As the post says, "Love the idea of professional travel but just don’t have the budget?" Yes! I love this idea, and hope I get a chance to participate!
Have you heard of the International Librarians Network? It is a peer mentoring program, "a meeting place" for librarians around the world. Applications are currently open through February 20 for the next round of matching. To find out more, visit their site: http://ilnetwork.wordpress.com/2014/01/15/applications-now-open-new-round-begins-march-2014/
As the post says, "Love the idea of professional travel but just don’t have the budget?" Yes! I love this idea, and hope I get a chance to participate!
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Wish I could be there, and those of you heading to ALA Midwinter, mark your calendars! Please join USBBY on Friday, January 24, 8:00 p.m. in the Howe Room at the Loew's Hotel. Maryann Macdonald, author of the World War II-era novel-in-verse and 2014 Bluebonnet nominee Odette’s Secrets, will speak at USBBY's program at the 2014 Midwinter Meeting. The event will be held Friday, January 24th at 8:00 p.m. in the Howe Room at Loew's Hotel. Macdonald's historical novel is a fictionalization on the real experiences of Odette Meyers, a Parisian girl of Jewish descent who is sent into the countryside to hide with a Catholic family during the Nazi occupation. Kirkus, which gave the book a starred review, described it as "an ideal Holocaust introduction for readers unready for death-camp scenes.” The evening will also feature the announcement of USBBY’s 2014 Outstanding International Book (OIB) List. As a national section of IBBY, USBBY was founded to promote international understanding and good will through books for children and adolescents. In addition to the international setting of her most recent book, Macdonald has an established connection to the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), USBBY's parent organization. She is a former IBBY Ambassador to the United Nations. The USBBY event is jointly sponsored by ALA's three youth services divisions, AASL, ALSC, and YALSA. Bloomsbury Children's Books is graciously hosting a reception to follow. Pippi Longstocking (by Astrid Lindgren, 1945) is one of the most iconic characters in children's literature. She's a staple in her home country, with an amusement park, plays, movies, and more. Astrid Lindgren is a national treasure, and today the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is one of the most prestigious honors in children's literature, and one of the few prizes with a monetary component. Pippi is one of the best know characters from another country in the United States. Pippi has been translated into 64 different languages, including three English translations (two in the 1950s, by Florence Lamborn in the United States and Edna Hurup in Great Britain and one in 2007 by Tiina Nunnally). Pippi Longstocking presents the episodic adventures of the strongest girl in the world. She’s almost an orphan: her dead mother is an angel, occasionally peeking through a hole in the sky to check on her daughter, and her father was lost at sea (though Pippi is convinced he’s alive and well, living as a King of the Natives on an island in the South Seas.) Until he is found, she’s living in Villa Villekulla, a house on the outskirts of a small Swedish town, with her monkey, Mr. Nilsson, and her horse. At first the townspeople think she needs an adult to look after her, but Pippi manages to avoid going to a children’s home by outwitting the policemen and she maintains her freedom. She lives just outside the bounds of the town, and similarly, on the bounds of society. Pippi generally does exactly what she pleases and sees no reason to do otherwise. After hearing about Christmas Vacation, she tries going to school, but that doesn’t last long. Money is not an issue, as Pippi has a chest of gold coins to draw upon whenever she needs it. The two children who live next door, Tommy and Annika, are thrilled when Pippi moves in. They go on many adventures with Pippi, who makes everything an adventure -- even scrubbing the floor! Have you visited A Year of Reading the World? In 2012, the author set out to read a book from every country in the world. On her site you can read about her journey, difficulties, suggestions from all over the world, and her reading list. I'd like to try to read a children's book from every country in the world. According to the State Department, there are 205 countries (or territories). I've started a spreadsheet, which I hope to turn into a map. Its an exciting, but daunting, project, so we'll see how it goes. I'll definitely be making use of the USBBY bibliographies, but welcome suggestions as well. How far will I get in 2014??? Stay tuned!
The New York Times just released their top 10 illustrated books of 2013. This list is usually a bit different than many lists that librarians look at -- they are focused on the illustration as fine art and they are not bound by geographical constraints (like the Caldecott) so the lists are usually quite international. And this year is no exception! The official list is available here: http://investors.nytco.com/press/press-releases/press-release-details/2013/The-New-York-Times-Book-Review-Announces--Annual-List-of-the-10-Best-Illustrated-Childrens-Books/default.aspx I was already familiar with The Dark by Lemony Snicket,illustrated by Jon Klassen and Locomotive, written and illustrated by Brian Floca. So far I've had a chance to see Tomi Ungerer's Fog Island, with beautiful, moody illustrations of its' Irish coastal setting. Jemmy Button, with words by Alix Barzelay and illustrations by Jennifer Uman and Valerio Vidali (an Italian illustrator), is a fascinating piece of history illustrated by two artists who discovered one anothers' work on the internet, communicated via a translator, and met to work together on this book in New York City. Locomotive, Fog Island, and Jemmy Button are over-sized books, and in each case, size is used purposefully, intentionally, with powerful results. I'm looking forward to finding the others on this list! Clothes Food Home Play by Ifeoma Onyefulu Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2013. Look at this! is a new series for preschoolers set in Mali by author and photographer Ifeoma Onyefulu. The author lives in England and is from Nigeria. The books are illustrated with bright photographs of everyday objects (Home) and everyday games and toys (Play). The clean design shows the object itself and how it is used on the facing page. I especially like the pictures of children in Play and Clothes. Brief explanations in the beginning explain some of the games, the mix of African and Western clothing, and other notes about why the author made certain choices. There are not many books that feature contemporary, everyday African life so these are a welcome addition. I met Oneyfulu at the IBBY Regional Conference in St. Louis in the fall of 2013. She told a very exciting story about being in Timbuktu at a very pivotal time. She had a shorter time than expected, but fortunately she was able to travel safely. And to take some amazing photographs to illustrate these books. All, yes all, of the above authors will be appearing at next week's USBBY Regional Conference, Bookjoy Around the World. Hope to see you there!
"I have the right to learn about friendship, peace, and respect for our planet and for each human being who lives on it, for each animal that inhabits it, for each plant that nourishes it." The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was written in 1989. It is a long document, but such an important one. The convention has been ratified by all but 3 countries in the world: Somalia, South Sudan, and the United States. This has always been hard for me to believe. The basic rights laid out for children should be ideals that everyone in the world could agree on as worth striving for. It includes such basics as a name, food, water, and shelter, as well as the right to school, healthcare, respect, and to be free from violence and war. Alain Serres's I have the right to be a child (Groundwood/House of Anansi, 2012) distills the document into short sentences and adds examples that children can relate to. For example, "I have the right to go to school, without having to pay, so that I can learn how birds or planes or poppy seeds fly." One of my favorites is "I have the right to play, to create, to imagine . . ." I'd like children in the United States to grow up in a country that has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. There is so much still to be done . . . I know there are children who are hungry, need shelter, and suffer violence in the US. I hope all who work with children -- librarians, teachers, parents -- and care about children will sign this petition for the United States to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: http://wh.gov/lg7nR I Have the Right to Be a Child by Alain Serres, illustrated by Aurelia Fronty. Translated by Helen Mixter. Groundwood/House of Anansi, 2012 (First published in France in 2009 by Rue de Monde).
In picture books we can tell many things through colours, lines and shapes, and that -in turn- allows the text to breathe with freedom. Unfortunately, as we grow up, we lose contact with the expression through pictures, whereas we all were experts on the subject when we were kids. The 2013 winner of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award -ALMA - (the largest book award that exists -- 5 million Swedish kronor!) is Isol, a children's book creator from Argentina, who, in the words of the jury "creates picturebooks from the eye level of the child." This is certainly the case with Petit, the Monster. When this award was announced last spring, I immediately check our shelves to see if we owned any of her work. From making the maps for the "Mapping the World of International Children's Books" section on this site, I knew there were very few authors and illustrators from Latin America represented on the USBBY Outstanding International Book list. So I was pleased to find a few of Isol's works already in our library collection. Petit, the Monster written and illustrated by Isol. Groundwood/ House of Anansi, 2010. Petit struggles with whether he is good or bad -- and sometimes life is just plain confusing. For example, he's bad when he tells lies, but good at storytelling. These nuances are presented from a child's perspective, and capture that sense of confusion and trying to figure this crazy world out. Sometimes he means to help . . . but things turn out wrong. So Petit even wonders if he's a monster . . . though his dog certainly doesn't think so! And neither does his mom. This story has a reassuring ending to natural childhood angst. Isol's illustrations add humor and charm to Petit's plight. Translated by Elisa Amado. Illustrations in pencil, oil pastel and the computer. Doggy Slippers by Jorge Lujan, illustrated by Isol. Groundwood/ House of Anansi, 2010. Children from all across Latin America wrote letters to the author, who selected and shaped their words into poems. The result captures many unique, and sometimes universal, experiences of pet ownership/ companionship. Isol's muted palettes of browns and expressive linear, scratchy illustrations are full of personality. The endpapers are like "rear window" - showing humorous vignettes of all the different pets and owners - delightful. Jorge Lujan is an Argentian poet currently living in Mexico City. Isol lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Translated by Elisa Amado. |
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