"ABOUT EVERYONE AND FOR EVERYONE"
Lee & Low, Jason’s company, publishes stories children of color can identify with—and, Jason adds, ones that all children can enjoy. “If the book only appealed to children of color that would be too limited a market and not much of a business. We are looking for stories that have a universality to them,” he says.
Jason’s father, Tom Low, founded the company with Philip Lee in 1991. After Lee retired in 2004, Tom Low and his two sons, Jason and Craig, set out to grow the company. The acquisition of Tu Publishing in 2010 allowed Lee & Low to expand into fantasy, science fiction and mystery for middle grade and young adult readers. After acquiring Children’s Book Press in 2012, Lee & Low started to publish bilingual books while continuing its focus on the Latino, African American, Asian/Pacific Islander and Native American communities. Their books have received the Coretta Scott King Award and the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award; they have been listed among Bank Street College's Best Children’s Books of the year and been given many more honors and awards.
Jason Low says he likes being part of a generational business
started by his father. It remains to be seen, he notes, whether his
children or his brother’s children will join the business. Of course, he often
finds himself talking about business during off hours—but that’s not
necessarily a bad thing.
As an entrepreneur, Low knows “it is crucial to be able to
run a business well during good times and bad times.” Struggling through a few
lean years awhile back made him more efficient and focused. At the moment his
biggest challenge is finding new ways to get Lee & Low books “on people’s
radar” and to make people familiar with their list. Low admits that “not
everyone is into or cares about our multicultural mission.” As he looks for ways
to package books to as wide an audience as possible, more and more Lee & Low
readers will come to treasure our multi-cultural world.
 |
| Lee & Low published Lulu Delacre's How Far Do You Love Me? |
Date: Thursday, October 17
Time: 11:30 a.m. "social hour"; noon luncheon
Place: Busboys and Poets
1025 Fifth Street NW (at K Street)
Menu: All choices $25 ($26 when paid online via PayPal)
:: CHOICE OF SANDWICH (all sandwiches served with a salad of baby greens and house-made kettle chips) ::
• 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)
• Home-Roasted Turkey Sandwich with Havarti cheese, Dijonnaise, lettuce, tomato and onion on wheat bread
• 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), fresh coffee and organic tea
• 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)
• Home-Roasted Turkey Sandwich with Havarti cheese, Dijonnaise, lettuce, tomato and onion on wheat bread
• 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), fresh coffee and organic tea
IN THIS ISSUE:
1. Candace Fleming to Receive the Nonfiction Award
2. Fred Bowen's New Venture with Open Road Media
3. Valerie Tripp's September Program
4. A National Geographic Program on Common Core
5. Nominate Books for the Green Earth Award
6. Member News
CANDACE FLEMING TO RECEIVE THE 2014 CHILDREN'S BOOK GUILD NONFICTION AWARD
Fleming’s
writing versatility extends to historical picture books that nurture younger
readers’ curiosity and love of history. Rooted in carefully researched
historical background and enlivened by Fleming’s creative story spinning are Imogen’s Last Stand (2009), A Big Cheese for the White House (2004),
Boxes for Katje (2003), Gabriella's Song (2001), Westward Ho, Carlotta! (1999), The Hatmaker’s Sign (1998), Madame LaGrande and Her So High, to the Sky,
Uproarious Pompadour (1996), and Women
of the Lights (1995).
The
Guild’s Nonfiction Award Committee is solely responsible for the selection of
the annual recipient. Criteria for selection (http://www.childrensbookguild.org/nonfiction-award/criteria)
include “distinguished writing; clarity and accuracy; presentation of material
in ways that stimulate and challenge young readers and lead to their pleasure,
curiosity, sense of wonder, and further pursuit of knowledge; and a substantial
body of published work of consistently high quality.” In addition to these
specific criteria, the committee endeavors to honor many fields of knowledge and
to balance recognition of books for different ages and reading levels.
Committee Chair Rebecca Jones noted that her committee “loved Candace’s work,
especially her meticulous research and her scrapbook-style
biographies."
Details
about Fleming’s books can be found on her website: http://www.candacefleming.com.
For an interview with Fleming, go to http://www.randomhousekids.com/videos/cjesfgfeedo-candace-fleming-classroom-cast#.UjOR7xYaXx4.
Mark
your calendars for Saturday, April 5, 2014, when Candace Fleming will speak about
her life in writing and be honored by the Guild at its 37th annual Nonfiction Award
ceremony celebrating a body of work that has “contributed significantly to the quality of
nonfiction for children.”
OPEN ROAD MEDIA AND ME
by Fred Bowen
This summer I became a video star (of sorts). Open Road Media, an all-digital publisher,
approached my regular publisher, Peachtree, in Atlanta, to partner with
Peachtree to publish all of my 18 chapter books in e-book form.
Open Road was founded in 2009 with the idea
that it would mine the backlist for books that had never been available as e-books,
obtain the digital rights and publish the e-books for the first time. In this way Open Road would introduce
authors such as William Styron and Alice Walker—and yes, even lesser lights
such as Fred Bowen—to new audiences.
Open Road’s philosophy is to promote and market the author, not just a single book. To get started, Open Road, which is located
in New York City, sent a producer (Kai Beverly-Whittemore) and cameraman (Tim
Wu) to my home. First, Kai and Tim rearranged
my basement office so it would serve as a suitable backdrop for a four-hour
interview.
During the interview Kai asked me questions about everything
from where I get ideas for my stories to my relationships with my parents and
how I felt about libraries and the banning of books. It was clear from the questions that Open
Road was interested in getting as much material relating to a host of different
subjects as it could, so that it could make short films about me as an author.
The second day, Kai and Tim filmed me speaking at Georgetown
Hospital with the Hope for Henry program. They also took shots of me writing in different places around my
house. Since I am a sports author, they
filmed neighborhood kids playing sports at a nearby school. Luckily for the film makers, my wife Peggy is
the absolute favorite substitute teacher at the neighborhood school, so it was
easy for her to round up the kids.
Here is the first Open Road film promoting Fred Bowen and
his books. I think Kai and Tim did a
great job capturing how I feel about sports and how sports can teach life
lessons and connect kids to reading: http://video.openroadmedia.com/nn8mD/meet-fred-bowen/
I hope Open Road and its films will lead more readers to my
books. At the very least, it was a fun
and interesting two days being a video star.
VALERIE TRIPP LAUNCHES
THE GUILD’S 2013-2014 SEASON
by Jennifer O’Connell
“Challenging Assumptions” was the working title of Valerie
Tripp’s September 19 talk. With the ease and exuberance of someone who loves
what she does, Tripp presented a lively program about her successful writing career
and the various hats she has worn. “I want to gently lead the reader to see
gray areas,” she began. “I don’t think we could have become writers without
wanting readers to rethink things.”
Tripp touched on her early work as a writer for educational
publishers and even sang a delightful “spelling word” song she wrote.
Determined to make the phonically controlled stories she was assigned to write
interesting, she realized that all stories will work if there is an emotional
pull. “Emotion is your magnet. Emotion is why your reader will care.” She
remarked that she tries to create in all of her books “a balance of wisdom and
whimsy, facts and fun” that is engaging and informative.
When talking about her American Girl series, Tripp explained
that before writing the first book, she had noticed that the girls in many
stories often did things to slow down the action because of their weaknesses.
When her friend and colleague Pleasant Rowland had the idea for a series of
books (and dolls) about girls living at different times in history, Tripp saw an
opportunity to create books with strong female characters. She realized that
she needed to reflect the political situation or significant events occurring
during a historical period in the girl’s own life.
Tripp said she wants the American Girl books to teach compassion
by inviting the reader to stand in each character’s shoes. Her message is,
“Don’t let your life pour over you like you’re a lump. You’re just as important
as the characters [in these books]. Respect the decisions you make. There will
be loss. What’s important is how you deal with it.”
“It all comes down to the story--getting the cadence and imagery
just right,” Tripp continued, “but then we have to be humble and stand back.
It’s our readers who will make it a story or not. Were we subtle? Did we have
humor? Did we imbue the stories with a spirit of generosity? Have we gently
jostled the reader?” These are just some of the elements Tripp considers as she
crafts her stories.
In addition to her work as an author, Tripp is also the editorial
director of the new Boys Camp book series. She shared that it has been a
humbling experience to be an editor after her years as a writer, adding that
“you have to put your own voice aside to help a new writer.” She and her
writing colleagues picked a boys’ summer camp as the ideal setting, since “at
summer camp you can reinvent yourself.”
In closing, Tripp read a beautiful introduction that she wrote for a book of stories by young authors on diversity. It included these sentences:
“Writing is a generous act, and your writing here is a gift. People you don’t
even know will feel a connection to you, maybe even change, because of your
book.”
Thank you for your generous writing and for creating
connections, Valerie Tripp!
NOMINATIONS BEING ACCEPTED FOR THE GREEN EARTH AWARD
The Nature Generation (formerly the Newton Marasco Foundation) is pleased to be accepting nominations for 2014 Green Earth Book Award.
The Nature Generation, in partnership with Salisbury University, created the Green Earth Book Award to promote books that inspire children to grow a deeper appreciation, respect and responsibility for their natural environment. This is an annual award for books that best raise awareness of the beauty of our natural world and the responsibility we have to protect it.
|  | ||
In 2014, the Green Earth Book Award will be presented in these five categories:
Picture Book: books for young readers in which the visual and verbal
narratives together tell the story
Children's Fiction: novels for young readers up to age 12
Young Adult Fiction: books for readers from age 13 to 21
Children's Nonfiction: nonfiction books for readers from infancy to age 12
Young Adult Nonfiction: nonfiction books for readers from 12 to age 21
The schedule and instructions can be found at the following link:
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MEMBER NEWS
BARBARA ANN PORTE's story "ukiyo-e. series. stages of my mother" appears in the current issue of Praxis: Journal of Gender and Cultural Critiques (vol. 23, no. 2; New York: SUNY/Oneonta).
CYNTHIA GRADY will speak about her book, I Lay My Stitches Down: Poems of American Slavery, at the National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) conference in St. Louis in October.
PAMELA DUNCAN EDWARDS's new title in the United States, Dinosaur Sleepover, has
just been released by Sterling Publishers.
just been released by Sterling Publishers.
Orchard Books has released King of the Zoo, with text by ERICA PERL and illustrations by JACKIE URBANOVIC. Also, Jackie is thrilled to be an author again. Her book Prince of a Frog, the first she has both written and illustrated since her books about Max the duck, will be published by Scholastic late in 2014.
SUSAN ROTH's new book, Parrots
Over Puerto Rico, has earned two starred reviews–from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly.
Also, the Society of Illustrators has selected Parrots
for the Original Art Show. Written
with Cindy Trumbore (also Susan’s co-author for The Mangrove Tree), Parrots is
a Junior Library Guild selection. Parrots presents parallel histories of
Puerto Rico and parrots and tells how their stories intersect. And not only is
there no text interfering with the cover collage, the book is tipped
vertically, with the spine on top, to achieve maximum height on each
page.
For their 2012 book, Hands Around the Library: Protecting Egypt’s
Treasured Books, KAREN LEGGETT
and Susan will be accepting a Children’s Africana
Book Award in November at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. The
organization Africa Access is encouraging children to join its Africana Reading
Challenge to win a chance for a free book and participate in the award
event and book festival on November 9.
Karen and Susan will also be accepting the Arab American
National Book Award for Hands Around
the Library at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Mich., on
November 2. They are
looking forward to presenting “Using Picture Books to Teach Current Events and
Civic Engagement” at the American Association of School Librarians conference
in Hartford, Conn., on November 15, followed by a storytime presentation at the Eric
Carle Museum, in Amherst, Mass., on November 16. Karen and Susan blog regularly on the book’s
website, handsaroundthelibrary.com.
Both items have been published by Pomegranate--just in time for the holidays!
Susan looks forward to presenting her program "Creating Nature Books for Children: Melding Accuracy with Artistry" at the College of William and Mary's Joy of Children's Literature and Literacy Conference in Williamburg, Va., on October 11.
JACQUELINE JULES is happy to announce that Zapato Power #4: Freddie Ramos Makes a Splash was released in paperback on September 1. Zapato Power #5: Freddie Ramos Stomps the Snow will be released in hardcover March 2014.
JENNIFER ALLISON, who now lives in Chicago, shares the news that Iggy Loomis: Superkid in Training has just been released from Dial Books. In advance praise for Iggy Loomis, Publishers Weekly says: “A frazzled boy named Daniel and his wildly energetic younger brother, Iggy, get mixed up in intergalactic shenanigans in this series opener from Jennifer Allison…a lighthearted story that captures the chaos of everyday family life, superpowers or not.”
Morgan Reynolds Publishing has released Leonard Bernstein and American Music, by CATHERINE REEF. According to Booklist, "This solid biography is rich in detail about Bernstein's life, how his intense passion for music helped him overcome the obstacles put before him, and how he became renowned even beyond the world of music."
BARBARA BROOKS WALLACE writes: "I've done a little book titled Miss Switch's Bathsheba and the Cat Caper. This is the first 'Miss Switch' book in which Bathsheba, Miss Switch's very sassy, clever black cat tells her own adventure. It was to be just a little something by way of an advertisement for Miss Switch and the Vile Villains and the earlier three books, so at the moment it's just on Amazon as a Kindle. But PANGEA, who is doing the books now, liked this little book so much that it is being expanded and turned into a book book. So...at the moment super-talented Caroline Herbert Lewis, who once won awards for the Smithsonian's entomology department, is doing the illustrations, new cover and all. Her first one really knocked the socks off John Schulte (of PANGEA). Caroline is the daughter of a West Point classmate of my husband, Jim. I serendipitously met her at a wedding in Fort Meyer, D.C., years ago. I can't wait to see the others Caroline will be doing. The book will, of course, be announced here when done!"
MARY BOWMAN-KRUHM has a request: "My daughter Bonnie has opened her second Montessori preschool in East Gate, in Chantilly, Va., in a spacious new building that is gorgeous. (Pardon the proud-mom comment: She has had one in Reston, Va., for about 15 years, and it has been voted Best of Reston for the last two years.)
"I promised Bonnie that I would purchase books for the school's library and then got an idea when I purchased Susan Stockdale's Stripes of All Types and Bring on the Birds at the recent MD/DE/WV SCBWI conference. I decided that instead of just randomly choosing from library lists, I will buy picture books by friends, including Guild writers. Bonnie says paperbacks are fine as well as hardbacks. After I get a list, I will give it to her and the staff to make final choices.
"If you have written a book for ages 2 through 5, please send the title and ISBN to me at writer@marybk.com. If you want to make comments about the book, that would be great too. I would like to say that these are books not only that my friends (in person and online) wrote but that also are personally special to them. If you have written multiple books for that age group, please send information about no more than two."
The Children's Book Guild notes with sadness the passing of Jutta Salzberg Levy on September 4. In 1938, when she was 12, Mrs. Levy fled Nazi Germany with her family and settled with them in the United States. Her girlhood Poesiealbum, or autograph book, inspired The Year of Goodbyes, a book of poems by her daughter DEBBIE LEVY.
Tweet Your News!
Do you have a publication date for a new book, a local appearance coming up or an award nomination to tout? Don't be shy! The Guild has its own Twitter account (@ChildrensBookGuild) and is looking for news to tweet. Just send your news to Caroline Hickey (carolinesmithhickey@gmail.com
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NOTE ABOUT THE CHILDREN'S BOOK GUILD NEWS: Would you rather print your newsletter than read it online? Current and past issues now available for printing on the Guild's website at http://www.childrensbookguild.org/guild-newsletters. Look for the "Newsletter" tab on the left side of the Guild website. There is also a "Printer Friendly Version" link on the top left hand side of this blog.
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