School Library Journal» Bryan Collier http://www.slj.com The world's largest reviewer of books, multimedia, and technology for children and teens Thu, 19 Sep 2013 04:10:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 Pick of the Day: Fifty Cents and a Dream: Young Booker T. Washington http://www.slj.com/2012/10/books-media/reviews/pick-of-the-day/pick-of-the-day-fifty-cents-and-a-dream-young-booker-t-washington/ http://www.slj.com/2012/10/books-media/reviews/pick-of-the-day/pick-of-the-day-fifty-cents-and-a-dream-young-booker-t-washington/#comments Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:57:46 +0000 SLJ http://www.slj.com/?p=18294 ASIM, Jabari. Fifty Cents and a Dream: Young Booker T. Washington. illus. by Bryan Collier. 48p. bibliog. chron. Little, Brown. Dec. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-316-08657-8. Gr 2-4–Here sits a barefooted boy leaning against a tree trunk, eyes closed, dreaming about reading. Here he is following his master’s daughter to school, carrying her books, feeling their “magic seeping into his hands.” Booker was born a slave, and slaves were forbidden to read. Emancipation came while he was still young. He worked [...]]]> star Pick of the Day: Fifty Cents and a Dream: Young Booker T. Washingtonfifty cents and a dream1 Pick of the Day: Fifty Cents and a Dream: Young Booker T. WashingtonASIM, Jabari. Fifty Cents and a Dream: Young Booker T. Washington. illus. by Bryan Collier. 48p. bibliog. chron. Little, Brown. Dec. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-316-08657-8.
Gr 2-4–Here sits a barefooted boy leaning against a tree trunk, eyes closed, dreaming about reading. Here he is following his master’s daughter to school, carrying her books, feeling their “magic seeping into his hands.” Booker was born a slave, and slaves were forbidden to read. Emancipation came while he was still young. He worked with the men in his family, first shoveling salt, then in a coal mine. He learned to read from a spelling book his mother gave him. He attended the school for Negroes after work and dreamed of Hampton Institute, where he could study writing. He walked there–hundreds of miles through the mountains of Virginia, unloading ships in Richmond when his food money ran out. A janitor job at Hampton paid his room and board. Written in simply stated narrative, in a font that looks hand-printed, this story covers more of Washington’s life and offers more detail than Marie Bradby’s More Than Anything Else (Orchard, 1995),  a brief, movingly told, beautifully rendered introduction to Washington for younger children. Collier’s patterned and textured watercolor and paper collage paintings perfectly mirror the narrative, reiterating details and settings in handsomely constructed glimpses of the young Booker at school and at work; the teen-aged Booker traveling on foot toward a better education; the student dreaming of great things to come. His dreams are shown as luminescent bubbles or rays of light that reach toward the sky; his shirt is map-patterned. Two pages of biographical endnotes include a time line of his significant accomplishments. An inspirational life, memorably presented.–Susan Scheps, formerly at Shaker Public Library, OH

]]> http://www.slj.com/2012/10/books-media/reviews/pick-of-the-day/pick-of-the-day-fifty-cents-and-a-dream-young-booker-t-washington/feed/ 0 Fans Fete Kinney, Green at DC’s National Book Fest http://www.slj.com/2012/09/books-media/fans-fete-kinney-green-at-dcs-national-book-fest/ http://www.slj.com/2012/09/books-media/fans-fete-kinney-green-at-dcs-national-book-fest/#comments Tue, 25 Sep 2012 14:21:54 +0000 Rocco Staino http://www.slj.com/?p=15646 More than 200,000 book lovers streamed onto the National Mall in Washington, DC, this weekend to attend the 12th annual National Book Festival, where children and YA authors from Jeff Kinney to John Green drew huge crowds of kids who lined up for autographs and brought gifts, letters, and cookies for some of their favorite writers.

bryancollier Fans Fete Kinney, Green at DCs National Book Fest

Bryan Collier at the National Book Festival in DC.

More than 800 fans showed up to see Green, a New York Times bestselling author who’s received numerous awards including the Printz and a Printz Honor. Kinney spent four hours Saturday morning signing books for close to 2,000 fans. In all, 125 authors gathered for the two-day celebration, which took place September 22 and 23.

The festival began Friday evening, with invited guests gathered at the Library of Congress’s Jefferson Building to hear authors such as Patricia Cornwell talk about their craft. Cornwell recalled how she  always played detective—and how as a child she would read her school library sign out cards to gather information on the reading habits of her classmates. As in past years, the crowds were filled with teachers and librarians who make the annual pilgrimage to the capital.

Caryn Levy, a media coordinator at Leicester Elementary School in Leicester, NC, traveled to the event with her colleague Vicki Kolomechuk, a school librarian at Valley Spring Middle School in Bumcombe County, NC. They arrived early to get front row seats to hear author and illustrator Bryan Collier speak on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Junior Library Friends group from Weedsport, NY, made their annual trip to the festival to meet their favorite authors and tour the Pavilion of States.

Rafael Lopez, a Pura Belpre Award-winning illustrator, created the poster for this year’s festival with vivid colorful animals, birds, and insects peering down at child readers. Festival attendees received autographed copies of the poster. (View a slideshow of how the National Book Festival poster evolved).

Check out School Library Journal’s photo slideshow from this year’s National Book Festival.  Click on Show Info (upper right) to view captions.

 

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