During BookExpo America on May 29, there will be a Children’s Book Art Silent Auction and Reception at the Javits Convention Center in New York City. The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and the ABC Children’s Group at the American Booksellers Association are asking for donations of original art from authors and illustrators. The money raised during the auction supports ABFFE, which sponsors the Kids’ Right to Read Project (KRRP) and Banned Book Week. There will also be a special section honoring Maurice Sendak, and artists are invited to create work in his honor. The event will be hosted by bestselling authors Jack Gantos and Lauren Myracle. If you are interested in donating, contact Kristen Gilligan, the auction manager, by email and complete an Artwork Donation Form. The deadline is April 29.
There’s an auction website where you can preview the art. For the first time, if you can’t be present at the event, you will have the chance to bid on these terrific pieces online a week before.
Tickets for the auction and reception on May 29 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm are $99. Tickets are free to all member bookstores of the ABC Children’s Group at ABA.
Story Time App
Bookboard, a children’s book subscription service on mobile devices, is debuting its first release—an app for the iPad. They will be releasing 300 picture books, beginning readers, and chapter books for kids up to age 12. With a subscription ($29.94 for 6 months or $8.99 on a monthly plan), you have unlimited access to all the titles and get up to four child reader accounts. Each book has a read-to-me option, and Bookboard suggests additional books based on what the child has been reading. Among the titles are Mechanimals by Chris Tougas (Orca, 2007), Fun in the Mud by Anna Prokos (Red Chair Pr., 2010), I Bruno by Caroline Adderson (Orca, 2007), and Pierre Le Poof! by Andrea Beck (Orca, 2009). You can visit Bookboard’s website for a free trial.
Recycle and Earn AV Equipment
Do you have old, used headphones just taking up space your library or classroom? Now you can recycle them—think Earth Day!—and earn cash or points that you can redeem for new technology. Califone, a manufacturer of audiovisual equipment and supplemental curriculum products, has partnered with FundingFactory, a free program that recycles electronic waste. Once you turn in your old headphones, you can earn points to purchase new headphones or headsets from Califone. “Our partnership supports a broader definition of what it means to be green, providing schools with the unique opportunity to recycle end-of-life headphones and headsets and minimize waste,” said Tim Ridgway, vice president of marketing for Califone. “Not only can educators take action to keep e-waste out of landfills, they can raise funds at the same time to meet their evolving technology needs.”
In addition to headphones and headsets, check out FundingFactory’s qualifying items list of other electronics and equipment that can be recycled for cash or points, such as laptops, mp3 players, ink cartridges, and more. For more information or to register for this recycling program, visit FundingFactory’s website.
Children’s Books That Inspire Volunteerism
The Corporate Volunteer Council (CVC) of Atlanta is asking for nominations of children’s books (kindergarten through 5th grade) to be considered for the 11th annual Carol D. Reiser Children’s Book Award. The books—works for fiction, poetry, folklore, non-fiction, or anthology published in the U.S. for children in kindergarten through 5th grade—should “inspire community service and volunteerism.” The judging panel includes national literary experts and representatives of the CVC of Atlanta. The nomination process is simple. Just download and complete a nomination form and mail it in with copies of the book to the CVC of Atlanta according to the instructions on the form by May 30. The awards will be presented in August at the Decatur Book Festival and in September at the CVC of Atlanta’s IMPACT Awards event that honors excellence in corporate community engagement.
The CVC of Atlanta is a professional association of Atlanta businesses that promotes employee volunteerism and provides a forum for networking, etc. Carol D. Reiser is a co-founder and past president of the CVC.
Street Lit Awards
The 2013 Street Literature Book Award Medal (SLBAM) winners and honorees have been announced in the young adult fiction category as well as the adult fiction, nonfiction, and emerging classic categories. On the Flip Side: A Fab Life Novel (K-Teen/Dafina) by Nikki Carter is the winner in the Young Adult Fiction category. The three honorees in that category are: How to Get Out of the Way of Your Own Self (Grand Central) by Tyrese Gibson, Shattered (Grand Central) by Kia Dupree, and Back to Me (Harlequin Kimani TRU) by Earl Sewell. Titles were nominated in each category based of their popularity in school, public, and academic libraries in the U.S. The awards committee consisted of librarians in school and public libraries.
According to The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Street Literature (ALA, 2011), Street Literature can be defined as a literary genre “where the stories, be they fiction or nonfiction, are consistently set in urban, inner-city enclaves. Street Literature of yesteryear and today, by and large, depicts tales about the daily lives of people living in lower income city neighborhoods. This characteristic spans historical timelines, varying cultural identifications, linguistic associations, and various formal designations.” Make sure to check out a complete list of SLBAM winners from 1999 to the present.
Romance Is in the Air
Are your teen patrons romantics at heart? Romance Writers of America has just announced the 2013 RITA and Golden Heart Award finalists. The RITA award for published romance fiction novels and novellas features 12 categories, including one for Young Adult Romances, while the Golden Heart (unpublished romance fiction manuscripts) boasts 7 categories (including Young Adult Romances). A novel can be entered for the RITA Award by the author or the book’s publisher. For the Golden Heart Award, the authors can enter their manuscripts—and many finalists sell their manuscripts based on their exposure during the judging.
The RITA Young Adult Romance finalists are: Bound by Erica O’Rourke (Kensington/KTeen), The Farm by Emily McKay (Penguin/Berkley), Robin LaFevers’s Grave Mercy (Houghton Harcourt), and Pushing the Limits (Harlequin Teen) by Katie McGarry.
The Golden Heart finalists in the Young Adult Romance category are: Camp Awakening by Bonnie Staring, Hidden Deep by Amy DeLuca, Leath’Dhia/Birthright by KariMiller, Miranda Perry’s Imported Prom Date by Sheri Adkins, Sticks and Stones by Kimberly MacCarron, Summer of Supernoval by Darcy Woods, and Ten by Holly Bodger. The winners will be announced at a black-tie awards ceremony on July 20 at the 2013 Romance Writers of America Annual Conference in Atlanta, GA.
International Kid Lit Award
Argentinian illustrator/author Isol (Marisol Misenta) has won the coveted Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, an international children’s literature award given each year by the Swedish government to an individual or organization working “in the spirit of Astrid Lindgren” to “safeguard democratic values.” There were 207 candidates for the award this year, including Eric Carle and Michael Morpurgo.
The winner was selected by a jury of 12 international children’s literature experts who noted that “with a restrained palette and ever-innovative pictorial solutions, [Isol] shifts ingrained perspectives and pushes the boundaries of the picture book medium. Taking children’s clear view of the world as her starting point, she addresses their questions with forceful artistic expression and offers open answers. With liberating humour and levity, she also deals with the darker aspects of existence.” Isol’s work, including her 1997 debut Vida de Perros and Tener Un Patito Es Util, has been published in 20 countries. Isol will receive 5 million SEK (about $760,000), the largest award for children’s literature, in Stockholm on May 27.
The award honors Lindgren (1907–2002), best known for her “Pippi Longstocking” series. Among the previous recipients of the award are Shaun Tan, Philip Pullman, and Maurice Sendak.