Looks like the National Book Awards are taking a page out of the Oscars’ handbook. Which is to say, if people like nominees for awards so much, why not give them MORE nominees? Says PW, “In an effort to broaden the reach and impact of the National Book Awards, the National Book Foundation will select [...]
Mischief Maker: National Book Award–winner William Alexander has created a world of fun, fury, and astonishing possibilities
By on January 3, 2013 2 Comments
Author Gary D. Schmidt interviews 2012 National Book Award–winner William Alexander.
Fusenews: The P.D. Eastman Influence
By on November 23, 2012
Hope you all had a marvelous Thanksgiving yesterday! I had family in town, including my niece and brother-in-law. Steve, the bro-in-law in question, has a kind of genius for synthesizing down P.D. Eastman books to their most essential lessons. He’s always objected to Are You My Mother? on the basis that this baby bird is [...]
Pictures of the Week: National Coalition Against Censorship Award Gala; National Book Award Ceremony
By on November 16, 2012 Leave a Comment
A variety of authors were celebrated this week at both the National Coalition Against Censorship Award Gala and the National Book Award Ceremony.
‘Goblin Secrets’ Joins a Select List of Fantasy Winners of the National Book Award
By on November 16, 2012 1 Comment
Debut author William Alexander, whose novel ‘Goblin Secrets’ is a middle-grade fantasy about a boy who joins a theatrical group of goblins, took home the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature Wednesday, November 14.
Debut Author William Alexander Nabs 2012 National Book Award for Young People
By on November 15, 2012 1 Comment
First time author William Alexander took home the National Book Award (NBA) for Young People last night for his book Goblin Secrets (S&S, 2012), about a boy who joins a theatrical group of goblins.
Pick of the Day: Flesh & Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy (CD)
By on November 15, 2012 Leave a Comment
Flesh & Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy. By Albert Marrin. 4 CDs. 4:21 hrs. Prod. by Listening Library. Dist. by Listening Library/Books on Tape. 2012. ISBN 978-0-449-01476-9. $30.
Gr 5 Up–Albert Marrin takes the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911 and uses it as a jumping-off point to discuss immigration and working conditions in the early 20th century in his powerful National Book Award nominee (Knopf, 2011). The fire, which was the most devastating disaster in New [...]
SLJ Summit 2012: Nonfiction Authors Address the Common Core
By on November 5, 2012 Leave a Comment
At the School Library Journal Summit held October 26-27, authors Deborah Hopkinson, Barbara Kerley, Steve Sheinkin, and Sally M. Walker came together to share their views on their work and how they can address Common Core principles as they conduct research for their books.
Review of the Day: Goblin Secrets by William Alexander
By on November 1, 2012
Goblin Secrets
By William Alexander
Margaret K. McElderry Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster)
$16.99
ISBN: 978-1-442434523
Ages 9-12
On shelves now
I think it is time to declare the birth of the clockwork children’s novel. If you have been watching the literary trends over the last decade or so, you will note that amongst adults there has been [...]
Does Never Fall Down Stand Up to the Hype?
By on October 31, 2012
Never Fall Down, Patricia McCormick
Balzer + Bray, May 2012
Reviewed from ARC
National Book Award Finalist. Three stars. Patricia McCormick. Never Fall Down is a critical and popular darling, and there is absolutely no question about the emotional impact of the story. You would need to be a stone to stay dry-eyed reading about the atrocities Arn [...]
Pick of the Day: My Name Is Not Easy (Audio)
By on August 30, 2012 Leave a Comment
My Name Is Not Easy. By Debby Dahl Edwardson. 6 CDs. 6:30 hrs. Brilliance Audio. 2012. ISBN 978-1-4558-7955-7. $64.97.
Gr 7 Up–In the early 1960s, children from Iñupiaq, Athabaskan, and Caucasian backgrounds are enrolled at a Catholic boarding school in Alaska in Debby Dahl Edwardson’s National Book Award finalist (Marshall Cavendish, 2011). Luke (white people can’t pronounce his Iñupiaq name) and his brothers Bunna and Isaac are flown to Catholic sponsored Sacred Heart School far from their village. Six-year-old Isaac is [...]
