure out, Where do I go? How do I get there? Who do I talk to? You feel your way through. I just started to talk to people and the story started coming through.

When I do a book it will embody a distinct light that would be reflective and be a character as well. Dave the Potter shows the earthiness of Dave and the pottery. It has a gritty feel about it. It is put into a historical context of new and exciting history. It is a celebration that history is alive.

Can you tell us more about the important role that poetry plays in many of your books?
I have had the good fortune to do books with both Nikki Grimes and Nikki Giovanni. It was like getting a graduate degree. My work feels lyrical. In many ways, it feels like music. It picks up a flow, rhythm, and a staccato. All that stuff that is in poetry, it speaks in my work as well.

When I do a project that combines the two. It gives the artwork language and words that are readily accessible. There is a visual storyline that happens separate from the text and runs parallel with the words instead on mimicking the text.

Which of your books was the most challenging to create?
John’s Secret Dreams (Hyperion, 2004) about John Lennon, was the most challenging because I really wasn’t a Beatles fan. I was too young to really know the Beatles. I did not follow Lennon’s music. There was a lot of footage on this guy and I could talk to people who knew John.  What I found was that he was rich and famous and had a lot of power—but he was alone, empty and broken as a person. These are two stark contrasts that were happening at once.

I often talk to young people on the road about wanting to be famous. I tell them there is a price. I tell them that I did this book about John Lennon and we talk about it. We talk about John trying to find his clarity and peace of mind. He was protesting things outside his persona with his music. That is a decision we all have to make, what is the most important part of life. That was the entrée for me to getting to know John through his lyrics.

You have won several Coretta Scott King Awards over the years for your work. What does the award mean to you?
In the big picture, it means that I am part of a group of people who have been recognized for the work that we do in books on a grand scale. The CSK says that the artists of color are equal to anything that is being made anywhere. If you take that away, we may not get recognized.

That is a very real and sobering reality. If the CSK award wasn’t in existence, many artists would be overlooked. It has a hand in cultivating new talent.

I grew up without books with people like me in them. Ezra Jack Keats’s books are branded in my psyche. My very first book Uptown is an ode to Peter, Keats, and The Snowy Day. It was a very profound moment to get that book and to come full circle with that seed that was planted, to see it come and bloom and continue to bare fruit. They are all significant moments that say who I am right now.

Can you tell us about your upcoming book, Knock, Knock (Little, Brown; 2013)?
The author is Daniel Beaty, a New York actor. He did a monologue on HBO on Russell Simmons Deff Poetry. I saw it and said , ‘that is a book.’  I called Daniel and met him when he was doing a production at Riverside Theater. It was a one-man show and I was asked to do artwork for the production. He and I started talking about fatherhood and what happens to a kid when his father does not show up one day. I took it over to Little Brown, they loved it and the rest is history.

What is in the works for you right now?
I am doing sketches for the childhood of Quincy Jones. I am also working on a story for Henry Holt called My Country Tis of Thee. It is about how they used that song through history for different causes, such as women’s suffrage, the civil rights movement, and the George Washington to Barack Obama inaugurations. They changed the words throughout history, but it was all based on the same cadence and melody.

In addition to your renowned book illustrations, you also create stand-alone works of art. Can you tell us more about that?
I have been making art since age 15. That is, when I said I want to be an artist, I don’t have a plan B, and this is it.  Eventually I got a scholarship to Pratt.  I went to school with James Ransome and Robert Sabuda.  I make art and do things that are in my world.

The artist talks about how he uses family members, friends, and neighbors to inspire his artwork:

Host John Legend at the taping of TED Talks Education. Photo by Joe Sinnott, courtesy of WNET.

John Legend, the nine-time Grammy Award winner who calls himself a cheerleader for liberal arts education, hosted the proceedings. Legend has worked closely with educators and sits on the boards of Teach for America, Stand for Children, and the Harlem Village Academies.

The presenters were a mix of educators and social activists.

Rita Pierson, a teacher from Houston, TX, kicked-off the event by reminding attendees that education reform should be about human connections and relationships. “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like,” she said.

Microsoft founder and “impassionate optimist” Bill Gates addressed the fact that the USA is globally in fifteenth place in educational achievement. He stressed that teacher evaluation offers “little useful feedback” and said he feels “our teachers deserve better.” He also noted that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation believes that “everyone needs a coach” and is investing in meaningful evaluation methods.

Gates’ talk didn’t set well with some members of the audience. “Bill Gates is not an educator and does not represent (or fund) directions in education that are in the best interest of teachers,” Bob Drake, a chemistry teacher and a member of the Educational Services Advisory Committee for New York City’s public television station WNET, told School Library Journal.

Bill Gates at the taping of TED Talks Education. Photo courtesy of TED/Ryan Lash.

Nevertheless, the focus of Gates’ comments was on trend for the event. “Testing shouldn’t be the dominate culture of education,” concurred Sir Ken Robinson, an inspirational speaker on creativity whose 2006 TED Talk is the most popular in TED history. In his presentation, he faulted No Child Left Behind for promoting “conformity” and “low grade clerical work,” which he said creates an educational culture that de-professionalizes teachers. “Command and control is what’s wrong with education,” he added, noting that, rather than “a climate of control,” we should be fostering a “climate of possibility.”

Sir Ken Robinson at the taping of TED Talks Education. Photo courtesy of TED/Ryan Lash.

For Amanda Akdemir of the Mt. Pleasant-Blythedale Union Free School in Westchester, NY, the event was “both inspiring and motivational.” She told SLJ, “Every teacher [should] watch the talk and be reminded of the power we hold in our careers to transform the future of this country.”

TED is a nonprofit created in 1984 devoted to “Ideas worth spreading.” Initially it brought together people from the technology, entertainment, and design fields, but has since broadened its scope.

Jean Marzollo and Robie H. Harris.

Lovers of children’s picture books and early literacy advocates—including a pediatrician, a jazz singer, and numerous published authors and illustrators—gathered earlier this month in New York City for “Literature for Early Childhood: What Do You Need to Know?” a day conference sponsored by the Bank Street Writers Lab. The event brought together child development experts, educators, and creators of children’s literature.

Keynote speaker Dr. Perri Klass, a pediatrician, opened the event with text from Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown—who was an early member of the Writers Lab—to the delight of attendees and staffers such as Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature interim director Jennifer Brown.

Klass also shared insights about her training of doctors for the Reach Out and Read literacy partnership, where she serves as medical director. The organization’s mission is to work with doctors who in turn give new books to their patients along with advice on the importance of reading aloud to children. The goal of these efforts is to eventually reduce the socio-economic reading divide.

In her training of physicians, Klass says she emphasizes brain developmental stages and things that should be observed both with the child and parent. For example, when a six month old babbles, he or she is requesting interaction—and parents should respond by reading aloud. By this simple act, a child’s imagination is stimulated, language is developed, and a love of books is fostered, she says. Klass also notes that “rich kids hear more words” and a gap in vocabulary begins at 18 months.

The conference turned from the scientific to the creative during “Creating Books for Early Childhood,” a panel discussion between Amy Hest, author of Charley’s First Night (Candlewick, 2012); Robie H. Harris, author of Who Has What? (Candlewick, 2011); Jean Marzollo, author of I Spy School Days (Cartwheel, 1995); and Nina Crews, author of The Neighborhood Mother Goose (Greenwillow, 2003).

The group discussed the creative processes involved in writing a book for children, and how it is unique and particular to each individual. According to the authors, Amy Hest brings herself back to childhood when she writes and never tests any of her books with children before publication, although Jean Marzollo reads funny passages aloud with kids to see which get laughs. And for her part, Robie Harris said she depends upon her illustrator to provide the humor.

Attendees were then treated to a musical interlude: a jazz rendition by Louise Rogers of Chris Raschka’s Charlie Parker Played Be Pop (Scholastic, 1997). Rogers and storyteller Susan Milligan then went on to demonstrate how to combine music and reading for kids in their presentation, “Jazz Mosaic: Ideas to Help You Bring Music into Your Classroom Every Day.” One idea that really resonated with the crowd: playing a blues instrumental as background muisc while reading Judith Viorst’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Atheneum, 1987) with kids.

After some autographing for attendees, the day culminated with closing keynote speaker Laura Vaccaro Seeger, a Caldecott Honor recipient for Green (Roaring Brook, 2012) and First the Egg (Roaring Brook, 2007). First the Egg  was also named a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book

Laura Vaccaro Seeger autographs copies of Green (Roaring Brook, 2012).

Seeger spoke about the craft of her writing as well as the distinctive use of die cuts in her artwork. She also noted how that technique forces the reader to see an image one way and then another.

The inaugural event was a success, according to Brown, who tells School Library Journal that she hopes it will be the first of many such events for the Writers Lab. “We could not have been more pleased,” she says. “The event stressed the essential need for books in early childhood literacy and development.”

The Bank Street Writer’s Lab was created in 1937 to encourage quality writing for children. Its membership has included authors Margaret Wise Brown and Edith Thacher Hurd.

From the Mixed-up Files… (Atheneum, 1967), for which Konigsburg also provided illustrations, is perhaps her best-known and most beloved book. The story is about a girl, Claudia, and her younger brother Jamie who run away from their suburban home to New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Their adventure leads them to unravel a mystery behind a Renaissance sculpture.

At the time of its publication, the book was reviewed by Elva Harmon for SLJ. She wrote, “[This] is the kind of book our increasingly sophisticated pre-teens ask for, and it has almost all they hope for in a book: humor, suspense, intrigue, and their problems acknowledged seriously but not somberly.” The book was adapted twice, in 1973 as a motion picture called The Hideaways with Ingrid Bergman playing Mrs. Frankweiler, and again in 1995 for television, with Lauren Bacall in the title role.

Upon accepting her Newbery for the book, Konigsburg talked about her storytelling and writing process. “[I try to] let the telling be like fudge-ripple ice cream,” she said. “You keep licking the vanilla, but every now and then you come to something richer and deeper and with a stronger flavor.”

Konigsburg once told a school librarian that the Metropolitan Museum was not pleased with her book because it gave too many children the idea of hiding in the museum and taking a dip in the Fountain of the Muses. (The fountain was removed several years ago during a renovation project and now makes its home at Brookgreen Gardens in Murrels Inlet, South Carolina.)

However, 30 years after the book’s publication, the museum finally embraced the book, dedicating an entire issue of Museum Kids to following the footsteps of the books’ characters. In the special Met publication, Konigsburg tells of her initial inspiration: her sighting of a piece of popcorn on a chair in one of the museum’s historical period room displays, which led her to imagine that perhaps someone had snuck past the velvet ropes one night.

She also defends her characters to future museum visitors: “Do you see a beautiful blue silk chair? If you do happen to spot a single piece of popcorn on that chair, I, E. L. Konigsburg, want you to know that neither Claudia nor Jamie left it there. For the past thirty-three years that their spirits have been inhabiting The Metropolitan Museum of Art, they have never been that careless. Never!”

Konigsburg’s first book for kids, Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth (Atheneum, 1967), went on to receive a Newbery Honor in 1968, the same year as her Newbery Medal for From the Mixed-up Files….  She is the only author in Newbery history to achieve that distinction. The story was inspired by the difficulty Konigsburg’s daughter had in adjusting to her family’s move to Port Chester, NY in Westchester Country. Ruth Hill Viguers, in her Horn Book review, said the book was “full of humor and of situations completely in tune with the imaginations of ten-year-old girls.”

Konigsburg also holds the distinction of longest span of time between winning Newbery Medals. In 1997, 29 years after winning her first Newbery, she was recognized for The View from Saturday (Atheneum, 1996), a story told in the four voices of members of a middle-school quiz bowl team.

Photo credit: Ron Kunzman.

“Careful prose is well adapted into a funny, realistic, caring portrait through clear and varied voices,” wrote Angela Reynolds in her SLJ review at the time. “No bells and whistles are needed to bring this winner to life, just a skilled reading.” Julie Cummins, coordinator of Children’s Services at the New York Public Library, also wrote a review, in it noting, “this sparkling story is a jewel in the author’s crown of outstanding work.”

Two of Konigsburg’s other books were nominated for the National Book Award in the children’s category, A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver (Atheneum, 1973) and Throwing Shadows (Atheneum, 1979), for which she also received an American Book Award nomination.

“She was certainly one of the giants in children’s literature,”  Pat Scales, chair of the American Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee and close friend of Koningsburg, tells SLJ. “Each of her books offered readers a little something different, but always with enough humor and mystery to pull them into the larger meaning of her themes. The loss feels heavy right now, but she will live on through her books that will always be with us.”

As word of her death spread, additional tributes began to spring up online from her colleagues in the kid lit community.

“A gifted writer whose books inspired me. One of the most creative people I’ve ever met,” tweeted Judy Blume, while author John Green tweeted, “Konigsburg was one of my first favorite authors, and she remained so: I loved her 2000 novel Silent to the Bone (Atheneum) so much.”

Jo Knowles, author of See You at Harry’s (Candlewick, 2012) tells SLJ, “I don’t think a single child who read From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler ever experienced a museum the same way again,” she says. “Even now, I sometimes find myself wondering which exhibit I would sleep in if I ever got trapped inside.”

Laurel Snyder, author of Bigger than a Breadbox (Random House, 2011), loved Konigsburg as a child and now as a mother and author feels that, “The kids in her books were such complete individuals. They were so independent, defiant and adventurous, but also thoughtful.”

C.A. London, author of the “Accidental Adventures” (Puffin) series, was influenced by Konigsburg in his own writing. “She was a pioneer in capturing the unique genius in the voices of 12 year olds,” he says. “She did, of course, influence me: In the Accidental Adventures, the series starts with Oliver and Celia, upset by a perceived injustice, deciding to run away. Sound familiar?”

Konigsburg’s wry sense of humor is remembered by those who knew her. Sharron McElmeel, a literacy advocate and children’s and young adult literature specialist, remembers the time when one of Konigsburg’s children came home and told her that her book Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth had been an answer in a college bowl trivia contest. “She was thrilled to have such acclaim—until she realized it was a trivia contest,” McElmeel says.

Lee Bennett Hopkins, a poetry anthologist, recalls the time he mentioned to Konigsburg that he was invited to speak somewhere but his schedule was so full that he couldn’t make it. “Dear man,” she told him. “Never tell anyone you ‘can’t make it!’ Tell them you’ll be out of the country at that time. It sounds so much more—exotic!”

Teacher and blogger Monica Edinger recalls being fortunate enough to meet Konigsburg a few times. “She was definitely one of the classiest and smartest people I have ever read or met,” Edinger says. “I hope that her books will continue to provide the same intellectual and aesthetic pleasure for others that they have for me.”

Konigsburg was born February 10, 1930, to Adolph Lobl and Beulah Klein Lobl. She grew up in Farrell, PA, and graduated with a degree in chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University.  In 1952, she married Dr. David Konigsburg and moved to Jacksonville, FL. The family relocated several times during Dr. Konigsburg’s career, but eventually retuned to Jacksonville and settled at Ponte Vedra Beach.

Konigsburg wrote and painted throughout her life. In addition to her 16 children’s novels, she illustrated three picture books and published a collection of her speeches. Her work has been translated into over a dozen languages, according to her family. She was a featured speaker at schools, universities, and libraries. She is survived by her three children, Paul, Laurie and Ross; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Donations may be made in her honor to the American Heart Association or the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

In this second of our upcoming book “preview peeks,” School Library Journal  highlights which upcoming especially got our attention.

Those looking for books to share with young children, especially those expecting a sibling, may want to check out You Were the First by Patricia MacLachlan, illustrated by Stephanie Graegin.

Another great family book coming up in the fall is Marc Brown’s Playtime Rhymes: A Treasury for Families to Learn and Play Together, in which he combines all his finger rhymes into a single volume. It is a great refresher on the accompanying hand motions to such childhood favorite read-aloud poems and songs as “The Itsy Bitsy Spider,” “Two Little Monkeys,” and “Whoops Johnny.”

In The Tortoise & the Hare, Jerry Pinkney’s sparse word use allows the reader to focus on his well-attired characters in his beautifully illustrated take on this familiar fable.

The fashion-conscious animal trend continues in Peter Brown’s Mr. Tiger Goes Wild. Brown has the feline shed his top hat and suit and let loose; notably, the tiger goes “au naturel” in the center spread of the book!

Looking for a mash up of Zoombieland, Food Inc. and The Jungle for kids? Zombie Baseball Beatdown, the new middle school novel by National Book Award finalist Paolo Bacigalupi, may fit the bill. It tackles, among other fascinating topics, food safety, immigration, and a zombie baseball coach. What more could a kid want?

Mordecai Gerstein’s original artwork for The First Drawing at Little, Brown’s preview.

Seven Wild Sisters is an enchanting book that started its life in 2002 when Subterranean Press published it, but this modern fairy tale by Charles De Lint, with color illustrations by Charles Vess, should see a revival when it gets re-released by Little, Brown in February 2014.

Bryan Collier’s original artwork for Knock, Knock on display at the preview.

Boys and girls who are into the prehistoric or like to draw will find The First Drawing by Mordecai Gerstein, a tale about the origin of cave painting, to be visually informative and fun.

Bryan Collier continues to use verse for the foundation of his art in the upcoming Knock Knock, in which the Daniel Beaty poem supplies the words and sets the stage for this book about a boy who grows up with an absent father.

When you go to a party and fall asleep in the bathtub, something bad is bound to happen. Vampire and reality-television loving teens will definitely want to check out Holly Black’s  new stand-alone novel The Coldest Girl in Coldtown this September. The hot topic of reality TV also plays a big role in A.S. King’s Reality Boy, in which Gerald Faust, a former child reality TV star, must face his inner turmoil.

Unbreakable, the first in the “Legion” series by Kami Garcia, is an urban fantasy set in Washington, D.C., that calls to mind elements of Dan Brown’s “Illuminati” series. A movie in already in the works.

YA authors Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando will collaborate on the upcoming Roomies, which is set to debut in January, 2014.

Frank Viva addresses the crowd.

In the meantime, readers can enjoy Rags & Bones: New Twists on a Timeless Tales, an anthology that contains new twists on old tales from popular authors Neil Gaiman, Gene Wolfe, Carries Ryan, and Rick Yancey. Edited by Marissa Marr and Tim Pratt, this offering drops in October.

The highlights of any book preview, of course, are the author visits, both announced and unannounced. Little Brown Books for Young Readers has been known in particular to include a surprise guest at its book previews, and the publisher did not disappoint this time around. Author Frank Viva appeared to present his new book, A Long Way Away, and sign autographs for the crowd of enthusiastic librarians and reviewers. In his innovative book, which debuted this month, Viva created 35 feet of continuous art that can be read both front-to-back and back-to-front.

Bauer was well known to the library and educational community for her years of presentations with the Bureau of Education and Research (BER) that demonstrated how to bring children and books together. She was also the author of several books on promoting children’s literature and library programming, including Handbook for Storytellers (ALA, 1995), This Way to Books (HW Wilson, 1983), and The Poetry Break: An Annotated Anthology With Ideas for Introducing Children to Poetry (HW Wilson, 1994).

“I take a poetry break because of her,” Hope Baugh, librarian at the Carmel Library (IN), tweeted upon hearing of Bauer’s death.

Dressing in a chicken costume to promote books was not beyond Bauer.

“Caroline taught us all that we can have a blast with books and kids, and [she] gave us permission to do silly, crazy things in our teaching,” Judy Freeman, children’s literature consultant, tells School Library Journal. “She was my reading role model.” When approached by BER to become a presenter, Freeman felt she was too busy. Bauer’s response? “Shut up and just do it,” Freeman recalls. Freeman is currently editing a revision of Handbook for Storytellers, scheduled for a 2014 release.

“Bauer’s Reader’s Theater Handbook  [Presenting Reader's Theater: Plays and Poems to Read Aloud (HW Wilson, 1987)] was my inspiration for a successful program at my school,” posted Beverly Bell Fahey, a retired librarian from Loudon County Public Schools (VA), on Facebook. “She was truly a friend to librarians and her energy and creativity knew no bounds.”

Bauer was born on May 12, 1935, to Abraham and Alice Feller in Washington, D.C., where her father worked for the State Department and helped arrange for the purchase of the property where the United Nations now stands.  Bauer attended the Brearley School in New York City and received her BA from the University of Colorado. She received her PhD from the University of Oregon, where she also was an associate professor of library science. In addition, she worked as a children’s librarian at New York Public Library and as a school librarian for the Colorado Rocky Mountain School in Carbondale.

In 1967 she married Peter Bauer, a manufacturer, whose business caused them to live abroad, which Caroline loved. For 15 years they lived in Bhattiary, Bangladesh, a town where she fell in love with the children and where she worked to build both a playground and community center for them.

Her daughter, Hilary Wendell, tells SLJ that the best way to honor her mother, who “believed in education as a vehicle for advancement,” was to establish a fund for her work in Bhattiary. “I hope that we can all help her with her vision of providing and safe, magical and wonderful place for the children,” she adds. Donations to the fund can be made here.

Bauer is survived by her daughter and three grandchildren.