Author: Tasha

CLA 2007 YA Shortlist

| Tasha

The Canadian Library Association has announced the shortlist for their 2007 Young Adult Book Award.  The award is limited to English-language Canadian works published in 2006 for the ages of 13-18.

Mud Girl by Alison Acheson.

The Blue Helmet by William Bell.

Johnny Kellock Died Today by Hadley Dyer.

Hello, Groin by Beth Goobie.

The View from a Kite by Maureen Hull.

Droughtlanders by Carrie Mac.

Featherless Bipeds by Richard Scarsbrook.

Megiddo’s Shadow by Arthur Slade.

101 Ways to Dance by Kathy Stinson.

Me and the Blondes by Teresa Toten.

Yahoo! for Children's Books!

| Tasha

Yahoo!  has a fascinating buzz log that shows what people are searching for.  The latest buzz log is the Top 50 Children’s Books being searched for. 

Some that you would expect are there:  Harry Potter, Blood & Chocolate, Captain Underpants, and Charlotte’s Web.  But there are so many classic books!  It is a joy to see The Snowy Day, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, The Secret Garden, Winnie the Pooh, and Little Women.  Does a librarian’s heart good.

Thanks to Neat New Stuff for the link.

Wildwood Dancing

| Tasha

Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier.

Sigh, what a gorgeous book.  The cover truly reflects the beauty of the story itself.  I simply could not read it quickly, wanting to savor as much as I could while being caught up in the story. 

I tend to dislike retellings of fairy tales and folk tales into teen novels.  On some level many of them seem to lack the luster of my childhood imagination.  Marillier’s story is the exception to that.

It is the story of five sisters who travel between their world of Transylvania to the other realm where they meet fairies and other incredible characters.  The tale is told from the perspective of Jena, second oldest sister, who found a frog as a child and still carries her pet around with her at all times.  Her older sister Tati is the beauty, who early in the story falls in love with Sorrow, who may or may not be one of the Night People who resemble vampires.  The three youngest sisters offer other distinct personalities as well.  Jena and Tati find themselves in danger both in the other realm and at their home.  When Night People begin to tempt them to the darker side of the Wildwood, their cousin Cezar begins to dominate their lives at home.  The tangles of their double lives as well as of their hearts remind one of the thorny tangle guarding Sleeping Beauty.

References to all sorts of fairy tales and folk tales are made from the Frog Prince to the 12 Dancing Princesses to vampires to fairies and nymphs.  It may sound overwhelming, but the author skillfully weaves all of these into a tale that rings more true than any of the original tales.  She takes these fragments, making them into something larger and more lovely.  It becomes a world that any reader will be loathe to leave. 

I especially applaud the author on her skill with offering just enough detail to carry the story and involve the imagination.  It is a delicate line to cross.  Too much detail and the fairy land becomes less real, too little and it doesn’t evoke the magic necessary.  But in this novel, readers are allowed to create their own childhood fairy tales again, led by the author through a remarkable original tale of her own. 

Recommend to fantasy lovers but also girls who enjoy romances or horror.  There are so many levels to this book, that it will appeal to many types of reader.  This is one of the treasures of the year!

VOYA Gets It Wrong

| Tasha

American Indians in Children’s Literature is a superb blog. Blogger Debbie Reese wrote yesterday about VOYA’s new list of Native American books for teens. Seems that they really missed the mark with some of their recommendations. Nicely, Reese shares some reviews by Beverly Slapin on two of the recommended books.
I wish there were other multicultural blogs like this taking a critical look at how their culture is being portrayed for children. If you know of any, please let me know!

Top 10 Banned Books of 2006

| Tasha

ALA has announced that And Tango Makes Three is at the top of the most challenged books of 2006.  Wanna bet that The Higher Power of Lucky makes the 2007 list?

Here are the top ten most challenged books of last year:

We start with the sole picture book on the list, but one that carries on the tradition of any picture book for small children that even mentions homosexuality being on the list:

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson.

Then we get into a group of books for teenage girls that *gasp* address sexuality!

The Gossip Girl series by Cecily Von Ziegesar.

The Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.

The Earth, My Butt and Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler.

And of course the Toni Morrison books:

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.

Beloved by Toni Morrison.

Then books for teens in general that are all cited for “offensive language” because goodness knows that without these books teens would have no idea that such language exists:

Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier.

And finally, for being unsuited to the age group, insensitive, violent AND containing occult/Satanism:

The Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz.

Makes me want to run out and read all of them all over again.  Kind of like a backwards recommended reads list.

Pageturner Awards

| Tasha

2006 James Patterson PageTurner Awards have been announced. The awards honor programs that “go to extraordinary lengths to spread the joy of books and reading across the country.” The 39 winners receive cash prizes that total $500,000.
The awards go to programs that serve a variety of ages. The ones for children are remarkable. Here are some that get me all tingly:
826 National, based out of San Francisco, but with offices in large cities across the country, offers free programs that turn children’s books into published works, offers one-on-one tutoring in English, and encourage writing, reading and creativity.
First Book, which is a well-known program, continues to do amazing work in getting books into the hands of children who have never owned their own book before.
Books for Boys at the Children’s Village has librarians, teachers and volunteers share books with at-risk 6-21 year olds. Lovely.
2nd Chance Books at the Austin Public Library works to get books to incarcerated teens. Hurrah! This is certainly one program that should be duplicated across the country.
The lists continue. I am sure that you will find inspiration, new ideas, and value in many programs on the list.

Who Is Driving

| Tasha

Who Is Driving by Leo Timmers.

Carried by Timmers’ illustrations, this is a matching book where you match the vehicle to one of four possible drivers.  Then you turn the page for the answer as well as the noise that the vehicle makes.  It is a lot of fun.  The illustrations manage to feel modern and vintage at the same time, with bright colored uniforms and costumes that tell children who fits with the vehicle.   The text is spare but welcoming for small children who will delight in matching things again and again.  (Trust me, I know this from experience!) 

This book is better with a small group or one-on-one because of the details of the pictures that help in matching.  Share it with any child who enjoys vehicles, guaranteeing help when it comes to making the wide variety of engine noises.

Reading Fool Blog

| Tasha

I’m a Reading Fool is a blog I just discovered. It is done by a teen librarian in Connecticut who rates books according to the VOYA scale for both quality and popularity. Sweet!

Never Too Old

| Tasha

The Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) has a great new book list : Never Too Old: Picture Books to Share with Older Children and Teens.
The books are grouped into different categories that make me want to run out and gather up piles to read:
Visualize This: Books about the Arts
Notes on a Page: Books about Music
Into the Past: Books about History
Theories and Revelations: Books about Math and Science
Challenges and Change: Stories of Politics, Identity and Understanding
Seriously Surreal: Tales of (Im)possibility
Over-the-Top: Sly and Sophisticated Humor
All Cracked Up: Fractured Fairy Tales and Fables
Those last three categories really speak to me! They are the ones that have me making lists of new books to try. But I love the depth to the lists, making them useful not only to librarians but to teachers as well.