SPIES! COMMANDOS! TREASON!
STEVE SHEINKIN PRESENTS HISTORY THAT READS LIKE A THRILLER
Be prepared! Award-winning author Steve Sheinkin has written plenty of knock-your-socks-off nonfiction books about history that grab his readers by the collar and take them for a wild ride. Sheinkin will speak to the Children's Book Guild about his life and work on October 18.
Sheinkin’s 2010 book, The Notorious Benedict Arnold, won both the Boston Globe/Hornbook Award and the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction--and it received three starred reviews in the bargain. Booklist says that “Sheinkin, who admits to being a longtime admirer of the infamous figure, makes a good case for why Americans have cause to embrace the general’s early incarnation as a heroic icon of the Revolution.” His brand new book is a dramatic global spy thriller titled Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon (Roaring Brook, September 2012). Sheinkin says that “it takes place during World War II, pitting American scientists against the Germans in a race to make the deadliest weapon in human history. At the same time, the Soviet Union is desperately trying to steal bomb plans from top-secret American labs.”
And to think that Sheinkin used to bore himself silly writing textbooks filled with charts, graphs and tables. Nothing Steve Sheinkin writes these days is the least bit boring. He lives peacefully with his wife, Rachel, and his two young kids in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Date: Thursday, October 18
Time: 11:30 a.m. "social hour"; noon luncheon
Place: Busboys and Poets
1025 Fifth Street NW (at K Street)
Menu: All choices $22
Time: 11:30 a.m. "social hour"; noon luncheon
Place: Busboys and Poets
1025 Fifth Street NW (at K Street)
Menu: All choices $22
• Falafel Sandwich (vegetarian/vegan) with house-made hummus, cucumbers, lettuce, tomato and onion on whole-wheat pita, served with tahini sauce (vegan without tahini sauce)
• Grilled Chicken Panini with chipotle mayo, caramelized onions, pepper jack, lettuce and tomato on ciabatta
• Portabella Mushroom Panini (vegetarian) with pesto, roasted red pepper and fresh mozzarella on herb ciabatta
:: DESSERT ::
Assorted Cookies (family style)
:: BEVERAGES ::
Fountain Drinks (unlimited soft drinks and iced tea)
IN THIS ISSUE:
1. Announcing the 2013 Nonfiction Award Winners
2. Member Nominations: Ernie Bond and Hena Khan
3. September's Panel Discussion on School Visits: A Recap
4. Member News
1. Announcing the 2013 Nonfiction Award Winners
2. Member Nominations: Ernie Bond and Hena Khan
3. September's Panel Discussion on School Visits: A Recap
4. Member News
ART ABOUT ART:
JAN GREENBERG AND SANDRA JORDAN, 2013 CHILDREN’S BOOK GUILD NONFICTION AWARD WINNERS
In 2013, the Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award will occupy not one mantel, but two, as Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan—collaborators for more than two decades and friends for 10 years before that—accept the prestigious 36th annual award.
As art imitates life, their work celebrates art. Among their critically acclaimed titles are:
- Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring, Orbis Pictus Award winner and Sibert Honor title (both nonfiction honors)
- Action Jackson, Sibert Honor title
- Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Through the Gates and Beyond
Greenberg and Jordan’s books showcase art in all its dazzling diversity. By shining natural light on topics as varied as dance, painting and installation, the author duo opens young minds to the idea that art is not only what hangs on museum walls. “Whether the subject is Frank O. Gehry’s impossibly curvy titanium buildings, Chuck Close’s puzzling self-portraits or the range of contemporary American sculpture, these authors recognize the ‘drop-everything-and-look’ quality that modern art elicits from all ages,” says Wendy Lukehart, chair of the Nonfiction Award Committee and youth collections coordinator at the D.C. Public Library. The committee delighted in the pair’s extensive research, their lively writing and the dynamic design of their books. Because Greenberg and Jordan frequently present artists in their own words, their books achieve a compelling level of authenticity both visually and textually.
“Jan and Sandra set the standard,” says Brian Floca, artist of Ballet for Martha. “They take their subjects seriously and their readers seriously. They make books that give a deep access to art and artists. For some young people, surely, Jan and Sandra’s books will be the first exposure not just to serious art, but to the idea of taking art seriously.”
“Jan and Sandra set the standard,” says Brian Floca, artist of Ballet for Martha. “They take their subjects seriously and their readers seriously. They make books that give a deep access to art and artists. For some young people, surely, Jan and Sandra’s books will be the first exposure not just to serious art, but to the idea of taking art seriously.”
The award ceremony luncheon will take place in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, April 20, 2013. It’s an invitation to the dance…of the spirit.
The Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award Committee is pleased to announce Sandra Jordan and Jan Greenberg as the 2013 winners of the Guild's nonfiction award. Please visit our website to read an interview by Catherine Reef titled "Inside the Remarkable Partnership of Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan": //www.childrensbookguild.org/nonfiction-award/meet-the-winners. And for information about past winners of the Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award and the importance of nonfiction for young people, please read Kem Knapp Sawyer's web article, "Cleopatra and the Man-Eating Tigers: A Retrospective on Past Winners of the Guild Nonfiction Award,"at http://www.childrensbookguild.org/nonfiction-award/g-a-retrospective-on-past-winners
READ ALL ABOUT IT: THE GUILD'S NONFICTION AWARD
The Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award Committee is pleased to announce Sandra Jordan and Jan Greenberg as the 2013 winners of the Guild's nonfiction award. Please visit our website to read an interview by Catherine Reef titled "Inside the Remarkable Partnership of Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan": //www.childrensbookguild.org/nonfiction-award/meet-the-winners. And for information about past winners of the Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award and the importance of nonfiction for young people, please read Kem Knapp Sawyer's web article, "Cleopatra and the Man-Eating Tigers: A Retrospective on Past Winners of the Guild Nonfiction Award,"at http://www.childrensbookguild.org/nonfiction-award/g-a-retrospective-on-past-winners
MEMBER NOMINATION: DR. ERNIE BOND
Susan L. Roth proposes Dr. Ernest Bond for membership in the Children's Book Guild of Washington, D.C., and Karen Leggett seconds the nomination. Bond chairs the Teacher Education Department at Salisbury University and is a professor of children’s and young adult literature. He is the author of Literature and the Young Adult Reader and a coauthor of Interactive Assessment: Teacher, Parents, and Students as Partners. He contributed a chapter to Harry Potter’s World and has published reviews in School Library Journal and Bookbird. He is a former Maryland Professor of the Year.
Bond has served as the U.S. jurist for the Hans Christian Andersen Award and is a jurist for the Green Earth Book Awards. He has presented on issues related to children’s literature around the world, in such countries as China, India and Denmark. He is also the Maryland ambassador for the USBBY. In the coming year he is scheduled to present at NCTE, the Delaware Library Association and the State of Maryland Reading Council. He also coordinates Salisbury University’s annual Read Green: Children’s and Young Adult Literature Festival.
Bond has served as the U.S. jurist for the Hans Christian Andersen Award and is a jurist for the Green Earth Book Awards. He has presented on issues related to children’s literature around the world, in such countries as China, India and Denmark. He is also the Maryland ambassador for the USBBY. In the coming year he is scheduled to present at NCTE, the Delaware Library Association and the State of Maryland Reading Council. He also coordinates Salisbury University’s annual Read Green: Children’s and Young Adult Literature Festival.
Susan writes: "I met Ernie last spring because my book The Mangrove Tree was a fortunate winner of one of the Newton Marasco Foundation's Green Earth Awards. From this association alone I was invited by him to have what amounted to a one-person exhibit of my original art from that book in the gorgeous Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art in Salisbury, Md. (Ernie personally drove to Bethesda to hand carry my art, which was framed and mounted by the Newton Marasco Foundation, to the museum, and he personally delivered it back to Bethesda six weeks later.) My coauthor, Cindy Kane, and I were invited to the presentation ceremonies, where we were regally entertained by the Newton Marasco family and foundation as well as by Ernie and other Salisbury University faculty members for several days. (During these very busy days Ernie personally drove me to Chincoteague Island to make sure that I saw the wild horses for the first time.) I was invited to present workshops at the museum, where every detail was beautifully arranged and organized (by Ernie Bond himself) and where many, many of our books were sold; he invited me to present twice this year in Chicago at IRA (I never was invited before this), and he orchestrated the invitation to make the appearances happen smoothly after something came up to prevent his attending; he invited me to write two articles for a journal he was editing, the Ravenshaw Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies, published by Ravenshaw University in Orissa, India, one about The Mangrove Tree and the other, with Karen Leggett, about our new book, Hands around the Library."
MEMBER NOMINATION: HENA KHAN
Jacqueline Jules nominates Hena Khan for membership in the Children's Book Guild; Cynthia Cotten and Any Hansen second the nomination. Khan is the author of two picture books, Night of the Moon (Chronicle Books, 2008) and Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns (Chronicle Books, 2012), as well as two middle grade choose-your-own-adventure novels for Chronicle's Worst Case Scenario Ultimate Adventures series (Amazon and Mars). She got her writing start at Scholastic, where she wrote for several series with the continuities team: Spy University, Space University, How to Survive Anything and Peanuts. The turnaround time was tight, the themes varied widely, and you couldn't buy her books unless you subscribed to the series, but that work remains some of her favorite. To learn more about her books, please visit her blog at http://www.henakhan.com/
Khan is thrilled to do author events at schools, libraries and community centers, and particularly enjoys sharing her culture and traditions with young audiences. It's especially gratifying for her to see the proud and excited reactions of young Muslim kids in public schools who feel represented by her books. Khan's other hats include working as an editor and communications consultant for international public health organizations such as UNICEF and the Population Council. Her expertise is research dissemination and utilization, and she has a particular focus on working with HIV-related research. She is also a member of the board of directors for a research and policy organization focused on issues of relevance to Muslims and, most important, mom to two young boys.
When asked why she'd like to become a member, Khan wrote, "Joining the Guild would be a wonderful opportunity to connect with other authors and professionals in the children's book industry and to learn from their collective experiences. Already, I feel I have gained much from attending luncheons over the past year and having conversations and exchanging ideas with several friendly and talented people in the group."
“BRING ON THE SCHOOL VISITS!”
by Rhoda Trooboff
How can
school visits help children’s authors and illustrators
supplement their earnings and enhance their market presence? How do
sought-after presenters design their school-visit presentations to engage their
young audiences and encourage teachers and librarians to invite them to do more
such presentations? The Guild’s 2012-2013 season opened on September
13, 2012, at Busboys and Poets, 5th and K Streets NW, Washington, D.C., with a dynamic panel
discussion on this topic.
Program
Chair Lulu Delacre posed wide-ranging, provocative questions to panelists Mary
Downing Hahn ( http://www.hmhbooks.com/features/mdh/),
Priscilla Cummings (http://biography.jrank.org/pages/2264/Cummings-Priscilla-1951.html),
Fred Bowen (http://www.childrenslit.com/childrenslit/mai_bowen_fred.html)
and Henry Cole (http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/11941/Henry_Cole/index.aspx).
Discussion highlights:
Q: How many visits do you
make?
*
Fred Bowen: more than 250 school visits in 15
years.
*
Henry
Cole: several hundred visits over 17 years.
*
Priscilla Cummings: between 20 and 70 schools per year over 25 years, totaling nearly a
thousand school visits.
*
Mary
Downing Hahn: many visits over 30 years on the road; 40 visits this past year
alone.
Q: How do you find your audiences, and how do schools find
you?
*
Word
of mouth among librarians, teachers and parents at prior schools is the best
source. Informal encounters, networking, conferences and meetings generate
most visits. Some conference appearances include school visits.
*
Being
in the public eye helps (Fred Bowen’s weekly Washington Post Kids’ Post sports column, for
example).
*
Living
by the adage that every gig is important, because doing your best every time
often means that one gig will lead to another.
*
Some
schools find presenters through the Guild's online Speakers Bureau listings.
Q: What is your school-visit income? What do you charge?
* Twenty
percent of income may come from school visits, with payments (honoraria)
currently as high as $1500 per day.
*
Travel
expenses are also charged.
*
Schools
helping to recruit additional visits at other area schools can reduce those
charges by 10 percent for one and 20 percent for two additional schools, and schools in special
circumstances may be charged reduced rates.
*
Some
speakers volunteer visits in their own hometown.
Q: Do you have a contract?
*
Usually
an email flurry handles business details nowadays, and this usually results in
a loose contract with schools.
Q: What special requests do you have for the schools you
visit?
*
If
possible, ask the school to avoid mixing grade levels.
*
Negotiate
ways to have smaller groups, even if this might mean more presentations or a
smaller honorarium.
*
Ask
that the sessions be in the library or media center, not the gym.
*
Offer
a free session with the kindergarteners if this will keep them out of a larger,
older group. Always ask for a microphone.
Q: What preparation do you do for visits? Are your
audiences well-prepared for visits?
*
School
visits are neither big sales opportunities nor easily put together. Time and
thought are required in advance.
*
Tailoring
the talk to fit the audience level is crucial. PowerPoint, for example, is more
useful for middle schoolers and high schoolers than for younger audiences.
*
Giving
advance materials to teachers and librarians helps, but you cannot rely on the kids
having been prepared ahead of time.
*
Treat
sessions like performances–some audience members will
know what to expect, but many won’t.
*
Props
help, including the books themselves, sample page proofs, cover casings,
special eye-catching objects (hats, gloves, stuffed animals, puppets), PowerPoint
images of the artwork, art-in-progress, sketchbooks, dummies, etc.
Q: What elements make for a successful talk?
*
Autobiography
can encourage kids who might be daydreamers or less-than-ideal students to
recognize that these traits often make for great stories.
*
Kids
like to know that adults were kids once, so beginning with relevant anecdotes
from one’s own childhood is always
successful.
*
Kids
want to know the story of the writing behind the story that has been written, the “I-Story," so including
research and locale is important to the presentation.
*
Kids
want to know the real person behind the writing, so being a “character” is valuable. Start with an
audience attention gripper: Lulu Delacre: a song; Henry Cole: a funny story or
anecdote, the funnier the better to grab and keep the audience's attention;
Mary Downing Hahn: a ghost story; Priscilla Cummings: the news story about a
drowning that first piqued her attention for her book The Red Kayak; Fred Bowen: "my six jobs."
Q: What are your thoughts on audiovisual presentations?
What do you do when the school's equipment doesn't work?
*
PowerPoint,
if used at all, should only be used for images, not text or bullet-point lists.
Fred Bowen avoids PowerPoint, instead showing the audience his notebooks. He hates to think of the whole technical world swallowing up our kids.
Q: How do you handle difficult situations?
*
Usually,
if a child is having a problem or acting out, the teachers will step in, so it’s best to let the teachers handle these cases.
*
When
the electronic equipment doesn’t work, you have to go to plan
B, so bring your own laptop and
screen, or ask for questions or tell a joke.
Q: What "best-practices" advice do you have?
*
Plan
your message.
*
Be
your teacher self.
*
Leave
time for questions, and tell your audience ahead of time to expect this.
*
Show
all the simple courtesies: arrive on time; don't assume you're a celebrity;
don't ask for favors; be grateful for what you get; always send a thank-you
note after a visit.
MEMBER NEWS
PRISCILLA CUMMINGS's new novel, The Journey Back, is out in October, published by Dutton Children's Books. It's a middle grade novel that follows up on one of the characters from Priscilla's previous novel Red Kayak.
KATHERINE MARSH's historical YA novel, Jepp, Who Defied the Stars, comes out October 9 from Hyperion. Jepp is the coming-of-age story of the real-life dwarf who served in the court of the 16th-century astronomer Tycho Brahe. It has been selected as a 2012 ABC Best Book for Children and as an Autumn 2012 Indie Next pick. It will also be a featured "Maximum Shelf" title in Shelf Awareness on October 3. Kate will be speaking and signing in October at sites that include Books of Wonder (10/7) and Politics and Prose (10/12). Check katherinemarsh.com for further details.
Poems by Guild members JACQUELINE JULES, MARY QUATTLEBAUM, DEBBIE LEVY and CYNTHIA COTTEN are featured in The Poetry Friday Anthology: Poems for the School Year with Connections to the Common Core, edited by Syvia Vardell and Janet Wong. Other featured poets include Jane Yolen, Jack Prelutsky, X.J. Kennedy and J. Patrick Lewis. This innovative new anthology provides a poetry break with a quick lesson to teachers for 36 weeks of the year. To learn more, please check out this blog post at Pencil Tips Writing Workshop by Jacqueline Jules:
JOAN KINDIG has a book coming out!Choosing to Read: Connecting Middle Schoolers to Books is not a children's book; rather, it is about motivating kids to read. It came out September 27 and is being published by Heinemann. Here's a link to more information: http://www.heinemann.com/
JENNIFER O’CONNELL is happy to report that her new picture book, It’s Halloween Night!(Cartwheel/Scholastic), is out, with delightful illustrations by Jennifer Morris. Young readers will join a guessing game as creative trick-or-treaters give hints about what they’re going to be for Halloween!
Jennifer will be presenting “How Ten Timid Ghosts Came To Be” at “Saturday Morning at the National,” a free children’s program at The National Theatre, on Saturday, October 20, at 9:30 and 11. For more information: nationaltheatre.org or 202-372-3372.
The Bronte Sisters, by CATHERINE REEF, out this month from Clarion Books, has earned a third starred review, this one from Publishers Weekly.
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