Friday, October 31, 2008

Our White House:Looking In, Looking Out --Kennedy Center Broadcast!

The NCBLA's Book
Our White House
Looking In Looking Out Featured in
Kennedy Center for Performing Arts Series!

Telling Stories: Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out T
hursday, November 6, 2008

Grades 5-8

Nationally recognized creators of books for young people, Katherine Paterson, Steven Kellogg and Mary Brigid Barrett, share insights into a recently released book titled Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out. This book is a compilation of history, historical fiction, personal essays, poetry, drama, and original art by 108 renowned authors and illustrators that offers a view of American history as seen through the eyes of the White House. Our White House was created by the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance, NCBLA, in an effort to combat illiteracy and to get students excited about reading. This facinating discussion is moderated by Maria Salvadore, nationally recognized young people's literature consultant and expert.

For more information about the Kennedy Center's Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out program go to:
http://www.kennedy-center.org/education/pwtv/

Click here for a comprehensive study guide for Our White House program:
http://www.kennedy-center.org/education/pwtv/studyguides/OurWhiteHouse.pdf


The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in cooperation with the Prince William Network, offers arts-based educational programming free to teachers and students across the country through the Performing Arts Series. Programs feature artists and companies who perform at the Kennedy Center and explore the areas of music, dance, theater, and literature.
This year's schedule also include programs with jazz musician Dr. Billy Taylor, the Martha Graham Dance Company, and a performance of Twelve Angry Men starring Richard Thomas and Randall Mell.

To read the Kennedy Center for Performing Art's complete educational outreach performing arts schedule and to find out how you can subscribe for FREE, to the series, go to: http://www.kennedy-center.org/education/pwtv/

Monday, October 27, 2008

You Finish Our White House!!

Involve Kids and Teens in This Year's Historic Election!

Finish the Presidential Timeline in Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out!


Bob Kolar's double page spread illustration at the end of Our White House Looking In, Looking Out is both a trivia game and a presidential timeline. The last space was left blank to give readers the chance to finish the book themselves---a great opportunity to involve young people in this remarkable race to the presidency. Adults and kids can discuss the election results together and complete the presidential timeline in Our White House!



Go to http://www.ourwhitehouse.org/ enter the site and click on the red Presidential Candidate sticker at the top of the page. Follow the directions on the sticker page and finish Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out! And while you are on the site: explore!

Remember read about the election in newspapers and news magazines in both traditional and electronic formats and discuss the election results with the young people in your life!



Remember:
Literacy + Historic Literacy = Civic Engagement!

Go to:
http://www.ourwhitehouse.org

http://www.ourwhitehouse.org/OWHStickerSheet.pdf

Our White House Raves Continue!


PW's Bethanne Patrick Recommends Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out on NY1!

Bethanne Patrick has been reporting about books and authors long enough that her galley shelf is stacked three deep -- yet she still worries about being short on reading material. A PW Contributing Editor and a member of the National Book Critics Circle, Patrick reads, writes, and rants (occasionally all at once) from the Washington DC area.

To hear Bethanne Patrick's recommendation of Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out and other great kids' books for fall watch this great NY1 newsclip
and read Bethanne Patrick Publisher's Weekly blog go to:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/670000267/post/740035474.html


Friday, October 24, 2008

In Case You Missed It!




Watch the
Library of Congress National Book Festival Webcast of
Katherine Paterson,

Steven Kellogg,
Jon Scieszka,

and special guest
Lynda Johnson Robb

Reading from
Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out!


If you could not attend the Library of Congress National Book Festival, you can still see and listen to the NCBLA's Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out presentation on a LOC webcast!

Katherine Paterson and Steven Kellogg, NCBLA Vice-Presidents ; Jon Scieszka, the Library of Congress Children's Book Ambassador; Mary Brigid Barrett, NCBLA President ; and special surprise guest, the former First Lady of Virginia and RIF uber-advocate, Lynda Johnson Robb read from their contributions to the NCBLA's new book Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out at the LOC National Book Festival. We were delighted that LOC's Center for the Book director, the amazing John Cole, introduced our presentation and only regret that he did not have a chance to read from his contribution to Our White House--his delightful essay about First Lady Laura Bush founding of the National Book Festival.

We invite you to view the LOC Book Festival webcast at:
http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=4398

You may also want to check out the LOC Book Festival's Young Reader Tool Kit. The Tool Kit offers suggestions from authors and illustrators to help young people become better readers, writers, and artists!

Katherine Paterson at:
http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/2008/toolkit/authors/bio_kpaterson.html

Steven Kellog at:
http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/2008/toolkit/authors/bio_skellogg.html

Jon Scieszka at:
http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/2008/toolkit/authors/bio_jscieszka.html

Mary Brigid Barrett at:
http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/2008/toolkit/authors/bio_mbbarrett.html

Family Field Trip!

Illustrator David Macaulay Art Exhibit at
The Rhode Island School of Design Museum
and Don't Miss the Macaulay Lecture!

Building Books: The Art of David Macaulay is the first in-depth museum exhibition devoted to this prolific author and artist. Macaulay [RISD '69, Architecture] has demystified the workings and origins of everything from simple gadgets to elaborate architectural structures. A favorite with readers of all ages, the Caldecott Medal-winning artist and MacArthur Fellow is the subject of an exhibition that takes a look at his artistic process and extensive body of work, including The New Way Things Work, Castle, Cathedral, City, Mill, Ship, and Mosque. Building Books presents a diverse range of exhibition materials, including original works of art, studies, sketchbooks, book dummies, manuscripts and correspondence, artifacts (including hand-built ship models), stuffed specimens, reference materials, travel mementos, and a video documentary about the artist, produced for the exhibition. Macaulay's books bring together the worlds of art, history, science and fantasy.

Thirty-Third Annual Gail Silver Memorial Lecture: David Macaulay

RISD Auditorium, Canal Way, Providence

6:15 PM - 8:15 PM.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Author/artist David Macaulay (RISD BArch 1969; former RISD faculty) presents this year's Gail Silver Memorial Lecture. His books, including The New Way Things Work, Cathedral, Ship, Rome Antics, and Mosque, have demystified the workings and origins of everything from simple gadgets to elaborate architectural structures. They have won him a gold and two silver Caldecott medals, not to mention a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2006. His soon-to-be-released book, The Way We Work, explores the human body. The lecture is free and open to all.

For more information go to: http://www.risdmuseum.org/


Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Our White House educational companion website now live!



www.ourwhitehouse.org





www.ourwhitehouse.org is launched!

Stage one of the Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out's companion educational website www.ourwhitehouse.org is live and ready for your perusal!

In www.ourwhitehouse.org, you will find expanded book content for Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out, as well as ideas, activities, and discussion questions related to book topics. Also included is an American history resource and literacy center, a guide to presidential field trip destinations, and an extensive young people’s bibliography. We will be continually adding to the site to include more book-related content and activities, as well as information on civic education and media literacy.

Please, check out the new partner website for Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out at:
http://www.ourwhitehouse.org/

Another Starred Review for Our White House!


The Horn Book Magazine
Gives
Our White House:
Looking In, Looking Out
a STAR Review!



The NCBLA's extraordinary publication
OUR WHITE HOUSE
receives its third starred review!

The Horn Book Magazine writes:


Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out

242 pp. Candlewick 9/08 isbn 978-0-7636-2067-7 $29.99
(Intermediate, Middle School)

From Natalie Babbitt to Jon Scieszka and from R. Gregory Christie to Steven Kellogg, 108 contemporary writers and artists use a variety of stories, poems, and historical records to take readers on a virtual tour of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Starting from the ground up with the construction of the President’s House and first residents John and Abigail Adams, these voices and images, roughly chronologically arranged, recognize those living and working inside and those observing from the outside. Unique bits and pieces (including Jefferson’s fascination with fossils and William Henry Harrison’s purchase of a national cow) create a browser’s dream as readers explore the nooks and crannies of American history. Other entries deal with somber topics such as death, war, and protest; the text of a few, such as Charles Dickens’s 1842 observations and FDR’s Four Freedoms, are not original to the book. Occasionally, connections to the White House are tenuous, and historical links may require an adult intermediary, a joyous job that opens up avenues of discussion on topics from politics to pets. Appended with biographical notes (of contemporary contributors only), an index, and a supporting website (http://www.ourwhiteouse.org), this handsome book concludes with a portrait of an empty chair in the Oval Office that signals the yet-to-be-written future. b.c.

Parents, teachers, and librarians will find The Horn Book Magazine is an exemplary guide to the best in children's literature and will also find their website of great interest.
At: www.hbook.com/

Also of interest is The Horn Book's Editor-in Chief, Roger Sutton's provocative blog READ ROGER at: http://www.hbook.com/blog/

Our White House Looking In, Looking Out


On the Road with
Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out!

Join authors Patricia and Fred McKissack, Lynda Johnson Robb,
and author/illustrator
Mary Brigid Barrett at The Southern Book Festival in Nashville, Tennessee, October 10-12 talking about Our White White House: Looking In, Looking Out!

On October 10-12, Nashville's Southern Festival of Books: A Celebration of the Written Word will be temporary home to approximately 250 authors from across the nation.

Join Our White House contributors Mary Brigid Barrett, Patricia McKissack, Fredrick McKissack, and Lynda Johnson Robb on Saturday October 11, 2008 in Room 12 at the Legislative Plaza on Nashville's War Memorial Plaza to celebrate American history and hear readings from Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out!

Fredrick McKissack and his wife, Patricia McKissack, have written more than 100 books about the African-American experience. They have won countless awards and received much critical acclaim, all the while bringing enjoyment and information to young readers.

Lynda Johnson Robb is the elder of the two daughters of United States President Lyndon Baines Johnson and his wife Lady Bird Johnson. She served as First Lady of Virginia from 1982 to 1986 and as Second Lady of Virginia from 1978 to 1982. She served as chair of the board of Reading is Fundamental, the nation's largest children's literacy organization, from 1996 to 2001. In 2002 she received the Ella Dickey Literacy Award for her work in promoting literacy.

Mary Brigid Barrett is a children's book author and illustrator; a professional educator; and the founder, president, and executive director of the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance (NCBLA). She has won numerous awards for her books, including an Oppenheim Gold Award and the National Storyteller's Association's "Best Book of the Year" award.

For information about the festival, go to:
http://tn-humanities.org/festival/current.php

For the complete list of children's and young adult events, go to:
http://tn-humanities.org/festival/children.php

NCBLA Board Member Illustration Exhibit

Family Field Trip:
David Macaulay's Illustration Exhibit
"Building Books the Art of David Macaulay"
at the Museum of Art
at Rhode Island School of Design


Running from September 27, 2008- February 11, 2009, Building Books: The Art of David Macaulay is the first in-depth museum exhibition devoted to this prolific author and artist. David Macaulay has demystified the workings and origins of everything from simple gadgets to elaborate architectural structures. A favorite with readers of all ages, this Caldecott Medal-winning artist is the subject of this exhibition that takes a look at Macaulay's artistic process and extensive body of work, including The New Way Things Work, Castle, Cathedral, City, Mill, Ship, and Mosque. The exhibition presents a diverse range of exhibition materials, including original works of art, studies, sketchbooks, book dummies, manuscripts and correspondence, artifacts (including hand-built ship models), stuffed specimens, reference materials, travel mementos, and a video documentary about the artist, produced for the exhibition. Macaulay's books bring together the worlds of art, history, science and fantasy.

Parents and grandparents will enjoy visiting this show with their children and teens. And this exhibit would make a wonderful field trip for teachers and their students. For directions, exhibit hours, and all other information call 401-454-6500, or go to: http://www.risdmuseum.org/exhibition.aspx?type=forthcoming&id=15266

Friday, October 3, 2008

Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out!

Rave Reviews for
Our White House:
Looking In Looking Out!

Critics, Parents, Teachers, Librarians embrace Our White House! Read below to find out what people across the country are saying about the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance's Our White House! You can find Our White House at your local library or bookstore, and then write us and tell us what you think about it!


School Library Journal: *Starred Review*-


"The pairing of words and art is often inspired, as in Maybelle Mayer’s paper doll cutouts from 1938 that accompany Nancy Willard’s poem about White House dresses. There are powerful visual moments as well, such as the dazzling series of spreads featuring visual interpretations of Roosevelt’s "Four Freedoms," each by a different artist. . .

Some readers will progress straight through from Jane Yolen’s imagined conversation between John and Abigail Adams to the first National Book Festival in 2001, while others may browse and jump about; either way, this entertaining introduction to the White House is full of fascinating information, challenging ideas, and appealing artwork. "

Read more at: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6591908.html


Publisher's Weekly: *Starred Review*-

"Among the most provocative entries are works by artists who “look in” on the White House with a demonstrably personal vision: David Small shares color sketches of “backstairs at the White House,” a study in contrasts; Bob Kolar arranges the presidents as if on a board game, with clever annotations (who knew President Arthur held a yard sale while in office?); Peter Sís supplies 37 characteristically enigmatic portraits to illustrate freedom to worship. . . . the volume makes the invaluable point that history does not have to be remote or abstract, but a personal and ongoing engagement."

Read more at: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6593070.html?industryid=47139
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6587034.html?nid=2788




Scripps Howard News Service-"a stunning gathering of children's-book stars..."

Let's just say it flat-out: "Our White House" is a stunning gathering of children's-book stars, all with a single goal of illuminating a national treasure for young readers....
"Our White House," a coffee-table-size book with unusual intellectual and artistic heft. With each piece of text just three pages or less in length, it's perfect for reading aloud or just dipping into as time permits.

Read more at:
http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=CORNER-BOOKS-10-01-08


Notes from The Horn Book Magazine-"sumptuous new anthology
Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out"

Of far more durable interest, and with something for adults and children alike, is the sumptuous new anthology Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out, compiled by the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance. More than one hundred essays, poems, short stories, and paintings explore the White House and its inhabitants, history, and significance. . . .A fascinating, eminently browsable, and accessible entrance into the People’s House. "

Read more at: http://www.hbook.com/newsletter/index.html



ForeWord Magazine: . ."impressive compilation of text and images by 108 authors and illustrators."


"What makes this compilation a stunning achievement are the host of illustrations, ranging from realistic to dramatic and satirical, by Brian Selznick, David Small, Roxie Munro, and other award-winning illustrators. Our White House is not meant for one sitting; instead, entries should be savored one at a time. While written for older children and teens, they should be shared with parents and educators, who can add their own personal stories to the experience."

Read more at: http://www.forewordmagazine.com/reviews/viewreviews.aspx?reviewid=4349&rssref=20080930


Children's Book Page- "a spectacular anthology"


"Eight years in the making, as a special project of the National Children's Book and Literary Alliance, the arrival of Our White House is truly a major event in children's publishing. The book is a treasury of essays, personal reflections, letters, poems, speeches and comics, demonstrating that the most celebrated house in America is simply bursting with stories."

Read more at: http://www.bookpage.com/0809bp/children/our_white_house.html


Kirkus Reviews- "even brief dips into this will leave readers with the clear sense that we do have a national history, and it's worth knowing too."

"In this sumptuous pro bono volume, 108 children's authors and illustrators (with the occasional celebrity, president or other official chiming in) contribute original art, personal reminiscences, short stories, poems and historical vignettes about the White House and its residents."


Richie's Picks- "
This is a collection of uber talent."

"OUR WHITE HOUSE is a rollicking literary and visual excursion through the
history and mythology, the hijinks and
tragedies, and the family moments that
have accrued over the
course of two centuries of presidential life at 1600
Pennsylvania
Avenue."

Read more at:
http://lists.sjsu.edu/pipermail/calibk12/2008-June/004591.html