The Boston Globe Horn Book Award Ceremony
If you adjust the speed dial on your video player to SLOW-THE-HECK-DOWN, I don’t sound half bad.
Before I Die
BEFORE I DIE
By Jenny Downham
David Fickling Books, 2007
Category: Young adult fiction
Practical details:
- I connected to the BEFORE I DIE buzz at EmilyReads (read this post), and was intrigued.
- My friend Jane, librarian extraordinaire, saved it for me when it arrived at her library; otherwise I might never have gotten my mitts on it.
- I read it (lived it, really) for two days.
Less-than-practical truths:
- I was utterly taken from the first chapter.
- This was a book I read only in quiet moments when I could lose myself. No reading in the car during pickup, no reading at the stove while fixing dinner. I read this book only when there was quiet space to curl up and feel it. (As mothers of three don’t often have such quiet space, I had to make it. And I did. For this book.)
- I was inconsolable at THE END. And let’s face it: I knew all along how it would end.
- Tessa is a girl I will think about for a long while. Perhaps always.
Here’s a review from The New York Times.
If You Were a Parrot
IF YOU WERE A PARROT
By Katherine Rawson
Illustrated by Sherry Rogers
Sylvan Dell Publishing, 2006
Category: Picture Book
We used to vacation with friends who kept an African Grey Parrot as a pet. Ricky was an ornery bugger, refusing most of the time to talk, though we all knew he could. On a good day, and when we least expected it, Ricky would make the sound of a telephone ringing; I fell for it every time.
Perhaps Ricky is the reason I was so enthralled with IF YOU WERE A PARROT. Katherine Rawson’s simple text highlights parrot body parts while Sherry Rogers’s bright illustrations confront readers with compelling “what if” scenarios: What if you had parrot feet? What if you had a parrot beak? The expressive parrots on each spread made me laugh … and think of Ricky. This little picture book explores the relationship between form and function without ever resorting to didactics, and is a fine way for young readers to learn about parrots.
IF YOU WERE A PARROT is also a fine way to familiarize yourself with illustrator Sherry Rogers, who I had the great pleasure of interviewiing recently. Sherry has created a beautiful snowflake for Robert’s Snow, and I will be showcasing Sherry, her art, and her fabulous snowflake on Thursday. I hope you will stop back to meet her!
Blogging for a Cure
Bloggers from the world of children’s literature are launching a massive effort to fight cancer today, and I hope you will lend a hand. Our plan? To support Robert’s Snow by featuring the Robert’s Snow artists and their snowflakes. Below is a schedule of this week’s illustrator features; check them out as you are able. As you are reading these features and perusing the snowflakes, think HOLIDAY SHOPPING!
Monday, October 15
- Randy Cecil at ChatRabbit
- Michelle Chang at The Longstockings
- Kevin Hawkes at Cynthia Lord’s Journal
- Barbara Lehman at The Excelsior File
- Grace Lin at In the Pages
Tuesday, October 16
- Selina Alko at Brooklyn Arden
- Scott Bakal at Wild Rose Reader
- Alexandra Boiger at Paradise Found
- Paige Keiser at Your Neighborhood Librarian
- Janet Stevens at The Miss Rumphius Effect
Wednesday, October 17
- Rick Chrustowski at laurasalas
- Diane DeGroat at Jama Rattigan’s Alphabet Soup
- Ilene Richard at Something Different Every Day
- Brie Spangler at Lectitans
- Don Tate at The Silver Lining
Thursday, October 18
- Brooke Dyer at Bookshelves of Doom
- D.B. Johnson at Lessons from the Tortoise
- Erin Eitter Kono at Sam Riddleburger
- Sherry Rogers at A Life in Books
- Jennifer Thermes at Through the Studio Door
Friday, October 19
- Graeme Base at Just One More Book
- Denise Fleming at MotherReader
- Jeff Mack at AmoXcalli
- Jeff Newman at A Year of Reading
- Ruth Sanderson at Book Moot
Saturday, October 20
- Linas Alsenas at A Wrung Sponge
- Theresa Brandon at The Shady Glade
- Karen Katz at Whimsy Books
- Judy Schachner at Kate’s Book Blog
- Sally Vitsky at Shelf Elf: read, write, rave
Sunday, October 21
- Matthew Cordell at Just Like the Nut
- Maxwell Eaton III at Books and Other Thoughts
- Roz Fulcher at Goading the Pen
- Susie Jin at sruble’s world
- Susan Mitchell at Check It Out
Tracking Trash in The New York Times
Seriously.
Check out the Book Review section of the print edition, or go here to read the review online.
(As if I weren’t already floating this weekend!)
Boston Globe Horn Book Awards
What a night.
I thought I was prepared for anything, but moments after arriving at The Boston Athenaeum, Roger Sutton, Editor in Chief of The Horn Book and host for the award ceremony, informed me that I would be the first honoree called to the stage.
I thought I handled this news well.
I thought I was poised and confident.
This photograph of my acceptance speech, however, tells another story altogether. Apparently I was terrified!
The beautiful part of accepting my award first was that once it was finished I was able to sit back and enjoy the program. The eight remaining acceptance speeches were lively and thoughtful and as different in style and content as the artists presenting them.
When all the awards had been handed out, my husband took this photo of me with Erica Zappy, the editorial talent behind TRACKING TRASH. I’m holding my silver Honor Book Award plate.
Next on the program was a group book signing. I had planned to use some of this time to congratulate the other honorees, but there simply wasn’t time. I signed copies of TRACKING TRASH and spoke with librarians and teachers and parents and publishing people and graduate students and, well, lots and lots of others. Every soul I met was kind and enthusiastic and I could not—cannot even now, actually—stop grinning.
The rest of the night was spent at dinner with friends from Houghton (thank you for everything, Lisa and Erica!) and several Boston librarians (thank you for joining us Pat and Michael, Sherry, Lauren, Kimberly, and Diana!).
Sigh.
I will be gazing at this plate and thinking about last night for a long, long time.
The Strongest Man in the World
THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD
By Nicolas Debon
Groundwood, 2007
Category: Picture book biography
I should have very astute things to say about this book, but I am feeling less-than-astute at the moment. I’m too excited about meeting Nicolas Debon in person at the Boston Athenaeum tonight! With any luck I will have recovered my wits by then and find something to say other than: “your book rocks and I can totally see why it was chosen for this award!”
Other people* I am excited to meet and congratulate:
M.T. Anderson
!
I also get to hang out with my favorite editor in this world and lots of other bookish folks that I am excited to get to know.
!!!
(*The links are to my blog musings about their respective award books)
Sneeze!
SNEEZE!
By Alexandra Siy and Dennis Kunkel
Charlesbridge, 2007
Category: Elementary/Middle grade Non-fiction
Anyone remember Mosquito Week? About this time last year I was hip-deep in good mosquito books. I blogged about all three in the same week and, Voila, a theme week was born. Don’t worry, there are no immediate plans for Sneeze Week here on my blog. But I do want to praise the latest book from the team that brought the world MOSQUITO BITE; it’s called SNEEZE!
This is the sort of book that inspires me to keep recommending children’s books to the kids AND adults in my life. Dennis Kunkel’s electron micrographs give readers a seriously up-close look at the various icky things that tickle noses and bring on sneezes. Alexandra Siy’s text and captions follow the generation of nine different sneezes—from environmental cue to neuronal reaction to muscular response to splendid explosion. Cool concept, fabulous execution, incredible images and loads of neat sneeze information for curious kids … and adults.
The Giver
THE GIVER
By Lois Lowry
Houghton Mifflin, 1993
Category: Middle grade fiction
Re-reading books is a luxury I don’t often indulge in, but this weekend—between a birthday sleepover (six kids arrived at my house Friday at 5pm for dinner … and my husband did NOT because his plane from Chicago was delayed) and writing remarks for the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award banquet (they are written, but are they worthy?) and yet another case of strep throat (sigh)—I re-read THE GIVER.
If ever there was a weekend to be transported to another world, a world where life is perfect, where pain is not allowed, where the role of each and every citizen is defined, and where appropriate words for every occasion are pre-determined, this was it. I was struck all over again at the frightening appeal of Jonas’ perfect world, and by his ability to recognize its fatal flaws.
As I typed up this entry, I noticed that among the many accolades bestowed upon THE GIVER was a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor. I wonder what Lois Lowry said to the crowd gathered at the Athenaeum in 1993. Do you suppose she fretted over her words?
The Alchemy of Grief
THE ALCHEMY OF GRIEF
By Emily Ferrara
Bordighera Press, 2007
Category: Poetry
Emily Ferrara and I attend the same UU Church and I am excited to let you know about her new book of poetry. THE ALCHEMY OF GRIEF won the 2006 Bordighera Poetry Prize and will be published in a bilingual translation (English and Italian) by Bordighera Press. Here’s what poet and physician Richard. M. Berlin has to say about the book:
“In her exquisite first collection of poems, Emily Ferrara reveals the unexpected power of regeneration at the core of a grieving mother’s heart. From the initial hot coals of loss to her final vision of God’s force, these poems take us on a journey of transformation. Catalyzed by nature, faith, family and friendship, written in a voice that is stunning and direct, Ferrara weaves her magic with the language of poetry. These poems convince me, that in Ferrara’s skilled hands, we truly have a poetry of healing.”
Emily will celebrate the release of THE ALCHEMY OF GRIEF in New York and in Worcester. Do join her if you can, and look for THE ALCHEMY OF GRIEF in November.
BOOK LAUNCH
November 8, 2007, 6:30 pm
John D. Calandra Italian American Institute
City University of New York Graduate Center
25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor, NY , NY
BILINGUAL READING & BOOK-SIGNING
November 19,2007, 7 pm
The Gene J. DeFuedis Italian American Cultural Center
28 Mulberry Street, Worcester , MA