The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) has just revealed the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award nominees and jury. Twenty-nine authors and 31 illustrators have been selected from 34 countries. Kudos to author Jacqueline Woodson and illustrator Bryan Collier, the only nominees from the United States. Authors Kenneth Oppel (Canada) and Eoin Colfer (Ireland) are also among those honored. Be sure to check out the complete list.
The Hans Christian Andersen Award is the highest international distinction given to authors and illustrators of children’s books. The Awards, given every other year by IBBY, recognizes “lifelong achievement and are given to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important, lasting contribution to children’s literature.”
The 2014 jury, led by María Jesús Gil (Madrid, Spain), is composed of 11 writers, editors, publishers, and educators from around the world. The United States is represented on the jury by Susan M. Stan, Professor of Children’s Literature at the Central Michigan University. Winners will be made known to the public at the IBBY Press Conference at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair on March 24, 2014.
Christopher Awards
The winners of the 2013 Christopher Awards have been chosen. Eleven books for adults and young people have garnered the award. The six winners in the Books for Young People category are: Forever You: A Book About Your Soul and Body (Pauline Books and Media), written by Nicole Lataif and illustrated by Mary Rojas; The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (S & S) by author/illustrator William Joyce and illustrator Joe Bluhm; The House on Dirty-Third Street (Peachtree) by Jo S. Kittinger, illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez; the Newbery Medalist The One and Only Ivan (HarperCollins) by Katherine Applegate, illustrated by Patricia Castelao; R. J. Palacio’s Wonder (Knopf); and Warren St. John’s Outcasts United (Delacorte).
Created in 1949, “these awards are presented to writers, producers, directors and illustrators whose work affirms the highest values of the human spirit.” The Christophers, a nonprofit organization founded in 1945 by Maryknoll Father James Keller, “is rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition of service to God and humanity.” “The creative forces behind the projects we’re honoring are improving our culture by telling stories that awaken hope instead of despair, acknowledge the necessity of sacrifice in the service of a greater good, and light a candle rather than curse the darkness,” noted Tony Rossi, The Christophers’ Director of Communications.
Math SAT Prep
Do your students want to improve their SAT math scores? That’s no-brainer! Well, Shmoop, a publisher of digital curriculum and test prep, is offering a new SAT math practice tool—Math Shack. It offers more than 200 types of math problems in all the categories that appear on the SAT: Numbers and Operations, Algebra and Functions, Geometry and Measurement, and Statistics and Probability. Users get a lot more than just practice. For every problem, there are hints and detailed explanations of the answer. Student progress can also be tracked. Math Shack is instantly available to subscribers of Shmoop’s SAT test prep.
Industry News
Carnegie Medal-winning author Patrick Ness’s new book, More Than This, will be published in September 2013 by Candlewick. Ness’s previous novels, “Chaos Walking” trilogy and A Monster Calls (all Candlewick) garnered numerous awards. His new book chronicles “the life–or perhaps afterlife–of a teenager trapped in a crumbling, abandoned world. The book will be published simultaneously in the US, the UK, and Australia.
“I’ve wanted to write a book about waking up alone on the planet since from about the day I knew I wanted to be a writer,” said Ness. “And the ambiguity and mystery that Seth faces when he wakes [after drowning]—what is this place? Is it a memory? Is it real? Is it somehow both?—felt so much like the yearning and questioning I had growing up, it just all came together at the right time. Though there’s despair here, and pain, in one way it might be the most hopeful thing I’ve ever written.”