Pete the Cat has the right idea!
#givingisgroovy
Check out this list from Harper Kids
“10 Ways to Give Back to Your Community This Holiday Season.”
Deborah also recommends:
“17 US-Based Charities That Put Books in the Hands of Children,“
a fabulous list from the Chronicle Books Blog.
Let’s Share Gifts of Kindness this Season!
Speaking of #kindness…
Illustrator Highlight
Luciana Navarro Powell was featured in our November issue of East/West’s Illustrator Highlight.
Luciana will be signing GRANDPA’S FAVORITE and GRANDMA’S FAVORITE
(Kane Miller/ Erin Dealey) at the midwinter ALA in Seattle, on Sat. Jan 26th, 11-12pm.
Our Illustrator Highlight is
a monthly e letter in which we will share the talent of E/W’s amazing illustrators
with #kidlit art directors and publishers,
edited by East/West author Ana Crespo.
Thanks Ana!
And CONGRATS on your very own forthcoming picture books.
Deal announcements coming soon!
Check here for the Original Art Show feature in our December issue.
Booktastic News!
Best Picture Books of 2018
Crescent Moons and Pointed Minarets
A Muslim Book of Shapes
(Hena Khan/Chronicle)
Illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini
Best Informational Books for Younger Readers of 2018
(Helaine Becker/Christy Ottaviano Books/Henry Holt/Macmillan)
Illustrated by Dow Phumiruk
COUNTING ON KATHERINE and Amini’s CRESCENT MOONS… are also among the
COUNTDOWN is also featured in
FROG-tastic News Too…
Congrats Sarah Scheerger!
(Random House)
“Inspired by their radical teacher, eight elementary school students speak up for what they believe in and make change in their school community. In Scheerger’s middle-grade debut, she tackles issues of friendship, bullying, immigration, women’s rights, access to education, and homelessness/poverty. Her characters are genuine and complex as they grow and change. A thoughtful exploration of the power of the collective voice
—growing up is owning up and speaking up.”
An ARC of Sarah Scheerger’s debut middle grade, OPERATION FROG EFFECT (RH)–coming in February— has been hopping around to lucky readers too, much to their frog-tastic delight:
” Happy #Bookmail day! This one looks fun! Some comics, some letters, some poems! A single act can create ripples & we get to choose the type of people we want to be. Thank you @randomhousekids @sarahscheerger for sharing with #BookPosse“
BOOKLIST says:
… Scheerger does an expert job throughout of keeping multiple subplots untangled and the voices of her narrators distinct … the author infuses her story in nonpreachy ways with themes of kindness, respect for others, and the importance of acting responsibly, capped by a list of helpful web resources.”
And HEY … look what’s trickling out into the world soon!
HEY, WATER! by Antoinette Portis
“Portis narrates in a conversational tone—“Hey, water! I know you! You’re all around.” But her story tackles a tricky cognitive task—recognizing an element that masquerades in different states. Clean graphic spreads mimic a map, with aerial views of water on the surface of the Earth in the matte palette that Portis (Not a Box) fans know. Each watery object—“stream,” “river,” “ocean”—is captioned in block letters with running text that conveys the actions of liquid water: “You trickle… and gurgle… and rush toward the sea.” But water is more complicated than this: “Water, even when you try to fool me, I know you.” It can hang suspended in midair as vapor (“You hide in the air and drift”) or be solid as “a rock that floats,” or “soft as a feather and fancier than lace. But water, I know it’s you!” The same element can exist in several different forms, the words imply—our senses don’t always tell us the truth about identity. Notes at the end with additional illustrations provide more information about states of matter, the water cycle, and conservation.”
@Bookstagram selected Jim Averbeck’s TWO PROBLEMS FOR SOPHIA
as the Best Picture Book Sequel 2018.
Where’s East/West?
Deborah Warren with original art by Dow Phumiruk from COUNTING ON KATHERINE (Becker; Christy Ottaviano Books), and Chris Gorman’s ONE OF A KIND (Nancy Paulsen Books), at the opening of the Society of Illustrators Original Art Show, in the Museum of American Illustration, (open through January 5th), including featured selections from:
Mehrdokht Amini’s A MOON FOR MOE AND MO (Zalben/Charlesbridge).
Grady McFerrin’s art from Jeanne Walker Harvey’s BOATS ON THE BAY was also represented in the Show.
Editor sightings:
With Tracy Gates / Viking ~ and Emily Feinberg / Roaring Brook
To celebrate ABA’s recent “Love Your Bookstore Week,” Jim Averbeck created 2-sided posters with art from TREVOR (Amy Hevron; illustrator/Roaring Brook/Macmillan).
Macmillan and bookselling organizations around the country featured the promotion by including downloadable links in their newsletters, including this one: www.nciba.com
THANK YOU, booksellers, indeed!
Averbeck was part of Abilities United Authors Luncheon.
And check out the amazing TREVOR cookies!
Shannon Hitchcock presented a session entitled LGBT Books–Mirrors and Windows for Students at the recent Florida Association for Media in Education Conference.
Check out her recap of the FAME conference here.
Hitchcock’s ONE TRUE WAY (Scholastic) is featured in the 50 of the Best LGBT Books of 2018: “Two seventh grade girls, Sam and Allie, realize that the crush they have on the other is mutual. But it’s the 1970s in the South, a hard time and place to be true to their queer selves.”
ONE TRUE WAY, as well as Gayle E. Pitman’s SEWING THE RAINBOW and A CHURCH FOR ALL (Magination Press) are on the pre-Stonewall list at Medal on my Mind: What Are We Missing?
Dave Butler promoted WITCHY EYE and WITCHY WINTER (Baen Books) at the YALSA YA Services Symposium Book Blitz.
Look for Book #3 in the WITCHY EYE trilogy soon!
Art teacher Corinne Howell created a beautiful, life size version of Neema (NEEMA’S REASON TO SMILE/ Mehrdokht Amini/ Lightswitch Learning) in anticipation of Patricia Newman’s Author Visit.
