April 2022

Our Next Speaker Series Guest: 

Terri Libenson, Graphic Novel Author and Artist

April 28th at 1pm via Zoom!

Terri Libenson is a New York Times bestselling author and award-winning cartoonist of the syndicated daily comic strip The Pajama Diaries, which ran from 2006-2020. Prior to this, she was an award-winning humorous card writer for American Greetings.  

She will be talking about her career, sharing images and stories about her work and discussing her process.  After her presentation, there will be ample time for questions and discussion.

Terri graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a BFA in illustration. Her first professional comic strip, Got a Life, was distributed by King Features Weekly Service (2000-2002). The Pajama Diaries launched with King Features in 2006 and ran in hundreds of newspapers internationally until its retirement in 2020. It has been nominated four times for the Reuben Award for "Best Newspaper Comic Strip" by the National Cartoonists Society and won in 2016. You can read The Pajama Diaries archives daily here.

Terri has three book collections based on The Pajama Diaries: Deja To-Do!, Having It All–And No Time To Do It, and Bat-Zilla. She is also the New York Times bestselling author of the illustrated middle grade series Emmie & Friends (Balzer + Bray).

Born and raised in Kingston, PA, Terri lives with her husband, two daughters, and spirited puppy in Cleveland, OH.

Our April Charity

We are raising money to donate to Poland’s Universal Reading Foundation. They are purchasing books to give to Ukrainian refugee children and to support Ukrainian publishers. From their website: “We want to offer them a moment of normality, warmth, closeness and peace. Thank you for your support!” You can donate on the April program registration page.

Register Now

Also in This Issue:

1. President's Letter

2. March Program Recap

3. Celebration of Your 2021-22 Books

4. Order Links for Gail Jarrow's Books

5. Library at NIH Children's Inn

6. Tagging the Guild's Social Media Channels

7. Tips for Virtual Author Visits

8. Member News

President's Letter

Hello Guild members,

Happy spring! It was so nice to see so many of your smiling faces at our recent March business meeting. It was also great to hear from our speakers, Madelyn Rosenberg and Wendy Chang. I was inspired to hear their tips and tricks for working together to make great books. People often think of writing (and illustrating) as solitary work, so it was nice to see proof that it doesn’t have to be! And to hear confirmation that having other people involved in your work – either through collaboration on a common project, or as helpful feedback partners – can be a fun and encouraging source of support. For me, that’s a big part of what the Guild is all about.

Speaking of teamwork, I want to extend my hearty congratulations and thanks to those stepping up to new (and renewed!) Guild leadership roles in the coming year. We announced the slate at the business meeting, and it can be found below this letter. As you’ll see, we’re still looking for a few more people to step up – any chance it could be YOU? Guild leadership roles may initially sound daunting but can prove to be very manageable and a whole lot of fun. Alison Morris would be only too happy to tell you more, so please reach out to her at Alisonlmorris@gmail.com.

And finally, please RSVP for the Thursday, May 19th IN-PERSON Guild Non-Fiction Award Lunch (noon at Busboys and Poets, 450 K St. NW). To answer a pair of recent questions: Guests are welcome, provided they register in advance. All attendees – guests and members alike – must pay for lunch. However, if you’d prefer to sit in the back, stay masked, and not eat at the event, you are welcome to do so and may take your lunch selection home with you afterward!

Erica

GUILD 2022-23 LEADERSHIP SLATE

President: Jason Wells

Vice President: Monica Valentine

Treasurer: Terry Jennings

Co-Treasurer: Amy Hansen

Past President: Erica Perl

Program Committee: Monica Valentine, Zara Gonzales Hoang, Debbie Levy
Recording Secretaries: Fred Bowen, Sue Fliess, and one more person TBD
At-Large Members: Kathie Meizner and Rhoda Trooboff

Membership Committee: TBD

March Program Recap

Members Wendy Shang and Madelyn Rosenberg shared with the Guild their experiences as collaborators on two books: This is Just a Test, and Not Your All-American Girl. They described their work together as very fluid--lockstep on practically each sentence. As far as process, they took turns inching the book along, and when they’d get stuck, they would hand it off. Both authors also discussed their childhoods and how they decided on topics and setting for the books. Madelyn said she was expecting arguments but was surprised at how easy it was to write with Wendy. Wendy was grateful to have someone along for the ride and happy that Madelyn was there for the business parts of it as well. Their number one underlying rule was that they agreed that whatever they did, it needed to be in service of the book. As far as recommending writing with a partner, both said it’s comforting and fun but may not be for every personality. What are they working on now? The two have some new ideas but nothing on paper yet.

The March gathering also included the Guild's annual business meeting. Here are a few takeaways and requests from that, in case you missed it:

• The Guild membership database is being updated and consolidated. Please alert the Guild if you believe you are not getting all the notifications you should be, or to share a new email address. Yukari Matsuyama is the contact, at yukari.matsuyama@gmail.com.
• Next year's leadership slate was approved, but there is still room for you if you want to be on the leadership team! Just email Alison Morris at alisonlmorris@gmail.com.
• Guild members voted to allocate $500 above and beyond the existing Youth Literacy Grants to provide books to Afghan refugee children through four identified organizations.

Celebration of Your 2021-22 Books  

At our Guild Non-Fiction Award ceremony on May 19th, we will be doing our annual slideshow celebrating recent books published by members. To prepare for this slideshow, we’ve created a form that members can use to provide the relevant information and upload high resolution cover images. We invite members who have recent books (2021-2022 pub dates) to submit a maximum of two titles with associated information (and cover images) before May 1, 2022. Click HERE to add your books to the form.

 
If you have any issues uploading your image files, please contact karen@karendeans.com. Thanks!

 

Order Links for Gail Jarrow's Books

Below you will find the Politics & Prose purchase links for the featured books that will be discussed during the Guild Nonfiction Award event on May 19th. During checkout, choose the "Store Pickup" option with the Connecticut Avenue location and write that you are with the Children's Book Guild event in the "Notes" section. The books will be delivered to the venue on the day of the event, where you will have the opportunity to have the book signed by the author. THERE WILL NOT BE ANY BOOK SALES ON SITE, so please order using the links below and note the order deadline. Please do any additional Politics and Prose shopping in a separate order. Place your orders by Sunday, May 1st.

 

Ambushed (hardcover) $18.99 + tax

Blood and Germs (hardcover) $18.99 + tax

The Poison Eaters (hardcover) $18.99 + tax

Spooked   (hardcover) $18.95 + tax

 

NOTE: You should all have received an email with registration info for the Nonfiction Award event on May 19th, but if you missed it, click HERE for the registration page on the Guild website.

Help Create Library at NIH Children's Inn

The Children's Inn is a private nonprofit facility on the campus of NIH that hosts children and their families in need of temporary housing while receiving medical treatment. These patients come from the US and around the world. After completing a new renovation the Inn now has several spaces where books can be made available to children and their families. Guild member Karen Jaffe, who is a volunteer at the Children's Inn, invites members of the Guild to donate books from their portfolios to become part of the collection. Please email for more information at Kwjaffeloc@gmail.com.

Tagging the Guild's Social Media Channels

If you have a new book coming out and you're promoting it on social media, please tag the Guild in your posts so we can retweet or post it! The Guild is on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Many thanks from Deborah Kalb!

Tips for Virtual Author Visits

ADAPTED FROM THE PEN/FAULKNER "WRITERS IN SCHOOL" PROGRAM

• Be patient. Virtual interaction isn’t as organic or natural as live visits. Expect awkward pauses.
• Be engaging. Look at the camera directly. Be expressive with your face, hands, and voice. Bring lots of energy. 
• Be concise. Keep responses short. Practice the art of brevity. 
• Be focused. You focus on doing what you do best! Let the organizer/moderator handle anything sticky that might come up. 
• Be practiced. Practice your presentation on a screen (e.g., via a Zoom personal meeting room) prior to the visit.

Member News

Karen Leggett will be teaching a course with Egyptian American professor and literary guide Heba ElShazli on the topic "Voices of Arab American Authors: Discovery and Beyond," from April 4th to May 31st (5 classes, 1-3pm Monday afternoons, every other week). It includes a few Guild members and fascinating new reads: Libyan American Hisham Matar, Egyptian American Mona Awad, Iraqi American Sinan Antoon, Syrian American Zeyn Joukhadar, Palestinian American Zaina Arafat and Qatari American Sophia Al-Maria. The classes will be interesting even if you don't have time to read all the books! Sign up here.

Jane Harrington is teaching a "Writing For Children" course at Washington & Lee University this spring, and she'd be delighted to have her students attend any virtual events Guild members have going on between April 25th and May 20th. Videos from your websites or Youtube channels (e.g., from prior author events or interviews) are also very welcome. You can send links or leads to harringtonj@wlu.edu.

Shout Mouse Press is seeking illustrators for their new series of picture books for children ages 1-3. These books, like all Shout Mouse books, are motivated in part by the #WeNeedDiverseBooks movement, which advocates for diversity of characters, authors, and illustrators in children’s literature. For more info: 

https://www.shoutmousepress.org/join-shout-mouse-team

Mary Bowman-Kruhm’s 100-word "Tiny Love Story" was published online February 22nd, with the title "Joining the Circus," and in the print version of the New York Times on February 28th in the Spotlight column. Here is the link for the online version (4th story): https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/22/style/tiny-modern-love-stories-he-was-my-mothers-type-not-mine.html

Laura Gehl has two new books out in April: Who Dug This Hole?, illustrated by Loris Lora, a lift-the-flap board book that explores all the different types of animals who make holes, from woodpeckers to fish; and Donut, illustrated by Andrea Zuill, a picture book about a scruffy unicorn who wants to soar through the air like his buddies, the birds.

Moira Rose Donohue is very excited to announce that her 2021 release from Sleeping Bear Press, Stompin' at the Savoy: How Chick Webb Became the King of Drums (illustrated by Laura Freeman), is the silver medal winner in the 2021 Florida Book Awards Younger Children's Literature category.

Ginger Park's historical middle grade novel The Hundred Choices Department Store has been named a CBC (Children's Book Council) March "Hot off the Press" selection: https://www.cbcbooks.org/cbc-book-lists/march-2022/. And on May 1st, Ginger will be a participating author at the 2022 Literary Hill Bookfest: https://www.literaryhillbookfest.org/

Sally Davies has a new solo show entitled “Our Fractured Lives” on display at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia, in the Art League Gallery.  In this exhibit of pandemic era paintings, Davies explores the disconnect, isolation, and uncertainty felt during Covid-19. In a dramatic and poignant way, her large canvases with handmade tiles seem to ask the viewer, “Are we falling apart? Or piecing our lives back together?”  Her portraits in this exhibit spotlight several courageous, strong, and resilient women. The opening reception is May 12th, 4:30-6:30pm, and the show will be up until June 5th. www.theartleague.org/event/may-2022-solo-exhibit-sally-davies/

Anna E. Jordan is pleased to announce the sale of her middle-grade debut Shira and Esther Double the Wonder to Taylor Norman at Chronicle Books for a Fall 2023 release, as reported in the PW Rights Report. Pitched as The Prince and the Pauper meets The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, a rabbi's daughter and a performer's daughter, who share a remarkable resemblance, swap places to pursue their forbidden dreams of the theater stage and the synagogue bima, until they must team up to save the theater from closing and bring their families together. Janine Le handled the deal while at Sheldon Fogelman Agency.

Sue Fliess has three new picture books out in April. The first two books in her new narrative nonfiction Kid Scientist series (Albert Whitman) will be out on the 1st: Marine Biologists on a Dive and Archaeologists on a Dig. These stories feature a group of kids as scientists in the field following the scientific method to prove a hypothesis. On the 26th, the second book in her picture book spy series with Pixel and Ink will be published: Beatrice Bly's Rules For Spies: Mystery Goo, in which Beatrice and her BFF Nora tackle the mission of finding out what the sticky goo is and where it came from. Sue's book The Earth Gives More just came out in paperback.

On May 3rd, the second book in Erica S. Perl’s Whale, Quail, Snail series will soar into the world. When Whales Fly, illustrated by Sam Ailey, is the story of Whale’s attempt to realize her lifelong dream (with a little help from her friend, Snail, over the protests of her other friend, Quail, who insists that “Whales can’t fly!”). Published by Simon & Shuster, this Level 2 reader is perfect for anyone who wants to try something new but thinks they’re too big-or-small-or-young-or-old-or-you-name-it. Take it from Whale: the sky’s the limit!