Writers Speak Out on This Year’s Caldecott and Newbery Medal Winners

Commentary Thrives Regarding ALA Youth Media Award Winners

In “Surprise! The Newbery Goes to a Popular Book,” writers Debra Lau Whelan and Rick Margolis delight in this year’s Newbery Medal winner. Whelan and Margolis state in School Library Journal, “The Newbery Medal ended its slump. The committee that awards the nation’s top prize for children’s literature chose Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, marking the first time in four years that the award went to a book that’s critically acclaimed by both librarians and kids.”

The complete article is available online, including comments from Neil Gaiman and reactions to the other winners, at School Library Journal.

Read what children's literature expert Maria Salvadore has to say about the Caldecott Medal and this year’s winner (Beth Krommes for her illustrations in The House in the Night) on her Reading Rockets blog about reading, Page by Page.

In addition to sharing her perspectives on reading and children’s literature on her Reading Rockets blog, Maria is also a prized contributor to the ourwhitehouse.org website, which supplements the NCBLA’s award-winning anthology Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out. Our White House was recognized as an ALA Notable Children's Book for All Ages this week.

In her annotated bibliography on ourwhitehouse.org titled “Presidents, the President’s House, and More: A Select List of Books (and a Few Web Sources) for Children and Young Adults,” Maria has compiled an extensive list of books and online resources that will not only enlighten, but also delight readers young and old as they seek to learn more about American history and the presidency.

American Library Association Announces 2009 Notable Children's Books

Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out Named an ALA Notable Children’s Book!

The ALA has announced its list of 2009 Notable Children’s Books! Only books that the selection committee determine to be “worthy of note or notice, important, distinguished, and outstanding” are designated as an ALA Notable Children’s Book. The ALA website explains its Notable criteria regarding children's books: “Notable should be thought to include books of especially commendable quality, books that exhibit venturesome creativity, and books of fiction, information, poetry and pictures for all age levels (birth through age 14) that reflect and encourage children's interests in exemplary ways.”

The NCBLA is thrilled that this year’s list of “Notable Children’s Books for All Ages” includes Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out. Created by over 100 award-winning writers and illustrators as an exciting means to promote both literacy and historical literacy, Our White House is an expansive anthology of original poetry, historical fiction, nonfiction, and primary source materials about American history and thematically unified by the White House.

In addition to recognizing Our White House as a Notable Book for children of all ages, the ALA also honored three additional books in the same category: Wild Tracks: A guide to Nature’s Footprints by Jim Arnosky, published by Sterling; Frogs by Nic Bishop, published by Scholastic; and A is for Art: An Abstract Alphabet, written and illustrated by Stephen T. Johnson, published by Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman.

Review the complete list of 2009 Notable Children’s Books at the ala.org website.

Read and Learn More at OURWHITEHOUSE.ORG

To learn more about Our White House, take a look at its coordinating educational website, ourwhitehouse.org, which provides additional stories and essays, as well as pertinent activities and discussion questions related to book topics that adults can implement at home or in the classroom. On ourwhitehouse.org you can read Gregory Maguire’s expanded poetic metaphor "Looking In, Looking Out;" Nikki Grimes’ poignant poem, "Staking Claim," about a blind person’s visit to the White House; and Katherine Paterson’s profile of President Calvin Coolidge, "The Eloquence of ‘Silent Cal.’"

Enter the Letters from the White House Writing Contest!

Also on ourwhitehouse.org you can find all you need to know about participating in the national creative writing contest, Letters from the White House. Using Our White House and ourwhitehouse.org as inspirational passports into American history, young people enter the contest by writing letters and journal entries that explore the history of America as they imagine and write about the experience of living or working in the White House.

Letters from the White House is co-sponsored by the NCBLA, Reading Rockets, and AdLit.org. All entries are due by February 16, 2009, Presidents Day! Learn more about the contest on the ourwhitehouse.org website.

American Library Association Announces Literary Award Winners

ALA Announces 2009 Youth Media Awards

Yesterday the American Library Association announced the winners of its prestigious series of awards that honor books, videos, and audiobooks published for children and young adults in the previous year.

The John Newbery Medal, which recognizes the most distinguished contribution to children's literature, was awarded to Neil Gaiman, author of The Graveyard Book, illustrated by Dave McKean and published by HarperCollins Children's Books.

The ALA also named four Newbery Honor Books: The Underneath, by Kathi Appelt, illustrated by David Small, and published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers; The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom, by Margarita Engle and published by Henry Holt and Company LLC; Savvy, by Ingrid Law and published by Dial Books for Young Readers; After Tupac & D Foster, by Jacqueline Woodson and published by G. P. Putnam's Sons.

The Randolph Caldecott Medal, which honors the most distinguished American picture book for children, was awarded to Beth Krommes, illustrator of The House in the Night, written by Susan Marie Swanson and published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Three Caldecott Honor Books were named: A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, written and illustrated by Marla Frazee and published by Harcourt, Inc.; How I Learned Geography, written and illustrated by Uri Shulevitz and published by Farrar Straus Giroux; A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, written by Jen Bryant and published by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers.

The Michael L. Printz Award, which recognizes excellence in literature written for young adults, was awarded to Melina Marchetta, author of Jellicoe Road, published by HarperTeen.

Four Printz Honor Books were named: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II, The Kingdom on the Waves, by M.T. Anderson, published by Candlewick Press; The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart, published by Hyperion Books for Children; Nation, by Terry Pratchett, published by HarperCollins Children's Books; and Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan, published by Alfred A. Knopf.

In addition to the Newbery Medal, Caldecott Medal, and Printz Awards, the ALA also announced the winners of the following awards: Alex Awards, Andrew Carnegie Medal, Coretta Scott King Book Awards, Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, Margaret A. Edwards Award, May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture, Mildred L. Batchelder Award, Odyssey Award, Pura Belpré Awards, Schneider Family Book Award, Theodore Seuss Geisel Award, and William C. Morris Award.

View a complete list of the 2009 youth media award winners on the ALA's website: ala.org .

Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out Honored by Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly Designates Our White House with Honorable Mention “Best Nonfiction Treatment of a Subject”

Each year Publishers Weekly awards its “Off the Cuff” awards (also known as “Cuffies”) to book retailers’ top picks in 25 various categories, ranging from “Favorite Picture Book” to “Book You Couldn’t Shut Up About.” Their recently announced list of 2008 winners includes Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out as the retailers’ Honorable Mention for “Best Nonfiction Treatment of a Subject.” The retailers' top choice for “Best Nonfiction Treatment of a Subject” was awarded to David Macaulay’s The Way We Work. Congratulations are due to all Our White House contributors, especially to Our White House cover illustrator David Macaulay!

View the entire distinguished list of “Cuffie” winners on the Publishers Weekly website at “The 2008 Cuffies.”

Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out overflows with fascinating essays, stories, letters, illustrations, comics, and more by over one hundred award-winning authors and illustrators. The anthology is supported by a companion educational website, ourwhitehouse.org, which expands the book content with additional stories and articles and also provides activities and discussion questions related to book topics. Students young and old may relish the behind-the-scenes look into David Macaulay’s creative genius by viewing images of his preliminary sketches for the Our White House cover in the online article “David Macaulay’s Preliminary Sketches: Creating the Our White House Book Cover Illustration.”

Also included on ourwhitehouse.org is an American history resource and civic education center, a guide to presidential field trip destinations, and an extensive young people’s bibliography. Discover basic facts and legacy summaries about all our presidents in the website’s Presidential Facts center. And learn about our first ladies in the website’s First Lady Facts center.

Both Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out and ourwhitehouse.org are projects created by the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance to not only promote literacy, but to also excite people of all ages about our nation’s rich history.

Learn more about how parents, teachers, and librarians can inspire young people using the Our White House resources in the online article "For Educators: Using Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out and in the Classroom."

Celebrate! America’s 44th President Barack Obama Is Inaugurated!

Obama Is Inaugurated! Make This a Teaching Moment!
Americans and citizens around the world celebrated joyously yesterday as they witnessed yet another peaceful transfer of power. Nearly two billion people braved the freezing cold in Washington, D.C., so they could be a part of this historic moment—the inauguration of our country’s first African American president, Barack Obama. Though the work crews are now removing the barricades from Pennsylvania Avenue and the balloons from city ballrooms, now remains a perfect time to continue our dialog about American history and politics.

How do we discuss this moment with our children? How do we make it real?

Read and Review Different Resources With Children
Start with The Horn Book’s recommended books about American presidents. Their list includes picture books, as well as books for intermediate and young adult readers. All books on this list were published within the last several years. Check it out at: The Horn Book Monthly Special: American Presidents.



Another excellent resource to consult regarding the presidency, politics, and American history is the NCBLA’s art and literary anthology Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out. Our White House seeks to build on logical links between literacy, historical literacy, and civic engagement. Coordinating activities and discussion suggestions, as well as additional articles, are available on the book's supplemental website: ourwhitehouse.org.



Enter the "Letters from the White House" Writing Contest!
You can actively engage young people in a very meaningful way by having them participate in the national creative writing contest, Letters from the White House, which is sponsored by the NCBLA, Reading Rockets, and AdLit.org.

To enter the contest, students write letters and journal entries that explore the history of America and tap into their own creativity when they imagine and write about the experience of living or working in the executive mansion. Students are encouraged to find inspiration in the poetry, stories, illustrations, and information in Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out.

Learn more about the Letters from the White House writing contest at: http://www.ourwhitehouse.org/letterscontest.html


Reading Rockets and AdLit.org are services of public television station WETA, Washington, D.C. These multimedia projects use television, the Internet, print, and outreach to disseminate research-based information about teaching young children how to read and educator and parent resources to help those children and adolescents who struggle to learn. Reading Rockets is funded primarily by a major grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. AdLit.org is funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and by the Ann B. and Thomas L. Friedman Family Foundation.

For more information about the NCBLA, the creator of Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out, go to: http://www.thencbla.org/.

For information about Reading Rockets, go to: http://www.readingrockets.org/

For information about Adlit, go to: http://www.adlit.org/

New York Times: "Inauguration Is Inspiring Classrooms Nationwide"

Twenty-four hours from now, Barack Obama will be the President of the United States.

Young people around the United States seem more interested than ever in politics; many will witness the historic inauguration in school tomorrow.

From The New York Times:

The inauguration of America’s first African-American president has captured the imagination of students and educators with an intensity that surpasses previous ceremonies, and schools from New Hampshire to Florida to California are working to bring the excitement and pageantry, the sheer history of it all, to life in the classroom.

After millions of students watch Barack Obama take the presidential oath on television, some will recite poetry, many will hear brass bands play patriotic music and not a few will debate whether Mr. Obama’s oratory equaled the eloquence of John F. Kennedy.

Read more: Inauguration is Inspiring Classrooms Nationwide.

How will you celebrate the inauguration with the young people in your life? How can you help to spark their interest in history and current events?

--

Tomorrow at school, I will be watching the inauguration on television during art class. My school is suburban but heavily liberal, with Obama earning more than 80% of the votes in our mock election. For many of the seniors (class of '09), the 2008 election was one of the defining moments of our four years in high school. Most of us were stuck in the awkward position of being just too young to vote, but old enough to understand the significance of what was happening. We enter adulthood just as Barack Obama enters the presidency; we all have high hopes for the next four years.

-Colleen, NCBLA intern

Kids Inauguration Celebration!

Plan a Kids Inaugural Ball, Party, or Event for the Young People In Your Life!
Use the Our White House Kids Inauguration Celebration Kit! to create an Event that is fun and Educational!



Attention Parents, Teachers, Librarians, and Youth Community Leaders!


The Our White House
Kids Inauguration
Celebration Kit!
is available now online at: http://www.ourwhitehouse.org/webexc.html

Plan your own “Our White House Kids Inauguration Celebration” and combine great learning with great fun!

The National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance has created a free online presidential inauguration activity guide for parents, teachers, librarians, and community leaders so that young people all across the country can participate in this exciting historic event. Use the upcoming inauguration of our new President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joseph Biden as a springboard to celebrate all of our presidents, as well as our nation’s rich history!

In this kit you will find information concerning:
• an interview with professional speech writer Thomas LaFauci
• the oath of office
• the inaugural ceremony
• inaugural parades
• the White House transition of presidents

Activity projects and discussion question topics include:
• creating your own kids inaugural ball
• writing inaugural poetry
• creating parade floats
• designing a new oval office, and more!

Some of the ideas and activities we suggest spring directly from the content and illustrations in the NCBLA’s new book, Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out, which you can find at your local library or bookstore—but many of the suggested ideas and activities can be used independently of the book.

Take a look at the kit and share what you learn with the young people in your life!
The Our White House Kids Inauguration Celebration Kit is available online at:
http://www.ourwhitehouse.org/webexc.html

The National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance
The NCBLA is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization founded by award-winning young people’s authors and illustrators. Acting as an independent creative agent or in partnership with interested parties, the NCBLA develops original projects, programs, and educational outreach that advocate for and educate about literacy, literature, libraries, and the arts.

We believe that literacy is essential to the development of responsible citizens in a democracy. And we believe that citizens, both young and old, must have equal access to stimulating books and information sources that invite them to dream and give them the tools to achieve their dreams. As writers and illustrators, teachers and mentors, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles—as citizens and neighbors—our ultimate question is always how can we best serve all of our nation’s children?

For more information about the NCBLA go to: www.thencbla.org

Questions or queries, please contact:
Mary Brigid Barrett
President and Executive Director
The National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance
508-533-5851

"Reading Is Presidential" Book Drive Promotes Civic Literacy!

Celebrate the Inauguration of Barack Obama by Donating a Book to D.C. Students and Schools

The organizations Sallie Mae, Building Hope, and Reading Is Fundamental have joined forces to launch a nationwide book drive celebrating the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. The goal of the "Reading Is Presidential" inaugural book drive is to collect more than 44,000 books for Washington, D.C. schools in honor of the historic election of the nation's 44th president.

Every $5 donation made to "Reading Is Presidential" provides one new book to a D.C. public school child, as well as support to RIF’s national mission. Learn more and donate at: https://secure2.convio.net/rif/site/Donation2?idb=1004033955&1880.donation=form1&df_id=1880

The inauguration is just five days away! Discover how inaugural speeches are crafted, what the Constitution has to say about inauguration ceremonies, and which president’s parade lasted almost five hours by checking out the free and informative Our White House Kids' Inauguration Celebration Kit! This online celebration kit not only includes articles explaining inaugural history, but also many fun and enriching activities you can share with the young people in your lives. Find it now at: http://www.ourwhitehouse.org/webexc.html.

Kids Inauguration Celebration Kit Free Online!

Attention Parents, Teachers, Librarians, and Youth Community Leaders!

The Our White House
Kids Inauguration
Celebration Kit!
is available now online at: http://www.ourwhitehouse.org/webexc.html

Plan your own “Our White House Kids Inauguration Celebration” and combine great learning with great fun!

The National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance has created a free online presidential inauguration activity guide for parents, teachers, librarians, and community leaders so that young people all across the country can participate in this exciting historic event. Use the upcoming inauguration of our new President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joseph Biden as a springboard to celebrate all of our presidents, as well as our nation’s rich history!

In this kit you will find information concerning:
• an interview with professional speech writer Thomas LaFauci
• the oath of office
• the inaugural ceremony
• inaugural parades
• the White House transition of presidents

Activity projects and discussion question topics include:
• creating your own kids inaugural ball
• writing inaugural poetry
• creating parade floats
• designing a new oval office, and more!

Some of the ideas and activities we suggest spring directly from the content and illustrations in the NCBLA’s new book, Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out, which you can find at your local library or bookstore—but many of the suggested ideas and activities can be used independently of the book.

Take a look at the kit and share what you learn with the young people in your life!
The Our White House Kids Inauguration Celebration Kit is available online at:
http://www.ourwhitehouse.org/webexc.html

The National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance
The NCBLA is a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization founded by award-winning young people’s authors and illustrators. Acting as an independent creative agent or in partnership with interested parties, the NCBLA develops original projects, programs, and educational outreach that advocate for and educate about literacy, literature, libraries, and the arts.

We believe that literacy is essential to the development of responsible citizens in a democracy. And we believe that citizens, both young and old, must have equal access to stimulating books and information sources that invite them to dream and give them the tools to achieve their dreams. As writers and illustrators, teachers and mentors, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles—as citizens and neighbors—our ultimate question is always how can we best serve all of our nation’s children?

For more information about the NCBLA go to: www.thencbla.org

Questions or queries, please contact:
Mary Brigid Barrett
President and Executive Director
The National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance
508-533-5851

An Our White House Event in Massachusetts!!!

You are invited on January 22…

Join Gregory Maguire and

Tim Basil Ering

for a Festive Evening Celebrating

NCBLA's Book

OUR WHITE HOUSE LOOKING IN LOOKING OUT!

Come celebrate the new book, Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out created by the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance. This volume is full of fascinating stories, letters, illustrations, comics, and more by over one hundred award-winning authors and illustrators.

• “Best Books of 2008” by The Horn Book Magazine, School Library Journal, and Publishers’ Weekly!
• Featured on Martha Stewart Show as one of the New York Times Best Gift Books for 2008!
• A National Endowment for the Humanities “We the People” Bookshelf selection!
• šWww.ourwhitehouse.org companion educational website!

Gregory Maguire and Tim Basil Ering will share stories about the White House, the process of creating their contributions to the book, and more.

Best-selling author, Gregory Maguire published his latest novel, A Lion Among Men (volume three in the Wicked Years) this fall. Timothy Basil Ering is the illustrator of The Tale of Despereaux. He has also written or illustrated a number of other books for children including The Story of Frog Belly Rat Bone, and Don’t Let the Peas Touch!

And more fun! Write your own thoughts of what the new President and his family need to know. Candlewick will have postcards addressed to The White House so you can let President Obama know how you think history should be made for the next four years!

Thursday, January 22 at 6:30 P.M.

Central Square Branch Library

45 Pearl Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts

For children 6 and older, and adults.

Pizza will be served. Registration is required

Please call 617-349-4409, TTY 617-349-4421 to register or for more information.

This program is free and open to the public.

Books will be available for purchase from Porter Square Books. Autographing will follow the presentation.

Sponsored by Candlewick Press and the Friends of the Cambridge Public Library

NCBLA helps Promote Family Literacy on ABC's Good Morning America!

The National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance, with Kind Assistance from the American Library Association, Facilitates a Family Literacy Segment on ABC's Good Morning America!!!

The "Family Literacy" segment on Good Morning America featured a great grandad from Rancho Cucamongo in California who, inspired by his daughter and his dedicated literacy tutor, reads a holiday story, for the first time, to his beloved grandchild! The NCBLA would like to thank Dale Lipschultz at ALA Chicago's office, and Carla Lehn, from the Library Development Service office at the California State Library for all their help in making this happen!

And thank you to Lisa Fletcher and the weekend crew at ABC's Good Morning America for creating this wonderful segment, hopefully inspiring many families to address literacy and low literacy challenges, and inspire more volunteers to become literacy tutors!

If you missed this moving story, you can go to the ABC News website to view it at:
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6534427

Our White House KID's Creative Writing Contest!!!!

Our White House:
Looking In, Looking Out
Inspires a New Generation of Letter Writers!

Letters from the White House: Launching a New Generation of Letter Writers! A Creative Writing Contest for Students inspired by Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out

Introduce young readers and writers to one of the most personal and meaningful ways to communicate—with Letters from the White House, a national creative writing contest from the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance, Reading Rockets, and AdLit.org.

To enter the contest, students write letters and journal entries that explore the history of America and tap into their own creativity when they imagine and write about the experience of living or working in the Executive Mansion. Students will be encouraged to find inspiration in the poetry, stories, illustrations, and information in Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out. Students will also be encouraged to do substantive historical research if pertinent to their writing project. On www.our whitehouse.org, teachers will find useful information and historical resources that may help their students.

Contest information and resources for pre-K-grade-2 teachers and for grades 4-12 is available from Reading Rockets and AdLit.org. Prizes include copies of Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out and gift certificates to Better World Books.

To link to the Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out companion educational website, go to:

http://www.ourwhitehouse.org/intro.html

http://www.ourwhitehouse.org/letterscontest.html

For contest information and resources for pre-K-grade 3 teachers, go to: http://www.readingrockets.org/books/fun/writingcontest

For contest information and resources for grades 4-12 teachers, go to: http://www.adlit.org/fun/writing_contests/owh

For information about Better World Books go to: http://www.betterworldbooks.com/

About Reading Rockets and AdLit.org

Reading Rockets and AdLit.org are services of public television station WETA, Washington, D.C. These multimedia projects use television, the Internet, print and outreach to disseminate research-based information about teaching young children how to read and educator and parent resources to help those children and adolescents who struggle to learn. Reading Rockets is funded primarily by a major grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. AdLit.org is funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and by the Ann B. and Thomas L. Friedman Family Foundation.

For more information about the NCBLA, the creator of Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out, go to: http://www.thencbla.org

For information about Reading Rockets and AdLit.org, go to:

http://www.readingrockets.org/

http://www.adlit.org/