September 2018

A STATE, A TOOTH AND A DOUGHNUT WALK INTO A BOOK...

Come draw with Laurie Keller on September 20, and learn about her writing/illustrating process and how she creates appealing book characters out of good ol’ inanimate objects. We’ll all be drawing together and creating new characters of our own too. (If you think you can’t draw, think again––you’ll be pleasantly surprised!)

Keller received the 2017 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for We Are Growing! Some of her other picture books include The Scrambled States of America, Open Wide: Tooth School Inside, Arnie the Doughnut (and The Adventures of Arnie the Doughnut chapter book series) and Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners. Her new picture book, Potato Pants!, will be released on October 2.

Ever since she was a kid in Muskegon, MI, Keller has loved to paint, draw and write stories. She has worked as an illustrator for Hallmark Cards and has done freelance work for Nickelodeon Television and many magazines and newspapers. Keller lived in Kansas City and New York City for many years but now lives back in the “Mitten State,” along the shores of Lake Michigan.

Date: Thursday, September 20

Time:  11:30 a.m. "social hour"; noon luncheon
Place: Busboys and Poets

450 K Street NW

PLEASE NOTE: BUSBOYS AND POETS HAS MOVED! THE NEW LOCATION, 450 K STREET NW, IS ACROSS K STREET FROM THE OLD SITE AND SLIGHTLY TO THE EAST.

Menu: All choices $25 ($26 when paid online via PayPal)

:: CHOICE OF SANDWICH (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) 

• Honey-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 

• Avocado panini with roasted red peppers and melted cheese on multi-grain bread

RSVP Now!

IN THIS ISSUE: 

1. Nonfiction Award Winner to Be Announced
2. Member Nominations: Deborah Kalb and Minh Lê
3. Minh Lê's Program at the June Meeting
4. Member News
5. Change to Membership Bylaws
6. Create or Update Your Member Page
7. The Monthly Luncheon Schedule Has Been Posted--and Amended
8. The Events Calendar Is Live

WINNER OF THE 2019 NONFICTION AWARD TO BE ANNOUNCED IN SEPTEMBER

Be sure to attend the September Guild meeting to be among the first to know who will receive the 2019 Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award. And save the date for the annual award luncheon, which will be held at Clyde’s of Gallery Place on Saturday, May 11, 2019.

MEMBER NOMINATION: DEBORAH KALB

Pamela Ehrenberg nominates Deborah Kalb for membership in the Children’s Book Guild in the author category. Catherine Reef seconds the nomination.

Deborah Kalb is a writer, editor and book blogger. She spent two decades working as a journalist in Washington, DC, for news organizations that include Gannett News Service, Congressional Quarterly, U.S. News & World Report and The Hill, mostly covering Congress and politics. Her book blog, "Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb," which she started in 2012, features hundreds of interviews she has conducted with a wide range of authors including quite a few Children’s Book Guild members. Visit Kalb’s blog at http://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/ and you will see interviews with Jacqueline Jules, Catherine Reef, J.H. Diehl, Laura Elliott, Hena Khan and Pamela Ehrenberg, among others.

Kalb is the author of the forthcoming children's book John Adams and the Magic Bobblehead (Schiffer, November 2018) and the children’s book George Washington and the Magic Hat (Schiffer, 2016), and the coauthor, with her father, Marvin Kalb, of Haunting Legacy: Vietnam and the American Presidency from Ford to Obama (Brookings, 2011). She is the editor of the two-volume reference book Guide to U.S. Elections, 7th edition (CQ Press/SAGE, 2016), the coauthor of The Presidents, First Ladies, and Vice Presidents (CQ Press, 2009), and the co-editor of State of the Union: Presidential Rhetoric from Woodrow Wilson to George W. Bush (CQ Press, 2007). In addition, she has contributed updates to a variety of CQ Press books on politics and government. Kalb has attended numerous Children’s Book Guild luncheons, so many members have had the opportunity to meet her in person. To learn more about Kalb, visit her website at http://www.deborahkalb.com/

George Washington and the Magic Hat is the tale of a fifth-grade boy struggling to find his place after his best friend abandons him. When Sam's class takes a trip to Mt. Vernon, he accidentally buys a bossy three-cornered hat that sweeps him off to the 18th century and a warm friendship with George and Martha Washington. As Sam travels back and forth between his present-day life and incredible adventures with George Washington, he learns about history, himself and the nature of friendship and families.

Deborah’s forthcoming book, John Adams and the Magic Bobblehead, is a sequel to George Washington and the Magic Hat and features some of the same characters. When Ava and her family take a trip to Boston, she buys a magic bobblehead and is unexpectedly transported to the 18th and 19th centuries. As Ava and her stepbrother, J. P., travel with John and Abigail Adams and their children between Massachusetts and Philadelphia, and the White House and France, they learns about history, friendship and how to deal with new situations, including their recently blended family. 

MEMBER NOMINATION: MINH LÊ 

Rhoda Trooboff nominates Minh Lê for membership in the Children’s Book Guild in the author category. Susan Kusel seconds the nomination.

Lê is the author of the critically acclaimed Drawn Together, illustrated by Caldecott medalist Dan Santat, and Let Me Finish! (named an NPR Best Book of 2016), illustrated by Isabel Roxas, both of which were published by Disney-Hyperion. He is currently writing Green Lantern: Legacy, a graphic novel for the new DC Comics middle grade imprint DC Zoom, and has several other unannounced projects in the works. Lê’s reviews of children’s books have been featured in a variety of national venues, including the New York Times, the Horn Book, HuffPost and NPR, and he served as a judge for the 2018 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards.

During the day, Lê is a federal early childhood policy expert who has worked in education at the national, state and local levels, both in and out of the classroom. He earned his bachelor's degree in psychology from Dartmouth College and received a master's in policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. When not spending time with his beautiful wife and sons, his favorite place to be is in the middle of a good book.

Regarding membership, Lê says: “I am a firm believer in the power of books and consider myself an advocate for children's literature. Organizations such as the Children's Book Guild of Washington, D.C., play a vital role in fostering community and advancing the conversation within the book world and beyond. I have had the pleasure of speaking to the Guild twice so far (on a panel about social media and recently as a guest speaker to discuss my newest book) and have found the environment to be both inviting and invigorating. I am honored to be nominated to the Guild and would be excited to join its ranks.”

MINH LÊ ON WRITING DRAWN TOGETHER
by Tammar Stein

Like most superheroes, Minh Lê has a day job. As an early childhood policy expert for the federal government, Lê spends his days gathering critical data on the youngest in America. Important, yes. Creative and uplifting, not necessarily.

But, come evening, Lê transforms from a dedicated bureaucrat into a beloved children’s author and rising literary star.

At the June luncheon, Lê spoke to the Guild about his picture book Drawn Together, which was released June 5. Illustrated by Caldecott-winner Dan Santat, this gorgeous book of few words tells the story of a young boy and his grandfather who find a way to connect without a common spoken language. Lê explained that he had been inspired by his own loving, yet rather silent, relationship with his Vietnamese grandfather, but that he had not told his grandfather about the book. He had planned to simply share it when it was completed, letting the vibrant illustrations speak for themselves, standing in for the deep love they felt for each other. But, sadly, Lê’s grandfather passed away before he could see the final copy. “If this book inspires even one person to reach out to their loved one, to say something to them, then I’ll feel like I’ve done something really right,” Lê said.

Lê spoke movingly about what it means to find a deep connection with someone through silence. Because so much of their time together wasn’t spent talking, now that his grandfather is eternally silent, it feels to Lê as if their bond will always transcend speech.

Lê strongly believes in a collaborative author-illustrator relationship, so he was delighted when, under Santat’s vision, his Vietnamese grandfather was transformed into a Thai grandfather in a nod to Santat’s heritage. Though the illustrations are beautifully rooted in uniquely Thai details (everything from lettering to a dragon), Lê and Santat created a universal story of adults and children separated by the chasm of culture, tastes and, yes, even language, finding other ways to build a bridge together. 

As a visual thinker, Lê writes his books with the page turns in mind. Although many of the pages in his books have no words on them at all, Lê blocks out the story line and emotional linchpins while carefully leaving a lot of space for the illustrator to bring in his or her vision and creativity as well. After spending hours in classrooms reading books out loud, he has a honed sense of what children find engaging.


MEMBER NEWS

The authors of Voces sin fronteras, all young people from the Latin American Youth Center,
celebrate their book's launch at Busboys & Poets on May 30, 2018. The book was published by Shout Mouse Press.

The Catalogue for Philanthropy (CFP) has named SHOUT MOUSE PRESS "One of the Best" nonprofits in Greater Washington for 2018-2019. CFP is an online and print guide to giving and volunteering. CFP's goal is to create visibility for charities, fuel their growth with philanthropic dollars, and create a movement for social good in the region.

LAURA GEHL's newest picture book, Delivery Bear, illustrated by Paco Sordo, launches September 1 from Albert Whitman. 

Also, Laura's first picture book, One Big Pair of Underwear, is now available in board book format as part of Simon and Schuster's Little Simon Classic Board Book series.

Told from the point of view of Dr. John Watson, BRENDA SEABROOKE's short story "Shadow of Malice" is a continuation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Boscombe Valley Mystery." It is included in volume one (of three) of Sherlock Holmes: Adventures Beyond the Canon, edited by David Marcum and published by Belanger Books. The center picture on the cover shows Holmes and Watson en route to Boscombe Valley. 

LULU DELACRE writes: "I’m delighted with the warm reception of Turning Pages, the picture book autobiography that I illustrated for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Publishers Weekly says that the 'compositions make intriguing use of angle, shadow, and collage detail,' and Booklist calls the drawings 'inventive.' But my favorite is the starred review from School Library Journal: ★ 'Stunning.'"

Lulu continues, "It is with great excitement that I await the September 15 opening of a solo show, The Art of Turning Pages, at the Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University. Within the museum is the Duvoisin Gallery, which is dedicated to the art of children’s books. I was asked to lend all the illustrations in the book, along with preparatory materials, for a six-month run! In addition, I will be speaking on October 2 to an adult audience at the Zimmerli, and in 2019 to groups of schoolchildren who will have visited the show."

On September 18, Clarion will release Mary Shelley: The Strange True Tale of Frankenstein's Creator, by CATHERINE REEF. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of Shelley's classic novel. Mary Shelley is a Junior Library Guild selection; Kirkus calls it "A thorough, sensitive portrayal of one of literature's most remarkable authors."

SUSAN STOCKDALE’s picture book Fantastic Flowers was selected as an NCTE Notable Book for Children in the Language Arts.

Susan and JENNIFER O'CONNELL will be at the National Book Festival on September 1, reading their picture books at the Washington Post’s booth. Susan will read from 11 a.m. to 11:30, and Jennifer will read from 1 p.m. to 1:45. 

JACQUELINE JULES is pleased to announce the publication of Light the Menorah! A Hanukkah Handbook, by Kar-Ben Publishing. Light the Menorah! offers a brief reflection to begin the candle-lighting ceremony and set the mood for a meaningful family celebration on each night of Hanukkah. The Jewish Book Council recently gave Light the Menorah! a glowing review, saying, "What makes this book unique are the eight reflections that appear opposite lavishly illustrated spreads, encouraging a shared reading experience. The brief reflections are tied to parts of the Hanukkah story, and the suggestion is to read, and then discuss, one reflection each night while gathered to light the candles. Such discussions can show how past events relate to issues today’s families face." To read the entire review visit https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/light-the-menorah-a-hanukkah-handbook.

LAURA KRAUSS MELMED's book Before We Met, illustrated by Jing Jing Song, just came out in a Chinese edition. The publisher is Beijing Tianlue.

WENDIE OLD was on the faculty of the International SCBWI Summer Conference in Los Angeles, in August. On the first day, every faculty member had to go onstage and announce the title of a book that most had influenced him or her. Wendie kept repeating the title as she mounted the stage, but when she reached the mike—the title disappeared from her mind. Pause. Once she told the crowd that she should have carried a notecard up there with her (and the crowd laughed), the title came back: To Kill a Mockingbird. That same day (Friday), she presented a breakout session called “Ten Things You Must Include When Writing Biography," complete with a "biography hash" snack. Once that was done, she could relax and enjoy the conference.

MICHELLE Y. GREEN is in negotiations with a printer in China to reissue her award-winning  historical fiction series Willie Pearl. An illustrator is needed for the third book, Willie Pearl: Field Day at Big Sandy. The multicultural  books are set in the Depression-era coal-mining town of Jenkins, KY, and the original illustrations were done in color pastels. Michelle would like to match the look and feel of the illustrations done by Steve McCracken of the Washington Post. Read an excerpt from book two, Willie Pearl: Under the Mountain, on Michelle's website blog, found at www.michelleygreen.com. She will be bringing copies of the books to the September luncheon and would be interested in chatting with anyone who has tried e-commerce through a website or third-party vendor.

MEMBERSHIP BYLAWS AMENDMENT PASSED
from Jacqueline Jules, Membership Chair

A Doodle poll sent to all members in late May regarding a proposed amendment to our membership bylaws passed with a 97-percent approval rate. Many thanks to Karen Deans, who organized this effort and compiled the information.

Membership qualifications for new members are now as follow:

In the case of authors and/or illustrators, their works should include at least one book issued by a traditional publisher and a second book either published by or under contract with a traditional publisher. Traditional publisher will be defined as a publisher that assumes the cost of publishing and marketing. Self-published works do not meet the requirements. Potential members must attend at least two Guild meetings before being nominated for membership.

Thank you to everyone who voted and participated in the discussion. This change should boost and maintain our membership numbers. An active membership is essential to a healthy organization.

GUILD WEBSITE UPDATE REMINDER

All Guild members are invited to have a one Guild-member page on our website.

If you already have a Guild-member page, please look to see if it needs updating. https://childrensbookguild.org/members

If you have not yet created a Guild-member page, see this as an opportunity to create a one-page flyer to direct users to your website for more information.

Suggested format:

Author picture with brief bio, website link and contact information

Two or three book covers with book information.

Author-visit photo with author-visit information

To see a sample layout, visit https://childrensbookguild.org/index.php/jacqueline-jules

Please send all updates to Alan, our webmaster, at bigalhecATaol.com. If you have questions, contact Jacqueline Jules at jjulesATjacquelinejules.com.

UPDATED LUNCHEON SCHEDULE POSTED FOR 2018-2019

Mark your calendars for the 2018-2019 Children’s Book Guild luncheon meetings. The schedule is posted online: https://childrensbookguild.org/luncheons.

The luncheon honoring the winner of the 2019 Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award will take place at Clyde's of Gallery Place on Saturday, May 11. No date in April, the traditional month for this event, was available. To accommodate the change, the Guild meeting featuring Katherine Marsh and Francisco Stork, originally scheduled for May 16, will be held on Thursday, April 11, at Busboys and Poets, 450 K Street NW.

THE GUILD EVENTS CALENDAR IS LIVE!

Members are encouraged to submit details (event name, date, time, location and a short description) of public events at which they'll appear for inclusion in the Guild's online calendar. Please send your information to Pamela Ehrenberg: PMEhrenberg@pamelaehrenberg.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 are 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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LITERARY EVENTS SPONSORED BY POLITICS AND PROSE:  The literary calendar at Politics and Prose lists many upcoming programs that may be of interest to Children's Book Guild members: http://www.politics-prose.com/events. September's speakers include KATHERINE MARSH.