Month: May 2014

South Asia Book Award

| Tasha

South Asia Book Award

The winners of the 2014 South Asia Book Award have been announced.  The award is administered by the South Asia National Outreach Consortium and is given annually for up to two outstanding works of literature for children or teens which “accurately and skillfully portrays South Asia or South Asians in the diasporas, that is the experience of individuals living in South Asia, or of South Asians living in other parts of the world.”  Up to five Honor Books and Highly Commended Books will also be recognized.

Here are the winners and recognized books for 2014:

WINNERS

A Moment Comes Razia's Ray of Hope: One Girl's Dream of an Education

A Moment Comes by Jennifer Bradbury

Razia’s Ray of Hope: One Girl’s Dream of an Education by Elizabeth Suneby

 

HONOR BOOKS

Bye, Bye, Motabhai! 16290039

Bye, Bye, Motabhai! by Kala Sambasivan, illustrations by Ambika Sambasivan

Gandhi: A March to the Sea by Alice B. McGinty, illustrations by Thomas Gonzalez

The Garden of My Imaan Mother Teresa: Saint of the Slums: Campfire Biography-Heroes Line

The Garden of My Imaan by Farhana Zia

Mother Teresa: Angel of the Slums by Lewis Helfand, art by Sachin Nagar

 

HIGHLY COMMENDED BOOKS

The Fantastic Adventures of Krishna Gobble You Up! 

The Fantastic Adventures of Krishna written and illustrated by Demi

Gobble You Up! by Gita Wolf, art by Sunita

In Andal's House My Basmati Bat Mitzvah Torn

In Andal’s House by Gloria Whelan, illustrations by Amanda Hall

My Basmati Bat Mitzvah by Paula J Freedman

Torn by David Massey

This Week’s Tweets, Pins & Tumbls

| Tasha

Here are the links I shared on my Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr accounts this week that I think are cool:

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

37 Children’s Books That Changed Your Life http://buff.ly/1vtqklV #kidlit

CCBlogC: Watch the 2014 Arbuthnot Lecture http://buff.ly/1gbfj4c #kidlit

Damian Dibben’s top 10 time travel books | Guardian- Children’s books http://buff.ly/1jGBAYp #kidlit

Diversity in Children’s Books: Moving From Outcry to Real, Market-Driven Solutions| Kyle Zimmer | http://buff.ly/1lXFvgq #kidlit

Elmer – celebrating difference for 25 years – in pictures | Children’s books http://buff.ly/1o6IzMc #kidlit

Funny business – The Horn Book http://buff.ly/S0fzYP #kidlit #humor

If You Want To Teach Kids History, Try Grossing Them Out First : NPR http://buff.ly/1vt6dEl #kidlit

Sassy siblings – The Horn Book http://buff.ly/S0fCDY #kidlit

EBOOKS

OverDrive & Smashwords Announce Distribution Deal; 200,000 Titles by 80,000 Authors Now Available | LJ INFOdocket http://buff.ly/SevGly

Cambridge Public Library 449 Broadway, Cambridge MA

LIBRARIES

Brewster Kahle, the Librarian of 404 Billion Websites | Motherboard http://buff.ly/1mA2NeT #libraries

The New York Public Library Comes Around : The New Yorker http://buff.ly/1hQXeDz #libraries

This library is anything but quiet : http://buff.ly/Tz5FP8 – http://buff.ly/Tz5HGA #libraries

What’s Really Wrong With Google?| Nancy K. Humphreys | http://buff.ly/1lXL6Dv #libraries #google

Why buy when you can borrow instead? – Chicago Tribune http://buff.ly/1ojvmNx #libraries

Why Libraries Matter – a day in the life of New York Public Library – The Atlantic http://buff.ly/1j2ILEp #libraries

Why the death of net neutrality would be a disaster for libraries http://buff.ly/1jQW76y #netneutrality #libraries

TECHNOLOGY

UK launches large-scale study into mobile risk to kids (Wired UK) http://buff.ly/1jR6ZRW #technology #mobile #children

Who Has Your Back 2014: Protecting Your Data From Government Requests | Electronic Frontier Foundation http://buff.ly/1sX9dXp #privacy

TEEN READS

30 Diverse YA Titles To Get On Your Radar | BOOK RIOT http://buff.ly/1ojsEHQ #yalit

Bummer summer – The Horn Book http://buff.ly/S0fGDD #yalit

Feminist Young Adult Novels That You Must Read – Flavorwire http://buff.ly/1nYNSdV #yalit

The Mortal Instruments author Cassandra Clare interview – video | Children’s books http://buff.ly/RUSaI5 #yalit

Reading over the Rainbow | Children’s books http://buff.ly/1vtqeum #yalit #libraries #lgbtq

Terrible Trivium – On ‘The John Green Effect,’ Contemporary Realism, and Form as a Political Act http://buff.ly/1sWVr7h #yalit #diversity

TLT: Teen Librarian’s Toolbox: Dear Media, Let me help you write that article on YA literature http://buff.ly/1j2EH78 #yalit

Review: This Is a Moose by Richard T. Morris

| Tasha

this is a moose

This Is a Moose by Richard T. Morris, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld

A movie director is trying to create a documentary about the Mighty Moose.  You know, the ones that eat plants and drink from lakes.  But instead what he gets is a moose who wants to be an astronaut.  And his grandmother who wants to be a lacrosse goalie.  And somehow a giraffe who wants to be a doctor is also brought into the  movie!  Then there is a grand plan to get the moose who wants to be an astronaut into space.  No matter what the poor director does, no one pays him any attention just doing what they want to do.  There are plenty of more twists along the way too in this hilarious picture book.

Morris writes with an ear for dialogue and yelling.  The book reads aloud perfectly, the tones matching the fonts, the silliness reaching amazing heights.  At first the book is serious with the mighty moose, but that lasts only for a page or two before it becomes pure farce, which will delight young listeners.  They will also delight in the fact that the “adult” voice of the director is ignored for much more fun pursuits as the character join forces to launch the moose into space. 

Lichtenheld’s illustrations add to the laughs as the characters stand up to the structure of the book and completely mess with the system.  Lichtenheld plays with perspective, throws the characters bodily around, and adds plenty of motion to the page.  This is one wild and silly book, a farcical festival.

Got silly kids?  Get this book!  Guaranteed giggles in no time at all.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Poor Doreen: A Fishy Tale by Sally Lloyd-Jones

| Tasha

poor doreen

Poor Doreen: A Fishy Tale by Sally Lloyd-Jones and Alexandra Boiger

Mrs. Doreen Randolph-Potts is a very rare Ample Roundy Fish who is headed to visit her cousin who has just had a baby, or 157 babies to be exact.  So Doreen is swimming down the river when she spots what she thinks is a tasty dragonfly, but it is not.  It is actually a lure held by a fisherman, but Doreen does not know that and she gulps it down.  Soon Doreen is lifted into the air and plunked into a basket.  She thinks she is just there for a little rest before she heads on her journey, but she is wrong again.  Instead a Great Heron snaps her up and carries her off.  But as he has her in his jaws, Doreen thanks him for the ride.  She then manages to insult him by asking if he is an egret and when he tries to answer her she falls down, down into the water again.  So that leaves two very embarrassed creatures:  a fisherman and a heron who both lost their catch that day and one rather confused but safe Doreen who makes it to her cousin’s home with a great story to share.

Doreen is a great character, always looking on the bright side of her world though in a rather confused way.  She’s an optimist through and through, one who always sees the best, though sometimes at her own peril.  The book is designed to be read aloud with the fonts leading readers along the way.  It has great pacing for sharing aloud as well as a good amount of humor which always helps.  The language of the writing is also very special.  Here is my favorite line of the book to give you some of the flavor: 

By the water’s edge

a Fisherman wearing a coat the color of the sun

and a Great Blue Heron wearing a coat the color of a stormy sky

with a neck like an S

for SPEAR

are fishing.

Wonderful writing with richness and depth, contrasts and foreshadowing.  It’s simply superb.

Boiger’s art is appropriately done in watercolor for this fishy story.  Doreen pops on the page with her bright scarf and umbrella, both in red.  The action is captured nicely on the page, filled with bubbles, swirls and motion. 

A clever and optimistic book, children are sure to root for Doreen on her great adventure.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Random House Children’s Books.

Review: This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki

| Tasha

this one summer

This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki

Rose goes to Awago Beach every summer with her parents, but this summer things don’t feel quite the same.  Rose’s friend Windy is also there and the two of them hang out together just like every other summer.  But Rose’s parents are always arguing and her mother won’t go swimming with them at all.  Rose and Windy find their own way to escape the fighting, they rent horror movies from the local shop.  While they are there picking out and returning their movies, they watch a summer of teenage drama unfold in front of them.  This is a summer unlike any others, one where secrets are hidden and revealed and where sorrow mixes with the summer sun.

Done by the pair that did Skim, this is an amazing graphic novel for teens.  It deals with that fragile moment in life where children are becoming teens and everything around them is changing.  These two girls are suspended in that time during the summer, learning about themselves, about their parents and witnessing events around them in a new way.  The use of a summer vacation to capture that moment in time is superb.  Yet this book is not a treatise on the wonder of childhood at all.  It deals with deeper issues, darker ones, ones that the two girls are not ready to handle yet.  And that’s what makes it all the more wondrous as a book.

The art in the book is phenomenal.  The two girls are different physically, one a little stouter than the other and both are real girls expressing real emotions.  And the larger of the two girls is not the shy, meek one.  She has a wonderful sassiness to her, an open grin, and rocks a bikini.  Hoorah!  The art captures summer days, the beach, what a face of sorrow looks like and how it tears into ones entire physique.  Done in blue and white, the images are detailed and realistic.

A glimpse of one summer and what happens during it, this book is about capturing a moment in time, one that is filled with depth, despair and desire.  Appropriate for ages 13-16.

Reviewed from digital copy received from

Review: The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires

| Tasha

most magnificent thing

The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires

A little girl and her best friend, her dog, loved to do all sorts of things together.  Most of all, she loved to build and he loved to unmake things.  Then one day the girl had a great idea she was going to make “the most magnificent thing.”  First she figured out what it would look like, how it would work, and then came the easy part, making it!  She hired her dog as her assistant and they set out to find parts.  She built the thing, but when she and her dog stepped back, it wasn’t magnificent at all!  So she tried again, and again, and again.  Finally, after trying many times, she hurt her finger and she was very angry about all of the time, and the failures, and was ready to give up.  Luckily though, her assistant was there to give her encouragement to give it one more try, after a long walk.

Spires, the author of Binky the Space Cat, has created an ingenious little book.  Through clever storytelling she has written about the process of trial and error, the process of following through on a design and testing it, the creative process itself.  This is a young heroine with so much resilience and determination!  Her failures make her all the more brilliant and successful in the end.  And perhaps my favorite little twist is that people in her neighborhood find their own uses for her failed attempts. 

The art has the same wonderful modern quirkiness as her Binky books.  Though this is not a graphic novel format, she does use panes in her illustrations, making the iterations of her designs all the more fun to explore.  Done with minimal colors except for bursts of red, the illustrations are perfect for a design process.

Get this into the hands of math teachers who will appreciate a very readable book about trial and error.  It is also the perfect book for little girls to be inspired to use tools and create their own designs.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from copy received from Kids Can Press.

Review: Chengdu Could Not, Would Not, Fall Asleep by Barney Saltzberg

| Tasha

chengdu

Chengdu Could Not, Would Not, Fall Asleep by Barney Saltzberg

Chengdu is a young panda who is having problems falling asleep.  Unlike all of the other pandas who are sleeping soundly on nearby branches, Chengdu just can not drop off to sleep.  He tosses and turns.  He tries different positions, even hanging upside down!  It takes him awhile, but he finally finds a perfect spot, and one that will surprise and delight readers.  But then, another little panda finds himself awake and what is he to do?

Saltzberg brings readers a clever and funny story of a little animal who cannot fall asleep.  The text is very simple and paired with large format illustrations that sometimes just features Chengdu’s eyes and other times show the very tired little panda looking straight at the reader in despair.  The resolution of Chengdu’s dilemma is very funny and satisfying.  It is guaranteed to get a giggle or two even from the sleepiest of listeners.

An ideal bedtime story, this book will have the littlest listeners happy and sleepy.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from library copy.

In the Margins 2014 Nominees

| Tasha

In the Margins which falls under the Library Services for Youth in Custody, is a book list for teens that showcases self-published and small press titles by and about people in poverty or living in the margins.  Books from large publishers are also considered as long as they fit into the focus of the list. 

Here are the 2014 nominees to date.  New titles will still be considered and teen feedback will be part of creating the final list.

Caged Warrior The Griots of Oakland: Voices from the African American Oral History Project

Caged Warrior by Alan Lawrence Sitomer

The Griots of Oakland by Angela Beth Zusman

Left For Dead The Lure

Left for Dead by Ebony Canion

The Lure by Lynne Ewing

Rabbit Ears When I Was the Greatest

Rabbit Ears by Maggie De Vries

When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds

Review: The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

| Tasha

crossover

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

Josh Bell is a 13-year-old basketball star along with his twin brother Jordan.  They are the sons of Chuck “Da Man” Bell, who used to play European ball.  Now their father plays only with them, helping them learn the tricks of being a great ball handler.  Josh also has a beat, a rhythm that he patters when he plays, creating rap riffs as he runs on the court.  As he tells his story in verse, he also reveals more than just playing ball, he shows how he and his brother are becoming strong young men.  It just may be though that the strongest man that they know has some weaknesses of his own, ones that come at a huge toll. 

Can I just say how important this book is?  It is a verse novel, A VERSE NOVEL, for pre-teens that is about young African-American boys who are being reared by two involved parents in a middle-class home.  This book takes stereotypes and turns them on their heads.  Then you have the incredible verse by Alexander, capturing the rhythm of basketball and also the beat of an entire family.  The writing is so strong, so vibrant that the book can’t be put down. 

Josh is a great character as is his entire family.  None of them are stereotypes and both boys are different and yet similar to one another too.  They both struggle with playing the best, meeting girls, living up to their parents’ expectations, and discovering the truth about their father.  This is a coming-of-age story, but one that is dynamic and fresh.

Perfect for sports fans, this verse novel will surprise with its rap feel and its incredible depth.  Simply spectacular.  Appropriate for ages 11-13.

Reviewed from library copy.