CAL-2n1-cover.qxd 5/7/2004 1:37 PM Page 1 Children the journal of the Association for Library Service to Children Libraries & Volume 2 Number 1 Spring 2004 ISSN 1542-9806

A Child’s Place • Robert Sabuda Pops Up • Heroism and Our Children • Brain Research and Programming

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID BIRMINGHAM, AL PERMIT NO. 3020 spr04-CAL_3p.qxd 5/7/2004 11:11 AM Page 1 Table

Contents● ofVolume 2, Number 1 Spring 2004

Notes and Letters 36 Everyday Heroes 2 Editor’s Note T. A. Barron’s Trail Leads Youth to Find Their Own Strong Examples Sharon Korbeck Sharon Korbeck 2 Executive Director’s Note 38 The Talespinner of Ghana Malore I. Brown An Interview with Adwoa Badoe 3 Letters to the Editor Carol-Ann Hoyte 41 Untangling the Cobwebs Features Choosing Great Web Sites for Kids Genevieve Gallagher 5 All Kinds of Flowers Grow Here The Child’s Place for Children with Departments Special Needs at Brooklyn Public Library 44 Photo Gallery Carrie Banks The Bright Midwinter in San Diego: ALA Midwinter Meeting, January 2004 12 Make Way for Dendrites 46 Book and Media Reviews How Brain Research Can Impact 47 Call for Referees Children’s Programming 48 ALSC News Betsy Diamant-Cohen, Ellen Riordan, and Regina Wade 62 Index to Advertisers 22 63 Author Guidelines Perfection and Precision 64 The Surprising Life of Pop-Up Book The Last Word Creator Robert Sabuda Sharon Korbeck

26 Why Are We Afraid of Our Boys? A Psychologist Looks at Solutions Michael G. Thompson

31 Remembering a Legend The Life and Works of Robert McCloskey

Megan Lynn Isaac JerryPhoto by Speier page 5 35 “The Last Civilized Man” Librarians Remember William Morris Sharon Korbeck spr04-CAL_3p.qxd 5/7/2004 11:11 AM Page 2

Editor’s Note Now a Patron, I’m a Librarian’s Biggest Fan Sharon Korbeck

Will Rogers never met a man he didn’t like. I never met a librarian I didn’t like. Editor Sharon Korbeck, Waupaca, WI I realized that at my second trip to the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Editorial Advisory Committee San Diego last January. I met Nancy Pearl, who convinced toymak- Jeri S. Kladder, Chair, Columbus, OH ers it was time to laud librarians as an action figure. I met, posthu- Rosanne Cerny, Jamaica, NY Susan G. Link, Sugar Land, TX mously through his colleagues, William Morris, who, while not a Cynthia K. Richey, ALSC President, Ex Officio, Pittsburgh, PA librarian, revered the profession and its practitioners. I met a young Sharon Korbeck, Editor, Ex Officio, Waupaca, WI woman with purple hair and black gothic attire who talked about Executive Director selecting media for young adults. Malore I. Brown Division Coordinator I like them all. For inasmuch as they all have in common—a strong Laura Schulte-Cooper desire to relay the joys and benefits of libraries to young and old— Web Site they are as diverse as their clientele. I miss seeing that diversity on www.ala.org/alsc a daily basis. But if I ever need a reminder, I know I have only one Circulation place to go. Children and Libraries (ISSN 1542-9806) is published three times per year by the American Library Association (ALA), 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. It is the official publication of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of ALA. Subscription price: mem- I can still jaunt a mere five miles to downtown Waupaca, Wisconsin, bers of ALSC, $20 per year, included in membership dues; nonmembers, $40 per year in the U.S.; $50 in Canada, Mexico, and other countries. Back issues within one year of current issue, where reference librarian Dominic Frandrup will fill me in on the $12 each. Periodical postage paid at Chicago, Illinois, and at additional mailing offices. POST- latest book club book. Or children’s librarian Sue Abrahamson will MASTER: Send address changes to Children and Libraries, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. Members send mailing labels or facsimilie to Member Services, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL tell me about the new summer reading program theme. Or associ- 60611. Nonmember subscribers: Subscriptions, orders, changes of address, and inquiries should be sent to Children and Libraries, Customer Service—Subscriptions, 50 E. Huron St., ate director Peg Burington and I will chat about the Patriot Act and Chicago, IL 60611; 1-800-545-2433, press 5; fax: (312) 944-2641; e-mail: [email protected]. the upcoming presidential election. Or one of my many clerk friends will ask if I’ve seen the newest, greatest DVD; listened to Statement of Purpose Children and Libraries is the official journal of ALSC, a division of the American Library Seabiscuit on audio; or attended the latest Third Thursday program. Association. The journal primarily serves as a vehicle for continuing education of librarians working with children, which showcases current scholarly research and practice in library service to children and spotlights significant activities and programs of the Association. (From So though I haven’t practiced as a librarian for a while, I’m now rel- the journal’s draft “Policies and Procedures” document to be adopted by the ALSC board.) ishing being a patron again. And I’m proud to say, that from this Production side of the reference desk, I still never met a librarian I didn’t like. ALA Production Services—Troy D. Linker; Ellie Barta-Moran, Angela Hanshaw, And I’m also proud to say I’m one of you—if not in the daily grind, Kristen McKulski, and Karen Sheets, Production Editors. at least in spirit. & Advertising Benson, Coffee and Associates,1411 Peterson Avenue, Park Ridge, IL 60068; (847) 692-4695; fax: (847) 692-3877; e-mail: [email protected]. The journal accepts advertising for goods or services of interest to the library profession and librarians in service to youth in particular. It encour- Executive Director’s Note ages advertising that informs readers and provides clear communication between vendor and buyer. The journal adheres to ethical and commonly accepted advertising practices and Welcome to Volume Two reserves the right to reject any advertisement not suited to the above purposes or not consis- tent with the aims and policies of ALA. Acceptance of advertising in the journal does not imply Malore I. Brown official endorsement by ALA of the products or services advertised. Manuscripts As we embark on our second volume year of Manuscripts and letters pertaining to editorial content should be sent to Sharon Korbeck, editor, E1569 Murray Lane, Waupaca, WI 54981; (715) 258-0369; e-mail: [email protected]. Children and Libraries, we are pleased to fea- Manuscripts will be sent out for review according to the journal’s established referee ture interviews with noted children’s author procedures. See the author guidelines in each issue for further information. Tom Barron and author/illustrator Robert Indexing, Abstracting, and Microfilm Sabuda in which they share with us their work and their craft. We Children and Libraries is indexed in Library and Information Science Abstracts. bid fond farewell to Robert McCloskey, children’s author and illus- Children and Libraries is indexed, abstracted, and available in full text through EBSCOhost. For more information, contact EBSCO at 1-800-653-2726. trator, and Bill Morris, HarperCollins Vice President of Marketing, Children and Libraries is also available from ProQuest Information and Learning in one or who both touched our lives and the field of children’s literature. We more of the following ways: online, via the ProQuest information service; microform; CD-ROM; and via database licensing. For more information, call 1-800-521-0600, ext. 2888 or online at celebrate with the children at the Child’s Place at Brooklyn (N.Y.) www.il.proquest.com. Public Library, a unique and inclusive environment for children The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, with special needs. We extend our many thanks to the ALSC Great ANSI Z39.48-1992. Web Sites Committee as they continually review Web sites for inclu- Copyright ©2004 American Library Association All materials in this journal subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be sion and reevaluate existing entries on the invaluable Great Web photocopied for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement granted Sites for Kids pages. Happy reading. And as always, we welcome by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. For other photocopying, reprint- ing, or translating, address requests to the ALA Office of Rights and Permissions. your submissions to your journal. &

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Letters to the Editor

Letters Guidelines

Children and Libraries welcomes readers to submit letters to the editor on topics of general interest to the profession or as comments on topics covered in our pages.

Letters should be no longer than 350 words and must be signed. The editor reserves the right to edit letters for clarity and space. Send letters to Editor Sharon Korbeck at [email protected] or via mail to E1569 Murray Lane, Waupaca, WI 54981.

Caldecott Committee Experience branches featuring the best picture books of 2002. I spoke about the committee Offered Many Rewards process and the award winners with col- Kudos . . . and Confetti- lege children’s literature classes, our own When I accepted a position on the 2003 and a neighboring public library’s youth Filled Thanks! Caldecott Committee, the task seemed services staff, and our local school dis- fairly straightforward—read a lot of pic- trict’s media specialists. I served as SHARON KORBECK,EDITOR ture books and help choose the best one. “celebrity guest” at a local bookstore for While I did read a lot of picture books and its yearly Caldecott storytime, and, of [email protected] did, in my opinion, help choose the best course, shared the winners at my own one, I also began more than a year of weekly library storytime. According to my Tomie dePaola 2004 unexpected unique and rewarding expe- calendar, the first week of May was riences. Simply by Feature stories in local National Hug Holiday Week. But even being a member of media offered expo- though this issue of CAL will reach such a prestigious sure outside the world you after that week, I want to send committee, I quickly of children’s books belated hugs, kudos, and confetti- became viewed as an and libraries. Sudden- filled thank-yous to some very impor- expert on picture ly neighbors, library tant people. books. I was able to patrons, and family share the beauty of members realized that Having just completed my first year as this genre and the this was indeed a editor of CAL, I must thank the ALSC experience of commit- “special” assignment. staff and board and the CAL Advisory tee work with a variety I was also asked to Committee for putting me on the of audiences including write a column on track to success. And I sincerely preschoolers, college choosing books for appreciate all the efforts of librarians students, and col- Barbara Brand children in a local nationwide who either authored arti- leagues. My enthusi- publication, offering cles for CAL or served as volunteer asm led to a newfound confidence. me my first opportunity to be published! referees. Your input was essential to gearing up a fresh, vibrant look and With the help of our library’s community Serving on the Caldecott Committee was style for our inaugural year. I espe- relations department, my own profes- not only a privilege; it has expanded my cially thank those of you with special- sional network, and a supportive library professional career. I have met and ized expertise who were willing to administration, I entered the world of worked with librarians from all over the help, sometimes on short notice. public speaking and “semi-celebrity.” country, and we share our “post- And I was not alone. Caldecott” experiences regularly. Our As always, I welcome your feedback, committee chair, Pat Scales, was a perfect letters, stories, suggestions, construc- I began sharing some of my favorite pic- teacher and leader. By attending the ALA tive criticism, and, of course, choco- ture books with our library’s monthly conferences associated with our commit- late chip cookies! I hope you enjoy children’s book discussion group. I tee work, I was also able to take advantage our second year of CAL. offered adult programs at our library continued on page 4

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Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor continued from page 3

of other youth services workshops and Like libraries, the YMCA is an integral part Small book collections are housed at the presentations and meet many children’s of many communities. Partnerships can before- and after-school care sites. In authors, illustrators, editors, and publishers. be rewarding for both. In our community, Schaumburg Township, Illinois, we feel we have a great relationship with our we are helping the YMCA build those This was a phenomenal learning experi- local Y. Our Pre-School/Day Care Services strong kids, strong families, and a strong ence, teaching me about public speaking, librarian was asked to take part in the community. networking, committee work, and profes- search and interview process for the sional commitment— my own and that of YMCA’s new head of Pre-School Services. Roxy Ekstrom, member my library administration. Trips to the library are a regular part of ALSC Liaison with National Organizations Serving Children and Youth Committee the Y program. I urge anyone who has the opportunity to serve on an ALSC committee to take full advantage of all it has to offer. The year goes by quickly, but the rewards can last a lifetime.

Barbara Brand Johnson County Library, Blue Valley Branch Shawnee Mission, Kansas

Libraries Should Consider Partnerships with YMCA

The ALSC Liaison with National Organi- zations Serving Children and Youth Committee wants all ALSC members to know about some of the great organiza- tions that focus on children. The YMCA has been serving children since its incep- tion in London, England, in 1844. It was founded in the United States in 1851 with the opening of the Boston YMCA.

Today there are 2,400 YMCAs in America, serving more than 10,000 communities— a mere 17.9 million people—making it the largest nonprofit organization in the United States.

The YMCA motto is “We build strong kids, strong families, strong communities.” Each center is autonomous, providing the programs and resources needed in each community.

Check out the YMCA at www.ymca.com, where you can peruse the history, explore programs, find a local center, or seek information on the Strong Family Zone.

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All Kinds of Flowers Grow Here The Child’s Place for Children with Special Needs at Brooklyn Public Library Carrie Banks

As Ilyana guides her wheelchair down the path, she waters the 2003, we served thirteen thousand children with and without flowers in the garden. Ron, who is on the autism spectrum, com- disabilities in Brooklyn, and ten thousand of their parents, edu- pulsively counts the seeds before he hands them to a straight-A cators, caregivers, and other adults. student at the local elementary school.

Teen volunteer Marcia shocks her mother by announcing that she Beginnings will cook dinner that night so she could have the pasta salad When the Child’s Place began offering programs at the Flatlands again. And Marie-Louise’s mom and I reminisce about how her branch in October 1987, 846 people were served the first year. In first-grader spoke her first three-word sentence in the garden five 1996, a second site opened at the Saratoga branch. By May 1999, years before.* we added our sixth library, Greenpoint, and in September began hospital storytelling with visits to three local hospitals. In addi- These heart-rending anecdotes may be amazing, but they illus- tion to expanding geographically, we have increased services trate a fairly typical day at the Child’s Place for Children with throughout the library system. As needs arise, we provide mate- Special Needs, a project of the Brooklyn (N.Y.) Public Library. rial for other branches, such as one that is next to a school with a vision education program. We supply both training and indi- When the Child’s Place opened in 1987, it embodied the vidual assistance to all children’s and young adult service spe- Brooklyn Public Library’s philosophy of reaching out to and cialists. We are currently purchasing material to create small serving all citizens of Brooklyn. In the sixteen years since then, special-needs collections for adults and children in all of the service has expanded, both in the types of programming it Brooklyn’s fifty-eight libraries. offers and the number of libraries that offer it. We now have a center with a full-time staff person and five satellite sites with The Child’s Place is grounded in the understanding that every part-time staff coverage. The children who attend our programs child has the right to use the library and that every person have developmental, learning, physical, sensory, emotional, deserves the chance to learn to read. We accept that literacy and/or multiple disabilities. The Child’s Place uses Universal emerges over the course of a lifetime. Some people learn to read Design principles and Multiple Intelligences Theory to create at four years of age, others at seventy. The program is based on inclusive programs for children with and without disabilities. In the principles of Multiple Intelligences Theory and Universal Design. Multiple Intelligences Theory posits that people have * We have changed the children’s names to protect their privacy. seven different intelligences and seven corresponding learning

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All Kinds of Flowers Grow Here styles, which are separate from one another but function inter- ticularly well for children on the autism spectrum and children dependently. These include linguistic, logical/mathematical, with learning disabilities. Big books can help children with spatial, musical, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrap- Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), learning disabilities, or low ersonal.1 vision focus on the story.

At the Child’s Place, we try to tap as many of these intelligences Songs can convey the program’s theme particularly well to those and learning styles as we can in each program. In a society that in our audience with autism; developmental, visual, or learning primarily values and tests only linguistic and logical/mathemat- disabilities; and musical learners in general. Arts and crafts can ical intelligences, we give children a chance to shine in other draw spatial learners into the stories while helping all children areas. become narrators of their own stories.

Universal Design, a concept developed from architectural Crafts include a tactile component so blind or visually impaired design, generally refers to the design of products and environ- children can participate. Finger plays and movement activities ments so that everyone can use them without the need for adap- pull in bodily/kinesthetic learners. Toys and other things that tation.2 Using these guidelines, the Child’s Place can children can hold and manipulate, which represent illustra- successfully accommodate a variety of children within any given tions, are given to the children to involve blind or visually program. We work with children with developmental, sensory, impaired children as well as children with ADD, bodily/kines- physical, learning, and behav- thetic learners, and others. ioral disabilities as well as children with mental illness. An example of a themed pro- The key to the project’s suc- gram—for example, winter— cess is to design every pro- might include Jan Brett’s The gram with the flexibility to Mitten, Ezra Jack Keats’s The accommodate all children, Snowy Day, and Lois Ehlert’s rather than scrambling to Where Animals Go in Winter. adapt a program to the needs Stuffed animals and puppets of a child with a particular dis- representing the animals in ability. the stories are passed around before or during the stories. We might sing “Over the River Programs and Services and Through the Woods,” and act out the making of a snow- Drop-in programs are at the man. Finally, we would make core of the Child’s Place. We a collage with white materials offer four types of programs on black paper. on a regular basis. Except for Ilyana and friends prepare to cook. “Weekend Stories,” at least “Our Garden Club” (OGC) is a one site offers the programs in seasonal program modeled on English, Spanish, or American Sign Language. “Weekend “After School Stories,” which includes a book and music compo- Stories” often have a bilingual component. “Read and Play” is a nent. When the weather permits, the program substitutes a gar- socialization and language stimulation program for children dening project for the craft and movement activities. OGC is our birth to age five. It begins with a circle time that includes read- most fully developed program. It incorporates all learning styles, ing aloud, singing songs, word play such as rhymes or clapping makes the most of multisensory learning, and is the only program out rhythms, and a naming game that introduces the children to that makes use of smell and taste on a regular basis. Interpersonal each other. After that, children play in a room full of toys, with and intrapersonal learners can flourish in a garden. At our harvest staff facilitating the play and modeling appropriate language festival after the events of September 11, 2001, one young girl stimulation. The program also provides early literacy and par- commented, “I learned I have to look after my plants to keep bad enting strategies for parents and caregivers. Attendance is lim- things from happening to them.” The experience offered her a ited to twelve children to maintain the quality of the program. sense of control in a suddenly unpredictable world. Gardening Parents and caregivers are required to participate. also levels the playing field for urban youth. Since few of them have ever gardened, children without disabilities have no Children graduate from “Read and Play” to “After School advantage over the children with disabilities. Stories,” which combines reading aloud, music, movement activities, and crafts to impart the theme of the program for chil- On Saturdays, we bring in outside performers for “Weekend dren ages five to twelve. Stories are carefully chosen to be of Stories.” They may be storytellers, dancers, puppeteers, musi- interest to older children and those who function at age level as cians, or some combination. Many are bilingual in English and well as accessible to younger children and children who are American Sign Language or Spanish. These performances are a functioning below age level. Each program contains a range of chance for entire families to participate in library activities. A stories. We find that stories with a repetitive structure work par- Cantonese-speaking father once told me that one of his two

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daughters had mental retardation, and this was the first time he And they always remember to get their books. A first-grader who had ever taken them to the same program. lived at the inpatient ward of one city hospital for more than a year used to announce the arrival of our hospital storyteller by “Class Visits” and “Hospital Storytelling” are two of the Child’s shouting, “The library book man is here, the library book man is Place’s collaborative prescheduled programs. “Class Visits” are here.” arranged with special education schools and programs, early intervention programs, and therapeutic nurseries. Classes either come to the library or host Child’s Place staff in the Volunteer Internships school. Each visit includes an orientation to the library, includ- ing issuing library cards to the children, stories, songs, and One of the volunteers at the publication party for the Our movement activities. When classes visit the library, they get to Garden Club Cookbook was one of our Young Adult Leaders, stu- play with the Child’s Place’s toys and to check out books. We pre- dents thirteen or older who participate in our internships. The fer visits in the library, especially because many children with New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council developmental and learning disabilities have difficulty with funded this project in its pilot year. Then we enlisted pairs of abstract concepts. Showing them the library is much more effec- teens with and without disabilities to help with the younger chil- tive than describing it and, of dren. They became role mod- course, leads to increases in els for other children in the circulation. community.

The “Class Visits” program is Volunteers can contribute in our most effective form of out- ways other than working with reach. Each child goes home the younger children, such as with a Child’s Place brochure stuffing envelopes and work- and fact sheet, flyers for ing in the garden. We have upcoming programs and, ide- had interns with Asperger’s ally, a library card. Shortly Syndrome, Down Syndrome, after we launched the pro- learning disabilities, cerebral gram at the Greenpoint palsy, mental illness, and branch, a five-year-old with many other disabilities. disabilities from a local thera- peutic nursery came into the Volunteering has had a signif- library literally pulling his icant impact on many of our mother by her shirt tails. He interns. One student with a introduced his mother to the developmental disability got a Our Garden Club Cookbook Child’s Place staff person, say- job at Barnes and Noble. More ing, “See, Mom, this is Susan. than once, volunteers with She is cool and has books. She talked to my class.” The family disabilities and volunteers without disabilities have become had never been to the library before. friends, hanging out at the library together, going to the mall, and driving their parents crazy by staying on the phone for In the “Hospital Storytelling” outreach program, we work with hours. We could not ask for better outcomes. contractors who read to children in inpatient wards and outpa- tient clinics and distribute books for them to keep. Money for books is contributed by the national Reading Is Fundamental Parent/Caregiver and Educator Resources program. In addition to inpatient wards and nephrology clinics, we reach approximately four thousand children in HIV, develop- Part of our mission as a library is to provide information and mental, neurobehavioral, early intervention, and well-child referral for our customers. We accomplish this through our col- clinics. lections and parenting workshops. Our center at the Flatlands Library has a five-thousand-volume collection on exceptional Hospital stays can be mind-numbing and boring. Providing pro- parenting; more than forty periodicals and newsletters; a large grams and reading material contributes to the overall palliative vertical file of pamphlets, fact sheets, and current articles; and a care children receive. Being read to and reading themselves can separate collection for and about children with disabilities. Each distract them from pain and discomfort. satellite site has a smaller collection that targets known needs in the community. A regular patient at one of the clinics sometimes requests spe- cific books from the hospital storyteller. At a clinic where chil- Materials are available in print, large print, video, audio, and dren often have multiple tests, children will be pulled from the Braille formats as well as in English, Spanish, Chinese, Hmong, book-reading sessions for their appointments. They usually Haitian Creole, French, Russian, Vietnamese, Lakota Sioux, and return, tears in their eyes, to hear the rest of the story before other languages. Families, educators, students, speech thera- going to the next appointment. pists, and many others use our collections. We collect materials

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All Kinds of Flowers Grow Here resources, and transition planning. Each year we supplement those with additional workshops on specific topics. We have Universal Design for Universal Access:A Bibliography sponsored workshops on asthma management, sickle cell ane- mia awareness, and child development, among other topics. We Thomas Armstrong, Seven Kinds of Smart: Identifying also provide off-site workshops on reading aloud to PTA, parent and Developing Your Many Intelligences (New York: support groups, and other agencies. Penguin, 1993).

Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Partnerships Agencies, “Library Services for People with Disabilities Policy” (Chicago: ALA, 2001). Partnerships, both traditional and nontraditional, make the Child’s Place work. Our most consistent and closest traditional Sandra Feinberg, Barbara Jordan, Kathleen Deerr, and partners over the years have been special education public Michelle Langa, Including Families of Children with schools and museums. In New York City, most special education Special Needs: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians students attend self-contained classrooms or schools, com- (New York: Neal-Schuman, 1999). prised solely of special education students. Historically, these students often have not been regular library users. Least Restrictive Environment Coalition, “Still Waiting After All These Years . . . Inclusion of Children with Our goal is to ensure that each student has a library card by the Special Needs in New York City Public Schools” (New time he or she graduates and that each student has been to a York: LRE Coalition, 2001). library at least twice. We have long-standing partnerships with several schools, including two that educate children with pro- Public Libraries 42 no. 1 (“Serving People with found and multiple disabilities, and a Helen Keller program for Disabilities” issue), Jan./Feb. 2003. blind children and children with profound and multiple disabil- ities. Linda Lucas Walling and Marilyn M. Irwin (eds.), Information Services for People with Developmental We visit each class from these schools twice in a school year and Disabilities: The Library Manager’s Handbook offer library cards to all students. I have spoken at graduations (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1995). for two of these schools and trained staff at all three. We support one another’s grants, collaborate on writing grants, and recruit Linda Lucas Walling and Marilyn H. Karrenbrock, volunteers from these schools. Disabilities, Children, and Libraries: Mainstreaming Services in Public Libraries and School Library Media At one school, I worked with the principal and a teacher to Centers (Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1993). establish a grant-funded school library media center. The library is a model of adaptive and alternate formats; I send my staff there as I believe it is a “best practices” site. In 2002, the library teacher and I spoke at the New York State Library Association on on all aspects of raising children with special needs, focusing on Inclusive School Library Media Centers. To the best of our education, advocacy, health care, psychological development, knowledge, it is the only school library in a self-contained spe- and disability-specific issues. We also have memoirs, biogra- cial education school in the city. phies, and autobiographies of people with disabilities. In addition to these close partnerships, we work with eight of The collection for and about children with special needs is the eighteen special education programs throughout Brooklyn unique. We buy fiction and nonfiction, print, large print, and and with special education students in community schools and nonprint formats. Our Twin Vision books (books in print and inclusion or integrated classes. In 2003, we worked with 28 pro- Braille) with textural illustrations are popular among sighted grams and schools and met with 5,105 students. parents of blind children as well as blind parents of sighted chil- dren. The nonfiction juvenile material covers many types of dis- We struggle frequently to get the students into the library. abilities for all age groups, finding an audience with siblings, Special educators are often reluctant to let students out of the cousins, and friends of children with disabilities, students in building; this hesitancy has increased since September 11, 2001. integrated classrooms, and other students with relevant home- Visiting a class in a school does not provide children with the work assignments. The fiction includes titles with significant same depth of experience as visiting the library. Cutbacks in characters with disabilities. It is important for children with dis- library hours have compounded the problem. abilities to see characters who reflect themselves and characters whom they can identify with. Traditional partnerships with museums have taken nontradi- tional directions. I have provided training in inclusive recreation The Child’s Place hosts many parenting workshops each year. (recreation for children with and without disabilities) for an art Our standard series of six workshops, which runs from fall museum and for a consortium of cultural institutions that through winter, covers educational advocacy, community includes several museums, a botanic garden, and two zoos. Staff

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from the Brooklyn Children’s Museum have accompanied us to different heights, and movable planting boxes that can be group homes and residential psychiatric facilities to conduct brought inside or placed at different heights (see the cover of joint programs. this issue). Sight, texture, smell, sound, and taste all play an equal role in plant selection. The garden club now stands as a For example, a museum educator brought a traveling exhibit of national model of accessible gardening in small, urban spaces. body ornamentation from around the world to a residential The Child’s Place was a founding member of BBG’s Horticultural pediatric psychiatric facility. The library staff read stories about Therapy Round Table. hairstyles. Together, we made crowns without using sharp objects. This joint program resulted in ongoing visits by the museum to the facility. Funding

In another instance, we While the Brooklyn Public Library sys- worked with a nautical tem is primarily funded by the city of museum in Manhattan to get New York, TCPSN is entirely grant- schooner trips for children in funded, primarily through the New two group homes. As part of York State Department of Education, that partnership, our hospital Division of Library Services. This out- storytellers read nautical sto- reach grant has been renewed for the ries at the group homes, and last sixteen years. Grant money from the next month the children the state funded parent and child liter- visited the museum and took acy and helped establish the Hospital a schooner ride. These part- Storytelling project. nerships have demonstrated the importance and relevance The State’s Developmental Disabilities of books to children who have Planning Council, which funnels fed- often not had access to them. eral money for pilot projects in the developmental disabilities field, has Nontraditional library part- also supported the Child’s Place. They ners have included the funded the pilot for the Young Adult Brooklyn Mental Retardation/ Leaders program and the expansion of Developmental Disabilities Our Garden Club from one to three Council (BMR/DDC), eleven locations. Ongoing money is provided of Brooklyn’s eighteen hospi- by a series of private funds and a small tals, a parent advocacy group, endowment. and many others. I attend the Children, families, and staff all contributed to the monthly meeting of the Our Garden Club Cookbook. While it is relatively easy to find phi- BMR/DDC and was a found- lanthropists willing to finance pilot ing member of its children’s issues committee. The library is the projects and one-time initiatives, raising general operating only community agency regularly represented at council meet- expenses is more challenging. Fortunately, we have two founda- ings. Six years ago, our attendance was a curiosity. Now, we are tions that consistently fund the latter. an accepted part of the council.

In 2003, we held our first children’s resource fair at a neighbor- Evaluation hood library. I have prepared bibliographies for the council that have gone out with the minutes to the fifty to seventy-five peo- The Child’s Place has been evaluated twice. In the fall of 1998, ple who attend the monthly meetings, all representing agencies. when we were only two branches, DLE Associates observed the I have organized presentations for meetings on topics such as program, and surveyed the parents, children, and staff, assess- inclusive recreation in Brooklyn. The council has made referrals ing satisfaction. Parents and caregivers, children, teachers, and to our program, helped us recruit volunteers, and established staff were all invited to participate. new Hospital Storytelling sites. The encouraging results demonstrated the value of the program. In 2003, the council cited us as a “best practices program,” the Ninety percent of children with special needs interacted with first time a nonprovider agency was so cited. typically developing children. Ninety-seven percent of the par- ents found the staff and environment supportive. All of the Our Garden Club is largely the result of an ongoing partnership adults who used the parenting collection were pleased with it, with the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG), which, along with pro- but only 55 percent of those questioned had used it. viding expertise and materials on an ongoing basis, completely renovated our main garden at the Flatlands branch. This small Many parents told the evaluators they brought their children to sensory garden is fully ADA-compliant, has planting beds at five the Child’s Place programs because it was the only place they

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All Kinds of Flowers Grow Here could find age-appropriate playmates for their children. Several grams have large print and Braille collections. I work with the parents commented that the location of the program was incon- Office of Material Selections to ensure that some books are pur- venient. chased throughout the system. We recently received a matching grant to establish small exceptional-parenting collections in These findings helped us expand the program into four addi- each of the fifty-three Brooklyn Public Library branches. We tional libraries, focus on outreach for the collection, and expand offer regular programs at two additional sites and will soon start the collection into the new sites. offering our first programs on a Sunday at a third site to accom- modate Brooklyn’s many Orthodox Jews. We have offered occa- Outside evaluator LPResearch conducted two focus groups in sional programs at many other branches. spring 2001, consisting of parents of children with special needs involved in the program and others not involved in the program. Future initiatives include working more closely with the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to incorporate more formal horticul- While the parents overwhelmingly viewed the Child’s Place pos- tural therapy techniques into Our Garden Club, developing sim- itively, they had specific comments on the content, structure, ple multisensory reading kits that might include a book and a and timing of the programs and the format of flyers and com- related toy, and using the bookmobile to reach more children. munication methods. Based on their recommendations, we restructured Our Garden Club, changed the time, published a Children with disabilities are often isolated from peers without parents’ manual, and reinforced staff training. We also paid disabilities. They go to separate schools or segregated class- more attention to alternative and assistive communication rooms within community schools. Out-of-school time is often issues, such as incorporating pictorial communication systems spent at doctors’ offices, at additional therapies, or in segregated into some programs. As a direct result, we increased the number after-school programs. of staff who use sign language. What Brooklyn Public Library offers is unique—the chance to be The Brooklyn Public Library routinely evaluates its staff training. a child like any other child. We grow all kinds of flowers in our The most recent training for children’s services specialists was gardens. held in spring 2003. One person commented that the training “made me more aware of my own behavior.” Another stated, “I Carrie Banks has been working with children with special needs feel more competent to interact with adults and children with since she was in high school, when she tutored a kindergartener disabilities.” with learning disabilities and interned in a pediatric psychiatric care facility.During her pursuit of her bachelor’s degree in develop- mental psychology, she worked as a teacher’s assistant with fifth- New Directions and sixth-graders with learning disabilities. While working as a chil- dren’s librarian at the New York Public Library, she attained her Hospital Storytelling is beginning to integrate volunteer “read- M.L.S. After receiving requests for programs from deaf library users, ing troubadours” who will work in teams in the outpatient clin- Banks became interested in American Sign Language. She has ics. Largely due to this shift to volunteers, we have been steadily been in charge of the Child’s Place at Brooklyn Public Library since increasing the number of hospitals and clinics we visit. Budget 1997. cuts that resulted in our closing to the public on Mondays have placed more staff in the field visiting schools. While these visits References and Notes are not of the same quality as the in-library visits, they are a nice introduction to children and increase the number of classes we 1. See Thomas Armstrong, Seven Kinds of Smart: Identifying visit in a given period. and Developing Your Many Intelligences (New York: Penguin, 1993), 9–12. We have sought to create a fourth model of service to children 2. See www.design.ncsu.edu for Universal Design in with disabilities. Traditionally, libraries either have a separate Architecture, and www.cast.org for Universal Design in service for people with disabilities, make accommodations at Learning. See also the TRACE Research and Development the local level, without any particular focus, or provide out- Center at http://trace.wisc.edu/world. reach.3 We combine all three models to provide consistent, 3. Linda Lucas Walling and Marilyn H. Irwin, Information appropriate service. The Child’s Place is the center of our service Services for People with Developmental Disabilities: The to children with disabilities. They are also served at neighbor- Library Manager’s Handbook (Westport, Conn.: Green- hood libraries and outreach is constant. wood, 1995), 135.

We maintain collections at our six sites but also at other sites as needed. For example, two libraries near vision education pro- All photos by Jerry Speier,courtesy of the Child’s Place for Children with Special Needs.

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Free Preconference Professional Thursday, September 30 Development registration required Understanding Poverty: An Overview as it Relates with a to Library Service to Children, their Parents Youth Services Focus and Caregivers

All-Day Program Tracks Friday, October 1

Association for Library Service to Children Middle School Readers— 2004 National Institute “The Topsy-Turvy September 30 –October 2, 2004 Tween Years”

Hilton Minneapolis, Minneapolis, MN Outcome Based Evaluation— “The ABC’s of OBE”

Featured Speakers Building Design for Kate DiCamillo Youth Services— 2004 Newbery Medal author of “Form, Flexibility, The Tale of Despereaux and Function” Kevin Henkes 2004 Newbery Honor author of Olive’s Ocean Half-Day Workshops Saturday, October 2

Book Evaluation and ALSC member: $310 ● ALA member: $350 ● Nonmember: $395 Discussion—with For registration information visit ALSC’s Web site at www.ala.org/alsc and click on “Events and Conferences” Capitol Choices™ or call 1-800-545-2433, ext. 2163 Every Child Ready to Read ur library— The PLA/ALSC Early ALSC is a division of the American Library Association Literacy Initiative spr04-CAL_3p.qxd 5/7/2004 11:11 AM Page 12

“Among the overwhelming num- scientific evidence to support their ber of neuroscience facts lies a implementation. These basic concepts portal through which we might are creating environment, using repeti- find a way to enhance the gift of tion and ritual, including movement in education for every child. A vital literary experiences, working in a collaboration between educa- group, and building positive personal tors and neuroscientists is the connections between children and way to get there.”—Kenneth S. librarians. Kosik, Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School Background n the last decade, the field of cogni- tive neuroscience, which focuses The state of Maryland has created a Ion how the different areas of the supportive and progressive library brain receive, process, retain, and environment promoting emergent lit- retrieve information, has evolved. eracy.1 One of the critical pieces is pro- Make Way for Developments in computer science viding support to staff who wish to allow computers to model how brain explore topics related to but outside of processes work, and the ability to scan their own professional organization. Dendrites the brain through functional MRIs has The Enoch Pratt Free Library Children’s given cognitive neuroscientists a Programming Specialist, Children’s How Brain Research clearer picture of our brains and the Services Coordinator, and Assistant significance of varied brain functions Children’s Services Coordinator are all Can Impact that affect learning, memory, emotion, involved with programming for very and sensory perception. Libraries are young children and have attended Children’s positioned to play an important role in professional conferences in related modeling optimal learning environ- fields such as the National Association Programming ments based on this new understand- for the Education of Young Children ing of brain function. and Zero to Three. The most recent conference was the Learning and the Betsy Diamant-Cohen, Ellen Riordan, Educators have been exploring the Brain Conference.2 What the authors and Regina Wade implementation of brain research for discovered was exciting new evidence the classroom since 1995. Experience that the basic tenets of library service changes the way the brain functions. to children and program planning The more positive experiences chil- actually affect brain function in a pos- dren have, the more likely they will itive, lasting way. acquire knowledge and learn. Libraries can benefit from this proven research Experience affects the brain and can because it is primary to the mission of change the way in which the brain libraries. Literally illustrated by the functions. Environment, repetition, technology available to cognitive neu- ritual, movement, and personal con- roscientists, the results become a pow- nection shape experience. Therefore erful rationale for public support of what public librarians do in relation to public libraries. these critical aspects of children’s library service will impact the effec- As children’s services librarians, we tiveness of their customers’ brain believe that it is also important for function and the learning process. librarians to be aware of the new infor- mation and to plan services for chil- dren accordingly. By applying what we Creating Environment already know with the most recent findings in the field of brain research, As early as 1905, Frances Jenkins we have developed a formula for chil- Olcott, head of the children’s depart- dren’s programming in public libraries ment of Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Library, that will help create optimal learning described the ideal children’s room as environments. Some of these ideas one that was “beautifully propor- have been part of children’s program- tioned and decorated, and presided ming in public libraries for decades, over by a genial and sympathetic but now through research we have the woman who has a genuine interest in

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Make Way for Dendrites ating specific potential receptors for cer- and learning, and life extension. The pub- tain kinds of stimuli. When the environ- lic library can provide such an enriched ment provides the specific information, environment through providing colorful the brain is now wired to accept the data, children’s rooms with child-sized furni- to integrate it, and to make connections ture, exposure to art via posters, pictures, among other brain cells. This creates effi- and book illustration, the use of music cient neural pathways in which learning and musical instruments, and nurturing occurs. librarians.

Whether or not a child grows up in an enriched or an impoverished environ- Using Art in Library Programs ment determines how easily he or she will be able to learn and retain informa- The brain changes physiologically tion in his or her brain later on. For exam- because of experience. A healthy devel- ple, if a child is born with cataracts, which oping brain springs from genetic inheri- prevent the receiving of optical stimuli by tance and environmental experience that the brain, and the cataracts are removed feed off each other in a systemic way. The early enough, the child’s brain will be environment affects how the genes work, able to process optical information, and the genes affect how the environ- The Developing Neuron: allowing the child to see. However, if the ment is interpreted. Color is an important Where Learning Begins cataracts are not removed until after the part of the environment. Using picture Source: Jane M. Healy, Your Child’s Growing Mind, 1987 window of opportunity for vision integra- books during programs with children tion in the brain is closed, even though helps to shape their brains into healthy the personalities and the preferences of the physical impediments to clear vision organs. A picture-book story does not the boys and girls.”3 Recent research on have been removed, the child will remain have to be read in order to create positive emotions shows that a safe, welcoming, functionally blind because the neural interactions with the pictures. Very young and nurturing environment is important pathways, which interpret sight from the children do not have the attention spans in terms of how the brain develops and optic nerve, have not been created. to hear most picture-book stories. how children learn. If library experiences However, creating art-based activities are pleasurable, children will remember Thus, even if a child is living in an impov- such as singing a song about animal and learn from them. erished neighborhood in an “at-risk envi- sounds while showing animals from Eric ronment,” regular visits to the public Carle’s The Very Busy Spider helps to cre- Words and songs used in a supportive, library and participation in library pro- ate healthy brains in youngsters. friendly environment are easier for chil- grams will provide the very young child dren to integrate and remember. Most with the type of enriched environment Music and art develop the brain and children’s librarians naturally like to wel- needed in order to make learning easier enhance learning across all disciplines. come classes with a cheerful hello and to later on in life. However, in some areas, school boards say something positive at the end such as, have cut funding for the arts, maintaining “Goodbye, I hope you come back soon.” What is an optimal learning environ- that it is more beneficial scholastically to Brain research provides scientific evi- ment? “An enriched environment offers focus on reading, writing, and arithmetic. dence that being warm and welcoming an experience that cultivates our poten- As librarians, we can make it a point to helps the child’s brain grow in a positive tialities for learning and well-being include art and music in programs. way. Before providing books, helping with through the mind, body, and spirit.”5 homework, or running programs, the Medical science supports that “brain and Many of us have heard the argument of main job of the children’s librarian should environment are so continuously and nature versus nurture. Often public simply be to welcome children and their inextricably intertwined that they are librarians serve children from print-poor caregivers in a genuinely enthusiastic and inseparable.”6 Neuroanatomist Marian environments. We can help enrich the warm way. Diamond conducted studies proving that minds of these children. Scientific evi- sensory-enriched environments are dence proves that children from socially Neurobiologist Carla Hannaford said, imperative to learning. Laboratory ani- impoverished backgrounds will benefit “Most neural pathways develop through mals developed structural changes in the through experiences with art in picture stimulation and multisensory experience brain when put in enriched environ- books, music, and group activities run in gained from interaction with the environ- ments, thus demonstrating that environ- the nurturing atmosphere of the public ment.”4 However, timing is critical. Some ment has the power to improve library. abilities are acquired more easily during intelligence. Responses of the human windows of opportunity. The brain devel- brain to enriched environments include The fruits of repetition and the value of ops certain portions of itself during spe- improvements in emotional stability, exposure to picture-book illustrations cific periods. From birth through the first emotional adaptation, immune systems, were recently observed by Regina. A few eight months of life, the brain is busy cre- stress management, behavior, memory months ago, she began presenting

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Make Way for Dendrites remembered illustrations from Papa, on a monthly basis in 2000 and 2001. The “Both of my children Please Get the Moon for Me. It felt like old director was gone, the children from such a privilege for me to be observ- then had all graduated, and most of the have long attention ing that moment. teachers were new. spans and I think it’s At an assembly for the entire daycare cen- because of being Using Repetition and Ritual ter, however, as soon as Betsy began involved in library instructions for “Alligator, Alligator,” all of How many librarians run storytime series the children cupped their hands together programs that have a where they work hard to plan six totally and began reciting the rhyme. How sur- beginning, middle, and different sessions with new books, finger prised and pleased she was when the chil- plays, and songs each session? Relax a bit! dren chimed right in. Obviously, the an end. They know what Studies in the way the brain absorbs infor- repetition had made an impact; the current to do.” mation show that repetition increases staff had learned the rhyme from previous children’s enjoyment, helps them feel safe, and continuing staff who had learned it —Kim, mother of Noah and Eli and enables them to better retain the over two years ago from Betsy’s programs. information absorbed. So make sure there What a delight it was for her to see them is plenty of repetition in your programs. carrying on her alligator tradition!

Mother Goose on the Loose programs for Jerome Kagan asserts that learning is Repeat Books from One Session to the Next the three-year-olds at the Canton Branch enhanced by the element of a known of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. Here is thing changing patterns or routines.7 The Choose your favorite book in a program, her account of what occurred: element of surprise in something known and think of variations in which it can be enhances the ability to retain and under- presented in the following session. For For the last five weeks, my program stand. If something is simply repeated the example, read the book in the first ses- included “You are My Sunshine,” exact same way numerous times, it will sion. Act it out with the children in the “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” and become boring and the child will often second session. Play a game with that “Oh Mister Moon,” leading up to tune out. Therefore, repetition does not story in the third session. Use a flannel reading Eric Carle’s Papa, Please Get mean rote, and librarians should not be board to tell the story in the fourth ses- the Moon for Me. The children love doing the same thing in the same way sion. Children will not tire of the story; this book, with its warm story of week after week. they will grow to love it as an old friend. wishes granted by an attentive You will stimulate their multiple intelli- father, and the moveable illustra- Repeat Finger Plays from One Session to the Next gences by letting them experience the tions such as papa carrying a book on many different levels. The more looooong ladder to reach the moon. Rather than finding new finger plays and ways in which children can sense new Children love the repeated reading of songs for each storytelling session, repeat information, the more likely the informa- this book. at least two or three of them from week to tion is to be learned and retrieved effi- week. Children will recognize them and ciently and accurately. Libraries provide Last Tuesday, we did not read Papa, will learn all of the words. When new fin- an essential link to the learning process Please Get the Moon for Me. Lying on ger plays are used in each session, reten- by providing additional sensory informa- a bench at child tummy height, left tion rate is not very high. Studies have tion of critical literacy skills. over from an earlier toddler class shown that memorized material that is were some display books, including not consistently reinforced will quickly be Ritual gives structure to the mind. It is, Eric Carle’s The Very Busy Spider. As forgotten. Real learning takes place when according to Webster’s dictionary, “a prac- the other children were putting on there is repetition even beyond the point tice of symbolic significance regularly sweaters and raincoats and lining up of mastery, so that the information can be repeated in a set manner.” In the library to exit the room, Zachary came over retained in the long-term memory. world, ritual can be the greeting and end- to the bench, opened the book, ing activities of a program. If these traced the “wooden” frame around Betsy always starts her preschool pro- remain constant, the child will learn to the spider web with his finger, and grams with “Alligator, Alligator,” a rhyme identify the library as a place of con- said musingly, “Papa, please get the she learned twenty years ago in New stancy, safety, and familiarity. moon for me.” Jersey. She recently traveled on our Book Buggy, presenting preschool storytimes at Start and End with the Same Rhyme I had just observed three-year-old Head Start centers throughout Baltimore Zachary making the cognitive leap of City. She began each session by asking the Each week, start with the same rhyme identifying the style of an illustrator children to put their hands together to and end with the same rhyme. This will (the colorful collage technique of make an alligator’s mouth. One of her last give the children a reassuring structure. Eric Carle) and associating the page stops was the Jonestown Daycare Center, They will recognize when the program is in The Very Busy Spider with the which had attended her library programs beginning and when it is over, and will

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Make Way for Dendrites recognize it within the defining rhymes. the visual object with the physical motion material was retained when learned by Each of the storytelling sessions will be each time. They look forward to the ritual listening, 43 percent by imagining, and 65 connected in the child’s brain because of and enjoy repeated recognition for a job percent after performing.10 When a con- the structural repetition. By the end of the well done. cept or a song is learned, if movement series, participating children will know all accompanies it, it will be absorbed more of the words to the rhyme (or both Librarians can see responses even in very easily and integrated into the brain. rhymes if you use a different one for start- young babies when positive reinforce- Schenck’s studies have also shown that ing and stopping) and will most likely ment is present. By creating this environ- movement creating an accelerated heart have that rhyme ingrained in their long- ment of positive feedback through rituals rate appears to correlate with increased term memory. and repetition, librarians are also modeling attention level. nurturing behavior patterns for parents. Use Variety in Programs and Provide Positive Greater attention correlates with greater Reinforcement memory performance. For young chil- Movement and Literary dren, acting out a story in a vigorous way It has been proven that there are many Experiences will result in longer retention of the different learning styles. Instead of just sounds, words, pat- visual and auditory learning, include Carla Hannaford terns, storyline, and kinesthetic activities. Children will documents the story structure than remember better if they use actions with research of many Ritual simply listening to a real objects; they can remember better if experts on the book being read. For they are physically involved. Memory benefits of incor- Invites us school-age children, increases if a topic is something that is porating move- movement focuses personal or relevant to them and provides ment into all Unites us attention and inte- some type of good feeling. In Enoch Pratt learning experi- grates and anchors 8 Free Library’s award-winning Mother ences. From the Involves senses new experiences Goose on the Loose program for babies start, babies within the memory. and toddlers, children are asked to do explore the world Activates memory Movement reduces something physical, such as throw a pig by moving. Eyes stress by removing puppet up in the air, tap on a tambourine, follow objects and Embodies meaning chemical blocks to or pull Humpty Dumpty off of his wall on faces and voices. learning. Coordi- the flannel board. Parents are asked to Babies move their Eases transitions nated, balanced applaud when the child does any of the eyes to follow the movements create a above activities, thus providing immedi- movements of sense of pleasure ate positive reinforcement. Babies as their hands and activating the lim- young as two-and-a-half months old who feet. They explore bic system and cre- are brought up to the flannel board with space, balance, and the effects of gravity ating an emotional tone in which their caregiver reach out their hands to by moving. Through movement, they memory works more efficiently. pull Humpty off of his wall. They connect constantly develop more and more con- Movement also wakes up the senses trol of their bodies in space and in rela- increasing sensory information received tionship to still and moving objects in by the brain. their environment. The tongue and “I think it’s just great mouth move to speak, hands and arms The lymph system, blood, and liquids are move coordinated with the eyes to draw constantly in action inside the human for kids who don’t go to and write, the entire body moves while body. Neuropsychologist James Prescott daycare and don’t have telling the story of an incident that has conducted studies at the National been personally experienced. Older chil- Institute of Child Health and Human that social interaction dren are very active, constantly moving to Development proving that certain kinds with other children. explore the world around them. However, of brain stimulation lead to an increase of school-age children are often restricted as dendritic connections and other types of They get to see kids of they work and study. This is contrary to brain growth, while the lack of movement like ages learning at the research suggestions that movement is a leads to actual physiological deteriora- necessary component of all learning.9 tion of brain neurons.11 In addition, same pace, learning the movement increases levels of serotonin, same thing, at the same Movement is an important way of which is a neurotransmitter that gives cementing knowledge in the brain. At the people a sense of well-being. time. It’s excellent.” Learning and the Brain Conference, Jeb —Mary, mother of Kennedy Schenck cited research proving that Moving the body activates the brain by movement creates physiological changes increasing oxygen flow to brain cells. It in attention; in one study, 45 percent of affects the flow of spinal fluid to the brain

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Make Way for Dendrites body activities such as “Head, Shoulders, At the Learning and the Brain Conference VIII, the authors attended Knees, and Toes,” or smaller movements such as finger plays like “Two Little the following sessions: Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.” Programs for older children could include poems or Welcome address by Kenneth S. Kosik, Introduction to Brain Anatomy, Jane songs in sign language, with motions or M.D., Professor of Neurology and Williams, RN, MA even stretches. The more natural, joyful Neuroscience, Director, Kosik Laboratory movement incorporated into library pro- of Cellular Neurobiology, Harvard Medical Mind/Body Medical Institute (MBMI) gramming for children, the more learning School Relaxation Response: How Stress Reduction will take place, whether it is learning to Can Improve Memory, Performance and enjoy a story, remember a poem, or creat- A Sense of Self in Children, Thomas Cottle, Behavior, Herbert Benson, MD, and ing memories of the library as a wonder- PhD Marilyn Wilcher, Sr. VP, MBMI ful part of life.

Brain/Body Connection: Creating Enriched Movement and Decision-Making in Learning Environments, Susan Frey, PhD, Memory, Jeb Schenck, PhD ND, RN, LMT Brain Gym Neurology of Learning: Practical Classroom “Brain Gym” is a series of simple and Creating Optimal Learners, Gessner Geyer, Applications of Cortical (Brain) Timing, enjoyable movements that can enhance MA, EdM Neal Alpiner, MD children’s experiences of whole-brain learning. Developed by Paul E. Dennison Connecting Mind and Music to Enhance Styles, Brain Research and Multiple and Gail E. Dennison, founders of Edu- Learning, Todd Machover, PhD Intelligence, Harvey Silver, EdD Kinesthetics in Ventura, California, the activities can easily be incorporated as Emotional Experiences and Emotional The Value of Arts in Education, Jessica H. stretches in programs or post-program Intelligence, Lisa Barrett, PhD Davis, EdD activities. These simple exercises actually stimulate certain portions of the brain, How Art Affects the Brain, Margaret Using Brain Research to Leave No Child thus making learning easier. They Livingstone, PhD Behind, Gerald N. Tirozzi, PhD empower learners of any age by using movement activities to draw out hidden How Memory Works and Ways to Improve Using Exercise, Movement and the Arts in potential and make it readily available. It, Philip De Fina, PhD, ABPdN, ABSNP the Classroom, Roberta Pasternack, EdM For example, one exercise is called “Foot Flex.”13 It involves grasping the ankle, How Mental Images Can Change Child Why Exercise and Movement Are Critical to calf, and under the knee one at a time Behavior, Robert Greenleaf, EdD Learning, John Ratey, MD while slowly pointing and flexing the foot. It helps to restore the natural length of How Surprise/Uncertainty Shape Emotion tendons in the feet and lower legs. It also and Behavior, Jerome Kagan, PhD activates the brain in the areas of expres- sive speech and language skills.

and stimulates the production of neu- heightened physical activity and the asso- This particular exercise is related to brain rotrophins, which stimulate the growth of ciated increase in neural activity, and can function due to a connection between the nerve cells and neural connections. Until be induced by exposure to a complex calf muscles and the brain. Before begin- recently, it was believed that brain cells environment and/or aerobic exercise.12 ning, the calf muscles are usually very could not regenerate, and the older one In a fascinating slide show at the Learning tight. After performing this exercise, got, the less one could learn and retain. and the Brain Conference, viewers were accumulated tension in the calf muscles However, recent studies have shown that shown brain cells filled with fluorescent and tendons is released. There is a direct aerobic exercise helps brain cells to dye. One hour after aerobic exercise, the correlation between the relaxation of regenerate. When people exercise and same brain cells were shown again. This those tendons and an increase in the abil- move, they make more of a demand on time, they were sprouting new dendritic ity to pay attention, listen, learn, and their bodies and the brain responds by spines to connect to neighboring nerve respond orally. This correlation was dis- making more pathways. The brain can cells! These slides clearly proved that covered when Dennison was working actually regenerate neurons but only in exercise promotes structural changes with speech-delayed hyperactive chil- the hippocampus, the sensing part of the leading to regeneration of brain cells. dren. One result was that children who brain that takes in information. had not formerly been comfortable with Since exercise increases blood flow to the speech began to talk! John Ratey states that angiogenesis, the heart and brain, some type of movement growth of new capillaries from pre-exist- should always be included in program- Librarians could incorporate this activity ing vessels, is a natural consequence of ming for children. This can include whole into programs, explaining its value and

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Make Way for Dendrites purpose to school-age children. Perhaps The main ideas behind “Listen, Like, they could then be encouraged to use this Learn” for very young children is that exercise in school before taking an first, children need simply to listen. From Optimal Learning English exam. Or, the exercise could sim- listening, they become familiar with the ply be performed before a nonfiction- works of music. And once the music is Environment = accepting type program to help children be better something they recognize, they start to listeners and to enable them to better like it—because it’s already familiar. Once Movement = essential retain facts. they like it, their minds are open to learn concepts related to the music such as Hands-on = experience high and low, fast and slow, tones, notes, Mother Goose on the Loose and rhythms. In addition, Cass-Beggs felt Personal = application that security and stability, curiosity, feel- In Baltimore, there are more than 46,000 ings and emotions, imitation, and variety Meaning = ultimate goal children under the age of four.14 More were essential parts of her program. The than 60 percent of children have mothers environment of “Listen, Like, Learn” pro- in the work force.15 Almost 15 percent of grams was one full of optimal learning Baltimore City children live in poverty.16 conditions. In addition, fewer than 20 percent of chil- make noise, get up, or wander around as dren in third grade read at grade level or Betsy studied with Cass-Beggs in 1988. long as they do not block the flannel better. In 1998, the Enoch Pratt Free She integrated the “Listen, Like, Learn” board or remove props. Parents are asked Library joined the statewide effort to theories into a babies and books program to remove children from the program if increase the number of children who and chose “Mother Goose on the Loose” they are disruptive but are encouraged to enter school ready to learn by providing as the name. bring them back whenever they are ready high quality programming that fostered to try again, even if it is in the middle of emergent literacy skills in children under Mother Goose on the Loose programs are the session. This creates an atmosphere the age of two.17 now offered on a weekly basis throughout of warmth and acceptance, letting par- the library system, and training work- ents know that they and their children are Mother Goose on the Loose is an interac- shops have been held in library systems truly welcome in the library, and that the tive nursery rhyme program for parents throughout the state of Maryland and in librarians understand that babies cannot and their children from infancy to age Texas. conform to specific rules of behavior. This three. Developmentally appropriate introduction is very important to at-risk activities are incorporated into nursery How It Works parents, who may not realize that their rhymes with music, games, and puppets, babies are not in control of how and when encouraging emergent literacy.18 Since In this thirty-minute program, the librar- they cry. 1999, this program has been addressing ian leads parents to interact with their the pressing needs of Baltimore’s birth- children through rhymes, songs, finger The programs begin with librarians, par- to-four community weekly at the Enoch plays, movement, manipulation of com- ents, and children reciting the same Pratt Free Library. In November 2002, mon objects, music and musical instru- rhymes and are then divided into six five- Enoch Pratt Free Library’s Mother Goose ments, puppets, and colored scarves. minute sections. The first involves read- on the Loose was recognized as an out- There is a structure to follow, but within ing picture books and/or singing songs. standing program with a comprehensive the structure there is room for variation The next engages in “body activities” set of library goals relating to children’s and creativity. All Mother Goose on the where children learn through interactive services.19 Loose leaders contribute their own songs about the parts of the body. The unique talents and personality. For exam- third section is devoted to “stand up The Mother Goose on the Loose program ple, the same program can vary widely actions” including songs and dances that is book-based but is not a storytime. The with successful results if the leader is teach about syllables. Then, children learn program was created with the attention energetic or moves at a slow pace. Each about different animals through illustra- span of babies in mind; it provides activi- week, 80 percent of the program’s content tions, songs, or puppets. It includes ties that complement the recent findings is repeated, giving very young children matching animal sounds to book illustra- in cognitive neuroscience. It evolved from the sense of stability that comes from tions, puppets, and flannel board charac- a free-flowing library nursery rhyme pro- knowing what to expect. The 20 percent ters. At the end of this segment, each child gram into a thirty-minute structured pro- of new activities introduced each week has a chance to throw a pig up into the air. gram based on the learning theories of keeps the program fresh and exciting. This provides the synthesis between the Canadian educator, Barbara Cass- movement, knowledge, sound, and writ- Beggs. Cass-Beggs, a retired Canadian Parents sit in a semi-circle around the ten word. Finally, nursery rhymes that opera singer, had developed a program flannel board with their children on their allow children to physically interact are called “Your Baby/Child Needs Music,” lap. The librarian announces that chil- recited such as “Jack be Nimble,” where which used her “Listen, Like, Learn” dren this age are not expected to sit per- children take turns jumping over the can- method. fectly still, giving them permission to dlestick. In the last activity, children are

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Make Way for Dendrites invited to come up to the flannel board Since May 1 is traditionally known as In January 2003, the Enoch Pratt Free and pull Humpty Dumpty off of his wall. Mother Goose Day, the Enoch Pratt Free Library began offering parent-training After participation in this activity, each Library held a Mother Goose Week from sessions once every two months, run con- child is rewarded with applause. Then, April 27–May 3, 2002. Throughout the sys- currently with Mother Goose on the two ending songs are sung. tem, twenty-one branches held Mother Loose programs. While one parent was in Goose-related activities, including a one of the programming rooms partici- Expanding Mother Goose on the Loose Mother Goose Weekend at the Baltimore pating in the nursery rhyme program, the Children’s Museum with live sheep, a other parent was across the hall with In March 2001, due to parent requests, a write-your-own-nursery-rhyme contest, Regina and Betsy, learning about recent program called “Terrific Twos” was cre- and candlestick jumping. Four thousand findings in baby brain research and how ated for children between the ages of two one hundred and forty-five people partic- they can be translated into activities in and three. The program expanded on the ipated in the programs sponsored by the the home. These sessions now take place basic skills and format of Mother Goose Exploration Center there. after the Mother Goose on the Loose ses- on the Loose, using more complicated sion of each month, with parent and baby activities and advanced vocabulary. together.

Resources ethics: Conscience of the Brain. Fitness throughout Your Life. Washington, D.C.: Dana Pr. Boston: Houghton. Adams, Marilyn Jager. 1990. Beginning Davis, Robin Works. 1998. Toddle On National Research Council. 1999. to Read: Thinking and Learning Over: Developing Infant and Starting Out Right: A Guide to About Print. Cambridge, Mass.: Toddler Literature Programs. Fort Promoting Children’s Reading MIT Press. Atkinson, Wisc.: Alleyside Pr. Success. Washington, D.C.: National Advocates for Children and Youth. 2000. Dennison, Paul E., and Gail E. Academy Pr. Maryland 2001 Kids Count Fact Dennison. 1992. Brain Gym: Simple Ratey, John. 2002. User’s Guide to the Book. Baltimore, Md.: Advocates Activities for Whole Brain Learning Brain: Perception, Attention, and for Children and Youth. (Orange). Ventura, Calif.: Edu- the Four Theaters of the Brain. New Advocates for Children and Youth. 2000. Kinestheics. York: Vintage. www.acy.org/kidscount/Factsheet. English, W. 1979. “Brain Research and Richardson, Ann. 1999. “Building a 2001.pdf, accessed May 22, 2003. Music.” Paper presented at the Bridge: Finding a Firm Footing for Benson, Herbert, and Miriam Z. Canadian Music Educators Asso- Brain-Based Learning.” Georgia Klipper. 1990. The Relaxation Res- ciation, Vancouver, B.C. ). Association for Supervision and ponse. New York: Avon. Frey, Susan. 2001. The Road to Avalon II. Curriculum Development. The Brandt, Ron. 1998. Powerful Learning. Haverford, Pa.: Infinity Pub. Reporter (issue theme: brain-based Alexandria, Va.: Association for Geyer, Gessner. 2003. The Optimal learning) (spring 1999). Supervision and Curriculum Dev- Brain. Brain Energy: Optimal Sylwester, R. 1995. A Celebration of elopment. Learning. www.brainergy.com, Neurons: An Educator’s Guide to the Carle, Eric. 1991. Papa Please Get the accessed May 15, 2003. Human Brain. Alexandria, Va.: Moon for Me. New York: Simon and Greene, Ellin. 1991. Books, Babies, and Association for Supervision and Schuster. Libraries. Chicago: ALA. Curriculum Development. Carle, Eric. 1984. The Very Busy Spider. Hannaford, Carla. 1995. Smart Moves. Walter, Virginia A. 2001. Children and New York: Philomel Books. Arlington, Va.: Great Ocean Pub. Libraries: Getting It Right. Chicago: Cass-Beggs, Barbara. 1978. Your Baby Higbee, Kenneth L. 2001. Your Memory: ALA. Needs Music. Vancouver, B.C.: How It Works and How To Improve Youth and Families Committee on Douglas & McIntyre. It. New York: Marlowe and Co. Integrating Board on Children, Cass-Beggs, Barbara. 1986. Your Child Hutchinson, Michael. 1987. Megabrain: U.S., National Research Council, Needs Music: A Complete Course in New Tools and Techniques for Brain Committee on Integrating the Teaching Music to Children. Onta- Growth. New York: Ballantine. Science of Early Childhood rio, Canada: Frederick Harris Music Kagan, Jerome. 1984. The Nature of the Development. 2000. From Neurons Co. Child. New York: Basic Books. to Neighborhoods: The Science of Chvojicek, Ruth, Mary Henthorne, and Kosslyn, Stephen M., and Olivier Early Childhood Development. Jack Nola Larson. 2001. Transition Koenig. 1995. Wet Mind: The New P. Shonkoff and Deborah Phillips, Magician for Families: Helping Cognitive Neuroscience. New York: eds. Washington, D.C.: National Parents and Children with Everyday Free Pr. Academy Pr. Routines. St. Paul, Minn.: Redleaf Pr. Mark, Vernon H., and Jeffrey P. Mark. Zero to Three: The National Center for Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives. 2003. 1990. Brain Power: A Neuro- Infants, Toddlers, and Families. Visions of the Brain: A Progress surgeon’s Complete Program to www.zerotothree.org. Report on Brain Research. Neuro- Maintain and Enhance Brain

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Make Way for Dendrites Community Building All public library programs provide a place where people from different eco- nomic, social, racial, religious, and edu- cational backgrounds can come together. Children’s programs for infants bring together the children as well as the par- ents. By bringing together people from different backgrounds and creating a community through library programs, the public library helps to create a healthy, safe, diverse, and friendly world. One father who often comes to Mother Goose on the Loose commented, “Where else can adults go to sing together?” Group Activities

Studies tell us that the brain is very social; offering group programs such as story- time in the public library makes sense. The authors (left to right) Regina Wade, Ellen Riordan, and Betsy Diamant-Cohen with (left Children learn more if they interact with to right) Guava Duck, Mango Duck, and Papaya Duck on the way home from the Learning each other and with the librarian than by and the Brain Conference. The ducks inspired this article’s title. looking at a book by themselves, by watching television, or by reading books programs for all ages, even in the wake of much students learn. Yet brain research online from digital libraries. Older chil- digital libraries and easily accessible suggests that the learning process is too dren need opportunities for learning online information. complex and varied to be accurately together too. In one study on brain devel- measured for all children by a standard- opment and memory, different groups of ized test. Cognitive neuroscience makes fourth-grade students were asked to look Challenges Ahead the case for careful evaluation of school at pictures that were not relevant to them. environment, teacher training, and the Some of the students did this individually, In a 1999 issue of The Reporter, Ann inclusion of art and music as an impor- and some had a forced one-minute dis- Richardson cautions educators that brain tant piece of the curriculum and not a cussion about the pictures. There was a research is not a cure for the challenges of secondary frill. big difference in memory retentions. In public education that have plagued our the group that had the one-minute dis- country.21 The failings of public educa- Despite the fact that we are living in a cussion, 20 percent of memory was tion that have spilled into our public technological age when children often retained after three months, and only 13 libraries, such as lower reading levels of find information online that does not percent of the memory was retained in children, poor understanding of basic lit- require personal interaction with a librar- the group with no discussion after the eracy concepts, lack of parental involve- ian, ongoing scientific research illustrates same period of time.20 ment, and underfunding, will not be that personal connections in a stress-free cured by this new attention to an emerg- environment are essential to learning. In 1995, Enoch Pratt Free Library devel- ing science. Brain research is a complex Library programs with group interaction, oped a computer literacy service for chil- scientific discipline and scientists are repetition, and ritual are of critical impor- dren called Kids Corner. PC workstations debating the implications of their find- tance to the learning process. Children’s were preloaded with age-appropriate ings in terms of comparing laboratory librarians must continue doing more of educational software for children from results with classroom and real life situa- what they have always done. In addition, age two to ten. The workstations are tions. In the same way that brain research educators, neuroscientists, public policy equipped with a “buddy chair” to encour- will not cure public education’s ills, brain administrators, and librarians need to age children to explore the software research will not make up for poor library collaborate to increase opportunities for together and with their caregivers. The administrative support, lack of funding, free-choice learning in their communi- group experience of participating in pro- or lack of qualified children’s librarians. ties. In the meantime, libraries can use grams such as Mother Goose on the well-documented tenets of cognitive Loose and Terrific Twos provides an There is also a disconnect between public neuroscience to improve and create opti- added benefit in brain development. The policy and recent findings in cognitive mal learning environments in their social aspect of the group experience pro- neuroscience. Legislation such as No branches and their programming to facil- vides a solid argument for the continued Child Left Behind focuses on the use of itate the brain potential of the children existence of public libraries and library yearly standardized tests to measure how they serve. &

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The authors are practitioners at the Enoch coordinators electronic discussion 2003. Pratt Free Library in Baltimore. Regina Wade list apprising them of an upcoming 13. Paul E. Dennison and Gail E. is Assistant Coordinator of Children’s Ser- conference called “Learning and the Dennison, Brain Gym: Simple vices. Her special interests are Mother Brain: Using Brain Research to Leave Activities for Whole Brain Learning Goose on the Loose programs for children No Child Behind.” The administra- (Orange). (Ventura, Calif.: Edu- from birth to eighteen months as well as tion of the Enoch Pratt Free Library Kinesthetics, 1992), 19. encouraging parents and caregivers to saw the potential value in this con- 14. Advocates for Children and Youth, create nurturing relationships and optimum ference and supported conference Maryland 2001 Kids Count Fact Book learning environments for very young chil- attendance by the three authors of (Baltimore, Md.: Advocates for dren. Ellen Riordan has been Coordinator of this article. Children and Youth, 2000), 43. Children’s Services since 1997. In her twenty 3. Virginia Walter, Children and 15. Ibid. years as a professional librarian, she has Libraries: Getting It Right (Chicago, 16. Advocates for Children and Youth, been in the business and academic library ALA, 2001), 3. Maryland 2001Kids Count Fact Sheet, environment but found her true calling as a 4. Carla Hannaford, Smart Moves www.acy.org/kidscount/Factsheet. children’s librarian. She is an active member (Arlington, Va.: Great Ocean Pub., 2001.pdf. Last accessed May 22, 2003. of ALSC’s Managing Children’s Services 1995). 17. Led by Kathleen Reif and the Committee and served on the 1995 New- 5. Susan Frey, “Brain/Body Connection: Maryland Association of Public bery Committee. Betsy Diamant-Cohen is Creating Enriched Learning Library Administrators (MAPLA) Library’s Children’s Programming Specialist Environment” Learning and the Birth to Four Task Force. and has been involved with children’s Brain Conference, Cambridge, Mass., 18. Note: The term “parents” in this arti- library work in both the United States and in April 24–27, 2003. cle refers to caregivers, grandparents, Israel. Betsy developed the “Listen, Like, 6. Vernon H. Mark and Jeffrey P. Mark, and guardians. Learn”–based Mother Goose on the Loose Brain Power: A Neurosurgeon’s 19. The Enoch Pratt Free Library program in 1989, and has been involved Complete Program to Maintain and received the second annual Godfrey with running programs and training work- Enhance Brain Fitness Throughout Award for Excellence in Public shops ever since. In addition to full-time Your Life (Boston: Houghton, 1990). Library Services for Families and librarianship, Betsy is also studying part-time 7. Jerome Kagan, “How Surprise/ Children. Created and funded by for a doctorate. She is an active member of Uncertainty Shape Emotion and Providence Associates, library con- the PLA Services to Elementary School Age Behavior.” Learning and the Brain sultants and planners, the award was Children and Their Caregivers Committee. Conference, 2003. administered by the School of 8. Hannaford, Smart Moves. Library and Information Studies, References and Notes 9. Gerald Tirozzi, “Using Brain Research Texas Woman’s University. to Leave No Child Behind.” Learning 20. Jeb Schenck, “The Role of Movement 1. Through the work of the Maryland and the Brain Conference, 2003. and Decision Making in Creating State Department of Education, 10. Jeb Schenck, “Movement and Memory.” Learning and the Brain Division of Library Development and Decision Making in Memory.” Conference, 2003. Services, and Maryland Libraries Learning and the Brain Conference, 21. Ann Richardson, “Building a Bridge: Birth to Four Task Force headed by 2003. Finding a Firm Footing for Brain- Kathleen Reif. 11. Michael Hutchison, Megabrain: New Based Learning,” The Reporter 2. In early 2003, Stephanie Shauck from Tools and Techniques for Brain (Georgia Assn. for Supervision and Maryland’s State Department of Growth (New York: Ballantine, 1987). Curriculum Development: spring Education, Division of Library 12. John Ratey, “Why Exercise and 1999): 12. Development and Services, sent an Movement Are Critical to Learning.” e-mail on the Maryland library youth Learning and the Brain Conference,

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New from Booklist Publications 60 Years of Notable Children’s Books compiled by Sally Anne Thompson 227 pages $25.95 ($23.36 with ALA member discount) 0-8389-8265-4

The best of the best from 60 years of Notable Children’s Books, 1940–99. The annual Notable lists, produced by a committee made up of members of ALA’s Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), have been essential collection- development tools in school and public libraries for more than half a century. This handy resource brings together 1,500 notable titles, organized by decade. Also included are theme lists gathering notable books on popular subjects.

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The Surprising Life of Pop-Up Book Creator Robert Sabuda

Sharon Korbeck

Illustration and paper engineering by Robert Sabuda © 2003 from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:A Pop-Up Adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Original Tale (Little Simon).Used with permission of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.

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ids aren’t the only ones surprised when they open a pop- up book designed by Robert Sabuda. K A Brief Timeline of The Michigan native is just as amazed at his creations . . . and at Pop-Up Book History the fact that all his long hours of cutting, pasting, measuring, and planning somehow all fall into place—pop up!—and fall back into place again. 1536: The earliest “movable books” were cre- ated. Intended for adults, they were used to plot “They’re all a surprise. When they work, they’re a surprise,” said astronomical movements. They were so expen- Sabuda, who now lives in New York where he collaborates on sive to produce, only the very wealthy or royalty projects with children’s book creator Matthew Reinhart. “We could afford them. love making books. It’s hard work, but the best part is not having to worry about making a mess. When being an artist is your job, 1779: One of the first actual “pop-ups” you can make as many messes as you want to!” Sabuda said. appeared. It was a three-dimensional book used Thirty-eight-year-old Sabuda has spent more than a decade get- to teach art students perspective. ting pop-up books precisely right. But it took a lot of scraps of paper and working his way up the design ladder to get where he 1805: The Woodman’s Hut (unknown, Great is today. “It’s such a strange path in life that finds me here today,” Britain) is published; it is one of the earliest Sabuda said. pop-ups designed for children.

As a child in the 1970s, in the small town of Pinckney, Michigan, 1840s: A British firm (Dean & Son, London) Sabuda loved reading. Working with his hands came naturally; his devotes its entire business to movable books. father was a mason and a carpenter. Sabuda became entranced with books and created his own pop-up books as a child. His 1860s: The Drawing Room Dress Books (E. C. mother worked as a secretary at Ford Motor Company. “When Bennett, London) featured pop-up people wearing fashions made of real cloth. continued on page 24

Circa 1914: Philip’s Popular Manikin (unknown, Bavaria) was released; it was an anatomical study book.

Circa 1952: The Jolly Jump-Ups series (McLoughlin Bros., Springfield, Mass.) provided an idealized view of the American family.

1979: A revival of pop-up books for children occurs thanks to the works of Jan Pienkowski, especially Haunted House (E. P. Dutton, New York).

2003: Robert Sabuda’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: A Pop-Up Adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Original Tale (Little Simon) makes The New York Times Review of Books list of the ten best children’s books of the year—the first pop- up book ever to make the list.

2004: This fall, Little Simon (a division of Simon and Schuster) will publish Robert Sabuda’s pop- up book America the Beautiful, based on the classic patriotic song. Robert Sabuda addresses a group at a Wausau, Wisconsin, museum.

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Ready, Set, Collaborate! Carle” exhibition, which brought nearly eleven thousand visitors to the museum during six weeks in early 1995. The col- How Libraries Can Work with laboration included teacher-resource Museums checkout kits, snuggly caterpillar toys, a How does an author from the East or caterpillar snow sculpture (have you West Coast end up in Wausau, ever been to Wisconsin in January? It’s Wisconsin? Just ask Sonja Ackerman, cold!), and translations of Carle books children’s services division head at to serve a large Hmong population. Marathon County Public Library. “One thing that has been the key for our Sonja Ackerman Ackerman, along with directors at the collaboration is that it’s mutually bene- Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in ficial. Look for one goal that you both “I find it such a treat to have the author Wausau have been collaborating for share,” Ackerman suggested. “That is or the artist come to our community,” more than thirteen years to bring the the strong link. We really appreciate she said. joys of children’s literature to the north- each other. Each [program] has brought ern Wisconsin city. some new element, some new twist, The biannual collaborations have added light in another corner.” become “routine” for the institutions. “It started almost accidentally,” said And Ackerman said their plans are Ackerman of the collaboration of the One exciting program that illustrated already underway for a 2005–06 pro- two entities. When the museum this was “Down Under and Over Here: gram. planned to put the illustrations of Children’s Book Illustrations from Tomie dePaola on exhibit in 1991–92, Australia and America.” This 1999–2000 Ackerman, who has worked at Ackerman said, “We just knew how program was a fourteen-week program Marathon County for twenty years, interested teachers and students were that involved 15,066 visitors across two never tires of the excitement of the next going to be.” continents via sixty illustrations from collaboration. “It just makes your pro- more than fifty children’s books. Whew! fessional life very rewarding,” she said. Through the Art of the Heart Man She recommends librarians, even in exhibit, Ackerman said, “We learned “For this journey, we took the best of smaller libraries, consider the merits of that an exhibition of children’s book our three previous collaborations and collaborations. “Sharing resources, as in illustration provided the ideal catalyst then tweaked and tinkered until a wor- funding, staff time, and grant writing, is to unite two respected Wausau area thy model emerged,” Ackerman said. very valuable in these tough economic institutions that had the capacity to She was especially proud of the fact that times,” she said. effect change among constituents the museum and library shared an based on our two favorite things, art IMLS Leadership Grant to fund the pro- Of course, there’s also the benefit of and books.” gram. hearing the children’s reactions. Ackerman particularly recalled one of The sharing of information that began Some of the programs the museum and her favorite memories, when a second- with that successful visit (almost ten library have sponsored have brought grade boy left the museum program thousand museum visits, including authors and illustrators cross-country beaming and said, “Wow! I haven’t had more than four thousand school chil- to Wisconsin. Most recently, author/ this much fun in a long time.” dren) continued with programs slated illustrators Robert Sabuda of New York every two years. and David Diaz of California took part For more information about the Wausau in Children’s Book Magic at the venues. museum and library collaborations,contact What Ackerman calls the first “inten- The tours were organized in part by the Sonja Ackerman at (715) 261-7220 or via the tional collaboration” between the National Center for Children’s library’s Web site at www.mcpl.lib.wi.us. museum and library was the “Art of Eric Illustrated Literature in Abilene, Texas.

continued from page 23

people got fired, she’d bring home manila folders,” he said. As he began his career, Sabuda was faced with many illustrating Those folders became the raw materials for his earliest works. challenges—including illustrating coloring books and designing packages for women’s lingerie. “Eventually, these led to other He pursued a degree in art from Pratt Institute in New York and book projects, and slowly I discovered that I was a children’s interned his junior year at Dial Books for Young Readers. “This book illustrator. I began to write my own stories and illustrated could be for me,” Sabuda thought. “This is what I want to do. I them as well. Picture books were wonderful, but I always hoped really wanted to learn about it, and I really wanted to do it.” that one day I could create a pop-up book,” Sabuda said.

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Welcome to the Emerald City. An example of Sabuda’s mosaic artwork.

How the Process Begins produced in Asia and South America, and he always attends production runs of his books. In creating a new book, Sabuda works exclusively with white card stock and basic shapes. Why only white? Sabuda discussed the labor-intensive tasks of making dies for the pop-up pieces, counting the thousands of pieces, and “I want to see how it lives on the page,” he said. “I begin to sketch assembling the pieces into the book. “It’s very much a group in three dimensions right in the beginning,” he added, noting effort. Everyone wants to make the best book possible,” he said. that he might build six to twelve prototypes until he gets it as “I had no idea how fast they put this together,” Sabuda said after refined as he’d like. But he continues to hone the piece to make he attended one production session, joking that he fell behind sure the pop-ups all work. the lightning-fast production staff. “It’s all about speed when you’re assembling.” At the end of the line, quality control work- “Sometimes the paper engineering is relatively easy,” he said. ers make sure the pop-ups work. Page signatures are assembled, Other times, it’s a mystery, even to a master like Sabuda. “A lot of covers are glued on by hand, and fans are used to speed drying. times, I just wing it,” he said. One example of a particularly chal- lenging pop-up is the hot-air balloon in The Wonderful Wizard of Sabuda’s paper-engineering feats are exercises in perfection and Oz: A Commemorative Pop-Up (Little Simon, 2001). I was wan- precision. And they’ve paid off. He is a two-time recipient of dering into uncharted territory,” he said. In Sabuda’s retelling of both the Golden Kite and Meggendorfer Award, and his books the L. Frank Baum classic, he creates cyclones that spin, bal- have been frequent ALA Notable Children’s Books. loons that alight, and a frightful looming castle. Not just a creator, Sabuda is also a collector of pop-up books. He Once the paper engineering is set, Sabuda is ready to create the has about three hundred, which he considers a modest collec- illustrations, yet another time-consuming process. One method tion. He’s proud of the heritage he learned from, saying, “I hope he uses, as illustrated in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, is linoleum that in my life I’m able to contribute to the tradition.” cutting and printing. The illustration style with heavy black out- lines was inspired by the art of W. W. Denslow, the original illus- That tradition, as children and adults have witnessed in trator of Baum’s 1900 Oz. Sabuda’s books, is opening a book to reveal, what Sabuda con- siders, “the magic that comes out.” There are no shortcuts here. Oz, for example, has three hundred pieces of artwork, all done by hand-cutting the images into Sharon Korbeck attended a presentation by Robert Sabuda at the linoleum blocks, dipping the blocks in black ink and printing Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin. the design. Color is then added digitally. For more information on Robert Sabuda, visit: Even after Sabuda’s precision is physically done and ready to go www.robertsabuda.com. to the printer, he isn’t done yet. He said that all pop-up books are

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Why Are We Afraid of Our Boys? A Psychologist Looks at Solutions Michael G. Thompson

This article is adapted from Thompson’s address at the American are the traditional consumers of psychotherapy services.) The Library Association Midwinter Meeting in Toronto in June 2003. experience of talking to lots of boys who were sad, disappointed, and ashamed, but expressed their hurt through anger and irra- n 1999, my life dramatically changed. I wrote a book about tionality, made me want to write about them. boys—and it was published a week before the shootings at IColumbine High School. Before the disaster in Littleton, A similar set of experiences at another boys’ school moved my Colorado, I didn’t consider myself a national expert on boys. I co-author, psychologist Dan Kindlon, to suggest that we write a was a local psychologist with a private practice in the Boston book about boys. The result was Raising Cain. A week after pub- area. In addition, I had worked as a psychologist at four co-ed lication came the carnage at Columbine High School. During schools over a period of twelve years. Like many counselors, a the next three weeks, Dan and I appeared on NBC’s The Today majority of my clients were girls who came to my office on their Show three times, and I did television and radio interviews for own initiative. months thereafter.

When I went to work as the consulting psychologist at the The journalists I met all tended to ask the same predictable Belmont Hill School, an all-boys independent school with four questions about boys, violence, and school shootings. But after hundred students in grades seven through twelve, my patients the microphones, cameras, and lights were turned off, some- (obviously) were boys. They almost never self-referred to the thing more interesting happened. At the end of the interview, psychologist. In fact, of the forty-one boys I evaluated there last the anchor or camera operator would ask me, “How do I know if year, only one came to see me voluntarily. All the others had to my son is violent? He doesn’t talk to me. I don’t know what’s be pushed to talk to me by their advisors, or by the dean, or by going on inside him. How would I know if he were going to hurt the trouble they had gotten themselves into. Tenth-grade boys someone?” These kinds of questions came more often from don’t say to their friends, “Gee, guys, I’ve got to go see the psychol- women than from men, but the fear that boys are mysterious ogist to talk over some emotional problems I’ve been having.” and potentially violent was visible in many people.

I like to joke that if not for the dean and the disciplinary process, I was startled, because I have worked with and known boys all a psychologist at an all-boys school would be like the Maytag my life, and I have very rarely experienced them as threatening repairman. or potentially violent. Of course, I am not a police officer, nor do I work in corrections or violence prevention. Over the years of my work at a boys’ school, I saw boys and more boys for evaluation and therapy. Interestingly, my experience For the last two decades I have worked in a suburban setting mirrored a trend in my private practice: My patient list grew to with middle-class and upper-middle-class children, with their be 70 percent boys and men. (This was unusual since women parents, and with their teachers. What I found was that many

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Why Are We Afraid of Our Boys? thoughtful, well-to-do adults who were raising their sons in Since 1994, boy violence in this country has dropped dramati- secure surroundings were nevertheless a bit jumpy about boys. cally as inner-city communities have come to grips with drug Or, if they were not scared of their own sons, they were scared of problems. There is better policing, and the black community has other people’s. I visit about thirty schools each year, and I have risen up to save its sons. What we are seeing now is that white witnessed, unmistakably, this same subtle fear in all of them. And suburban and rural America is coming to understand that the I believe this fear has an impact on the lives of boys. Let me give problems of the inner city were not specific to blacks and you some examples. Hispanics, or even users of crack cocaine. We have seen a spike on suburban and rural violence among white boys that has A couple of years ago, I arranged for a local TV anchorwoman in finally aroused Americans to an awareness that perhaps we have Boston to meet with five eighth-grade boys. She wanted to inter- been raising our sons in a vacuum. view them alone, and she did. After spending half an hour with them she came back to me and said, with embarrassment in her As we worked, Dan and I focused on the fact that in American voice, “I know this sounds stupid, but they were really very nice.” culture we raise boys in a way that leaves them emotionally une- Implicit in her tone was something like, “I am genuinely sur- ducated and inarticulate about their psychological pain. In an prised. I had half expected that they would be awful, or rude, or effort to make our sons masculine, our culture has forgotten aggressive.” what boys need psychologically. We have lost touch with the work and rituals that connect boys to the adult world and mean- ingful adult manhood. We often take them at face value and react only to their obnoxious behavior and not to their inner lives. We either treat them like wild Hire people who are not afraid of boys, animals who need to be controlled or as entitled because adults who are frightened of princes of whom we cannot ask very much on a moral basis. We seem to think they are too something—too boys are of no use to them. immature, or morally backward, or fragile, or homo- phobic, or masculine.

Dan and I felt that boys were emotionally illiterate, More recently, I received a phone message from a mother saying burdened by a conception of masculinity that narrowed their that her four-year-old son was making his Legos into a gun and lives. They were unable to express their pain, their sense of it was very upsetting to her, her husband, and her daughter. shame, their sadness, and inadequacy, except through anger. What could she do to stop him from doing that? Eighty percent of depressed teenage boys manifest irritability as their leading symptom because they do not feel that they are Then I received an e-mail from the mother of a five-year-old boy able to say they are sad. That would be a strike against their mas- who had been suspended from kindergarten for hitting his culinity. Raising Cain was a complaint against the American teacher with a stick. The school had told her that if it happened conception of masculinity that narrows what a boy can say and again, the police would be summoned and her little boy would reveal about his inner life. be charged with assault and sent to juvenile court.

I recently received a call from an educator in New York who is The Education Gap starting a new all-boys school on the Lower East Side. “What,” he asked me, “is the one most important thing I should look for in If you go into any kindergarten class in the country at “circle starting out?” I told him, “Hire people who are not afraid of boys time” you will see a group of girls patiently waiting for the read- because adults who are frightened of boys are of no use to them.” ing or discussion to begin. But several boys will be wandering around the classroom. “Come on, guys,” the teacher will say. “We’re ready to start.” Or, exasperated, she may say, “Come on, Connecting with Boys guys! The girls have been ready for a long time now.”

When we sat down to write Raising Cain, Dan and I had some Girls outperform boys in elementary school, middle school, central concerns. As a professor at Harvard School of Public high school, and college. At present, 56 percent of college Health, Dan was worried that boys were at risk from a public degrees go to women; 55 percent of graduate degrees go to health point of view. Twice as many boys die from accidental women, and that trend is accelerating. One actuarial statistician death in their teenage years as do girls, and boys are at a vastly took the present trend out to its absurd conclusion and found higher risk of suicide. Eighty-five percent of completed teen sui- that the last man in the United States to get a bachelor’s degree cides are boys. There had been a rising tide of male violence would do so in 2068. between 1975 and 1994, making the United States the most murderous and rape-prone country in the industrialized world. Twenty years ago there was a significant gap between boys and There are 23,000 homicides in the country every year, and 10 girls in science and math—with boys ahead. Feminists and ded- percent of them are committed by males under age twenty-five. icated teachers have worked with girls over the years to over-

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come their math phobias and their belief that science wasn’t Here is a conversation recorded between kindergarten children “feminine.” And it worked. by Vivian Paley in her brilliant book Boys and Girls: Superheroes in the Doll House: The gap has closed almost all the way. There is still a gap between boys and girls in math concepts, but it is now quite Karen says: “Girls are nicer than boys.” small. But—according to a meta-analysis of fifteen different aca- Janie adds: “Boys are bad. Some boys are.” demic assessments, including the National Assessment of Academic Progress—the gap between girls and boys, with girls Paul then says: “Not bad, pretend bad, like bad guys.” in the lead, is six times greater than the gap between boys and Karen, undaunted, continues: “My brother is really bad.” girls in math concepts. It is huge. And in writing, females out- perform males by twenty-five points. Vivian Paley poses a question: “Aren’t girls ever bad?”

Paul answers: “I don’t think so. Not very much.” Many writers, including Tom Newkirk and Christina Hoff Somers, have drawn our attention to this gender gap in educa- Vivian Paley: “Why not?” tion. Last summer, Business Week magazine reported that girls Paul: “Because they like to color so much. That’s one thing I have achieved almost all of the educational gains of the last know. Boys have to practice running.” thirty years. We owe it to our boys to close these historic gaps. Karen then adds: “And they practice being silly.”

If you ask third-grade boys whom teachers like better, they Fear of Boys always say, “The girls.” If you ask third-grade girls whom the teachers like best, they’ll say, “The girls.” And, of course, they’re I believe the gender gap in writing and reading is at least partly both right. How would you react if you had to go to a place every attributable to the discomfort that normal, helpful teachers day where you thought you were destined to be liked less well experience with boys. Against a backdrop of societal violence, 90 and where you would be less successful than the other half of percent of which is male, those of us who work with children the population? You would start to challenge the authority of the have to constantly make judgments about what is good or bad, people who run the place. about which kind of interventions will produce children of char- acter, and about what the things that children are doing right Boys challenge us. Boys often seem to be proud of being bad, and now presage for their behavior as adults. This business of pre- there are moments when they have no use for our ideas of dicting how boys are going to turn out can be tricky if you politeness. Boys in groups seem obsessed with things that are extrapolate from their first-grade or eighth-grade behavior. I rude, crude, and antisocial. I don’t know how many times I have know. I was the class clown in my eighth grade! I am very sensi- heard an adult say that a particular boy doesn’t seem to have a tive to schools that have tolerance for boys, and to schools that conscience. seem chronically to distrust them. Boys don’t seem to value what we value, especially in literature. What it is about boys that disrupts our world and frightens us? Boys value low-class literature; they value TV, comics, and video games. This makes us nervous. We often think this is because we Boys are active and take more physical risks than girls. They are so moral and high-minded and interested in character. But it break stuff. Their impulsivity and apparent lack of control scares is often a matter of taste and educational elitism—and a wish for us because it always threatens to “disrupt the learning environ- control. Rousseau, writing in 1762 about his son, Emile, said, ment.” By school age, three-quarters of the boys in a class are “Emile ought to do only what he wants; but he ought to want more physically active, more impulsive and developmentally only what you want him to do.” We all have that problem. We all immature in comparison to girls the same age. Our average boy want our children to feel free—but not really. is also one to two years behind the average girl in his language development and reading. That’s not news to anyone—but it I was talking with a teacher recently about a boy with a learning does mean that he is going to find school a difficult fit. Think disability in her class—a boy who struggles with reading. He had about school from the average boy’s point of view. It seems to be read one of the Captain Underpants series and loved it. The a place that is all about sitting down and listening to women teacher tried very hard to steer him away from reading any more talk. And the girls have a decided advantage at that. The level of of them. One was OK, she told me, because the boy wasn’t a a boy’s physical activity means that he is restrained more often, reader. But she was reluctant to have him read more because he that he is spoken to more often, than the girls are. was a bad speller and there are many misspelled words in the book. Please! Do you really think this boy was in danger from I was once standing on a school playground with some kinder- Captain Underpants? garten teachers who were supervising the children at recess. The boys did something loud and potentially disruptive, but the Last summer, my daughter’s seventeen-year-old boyfriend told matter settled down quickly. One of the teachers turned to the me, “I know I should read more,” in the same tone of voice that other and said, “Oh, it’s just the BBC.” They laughed. Later I people say, “I know I should lose weight. I shouldn’t have this asked what BBC meant. You have probably already figured out dessert.” When we tell boys that reading is good for them, it that it stands for Bad Boys Club. sounds like self-improvement. It sounds like betterment. We do

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Why Are We Afraid of Our Boys? things to boys to suggest that we are going to improve them, and like stopping our children from making Legos into guns. But the they resist us. truth is that’s not the problem. If we think that making toy guns or playing violent video games is really the problem, and not Tom Newkirk of the University of New Hampshire, in his book broken homes or child abuse or the fact that we’re spending 40 Misreading Masculinity: Boys, Literacy, and Popular Culture, percent less time with our children than we did in 1965, then we gives a detailed analysis about how teachers subtly discourage are deluding ourselves. We’re wringing our hands for no reason. boys from reading, primarily by creating a hierarchy of good lit- And we’re scapegoating boys. erature. He also says that we are never going to get boys to read unless they have the experience of reading as deep pleasure. But The impact of our hand-wringing is that we lose credibility with we make it like medicine. boys. They experience us as either excessively controlling and mean, or they consider us clueless. Or, worst of all, they see that Teachers have a “free-choice” reading period, for example; and if we are afraid of them. When little boys think that adults are a boy wants to read comic books, the teacher says, “Well, per- scared of them, they become truly terrified. haps you should save those for home and read something worthwhile.” Where’s the free choice in that? I believe that children who have been brutalized may find media violence is in tune with them, but I don’t believe that children Newkirk provides another subtle example: A child picks a book who come from loving, attentive homes are going to be induced on his own and you say, “Oh, good choice.” I’ve said that myself unwittingly into violence.

I also know that boys can tell the difference between What it is about boys that disrupts our play and reality, between games and real violence. Violence is what happens when one person intends world and frightens us? Boys are active to hurt another person and succeeds. When that hap- pens in a classroom, all the kids point to it. Violence and take more physical risks than girls. is not what happens in movies; that is pretend vio- They break stuff. Their impulsivity and lence and kids know it. apparent lack of control scares us. Yet we act afraid of our boys. We talk as if we are afraid of them. We have to get over that fear. We have to con- quer our assumptions and inhibitions if we are going and I’ve heard people say it many times. But Tom Newkirk says to be truly helpful to our boys. I have five suggestions to get us no, don’t do it. A “good” choice implies that there wasn’t really a started. choice in the first place because there are good choices, and then, of course, there are bad choices. Any boy worth his salt can 1. The Bettelheim Solution hear that undertone in what we intend as positive reinforce- ment. And any boy worth his salt will be tempted not to make a The late Bruno Bettelheim was my professor at the University of good choice the next time, precisely because he hears that the Chicago, and when I was there in the early 1970s he was working “good” part eclipses the “choice” part. on The Uses of Enchantment, his great book about the meaning of fairy tales and the ways in which they help children master It is different to say to a boy, “Oh, I loved that book!” or “So many the most ferocious conflicts and developmental struggles of kids have loved that book.” That is descriptive, not judgmental. childhood. Through his book, Bettelheim asks us to come to grips with the dark side of human life. Now, that’s the problem with boys. They often throw the dark side of life in our faces. Our Worst Fear They are too open about greediness, competitiveness, lust, mur- derous feelings, fury, perfectionism. They’d rather urinate on The thing that really scares us, however, is a boy’s potential for trees in the playground than use the bathroom—and they do violence. That is the heart of the matter. That is why the Boston that psychologically as well. We don’t always want to deal with anchorwoman expected the eighth-grade boys to be scary. their powerful emotions in our quiet settings. We prefer the way That’s why the mom worried about her son turning Legos into girls protect us. It is not that girls aren’t grappling with all the guns. That’s why the kindergarten administrators threatened an same conflicts. They are, but they make it easy on us. impulsive five-year-old with the police. Bettelheim would tell us that the problem is with us. We have for- Why does boys’ play violence make us so nervous? It is because gotten how ferocious childhood is. And we need to remember. we believe that boys cannot make a distinction between play and reality. We believe that they will be pulled into violence 2. The Paley-Katch Solution against their will, that they won’t be able to help themselves. Teachers and writers Vivian Paley and Jane Katch talk to chil- I believe we have never really faced the roots of violence in this dren. They let them dictate stories. They have them act out their society at the deepest level, so we spend our time on trivial stuff deepest conflicts right there in the classroom. They are utterly

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fearless in what they let kids talk about. In her book, Under man you love—your father, your brother, your cousin, your hus- Deadman’s Skin: Discovering the Meaning of Children’s Violent band, or your very own son. And then talk to him. Get in touch Play, Katch describes a discussion of the rules about talking with his inner life. Put away your fear. & about violence in the classroom. The original list was (1) no excessive blood, (2) no chopping off of body parts, (3) no guts or Michael Thompson, Ph.D., is the author of Raising Cain: Protecting other things that belong inside the body can come out. the Emotional Life of Boys (with Dan Kindlon; Ballantine, 2000) and Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Lives of But one of the girls said it would be unfair to stop the boys from Children (with Catherine O’Neill Grace and Lawrence J. Cohen; talking about these things every day. So they went to an alter- Ballantine, 2002). His newest book, The Pressured Child, will be pub- nate-day format. The kids had a wonderful, moral, democratic lished in 2004. discussion about violence because Katch trusted them. Be afraid of teachers and administrators who won’t let you talk to kids this way. 3. The Newkirk Solutions

Acknowledge the complexity of “vio- lence” in art and literature. Keep asking “Who can resist whether it is really violence, or humor, that kids are after. Often, what they seek Moriarty’s biting humor?” is the feeling of mastery of violence. We —Kirkus Reviews should be able to see this in their choices. And, Newkirk notes, we should allow cartooning as a serious business in the classroom. We should accept youth genres in which fiction becomes a way of assuming freedoms, powers, and competencies that the writer does not possess in real life. It is an act of wish ful- fillment, not an accurate and realistic rendering of their experience. The writ- ing is often extreme and exaggerated— and it’s funny. 4. The Captain Underpants Solution

Dav Pilkey, the author of the Captain Underpants books, often issues ironic Ages 12 and up 416 pages warnings. When Harold and George 0-439-49881-3 must confront two evil robots in The $16.95 Adventures of Captain Underpants (1997), Harold worries, “We’re not going ★“Written entirely in letters, diary entries, lists, [and] to have to resort to extreme graphic vio- quizzes…Moriarty’s characters speak in voices as playful lence, are we?” George replies that he and inventive as the novel’s format….An unusual novel with hopes not. The next chapter is titled an exhilarating pace, irrepressible characters, and a screwball humor that will easily attract teens.” —Booklist, starred review “The Extremely Graphic Violence Chapter,” and it begins with a label: ★“Complex, original, and unpredictable...The format, along with “WARNING: The following chapter con- the humor and romance, will draw Louise Rennison fans—and give them just as much flash, with a whole lot more substance.” tains graphic scenes showing two boys —The Horn Book, starred review beating the tar out of a couple of robots. “Funny, exciting, and, at times, poignant…full of fun, engaging If you have high blood pressure, or faint characters, and important messages about friendship.” at the sight of motor oil, we strongly —School Library Journal encourage you to take better care of “This energetic novel reveals the author’s keen understanding of yourself and stop being such a baby.” teen dynamics.” —Publishers Weekly 5. The Thompson Solution

Now, here’s mine: Every time you start to www.scholastic.com

worry about boy behavior, think of a SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

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ike so many of the best story- Ohio, and the buildings pictured in tellers, Robert McCloskey did these volumes are close replicas of L not begin his career envisioning those in his hometown of Hamilton. audiences of small, sticky-fingered folk. Instead, he attended Boston’s Growing up in Hamilton, he was Vesper George Art School and the drawn to both music and machinery. National Academy of Design in New These early interests are easy to find in York and aspired to produce “great his illustrations. His picture of Lentil art,” the kind filled with bits of Greek lying comfortably in a dry bathtub mythology, Oriental dragons, deep for- admiring the sounds of his own har- est pools, and droopy trees. monica tunes is more than memo- rable. McCloskey often narrated a During a visit to New York City in the story about his other hobby—inven- 1930s, renowned children’s book edi- tion—during the talks he gave. tor May Massee looked at the young Fascinated by the sight of a cotton artist’s portfolio and told him to candy machine, he set out as a child to Remembering rethink his subject material, to draw construct one for himself using the what he really knew about.1 Robert motor from a vacuum cleaner. His first McCloskey initially disliked this attempt to produce the wonderful a Legend advice, but when he did begin to draw confection failed when the sugar he the sorts of buildings and people he poured in refused to melt. Persistence, The Life and Works knew, those of his childhood in the in this case, did not pay off. His second ordinary Midwestern town of attempt was an utter disaster when the of Robert McCloskey Hamilton, Ohio, a fine story emerged molasses he chose as a substitute for titled Lentil (1940). The book features sugar sailed out in sticky streaks across not a great hero like Achilles or the kitchen.2 But his love for ingenious Megan Lynn Isaac Hercules, but the young boy Lentil machines is still reflected in his stories. who faces off against the sour villain The Homer Price tales are filled with Old Sneep. Perched atop the rail sta- intricate mechanisms wonderfully tion roof as gangly and menacing as depicted, like Uncle Ulysses’ donut any classical gargoyle, Old Sneep’s lip- machine and the Hide-a-Ride con- puckering lemons nearly devastate the traption described by Grandpa triumphant welcoming concert Hercules. planned for the town’s greatest bene- factor, the god-like Colonel Carter, Despite the affection these books all until, Lentil, armed only with a har- show for the people and places of monica, saves the day. Hamilton, Ohio, McCloskey left the Midwest when the opportunity to pur- Brimming with energy and humor, sue his greatest passion arrived in the Robert McCloskey’s first picture book form of a scholarship to art school. His foreshadows many of the themes, liter- adult life was spent on the East Coast, ary and pictorial, that mark his work. mostly on a small island off the coast Additionally, looking closely at this of Maine. The landscapes of this book, along with the other seven vol- region—the shoreside cottages, the umes he wrote and illustrated, may be harbors, and the small villages that the best way to learn about and make up the community—are all remember this fine artist, who died in depicted in his later picture books, July 2003 at the age of 88. McCloskey especially One Morning in Maine was a relatively private man. Although (1952), Time of Wonder (1957), and, to willing to talk to the audiences of chil- a lesser extent, Burt Dow, Deep-Water dren, librarians, and general readers Man (1963). To understand what who loved his work, in many ways he moved McCloskey most, what inspired revealed more about himself through him, and what he valued, readers need Lentil by Robert McCloskey his books. Nearly every element of only to read and enjoy these books. his stories is rooted, more or less The characters who figure in these deeply, in his own biography. Like the books and even the cats and dogs who protagonists of Lentil, Homer Price prowl along the margins are all based (1943), and Centerburg Tales (1951), upon his own wife, children, friends, McCloskey came from a small town in and pets. As his two daughters, Sal and

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Remembering a Legend Jane, grow older, they embark on more excit- Books Written and Illustrated by Robert ing and more inde- McCloskey pendent adventures. In Blueberries for Sal, the Lentil (Viking, 1940) entire plot is based on the idea of Sal’s stray- 1942 Caldecott Medal: Make Way ing just far enough for Ducklings (Viking, 1941) away from her mother to mistake one rustle in Homer Price (Viking, 1943) the blueberry bushes 1949 Caldecott Honor Book: for another. By the Blueberries for Sal (Viking, 1948) time she has been joined by a little sister Centerburg Tales (Viking, 1951) in One Morning in Maine, Sal looks for- 1953 Caldecott Honor Book: One Morning in Maine (Viking, 1952) ward to a day’s outing Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey with her father as they 1958 Caldecott Medal: Time of Catholic Library World about a draft of a venture across the water to Buck’s Harbor Wonder (Viking, 1957) for groceries. Several years later in Time of book set in Mexico that he brought into Wonder, the two girls, unnamed in this his publisher’s office. It was received with Burt Dow, Deep-Water Man: A Tale story, are old enough to spend days out enthusiasm, and McCloskey returned of the Sea in the Classic Tradition on the water themselves exploring the home to continue work on it, but never (Viking, 1963) shorelines and swimming beaches, sail- finished. Eventually he explained that his ing across the bay, and rowing through “understanding of Mexican people was Select Books Illustrated by the evening dusk. too shallow to give him the right to use them as characters in a story that might Robert McCloskey seem to be making fun of them,” so he Oddly enough, McCloskey’s most famous Yankee Doodle’s Cousin by Anne had abandoned the tale.3 Obviously, book, Make Way for Ducklings (1941), is Burnett Malcomson (Houghton those things that Robert McCloskey did probably the least autobiographical of his Mifflin, 1941) stories, although it is certainly possible to create were always created with the great- see his love of the architecture of Boston, est of care. Tree Toad: Adventures of the Kid particularly the Beacon Hill District; the Brother by Bob Davis (Frederick high value he placed on family and com- In his 1942 Caldecott Medal acceptance, A. Stokes, 1942) munity; and his witty sense of humor McCloskey told the story of how he came throughout the story of Mr. and Mrs. to produce the amazingly authentic char- The Man Who Lost His Head by Mallard and their search for a suitable acters of Make Way for Ducklings. He Claire Huchet Bishop (Viking, home in which to raise their family of began by going to the Natural History 1942) Museum in New York and studying the eight ducklings. Make Way for Ducklings Trigger John’s Son by Tom Robinson stuffed mallards that were on display. He was only McCloskey’s second picture (Viking, 1949) book, but with it he won his first learned about their molting and mating Caldecott Medal. He went on to win habits, both of which figure in the story. 1954 Caldecott Honor Book: another Caldecott Medal for Time of He met and worked with an ornithologist Journey Cake, Ho! by Ruth Wonder; and three other books, who helped him study the subtle mark- Sawyer (Viking, 1953) Blueberries for Sal, One Morning in ings of ducks and their wing structures. Maine, and Journey Cake, Ho! (for which Most importantly, however, he acquired Junket by Anne H. White (Viking, he provided the illustrations to accom- live models. 1955) pany Ruth Sawyer’s text in 1953), were Henry Reed, Inc. by Keith Robertson Visiting the poultry market early one recognized as Caldecott Honor Books. (Viking, 1958) Despite having produced only eight morning McCloskey purchased four books (six picture books and two chapter ducklings and brought them back to his Henry Reed’s Journey by Keith books) and illustrating only a few for apartment. Then the real work began, “I Robertson (Viking, 1963) other writers, he remains among the most spent the next weeks on my hands and highly honored artists in the history of knees, armed with a box of Kleenex and a Henry Reed’s Baby-Sitting Service by children’s literature. sketch book, following ducks around the Keith Robertson (Viking, 1966) studio and observing them in the bath Henry Reed’s Big Show by Keith tub.”4 During the later stages of the story’s His preference for doing things well Robertson (Viking, 1970) rather than simply finishing them is illus- development he repeated the process trated by a story told by Annis Duff in with another batch of ducklings. Again,

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Remembering a Legend he filled sketch book upon sketch book is among the most reliable read-alouds in visitors who delight in them, but in the with drawings of “happy ducklings, sad any collection. Speaking of her own way that her work has helped to extend ducklings, inquisitive ducklings, bored delight in pulling it from the shelf each the influence of McCloskey. Charmed by ducklings; running, walking, standing, year, Eve Kneeland, the head of youth the statue, Barbara Bush, then First Lady, sitting, stretching, swimming, scratching, services at the Auburn (Ala.) library, requested to have another edition of the sleeping ducklings.”5 remarks, “Like Margaret Wise Brown and statue to give to Soviet First Lady Raisa only a handful of others, Robert Gorbachev as a gift from the children of Reading of this process one former librar- McCloskey’s material seems to be time- the United States to the children of the ian from the Wilder Elementary School in less. Kids still love the good, old illustra- USSR to commemorate the START treaty Grand Forks, North Dakota, Yvonne tors who use line so effectively, despite in 1991, and McCloskey again agreed. Hanley, adopted McCloskey’s own the affection that they often have for Visitors to Moscow’s Novodevichy Park research methods to inspire her young color and zippy modern art.” can see them today where they are patrons to greater heights of creativity. embedded in a carpet made of 550 After listening to and talking about Make The ongoing popularity of Make Way for Boston cobblestones intermixed with the Way for Ducklings, each child chose a Ducklings is especially surprising given basalt natural to Moscow. Most recently, stuffed animal from the library’s collec- that McCloskey declined in all but a few Schön has also created a statue called tion and turned it upside down to experi- incidences to allow his artwork to be “Lentil and His Dog, Harmony” and over- ment with drawing an animal from an commercialized in any way. There are no seen its dedication in the town of unexpected perspective. This approach t-shirts, tennis shoes, could only have been applauded by backpacks, coffee mugs, McCloskey who spoke directly about the or bath towels dotted need for better art education in American with ducklings for sale. To understand what moved schools. In an interview with Leonard S. He made only one signif- Marcus, McCloskey remarked, “People— icant exception to his McCloskey most, what adults as well as children—so often just policy against reproduc- don’t realize what they are looking at. . . . ing his artwork. Visitors inspired him, and what he Seeing is really a decision-making to the Boston Public valued, readers need only to process, a matter of evaluating what is Gardens have since 1987 around you. And children cannot develop been able to enjoy what read and enjoy these books. that ability so well as they can by learning may be the most famous to draw.”6 piece of children’s sculp- The characters who figure in ture in the country, a Make Way for Ducklings has inspired bronze reproduction of these books and even the cats other responses that might have come as Mrs. Mallard, a bit over and dogs who prowl along more of a surprise to McCloskey but three feet tall, with her would surely have tickled his sense of eight small offspring the margins are all based humor. One Ohio mother, Paula Guiler, trailing behind her. realized that the book had made more of upon his own wife, children, an impression than she had realized on Artist Nancy Schön cre- her twelve-year-old son when she over- ated this sculpture with friends, and pets. heard him calling his action figure sol- McCloskey’s permission. diers by the names of Lack, Mack, Nack, To prepare for this work, Ouak, Pack, and Quack—a litany he had Schön not only talked with McCloskey Hamilton, Ohio, to honor McCloskey’s quite obviously borrowed from McCloskey’s but spent time poring over some of his birthplace. The dog’s name, which isn’t ducklings! original drawings for the book, which are given in the book, was selected by the held by the Boston Public Library. children of Hamilton. A Boston librarian, Maureen Foley, realiz- Describing the process, Schön explains, ing that Massachusetts had an official “The whole world is available to you as an Perhaps the most amazing aspect of state donut but not an official state chil- artist, and you can call on hundreds of McCloskey’s career is the ironic way that dren’s book, helped organize a campaign artists as your teachers. And you can copy his aspirations to create “great art” have two years ago to send nearly three thou- them. You can copy to learn and sort of been realized. His enchanting stories and sand paper ducklings signed by patrons get inside the head of the artist. And one illustrations have entertained readers for to the state house in support of a bill to of the things I did was copy a lot of Bob’s more than sixty years and show no signs remedy that situation. And, now, Make drawings extremely carefully. So I sort of of going out of style. Children who grew Way for Ducklings is indeed the Massa- thought I understood how he felt about up listening to the “Kuplink, kuplank, chusetts state children’s book! drawing.” kuplunk!” of blueberries landing in little Sal’s pail or laughing at the antics of Mrs. Librarians, teachers, and parents all agree Schön’s success at interpreting McCloskey’s Mallard’s feathered children now share that McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings ducklings is evident not only in the many these stories with their children and

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Remembering a Legend grandchildren. And children, as well as Megan Lynn Isaac lives in Auburn, Alabama Magazine XVIII, no. 4 (1942): 277–82. more than a few adults, on two conti- and writes about both children’s literature 2. Leonard S. Marcus, Ways of Telling: nents have stopped to touch, admire, and and Shakespeare. Her book, Heirs to Conversations on the Art of the have their photos taken with Nancy Shakespeare, explores how modern young Picture Book (New York: Dutton Schön’s exquisite sculptural renditions of adult novels adapt Shakespeare’s plays in Children’s Books, 2002), 107–08. McCloskey’s characters. In 2000 their plots and characters. Formerly a col- 3. Annis Duff, “Robert McCloskey: Man, McCloskey was one of only five children’s lege professor, she now spends most of her Author, Artist, All-of-a-Piece,” authors and artists to be honored by the time chasing her toddler. Catholic Library World 45, no. 8 Library of Congress with the designation (1974): 383. of “Living Legend” as part of its bicenten- References 4. McCloskey, 277–82. nial celebration. Although he is no longer 5. Ibid. living, he has indeed become a legend— 1. Robert McCloskey, “The Caldecott 6. Marcus, 115–16. because of his great art. & Medal Acceptance,” The Horn Book

Interview with Nancy Schön

two ducklings, to give the size and feeling. McCloskey said, “They look awfully big to me. Let’s go outside.”

So we dragged them outside, even though they were heavy, and it was icy, nasty, cold weather. Several children and their mothers were nearby, and the children ran to the ducks and began hugging and patting them. We just stood around with our mouths open. That was my introduction to the McCloskeys, and we have visited ever since.

How did the Lentil statue come about?

A foundation in Hamilton, Ohio, wanted to do something to Pictured is the sculpture of Lentil and His Dog Harmony by honor Robert McCloskey. They wanted the ducks, but Bob Nancy Schön of Boston. The sculpture commemorates Robert said no because he felt they belonged in Boston. McCloskey’s first book, Lentil. The piece, commissioned by the Hamilton Community Foundation, is located in a park at High Lentil made more sense with its autobiographical roots. I and Riverfront Plaza. went to Maine on a terrible winter day and showed the maquette (a scale model) to McCloskey. He was a very shy, How did you come to design the McCloskey sculptures? humble, and sweet man. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the project, but when he saw the maquette, he broke into a The twin boys of a friend, Suzanne Demonchaux, were in smile and said to go ahead with it. the Boston Public Gardens and said to their mother, “Where are the ducks?” Suzanne is an urban planner with an inter- est in how children see the city. She thought it would be wonderful to put the ducks in the Public Garden.

I said it was impossible, that it was sacred ground. But I knew someone who knew Mr. McCloskey, so I talked to my friend, and she talked to Bob about our idea.

He came from Maine to Newton, Massachusetts, and I showed him the model I had made, and he said he was sort of interested. So I set up some life-size prototypes for him to look at. His first visit was to look at my ducks and check my credibility. It is very complicated for one artist to interpret another. You sort of have to believe in each other. Look at them waddle! Nancy Schön sculpted the Make Way On the second visit, we went out to the studio, where I had for Ducklings piece to commemorate the 150th anniversary of made a rough three-dimensional model of Mrs. Mallard and the Boston Public Garden. Photos used with permission of Nancy Schön.

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“The Last Civilized Man” Librarians Remember William Morris Sharon Korbeck

Morris’s love of music, especially Mozart, was A playful photo of William Morris sat elegantly reflected by a string quartet. near a subtle bouquet of white flowers at Morris’s memorial at ALA Midwinter Meeting.

illiam C. Morris liked elegant neckties, Absolut But why was writing for children so important to Morris? “Bill vodka, and Mozart. And at his memorial service, his did believe that books could save children,” Cart said. “I think of W friends weren’t going to let anyone forget his singular Bill as a pixie, a mischievous children’s book elf,” said author and sense of sophistication. illustrator Thacher Hurd. “He had such a sense of connecting people . . . and a puckish sense of humor.” About three hundred librarians remembered Morris, vice presi- dent and director of library promotion at HarperCollins, at the That sense of humor was echoed by several of the speakers at ALA Midwinter Conference in San Diego in January. Morris, 74, the memorial, including consultant Mimi Kayden who said she died September 29, 2003. This iconic figure in publishing and felt like she had won the lottery when she was asked to speak. children’s librarianship worked at Harper for forty-eight years. Kayden, who met Morris in 1958 at Harper, joked that Morris spent his life on the phone, “but you could never reach him!” The event embraced the things Morris loved most—librarians, The New Yorker, who was born in Eagle Pass, Texas, “never left Mozart (a string quartet played during the memorial), and Manhattan unless he had to,” Kayden quipped. He might as well friends (a slide show recalled fond memories). It was fitting, stay there; according to Rose Treviño of Houston Public Library, then, that librarians, publishers, and authors remembered Morris always joked that he was “not tall enough to stay in Morris as a staunch champion of the world of children’s litera- Texas.” ture. Author Michael Cart called Morris “the last civilized man,” heralding his sophistication and cosmopolitan nature. But perhaps most importantly to the librarians assembled, Morris did stand tall as an advocate—always—of librarians. “Bill Morris cared about books; he cared about people,” said Mary Lankford, library consultant, said Morris once told her that Cart, who echoed Charlotte Zolotow’s sentiments in calling he considered librarians to be “the nicest people in the world.” Morris “the soul of publishing.” Ward, too, reflected, “There was something about us librarians.” Morris certainly had his opportunity to schmooze with the Morris’s passion for publishing was manifest in his work in chil- library set. He attended forty-eight years of ALA conferences, dren’s literature. Authors such as Eve Bunting, Jane Yolen, and ninety-six conferences in all. Katherine Paterson were introduced during Morris’s tenure. “He was so enormously loyal to the authors and illustrators,” said Lankford spoke for the legion of librarians when she said, “My Caroline Ward, youth services coordinator of the Ferguson Library. sadness is that there will be so many new librarians who will not know him.” & “Bill loved books and the people who made them,” echoed K. T. Horning of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

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om Barron loves to hike. But as heroism. “The greatest inspiration she much as the children’s/young has given to me and my six brothers Tadult author loves to scale the and sisters is her rock-solid belief in breathtaking terrain in Colorado, he’d the power of every individual to make much rather navigate another trail— a difference to the world. She never the one populated by everyday heroes. lectured us to make that point. Rather, And he wants as many children as pos- she has always lived that way,” Barron sible to come along. recalled.

His passion for children and nature as His mother, now approaching ninety, well as the need for strong examples of is the inspiration for the Gloria Barron heroism led him to write the adult/ Prize for Young Heroes, an award given young adult book The Hero’s Trail: A annually to youth who exemplify lead- Guide for a Heroic Life (Philomel, 2002). ership, courage, and unselfishness. In the words of 2001 Barron Prize winner Everyday Pop music lyricists might have us Estephania Chavez, “Given the believe that “we don’t need another chance, we can do anything, even if hero.” But Barron would beg to differ. we’re just kids.” Heroes “There’s nothing more powerful than real examples. If this book is about Gloria Barron’s own heroism mani- T. A. Barron’s Trail anything, it’s to inspire youth to take fested itself in a twenty-year quest to their lives into their own hands,” establish a “touch” museum for chil- Leads Youth to Find Barron said. dren at the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind. Their Own Strong Heroes, according to Barron, needn’t be famous or rich. In fact, one of the The Hero’s Trail provides youth with Examples overriding themes in his book is the plenty of real-life examples of heroism true definition of heroism. “Heroes at work—from the works of famous and celebrities are often confused in people to the gestures of the unknown. Sharon Korbeck our society, and that is such a serious problem. Heroism is ultimately about character quali- All of us need heroes, ties, such as courage, especially young people perseverance, or com- passion. Being a cele- because they need to know brity, by contrast, is just about fame—having a what amazing things other name or face or num- ber on a jersey that peo- people have done in order to ple recognize. To use a realize what gifts they may camping analogy— which I do often!—one have inside themselves. is a real meal in the pan and one is merely a flash in the pan.” Barron relates the stories of champion cyclist Lance Armstrong’s valiant bat- Barron didn’t just happen upon the tle with cancer as well as that of nine- topic of heroism. He was inspired by year-old Sherwin Long, who jumped his own life situation. The father of five into a pool to save his brother’s life, children ages seven to fifteen, Barron even though Sherwin himself couldn’t said, “It wasn’t until I had kids of my swim. own that I realized the immensity of this idea.” They’re just two examples Barron uses to illustrate some of the ingredients of Further inspired in his youth, Barron heroism: courage, faith, perseverance, credits his mother, Gloria, with shap- humor, hope, adaptability, and moral The Hero’s Trail by T. A. Barron ing his life and his thoughts about direction. “If you could boil all of them

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Everyday Heroes

Barron Introduces New Trilogy and Picture- Book Novel in 2004

T. A. Barron’s studies of heroism aren’t just pres- ent in his nonfiction book The Hero’s Trail. He has been able to work heroic characters of his own creation into books.

“All my novels focus on a heroic young person—a girl or boy who finds the inner strength to rise above great obstacles. Kids from all over the country respond to these fic- tional heroes, and they tell me so. Young people Tom Barron yearn for positive role models who can inspire them. And given the chance, kids can do incredible things,” Barron said. down to their essence, mix them together in a great stew pot, and cook them over time, what a wondrous feast you’d have! Just This May, watch for High as a Hawk (Philomel), one spoonful would be enough to empower a lifetime of heroic illustrated by Ted Lewin. Barron calls it a “picture- deeds,” Barron said. book novel” based on a historic event in which an eight-year-old girl climbs Long Peak. As Barron inspires his own children, he hopes The Hero’s Trail will offer children everywhere similar heroic examples. “When they climbed that mountain, they had climbed their own personal mountains,” said “All of us need heroes, especially young people because they Barron, again echoing his familiar themes of nature, need to know what amazing things other people have done in children, and heroism. order to realize what gifts they may have inside themselves,” Barron said. “Just as every apple seed holds the power to Coming in October, Barron’s first book in the Avalon become a tree, every person, whatever his or her background, series, The Thousand Groves of Avalon (Philomel), can make a positive difference to the world.” & will be released as part of Barron’s seven-year trilogy project. The story takes place halfway between T. A. Barron is the author of the five-book epic The Lost Years of earth and heaven. The lead characters include a Merlin, as well as other books for children and young adults. For young roof thatcher with a surprising connection to more information about T. A. Barron, visit www.tabarron.com. Merlin and a former slave girl who becomes a priestess. For more information about the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes, visit www.barronprize.org. To nominate someone for the prize, e-mail Barbara Ann Richman: [email protected].

Heroes on the Library Shelves

Are you looking for examples of heroes to share with children in your library? The Gloria Barron Prize organiza- tion has compiled a bibliography of nonfiction and fiction titles that include ancient, modern, and mythic heroes. For the list, visit www.barronprize.org.

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The Talespinner of Ghana An Interview with Adwoa Badoe Carol-Ann Hoyte

he culture of a distant world isn’t too far away when While working as a physician in Ghana, how much time were Adwoa Badoe takes pen in hand or prepares to present an you able to dedicate to storytelling? TAfrican folk tale to eager listeners. No time at all. I only ever told stories with family and friends, Storyteller and children’s book author Badoe grew up in Ghana, much as we might have watched TV together. so she brings an African flavor to her four picture books, which have been published in her new home, Canada. What skills, knowledge, and experience from your medical career help you as a storyteller and children’s book author? Her books include Crabs for Dinner (Sister Vision Press, 1995), The Queen’s New Shoes (Women’s Press, 1998), The Pot of As a doctor, I learned to listen intently with my ears, my eyes, Wisdom: Ananse Stories (Groundwood Books, 2001), and Nana’s and my mind. When I tell stories, I try to encourage people to Cold Days (Groundwood Books, 2002). Badoe, a former doctor, watch, listen, and be a part of the story. A physician must also lives with her family in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. have good powers of reasoning and deduction, and this helps in plot preparation. Describe your childhood in Ghana. What brought you to Canada? I am the fifth child in a family of six kids. My mom was an ele- mentary school teacher, and my dad was a university professor. I moved to Canada in late 1992 on the invitation of my brother- We read a lot. We lived in Kumasi and Accra, the two biggest in-law, plus my husband was adventurous. Moving to Canada cities in Ghana, but when I was still little we lived for awhile in was rather scary. We had lived for a little while in England, so it my parents’ hometown, Kibi, where we were influenced a lot by wasn’t that much of a culture shock. Our greatest problem was our larger extended family and the rural culture. My older sib- getting into the work force with our qualifications and figuring lings were mostly away in boarding school, and when they out what to do. It proved more difficult than we had thought. We returned, life was suddenly more vibrant, with stories of their are still making the transition eleven years later. I’ve finally fig- school lives, love interests, and other teenage interests. Then ured out the key to winter though: stay warm. there were the cousins, aunts, new babies, funerals, festivals, and more stories all the time. Thinking about it now, life was How is it that you ended up living in Guelph, the same city rather colorful. where children’s author Robert Munsch lives?

What drew you to the art form of storytelling? My brother-in-law was already residing in Guelph when we moved to Canada. We have remained in Guelph ever since. Storytelling was part of the whole fabric of our lives growing up in Ghana. I never even thought of it as an art form. As far as I How did Munsch play a role in the early stage of your career as know, I have always been drawn to it and enjoy it immensely. a children’s book author?

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The Talespinner of Ghana I was introduced to Robert Munsch by my son’s preschool winter my children’s nana visited, and that’s all I’ll say about teacher who knew him quite well. Robert agreed to read through that. my manuscript and came back with an edit of Crabs for Dinner. He has remained a good friend and mentor. Did your children’s books stem from oral stories or were some of them ideas for books from the very beginning? What inspired your desire to write children’s books? Apart from the folk tales I have writ- Several things came together to ten, The Pot of Wisdom (Ground- make me a children’s author. I had a wood Books) and Stories from East lot of time on my hands once we and West (Macmillan Educational), immigrated to Canada, then I all my other books were planned as learned to use a computer and books from the beginning. couldn’t stop myself from writing with it. Most importantly, I had a Of all your books, is there one that four-year-old son with whom I holds special significance for you? loved to share stories. I love Crabs for Dinner for its sim- What can you tell us about your plicity and because it is a bridge books? between my new home and the old. The Pot of Wisdom: Ananse Stories is Crabs for Dinner: My nephews must also significant to me because it have felt swamped by what must connects me to the voices of my have seemed to them a sudden ancestors over hundreds of years. immigration of uncles and aunts to Canada. Suddenly there were all Adwoa Badoe At what point in the creation of your these people speaking a strange books do you see the illustrations? language, and who in conversation would give in to loud, belly-shaking It depends on the publisher. I was laughter. At dinnertime, these rela- involved with the illustrations for tives took great pleasure in making The Pot of Wisdom from the begin- all kinds of weird-looking, strange- ning. With the other books, I only smelling foods and eating them saw the illustrations when the books with apparent relish. This idea were just about to go to the printer. came about one dinnertime with our extended family in Guelph. I am usually surprised. It’s a bit like having a baby in your womb for The Queen’s New Shoes: I wanted to months and then seeing her for the enter a children’s story competi- first time when she is born. You like tion. I searched my mind for ideas, your baby because it’s your baby, but then I remembered a news item I sometimes you’re not altogether had seen many years ago on TV sure about the wrinkled face peeking when I lived in Ghana. The cameras at you, and then you think, “Ooh, exposed the closet of a certain first she’s so cute.” lady of a certain poor country. And she owned more than 3,000 pairs of How often does work of the illustra- shoes! I was impressed then as I am Crabs for Dinner by Adwoa Badoe tor match the visual images you now. have of the books?

The Pot of Wisdom: Ananse Stories: One evening at bedtime, I Hardly ever. The illustrators are creative artists just like the told an Ananse story, “The Pot of Wisdom,” to my son. He loved writer. When they read your manuscript, they process it and it. I wrote it down and tried to publish a picture book. When I then they create. The wonder is that one story is actually created was done, I still had the urge to write, so I did. Then I sent the twice. stories off to first one publisher and then another. I wrote a few more down, and one rejection followed another. Then one pub- How does telling stories differ from sharing them in books? Do lisher asked, “Do you have more of these stories?’’ you have a preference?

Nana’s Cold Days: In the group home where I worked, I knew a Although some books may read almost as though they were lady who had many blankets and would refuse to get out of bed being told, there is generally a difference of distance and during the winter. That could have been the story, but then one approach. A book may almost ignore the author in reaching its

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The Talespinner of Ghana audience, but in the telling of a story, the audience cannot What has been your children’s reaction to your career? ignore the teller. My kids mostly enjoy what I do. They are always excited when a I’m lucky to be able to do both. new book comes out. Often I take Writing is solitary and comfortable them with me when I perform sto- until your publisher contacts you. rytelling or dance, and I have visited Storytelling is lively and adrenaline- their schools and classrooms for intense but full of the joy of commu- book-reading events, storytelling, nity. drumming, and dancing. They have developed a keen interest for all the How would you compare audiences African cultural arts. of Canadian versus Ghanaian chil- dren listening to you tell stories? When you’re not telling stories or writing books, what keeps you I often tell stories in the Akan tradi- busy? tion with a lot of audience participa- tion in the form of call-and- I specialize in teaching fun, interac- response songs and interruption tive, black history workshops for chants. In Ghana, people are used to schools, using storytelling, drum- this as a part of their culture; in ming, and dance. My husband and I Canada, they may be tentative at teach a vibrant group of adults and first, but then they realize how much children dance and hand drum- fun it is and you can’t stop them! ming in Guelph. Our performance The Queen’s New Shoes by Adwoa Badoe troupe, Jiwani, performs at various Tell us a bit about your family. benefits and community events.

I have a busy family. My husband What are you currently working on? Fulé commutes each day to work but still teaches drum lessons and During the last year, I worked on one performs with Jiwani (Badoe and folk tale, four picture-book manu- her husband’s performance scripts, and two short stories; but troupe). I have two sons, Wynne, 14, most of my time was spent on my and Matthew, 10. Wynne plays the first novel, Sunset in Asante, a histor- piano and likes to breakdance; ical fiction novel for adults. I am also Matthew writes poetry and likes preparing for the Toronto Story- having friends for Playstation sleep- telling Festival. overs. Our daughter Stephanie is 9, and she loves to swim, dance, and What are your plans for 2004? dress up fancy. I would like to mature as an African In what ways do your children teller of stories in both the spoken inspire ideas for your stories or and written word. I love the stories books? and the histories that ring from Africa and involve black people in When I had my first child, I con- the Diaspora. & nected with childhood again and could savor every bit of it. My chil- The Pot of Wisdom: Ananse Stories by Adwoa Badoe Carol-Ann Hoyte is a library clerk in dren’s reactions to life and events Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She is also have me laughing or marveling all the time. The ideas behind a children’s book reviewer and the Quebec regional coordinator Crabs for Dinner and Nana’s Cold Days were inspired by family for Canadian Children’s Book Week, Canada’s largest children’s lit- events. erature event.

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Untangling the Cobwebs Choosing Great Web Sites for Kids Genevieve Gallagher

ifteen years ago, librarians didn’t have to worry about the functions electronically, this community of membership helps use or appropriateness of the Internet or consider the to keep workflow moving smoothly. We receive Web site recom- Framifications of the Children’s Internet Protection Act mendations on an ongoing basis and evaluate submissions (CIPA). Those days are gone. three times per year. In addition, the fluid nature of the Internet requires that we reevaluate all sites twice each year to ensure The fast-paced and exciting world of the Internet has provided they are still active, updated, and that their content and focus new challenges for children’s librarians. And sometimes all the have not shifted dramatically, which would necessitate re-eval- questions and concerns become a veritable cobweb of confusion. uation.

The ALSC Great Web Sites for Kids Committee (GWS) was cre- The GWS Committee receives close to 1,000 submissions per ated to help untangle those cobwebs. The group is charged with month from our site suggestion page. Sites are submitted by a administering, maintaining, and evaluating the ALA Great Web variety of sources including children, Web site creators, and Sites for Kids (www.ala.org/greatsites) using established selec- librarians, as well as committee members; each member is tion and reconsideration criteria. encouraged to suggest three or more sites each voting cycle.

The committee is made up of seven members and two co- To identify sites, committee members read many print journals, chairs. Each participant is appointed for a two-year term, and such as Booklist, School Library Journal, and Library Media many return for an additional two years. Because the committee Connection, as well as online sources. Outgoing committee chair Mary Voors also notes that she tries to read “anything by Walter Minkel,” an original member of the Great Sites Task Force who Sites to Reference generously conducted an online in-service discussion for com- mittee members with questions about evaluation and accessi- Net-mom’s Internet Safe House: www.netmom.com bility issues.

Blue Web’n Site Evaluation Rubric: When choosing sites for inclusion on the Great Web Sites page, www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/rubric.cfm committee members review sites for obviously inappropriate content. Each committee member is given a portion of the sites The Librarian’s Guide to Cyberspace (ALSC publication): to evaluate; the individual committee members then vote “yes” www.ala.org/greatsitesbrochure or “no” on the sites they have been assigned. Website Usability for Children (by Jakob Neilsen): Many sites that are submitted are already on the GWS page; oth- www.useit.com/alertbox/20020414.html ers turn out to be incorrect URLs; and many more simply do not conform to the committee’s mission, which is to choose sites of

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Untangling the Cobwebs

Crafting Your Library’s Site Promotion

Many library and school Web sites feature pages for children, No matter how well crafted your library’s site is, users will not but the quality and depth of the sites can vary greatly. In some know about it unless you tell them. Here are some tips. cases, there is a specific department or fund to develop, pro- mote, and maintain the Web site. ● Create signage in the library announcing new features.

Many library sites will contain extensive original content, ● Write an article for your local paper with your library Web such as found on the Public Library of Charlotte and address and teasers about your page. Mecklenburg County’s site where they have Story Place, an interactive site with games, stories, and activities (www. ● Offer Internet classes for children with their caregivers. storyplace.org). ● Children and their Internet use have been making head- Smaller libraries may have little flexibility in the appearance lines during the past year. Many libraries are evaluating of their library pages due to either their contracted Internet the effect of the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) service provider or financial constraints. Some libraries use on their institutions. Regardless of whether your library basic templates as their home-page framework, but they are implements filtering software or not, as children’s librari- unable to create anything more sophisticated than lists of ans, we can put our collection development skills into high links for their patrons. Links should be carefully selected, gear and search out the best sites that we can and provide ensuring they are appropriate and active. easy access to them for our patrons.

high quality for children up through age fourteen and their par- ents, teachers, and caregivers. This initial evaluation is fairly straightforward. More in-depth site evaluation takes more time. The games are played, the links are followed, and the site con- tent is checked for bias, accuracy, and ease of use.

In addition to these basic requirements, committee members examine a site’s advertising, clarity of the presentation, speed with which pages load, reputation of the site’s author or the organization that maintains the site, and general page design. Committee members usually find only a few sites worthy of fur- ther evaluation. These sites are then voted on by the entire com- mittee. All sites approved by at least two-thirds of the committee are added to the GWS pages.

When sites are selected, the site’s webmaster is sent an e-mail notification by the committee chair alerting him or her that the Web site has been chosen as a GWS site, and including a link to the GWS seal for inclusion on the selected site. The committee hopes this seal will be recognized as a symbol of quality by both Advertising should be appropriate to the content of the site. In parents and children. addition, advertising should be clearly separate from the site’s content and should not overshadow the body of the site. Evaluation criteria is available on the GWS page. The committee Children often have difficulty differentiating between the uses the four main criteria listed there, as established in 1997 by content and advertising on the Internet. the ALSC Children and Technology Committee. Although these These sites should not promote social biases, and they should are not all-inclusive, nor do they all apply to each and every site use the medium to expand the users’ experience. Although chosen, they are a solid reference point for evaluating Internet many sites contain material that may be found in traditional sites for children: print sources, a good site will expand this using links to fur- ther information or definitions, streaming video, or interac- The importance of site authorship. It should be clear who cre- tive opportunities to create a richer understanding. & ated and maintains the site, and there should be a method for contacting the site author or manager with comments or Genevieve Gallagher, of the Orange County (Va.) Public Library, is questions. chair of ALSC’s Great Web Sites for Kids Committee. The site’s purpose. The goals and objectives of a site, whether it is to entertain, persuade, educate, or sell, should be clear to users.

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NEW!

Now there’s a research-based and proven program to help children from birth to age five develop early literacy skills.

PLA and ALSC have packaged everything you need to offer three Every Child Ready to Read workshops into one, easy-to use kit that includes: ✪ Training DVD or video and scripts for each of three programs (one for babies, toddlers and preschoolers) ✪ Supplemental resource materials ✪ Program brochures — 100/age group ✪ Four videos that reinforce workshop content ✪ Every Child Ready to Read poster ✪ 180 bookmarks to promote the program, early literacy and your library Cost: $295 plus shipping

PLA/ALSC can also provide on-site program training. Call for details and cost.

For more information about early literacy and the Every Child Ready to Read initiative, go to www.pla.org/earlyliteracy.htm

Order the kit online at : www.pla.org/earlyliteracy.htm Or email: [email protected] spr04-CAL_3p.qxd 5/7/2004 11:14 AM Page 44 The Bright Midwinter ALA Midwinter Meeting, January 2004

Rosanne Cerny of the Queens Borough Public Library in New York is the newest member of the Children and Libraries Advisory Committee. Does she ever slow down? ALSC President Cynthia K. Richey is caught working diligently in the Convention Center corridor between meetings.

This group was busy during the ALSC All-Committee Meeting plan- ning this fall’s ALSC Institute. Imagine their surprise on hearing that featured Institute speakers, Kevin Henkes and Kate DiCamillo, were honored with ALSC book awards. The group includes, from left, Gretchen Wronka, Hennepin County (Minn.) Library; Luann Toth, Author and librarian Nancy Pearl signed lots of copies of her book, School Library Journal; Penny Markey, County of Los Angeles Public and even more of her popular librarian action figure, at the ALA Library; and Caitlin Dixon, Pierce County (Wash.) Library. Store.

44 Spring 2004 • Children and Libraries spr04-CAL_3p.qxd 5/7/2004 11:14 AM Page 45 in San Diego

Librarians seeking nightlife in San Diego may have found the pop- ular, historic Gaslamp Quarter, just a short jaunt from the Convention Center.

Steven Kellogg looks just as happy as jubilant cow Clorinda in his latest book, published by Simon and Schuster.

Giggle, giggle, quack? Did these ducks find their Eliza Dresang (left), chair of the 2004 Newbery Committee, and Kathy East, chair of way out of Doreen Cronin’s picture book and into the 2004 Caldecott Committee, show off their winners after the Midwinter press a pond in a San Diego park? conference.

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Book and Media Reviews

Abbey, Cherie D., and Kevin Hillstrom, eds. Biography Today: Profiles of People of Interest to Young Readers/Authors, vol. 14. Fleming, Denise; photographs by Karen Powers. Maker of Things. Marcus, Leonard S. Ways of Telling: Conversations on the Art of the Picture Book. Good Conversation! A Talk with Pam Muñoz Ryan (videotape)

Connecting with the Creators Russell Freedman, Mary GrandPré, Dan Greenburg, Nikki Grimes, Laura The Lives and Works of Authors and Illustrators Hillenbrand, Stephen Hillenburg, Norton Junko Yokota, Book Review Editor Juster, Lurlene McDaniel, and Stephanie Tolan. Each very readable entry presents Who is the person behind the name on a an author in a format intended for both book cover? Young readers may notice a pleasure reading and research. name of an author or illustrator, but rarely will they have a chance to meet the Sections of each biography include child- people who have created the books they hood, favorite books and authors, educa- enjoy. The following books (and video) tion, career highlights, featured books, are useful additions to the professional family, hobbies and interests, selected bookshelf, but they may also be produc- writings, honors and awards, further tively used with children and adolescents. readings, Web sites, and more. (See Reading and learning about the lives, www.biographytoday.com.) backgrounds, and craft of successful authors and illustrators helps young peo- Fleming, Denise; photographs by Karen ple gain a perspective on what influenced Powers. Maker of Things. Meet the their eventual careers. Author series. Katonah, N.Y.: Richard C. Owen, 2002. 32p. $14.95 (ISBN and childhood classes and activities con- Abbey, Cherie D., and Kevin Hillstrom, 1-5724-596-7). tributed to her journey toward becoming eds. Biography Today: Profiles of an artist. These descriptions help child People of Interest to Young Readers/ This book is one of the newest in the readers imagine how their own childhood Authors, vol. 14. Detroit, Mich.: “Meet the Author” series. A “Dear lives may be helping to shape their future. Omnigraphics, 2004. 443p. $39 (ISBN Readers,” in which the author shares 0-7808-0652-2). information with readers as though writ- Fleming then gives a thorough explana- ing a letter to a young fan, opens each tion of how she goes about her work. Her The Biography Today series features peo- book. Appropriately, the books end with description of her personal writing ple of high interest to young people today. the salutation, “Your Friend, .” recorded on note cards through many who are making a difference in the world drafts of the text—is presented under- of young people through their respective In the book featuring artist and author standably for a young audience. work. In addition to the main series that Denise Fleming, Fleming presents a brief Photographs show images that inspire presents biographies more generally, the look at her childhood and her life, sharing her, from her backyard flora to the many subject area series is divided into artists, photographs as though the reader were creatures in her life. Her fascinating authors, performing artists, scientists and sitting beside her and looking into a process of creating illustrations as single inventors, sports figures, and world lead- photo album while discussing childhood sheets of handmade paper is clearly ers. There is no duplication between the stories together. Children will likely find it depicted through close-up photos. subject series and the main series. humorous that Fleming shares a grade Subject series are published three times school report card indicating that she did Through the series, readers have the per year in paperback, and an annual well academically but needed to improve opportunity to meet authors in as per- cumulative edition is available in hard- her behavior, specifically listening atten- sonal a way as possible through the back. Featured in volume 14 of the tively and talking out of turn. Also inter- medium of the book. There are twenty- authors series are Orson Scott Card, esting is hearing how family members nine books in the series thus far. Another

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Book Reviews recent title in the series is If You Give an work with their life stories, and it is evi- The camera shifts to a beach only three Author a Pencil by Laura Numeroff (ISBN dent that he has been very successful in minutes from Ryan’s house, where she 1-57274-595-9). making those connections clear to his and her family have spent much time. audience. Sitting on the sand, Ryan reads from one of her picture books, Hello, Ocean. This setting serves as a perfect backdrop.

Podell asks Ryan about her Pura Belpré Award-winning book, Esperanza Rising, and she explains how the story was inspired by her own grandmother’s story. She also shares some of her other books— from picture books for the very young, to award-winning informational books such as When Marian Sang, to novels. This video allows her personality to shine through. Children and adults will enjoy meeting Ryan in this delightful video. &

Marcus, Leonard S. Ways of Telling: Conversations on the Art of the Picture Book. New York: Dutton, 2002. 256p. Good Conversation! A Talk with Pam Call for Referees $29.99 (ISBN 0-525-46490-5.) Muñoz Ryan. Scarborough, N.Y.: Tim Podell Productions. 20 min. video- To make Children and Libraries a This engaging book is a compilation of tape. $49.98 (ISBN 1-58543-061-7). critic Marcus’s interviews with fourteen truly interactive publication, picture-book creators including This video features an interview with Pam we’re looking for ALSC members Mitsumasa Anno, Ashley Bryan, Eric Muñoz Ryan, creator of many books for to serve as volunteer referees for Carle, Tana Hoban, Karla Kuskin, James children and adolescents. Producer Tom journal articles. Unsolicited arti- Marshall, Robert McCloskey, Iona Opie, Podell visited Ryan in her home in cles and those of a scholarly Helen Oxenbury, Jerry Pinkney, Maurice Arcadia, California. Comfortably attired, nature must be submitted to at Sendak, William Steig, Rosemary Wells, she invites viewers in. She picks oranges least two referees to judge the and Charlotte Zolotow. True to his style, from her backyard, plays with her dog, submissions on accuracy, style, Marcus poses questions that show the and offers a tour of her home office where impact, importance, and inter- depth of his knowledge and his ability to she writes. Viewers see the desk where she est. Specialists in particular gen- make connections; all in all, the inter- writes, her computer, and even the res (such as technology, views offer “portraits” that reveal much Japanese daruma doll on top of it. literature, intellectual freedom, about the authors and illustrators. Marcus’s informed questions draw out Ryan explains how she follows the programming, etc.) are espe- aspects of these book creators’ lives in Japanese custom of painting in one eye of cially needed. ways that will interest young readers as the daruma doll when she makes a well as adults. Marcus explores the typical wish—at the start of each novel—and Referees make recommenda- areas of early influences, art training, painting in the other eye when the novel tions to the editor on whether or work as an illustrator, working with child is completed—the granting of her wish. It not manuscripts should be audiences, and so forth. is details like this that give the video accepted for publication. Inter- impact beyond the facts typically found ested librarians should contact But depending on his interviewee, he in a biographical sketch about the author. Children and Libraries Editor customizes his focus on issues such as She talks about how she developed as a Sharon Korbeck at toylady@ racism, culturally influenced artistic style, writer, as well as shares her writing habits. athenet.net or (715) 258-0369 historical connections and inspiration, Noting how diligent writers must be, she for more information on the ref- relationship of illustrated work to theater offers encouragement for those who want eree process. staging, etc. Marcus said his intent was to to pursue their own writing. seek the thread that connects people’s life

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tion and discussion with Newbery Winner, Honoree to Capitol Choices. A free pre- Grace ALSC National Institute conference on “Under- standing Poverty: An Over- The excitement was palpable at the ALA view As It Relates to Midwinter Meeting. Committee members Children, Their Parents, and had no sooner finished ALSC National Caregivers” will be offered Institute planning meetings when they on September 30 to paid learned two of their guest speakers had registrants. For registration just won major ALSC honors. information, visit www.ala. org/alsc and click on Newbery Medal and past honor winner “Events and Conferences.” TLC presents PLA and ALSC leaders with a $5,000 check for Kate DiCamillo (Thursday dinner) and the “Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library” project. Newbery Honor and past Caldecott Honor winner Kevin Henkes (Friday lunch) will speak at the 2004 National The Library Corporation Donates Institute at the Hilton Minneapolis, $10,000 to PLA/ALSC TLC donation was made for each Thursday, September 30, through attendee who attended a product demon- Saturday, October 2. At the Midwinter Meeting, TLC (The stration. The donation was part of a fund- Library Corporation) representatives pre- raising program TLC created to celebrate Program tracks will cover topics including sented PLA and ALSC with a check for its thirty-year anniversary. TLC continued middle-school readers, outcome-based $5,000 to benefit the joint PLA/ALSC proj- the program at the PLA National evaluation, and successful building and ect “Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Conference (Seattle) in February, raising renovation projects. Saturday morning Library.” For every conference attendee an additional $5,000. Be sure to visit the workshops will focus on the PLA/ALSC badge scanned at the TLC booth, the TLC booth at Annual Conference Early Literacy Initiative and book evalua- company donated $5 to the project. A $25 (Orlando) as the program continues.

Anton Retires ALSC members, friends, and colleagues gathered at the joint ALSC/AASL/YALSA membership reception in San Diego to bid fond farewell to Stephanie Anton, who retired on January 30, 2004, after sixteen years of service with ALSC.

Anton began her career with ALSC on May 18, 1987, as a program assistant. In 1989, she became a program officer, and in 1997 was promoted to deputy execu- tive director. Anton also served as acting executive director from June 2000 to August 2001. Among her many responsibilities over the years, Anton managed the ALSC conference meetings and programs, preconferences, the national insti- tute, and the Newbery/Caldecott Banquet. Stephanie Anton (center) with President Cynthia K. Richey (left) and Executive Director Malore I. Brown (right). ALSC thanks Stephanie Anton for her dedication, good humor, and wisdom. We will miss her!

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ALSC News can ask questions, post suggestions, and literature to teach reading strategies to Great Web Sites Cited by NEH share new ideas. PRESCHSVCS provides an bilingual students. Activities will include: ALSC’s Great Web Sites for Kids (GWS) online forum on any topic related to pre- selecting appropriate literature for lan- (www.ala.org/greatsites) has been school services, programs, or materials guage proficiency, cultural learning style selected for inclusion on Edsitement related to children from ages infant and reading ability, using literature to (http://edsitement.neh.gov), a Web site through the preschool years, and the teach reading strategies such as reader’s that serves as a gateway to exemplary adults who serve them. Subscribers to the theater, reciprocal teaching, SQ3R, humanities-related resources on the list can share successful programs or out- vocabulary strategies, and the directed Internet for students, parents, and teach- reach efforts, highlight quality new mate- reading thinking activity. (Two-day work- ers. GWS was reviewed by a peer review rials, ask questions, or share new services shop to be conducted in English.) panel and a Blue Ribbon panel made up that they have instituted. CHILDTECH is of educators, education administrators, devoted to the discussion of technology July 12, 13, and 14: “Current Issues: Books and higher education institutions. Both issues as they relate to youth services in in Spanish for Young Readers.” Intro- panels determined that GWS met the pro- libraries. MANAGINGCS is a forum for shar- duction to and analysis of current prac- ject’s criteria for intellectual quality, con- ing issues, ideas, queries, solutions, and tices and problems in selecting and using tent, design, and classroom impact. best practices in administration, supervi- books in Spanish for children and adoles- sion, and management of children’s and cents. (Three-day workshop to be con- Edsitement features links to online youth library services. ducted in English.) humanities resources from museums, universities, libraries, and other cultural ALSC-L, ALSCPUBSCH, ALSCCOLMGT, PRESCH- July 26, 27, and 28: “Literature in Spanish institutions; lesson plans in art, history, SVCS, CHILDTECH, and MANAGINGCS are now for Children and Adolescents/La liter- literature, and social studies; and engag- available in digest format. Rather than atura en español dirigida a los lectores ing activities for children and their par- receiving each post on a list as it is made, infantiles y juveniles.” Introduction to the ents. The Edsitement project is partnered subscribers can choose to receive one literature in Spanish for children and by the National Endowment for the mailing per week that includes all of the adolescents, including selection criteria Humanities (NEH); the National Trust for posts for that week. The digest version and reading promotion strategies. the Humanities; and the MarcoPolo will be sent out each Friday. To request (Three-day workshop to be conducted in Education Foundation. the digest format, send the following Spanish.) message to [email protected]: set listname mail digest (substituting the name of the Workshop sessions will be from 9 a.m. to Morris Remembers ALSC list). For example: set ALSC-L mail digest 3 p.m. Students have free use of center resources in the afternoons. Enrollment is The late Bill Morris, former vice president Subscribers must follow this procedure limited; early registration is recom- and director of library promotion at for each list that they would like to receive mended. For further information, call HarperCollins Children’s Books, has in digest format. Current subscribers who (760) 750-4070, e-mail Dr. Isabel Schon at remembered ALSC in his estate plans prefer to continue receiving messages in [email protected], or fax: (760) 750- through the establishment of the William the regular manner, when they are actu- 4073. C. Morris Endowment. The net interest ally posted by subscribers, need not do income of this $183,000 endowment is anything. Your subscription remains as is. designated to be used by ALSC for the Morales, Alvarez Snare Belpré funding of programs, publications, For subscription instructions and addi- events, and/or awards in the promotion Award tional information on digests and all of of children’s literature as determined by ALSC’s electronic discussion lists, visit Yuyi Morales, illustrator and author of the ALSC board in conjunction with the www.ala.org/alsc and click on the “Stay Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and ALSC Planning and Budget Committee. Connected” graphic near the bottom of Counting Book (Chronicle Books, 2003); Morris, whose publishing career spanned the homepage. and Julia Alvarez, author of Before We fifty-eight years, passed away on Sep- Were Free (Alfred A. Knopf, 2002) are the tember 29, 2003, at the age of seventy- 2004 winners of the Pura Belpré four. He was the first recipient of the Illustrator Award and Author Award ALSC Distinguished Service Award. Want to Study This Summer? respectively, honoring Latino authors and The Barahona Center for the Study of illustrators whose work best portrays, Keep Connected by E-Lists Books in Spanish for Children and affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural Adolescents at California State University experience in a children’s book. The ALSC offers four new electronic discus- San Marcos announces three workshops: awards are administered by the ALSC and sion lists. ALSCCOLMGT provides an online REFORMA, the National Association to forum for public librarians who are June 21 and 22: “Books and Reading Promote Library and Information engaged in the development and man- Strategies for Bilingual Students in Services to Latinos and the Spanish- agement of children’s print, audiovisual, Grades K–8” This workshop will focus on Speaking. and electronic collections. Subscribers reading, selecting, and using appropriate continued on page 51

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ALSC News 2004 Notable Children’s Books Younger Readers Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by Kathleen Krull, illus. by Yuyi Morales, J.K. Rowling, Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic Ella Sarah Gets Dressed by Margaret Chodos- Harcourt The Tree of Life: A Book Depicting the Life of Irvine, illus., Harcourt The Man Who Made Time Travel by Kathryn Charles Darwin, Naturalist, Geologist and I Face the Wind by Vicki Cobb, illus. by Julia Lasky, illus. by Kevin Hawkes, Melanie Thinker by Peter Sís, illus. Frances Foster/ Gorton, HarperCollins Kroupa/Farrar Farrar Surprising Sharks by Nicola Davies, illus. by Hana’s Suitcase: A True Story by Karen Levine, The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud, James Croft, Candlewick illus., Albert Whitman Miramax Bks./Hyperion The Racecar Alphabet by Brian Floca, illus., The Man Who Went to the Far Side of the Atheneum/Simon & Schuster Moon: The Story of Apollo 11 Astronaut Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French, illus. by All Ages Michael Collins by Bea Uusma Schyffert, Bruce Whatley, Clarion Tell Me a Picture by Quentin Blake, illus., Translated by Emi Guner, Chronicle Bks. Little One Step by Simon James, illus., Millbrook Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson, Putnam Candlewick Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee, illus., Harcourt What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? by Steve The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Jenkins and Robin Page, illus., Houghton Older Readers Mordicai Gerstein, illus., Roaring Brook Pr. Mifflin Colibrí by Ann Cameron, Frances Foster There’s a Frog in My Throat! 440 Animal How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long, illus. Bks./Farrar Sayings a Little Bird Told Me by Loreen by David Shannon, Harcourt Jack: The Early Years of John F. Kennedy by Leedy and Pat Street, illus. by Loreen Leedy, Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Ilene Cooper, Dutton Children’s Books Holiday House Book by Yuyi Morales, illus., Chronicle Bks. Ben Franklin’s Almanac: Being a True Account Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo, My Name is Yoon by Helen Recorvits, illus. by of the Good Gentleman’s Life by Candace Scholastic Gabi Swiatkowska, Farrar Fleming, illus., Anne Schwartz/Simon & Blues Journey by Walter Dean Myers, illus. by One Is a Snail, Ten is a Crab: A Counting by Schuster Christopher Myers, Holiday House Feet Book by April Pulley Sayre and Jeff In Defense of Liberty: The Story of America’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: A Pop-up Sayre, illus. by Randy Cecil, Candlewick Bill of Rights by Russell Freedman, illus., Adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Original Tale Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Holiday House by Robert Sabuda, illus., Little Simon/ Willems, illus., Hyperion Inkheart by Cornelia Funke, translated by Simon & Schuster Anthea Bell, Chicken House/Scholastic The Hidden Alphabet by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, Middle Readers Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes, Greenwillow illus., a Neal Porter Book/Roaring Brook Pr. Keeper of the Night by Kimberly Willis Holt, Silent Movie by Avi, illus. by C. B. Mordan, Henry Holt Anne Schwartz/Simon & Schuster The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones, Mack Made Movies by Don Brown, illus. For the annotated 2004 list and past Greenwillow Roaring Brook Pr. Notable Children’s Book lists, visit Theodore Roosevelt: Champion of the The Shape Game by Anthony Browne, illus., www.ala.org/alsc and click on “Awards American Spirit by Betsy Harvey Kraft, Farrar and Scholarships.” illus., Clarion George Washington’s Teeth by Deborah Mosque by David Macaulay, illus., Walter Chandra and Madeleine Comora, illus. by Lorraine Bks./Houghton Mifflin Brock Cole, Farrar Members of the 2004 Notable Children’s Stop the Train! by Geraldine McCaughrean, Vote! by Eileen Christelow, illus., Clarion Books Committee are Marion Rutsch, HarperCollins Granny Torrelli Makes Soup by Sharon Creech, chair, Our Lady of Lourdes School Library, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying illus. by Chris Raschka, Joanna Cotler Bethesda, Md.; Carolyn R. Angus, George Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 Books/HarperCollins by Jim Murphy, illus., Clarion Stone Center for Children’s Books, Iqbal: A Novel by Francesco D’Adamo, Ruby Electric by Theresa Nelson, Atheneum Claremont, Calif.; Jerene D. Battisti, Translated by Ann Leonori, Atheneum/ Run, Boy, Run by Uri Orlev, translated by Hillel Renton Public Library, Wash.; Peg W. Simon & Schuster Halkin, Walter Lorraine Bks./Houghton Ciszek, Niles Public Library, Ill.; Elizabeth The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mifflin Guldseth, Arlington, Va.; Susan Link, Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool Cuba 15 by Nancy Osa, Delacorte of Thread by Kate DiCamillo, illus. by Colony Bend Elementary School, Sugar East by Edith Pattou, Harcourt Timothy Basil Ering, Candlewick Land, Tex.; Elizabeth Long, New York; The River Between Us by Richard Peck, Dial The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, Random Micki Nevett, Westmere Elementary The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett, Snowed in with Grandmother Silk by Carol School, Albany, N.Y.; Maria Salvadore, HarperCollins Fenner, illus. by Amanda Harvey, Dial Washington, D.C.; Victoria J. Smith, Remember the Lusitania! by Diana Preston, Bruh Rabbit and the Tar Baby Girl by Virginia McArthur Public Library, Biddeford, illus., Walker & Co. Hamilton, illus. by James E. Ransome, Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve, EOS/ Maine; and Maureen White, University of Bluesky Pr./Scholastic HarperCollins Houston at Clear Lake School Library. Horse Hooves and Chicken Feet: Mexican Don’t Hold Me Back: My Life and Art by Folktales edited by Neil Philip, illus. by Winfred Rembert, illus., a Marcato Book/ Jacqueline Mair, Clarion Cricket Bks.

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ALSC News

continued from page 49 In Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and They Sure Sound Good: 2004 Notable Children’s Recordings Counting Book, Morales’s energetic and playful illustrations capture the essence ALSC’s 2004 list of Notable Children’s Recordings for youth age fourteen and of Mexican culture with bold and humor- younger includes: ous motifs that illuminate Grandma Beetle’s vitality and Señor Calavera’s African Playground. Putumayo World Music expressiveness. Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart: The Story of Amber and Essie,Told Here in Poems and Pictures. Live Oak Before We Were Free is an engrossing Media account of twelve-year-old Anita’s life The Carnivorous Carnival. Harper Children’s Audio amidst the fear that consumes her family. Charlie Bone and the Time Twister. Listening Library This powerfully written story reflects the A Corner of the Universe. Listening Library sense of uncertainty and danger that Dreamland: World Lullabies and Soothing Songs. hung in the air during this time in the Putumayo World Music Dominican Republic’s troubled history. Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa. Weston Exquisitely written testimonial, some- Woods Studios times in diary form, immerses readers in Get Ready for Second Grade, Amber Brown. Live Oak the details of life under dictator General Media Trujillo during the political upheavals of Giggle, Giggle, Quack. Weston Woods Studios the early 1960s. It is an engaging story of Indian Elephant Tea. Rounder Records one girl’s coming of age set against a Inkheart. Listening Library backdrop of fear and secrets. Midnight for Charlie Bone. Listening Library Most Perfect Harmony. Big Canoe Records The committee selected three Honor Nicky’s Jazz for Kids. Dominick Media Books for Illustration: First Day in Grapes, Noah’s Ark. Weston Woods Studios illustrated by Robert Casilla, written by L. Rodzina. Listening Library King Pérez, and published by Lee and Sahara Special. Listening Library Low Books, Inc. (2002); The Pot that Juan Songs from the Street: Thirty-five Years of Music. Sony Built, illustrated by David Diaz, written by Wonder Nancy Andrews-Goebel, and published Sweet Dreams: Lullabies for Guitar. Goatscape Music by Lee and Low Books, Inc. (2002); and The Tale of Despereaux. Listening Library Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar The Trail of the Jedi: Star Wars Jedi Quest #2. Listening Library Chavez, illustrated by Yuyi Morales, writ- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Harper Children’s Audio ten by Kathleen Krull, and published by The Wee Free Men. Harper Children’s Audio Harcourt (2003). Where I’d Like to Be. Listening Library Winnie-the-Pooh. Harper Children’s Audio First Day in Grapes vividly and realisti- cally portrays the human characters in the story about a child of migrant work- For an annotated list, including recommended grade levels and running times, ers. The use of watercolor, colored pencil, see www.ala.org/alsc, “Awards & Scholarships.” and pastel creates a warmth and sensitiv- ity to Chico and his school experiences.

The Pot that Juan Built is a picture biogra- Members of the 2004 Notable Children’s Recordings Committee are Thomas J. phy that combines a variant of The House Barthelmess, chair, Spokane County Library District, Wash.; Mary Burkey, That Jack Built with the story of Juan Olentangy Local School District, Lewis Center, Ohio; Adrienne Furness, Webster Quezada, who rediscovered the ancient Public Library, N.Y.; Virginia M. Gustin, Sonoma County Library, Santa Rosa, method of pottery making in Mata Ortiz, Calif.; Kathleen Apuzzo Krasniewicz, Perrot Memorial Library, Old Greenwich, Mexico. Diaz’s original type font and Conn.; Linda W. Lewis, Free Library of Philadelphia; Amy Lilien-Harper, The computer-generated art exudes a rich Ferguson Library, Harry Bennett Branch, Stamford, Conn.; and Glenna M. Sloan, palette that glows like jewels and reflects Queens College School of Education, Flushing, N.Y. the hot desert sun.

In Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar toned colors and wide, flowing brush Two Author Award Honor Books were Chavez, Morales uses brightly colored strokes lend depth and honesty to the his- named: Cuba 15 by Nancy Osa and pub- acrylics, handmade stamps, and com- tory and struggle of migrant farm workers lished by Delacorte Press (2003); and My puter-created cutouts to depict the life of in California. Diary from Here to There/Mi diario de this civil rights leader. Golden, earth- aquí hasta allá by Amada Irma Pérez,

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ALSC News illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez, twin towers in 1974. His joy in dancing on and published by Children’s Book Press/ a thin wire high above Manhattan and the Editorial Libros Para Niños (2002). awe of the spectators in the streets far below is captured in exquisite ink and oil Cuba 15 humorously and poignantly tells paintings that perfectly complement the the story of Violet Paz as she prepares spare, lyrical text. Gerstein’s skillful com- unwillingly for her quinceañero, the tradi- positions and dramatic use of perspective tional Latina fifteenth birthday celebra- make this a book that literally takes your tion. Her journey into self-discovery breath away. He ensures that this extraor- leads her to truly value and understand dinary event is imprinted on readers’ her Cuban heritage for the first time. minds and creates a powerful, transform- ing memory. My Diary from Here to There/ Mi diario de aquí hasta allá is a touching account of a Newbery Honor Books are Olive’s Ocean family emigrating from Mexico to by Kevin Henkes, published by Green- California. A bilingual picture book, this willow Books; and An American Plague: young girl’s diary chronicles the family’s The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow anxiety, excitement, and uncertainty as Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy, they leave home on a journey made by The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a published by Clarion Books. many families. Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo Olive’s Ocean opens as twelve-year-old Members of the ALSC/REFORMA Belpré Martha receives a page from the journal Committee are: Rose Violet Treviño, chair, of a classmate, Olive, who has died in an Houston Public Library; Ilene Abramson, accident. Olive’s entry about a desire to Los Angeles Public Library; Salvador Avila, be Martha’s friend, to see the ocean, and Las Vegas–Clark County (Nev.) Library to become a writer propels Martha into a District; Roslyn Beitler, Barrett Elementary journey from childhood to the brink of School, Arlington, Va.; Linda Caycedo, New adolescence. Beautiful and powerful York Public Library; Ana-Elba Pavon, San imagery drawn from the sun, sand, and Francisco Public Library; and Tammy sea of Martha’s summer with her family Pineda, Hennepin County Library, Minne- and friends at Cape Cod skillfully reflects tonka, Minn. the pain and joy of Martha’s coming of age and awareness of her own mortality.

DiCamillo, Gerstein Take Top An American Plague: The True and Honors Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 dramatically recounts Kate DiCamillo, author of The Tale of the true story of the yellow fever epi- Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a demic that nearly decimated the popula- Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of tion of Philadelphia at the end of the Thread (Candlewick Press), illustrated by The Man Who Walked Between the Towers eighteenth century. Integrating newspa- Timothy Basil Ering, is the 2004 winner of by Mordicai Gerstein pers, diaries, personal testimonies, and the John Newbery medal; and Mordicai period illustrations, the narrative delivers Gerstein, illustrator and author of The traditional fairy tale, separate stories a social and medical history of the times Man Who Walked Between the Towers introduce Despereaux, condemned for and raises chilling questions about the (Roaring Brook Press/Millbrook Press), is talking to the princess; the evil rat, disease today. the 2004 winner of the Randolph Roscuro, who loves light and soup; and Caldecott medal. DiCamillo and Gerstein Miggery Sow, a farm girl with royal aspira- Three Caldecott Honor Books were were among the award winners tions. Their fates are threaded together as named: Ella Sarah Gets Dressed, illus- announced January 12 by ALSC during Despereaux undertakes a hero’s quest trated and written by Margaret Chodos- the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego. that culminates in mice, rats, and Irvine and published by Harcourt, Inc.; humans living almost happily ever after. What Do You Do With a Tail Like This The Tale of Despereaux draws the reader The lyrical language of this distinctive illustrated and written by Steve Jenkins into an enchanting account of a smaller- tale is as savory as the palace soup. and Robin Page and published by than-usual mouse in love with music, sto- Houghton Mifflin Company; and Don’t ries, and a princess named Pea. This tiny The Man Who Walked Between the Towers Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, illustrated hero faints at loud noises but gathers the is a true story of the daring feat of a spir- and written by Mo Willems and published courage to fulfill his dreams. With charac- ited young Frenchman who walked a by Hyperion. ter and plot far more complex than the tightrope between the World Trade Center

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ALSC News In Ella Sarah Gets Dressed a young girl nomah County Public Library, Portland, stands in front of her wardrobe to select Ore.; MaryKay Dahlgreen, Oregon State her attire and makes her own fashion Library; Carol Doll, State University of 2004 Notable Computer statement. Elegant in its simplicity, this New York, Albany; Debra S. Gold, Parma perfect picture book uses a “variety of Heights (Ohio) Library; Linnea Software and Online printmaking techniques.” Cheerful, bold Hendrickson, Albuquerque (N.M.) Public Subscription Services colors outlined in white emphasize Ella Schools; Ellen Loughran, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Sarah’s freedom and confidence. Carla Morris, Provo (Utah) City Library; for Children Bianca Roberts, St. Louis County (Mo.) The 2004 Notable Computer What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? is Library; Nancy Snyder, Public Library of Software and Online Subscription an innovative guessing book that delivers Charlotte and Mecklenburg County (N.C.), Services for Children lists recognize a fun and playful science lesson on thirty Bettye L. Smith, District of Columbia high-quality computer programs animals’ body parts: ears, eyes, mouths, Public Library; Anitra T. Steele, Mid- and online services for children noses, feet, and tails. The artist uses Continent (Mo.) Public Library; William fourteen years of age and younger. exquisite cut-paper collage to detail basic H. Teale, University of Illinois at Chicago. forms combined with clever placement of Computer Software the spare text to create an interactive Exploring the World of Thomas visual display. Tale of Plague Given Sibert Day. Thomas Day Project/New Award Hope Pub. In Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, a Form Wild: Birds, Insects, African persistent pigeon asks, pleads, cajoles, Jim Murphy, author of An American Animals. Kaulfuss Designers wheedles, connives, negotiates, demands, Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of Garfield’s Typing Pal. DeMarque and uses emotional blackmail in attempts the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 (Clarion I Spy Fantasy. Scholastic to get behind the wheel. Pigeon will not Books/Houghton Mifflin), was named the Learn to Play Chess with Fritz and take no for an answer, and puts the reader winner of the 2004 Robert F. Sibert Chesster. Viva Media on the spot, using an escalating series of Informational Book Award for most dis- Math Missions: The Amazing tactics. Perfectly paced, every line and tinguished informational book for chil- Arcade. Scholastic blank space in the deceptively simple dren published in 2003. Math Missions: The Race to illustrations is essential. Spectacle City. Scholastic Murphy draws material from primary Members of the 2004 Newbery Award sources, such as private diaries, newspa- Online Subscription Services Committee are: Eliza T. Dresang, chair, pers, and books, to give insight into the Authors4Teens: Greenwood, Florida State University, Tallahassee; political, social, and cultural challenges www.authors4teens.com Thomas L. Bush, Southwest Georgia of the yellow fever epidemic. The com- Cobblestone Online: Carus Pub., Regional Library, Bainbridge; Georgene pelling narrative pulls readers into the www.cobblestoneonline.net DeFilippo, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh; crisis, illuminates the community’s Facts on File Online: Facts on File, Dorothy Evans, Chicago Public Library; responses, and shows the best and worst www.fofweb.com Crystal W. Faris, Nassau (N.Y.) Library of humanity. Unitedstreaming: United Learning, System; Anna R. Healy, Skokie (Ill.) Public www.unitedstreaming.com Library; Sarah J. Howard, Daniel Boone One Sibert Honor Book was named: I Face World Book Online: World Book, Regional Library, Columbia, Mo.; Nancy S. the Wind, written by Vicki Cobb, illus- www.worldbookonline.com Kraus, Council Rock School, Rochester, trated by Julia Gorton, and published by N.Y.; Nina Lindsay, Oakland (Calif.) HarperCollins. Public Library; Kathy McLellan, Johnson For the annotated list, including County (Kan.) Public Library; Sylvia Mora A Vicki Cobb Science Play book, I Face the age recommendations, see www. Oña, Miami-Dade (Fla.) Public Library Wind asks its young readers to think like ala.org/alsc, “Awards and System; Diane G. Person, Brooklyn, N.Y.; scientists as it leads them through exper- Scholarships.” Martha Seif Simpson, Stratford (Conn.) iments and observations about wind. Cobb’s simple text and Gorton’s dynamic Library Association; Virginia Walter, Members of the 2004 Notable Software University of California, Los Angeles; and illustrations invite participation. for Children Committee are Barbara Carol Ann Wilson, Westfield (N.J.) Scotto, chair, Brookline (Mass.) Public Memorial Library. Members of the 2004 Sibert Informational Schools; Dianne Baasch, IMediaSource, Book Award Committee are: Cathryn M. New York; Julie Cohen, Berkshire Country Day School, Lenox, Mass.; Kirsten G. Mercier, chair, Center for the Study of Members of the 2004 Caldecott Award Cutler, Sonoma County Library, Rohnert Committee are: Kathy East, chair, Wood Children’s Literature at Simmons College, Park, Calif.; Caren S. Koh, Queens County (Ohio) District Public Library; Boston; Betty Carter, consultant, Coppell, Library, Jamaica, N.Y.; and Bina Khafre K. Abif, Columbus (Ohio) Metro- Texas; Bruce Farrar, Nashville Public Williams, Bridgeport (Conn.) Public politan Library; Karen Breen, Kirkus Library, Tenn.; Peg Glisson, Pittsford Library. Reviews, New York; Nell Colburn, Mult- Central Schools, N.Y.; Ruth Gordon,

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ALSC News Critical Reviewing, Unltd., Cloverdale, Run, Boy, Run is the extraordinary of the Moon: The Story of Apollo 11 Calif.; Tina Hubert, Lewis and Clark account of one boy’s survival of the Astronaut Michael Collins, by Bea Uusma Library System, Edwardsville, Ill.; and Holocaust. At the age of eight, Srulik is left Schyffert, was translated into English by Kathy Simonetta, Indian Trails Public alone in the Warsaw ghetto and must fend Emi Guner. The book was originally pub- Library District, Wheeling, Ill. for himself, even forgetting his name, in lished in Swedish in 1999, as Astronauten order to survive the Holocaust. With dan- som inte fick landa. gers all around him, he must fight off star- Translated Hebrew Story Wins vation, the danger of capture, brutal Reminiscent of a scrapbook, this extraor- Batchelder Award Polish winters, and the ever-present anti- dinary book chronicles what Michael Semitism. He escapes into the country- Collins did, saw, and thought about in Walter Lorraine Books, an imprint of side where he spends the ensuing years space. What was it like to go to the moon Houghton Mifflin, was named the winner hiding in the forest, dependent on the and be the only man in the mission not to of the 2004 Mildred Batchelder Award for sympathies and generosity of the poor walk on the surface? Collins orbited the the most outstanding children’s book farmers in the surrounding area. Despite moon fourteen times, while surrounded originally published in a foreign language the seemingly insurmountable odds, sev- by 701 power switches and twenty and subsequently translated into English eral chases, captures, attempted execu- pounds of checklists. Through fascinating for publication in the United States for tions, and even the loss of his arm, Srulik facts, quotes, checklists, original draw- Run, Boy, Run. Originally published in miraculously survives. ings, and photos taken both in space and Hebrew in 2001 as Ruts, yeled, ruts, the on Earth, the book tells how the astro- book was written by Uri Orlev and trans- The Batchelder committee selected one nauts prepared for their historic journey, lated to English by Hillel Halkin. Honor Book, published by Chronicle what they brought with them, and what Books. The Man Who Went to the Far Side they left behind.

Committee members included: Kay Weisman, chair, Willowbrook Elementary Have You Watched Yet? 2004 Notable Children’s Videos School, Glenview, Ill.; Lynn Hoffman, Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Ind.; ALSC’s 2004 list of Notable Children’s Videos for youth age fourteen and Louise L. Sherman, retired, Leonia, N.J.; younger includes: Silvia Kraft-Walker, Glenview Public Library, Glenview, Ill.; Martha K. Flotten, Bark, George. Weston Woods Multnomah County Library, Portland, Ore. Bread Comes to Life: A Garden of Wheat and a Loaf to Eat. Informed Democracy Chiefs. Active Parenting Publishers Come On, Rain! Weston Woods Carnegie Committee Thinks Coral Seas (Blue Planet: Seas of Life). Discovery Channel Dem Bones. Weston Woods Ducks Are Just Quacky! Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa. Weston Woods Paul R. Gagne and Melissa Reilly of Everyday Signs (Signing Time! vol. 3). Two Little Hands Productions Weston Woods Studios, producers of Giggle, Giggle, Quack. Weston Woods Giggle, Giggle, Quack, based on the pic- I Want a Dog. National Film Board of Canada ture book by Doreen Cronin and illus- Leonardo da Vinci. Kiki & Assoc. trated by Betsy Lewin, are the 2004 “Let’s Get a Pup!” said Kate. Spoken Arts recipients of the Andrew Carnegie Medal Showa Shinzan. National Film Board of Canada for Excellence in Children’s Video. The Snowflake Bentley. Weston Woods video is narrated by Randy Travis with The Teacher from the Black Lagoon. Weston Woods music by Scotty Huff. The Velveteen Rabbit. Billy Budd Films When Farmer Brown leaves home for a For the annotated list, including recommended ages and running times, see vacation in the tropics, he warns his www.ala.org/alsc, “Awards and Scholarships.” brother Bob to “watch out for Duck—he’s trouble.” But the mischievously oppor- Members of the 2004 Notable Children’s Videos Committee are Stephen A. Zampino, chair, tunistic duck can’t resist taking full The Ferguson Library, Stamford, Conn.; Elizabeth Jane Abramson, Los Angeles Public advantage of the situation: securing Library; Patricia S. Arnold, East Baton Rouge Parish Library, La.; Edith Ching, St. Alban’s pizza, bubble baths, and movie night for School, Washington, D.C.; Martha Edmundson, Denton Public Library System, Tex.; Helen all his barnyard friends. This engaging Foster James, San Diego, Calif.; Molly Krukewitt, Fort Bend County Libraries, Tex.; Margaret Tice, New York Public Library; Kathryn Lee Whitacre, Free Library of Philadelphia; Lucinda animated adaptation of Cronin and Whitehurst, St. Christopher’s School, Richmond, Va.; and Susan Wray, Kansas City Public Lewin’s whimsical picture book features Library, Mo. flawless narration, subtle but highly evocative background music, quirky

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ALSC News Library. As Professor and Chair of the Information Studies Department at the New Hampshire Media University of California–Los Angeles Specialist Honored (UCLA), she has reinvigorated UCLA’s program of education for future children’s Nancy J. Keane, library media specialist at librarians and been a valuable mentor, Rundlett Middle School in Concord, N.H., guiding students to the successful com- is the 2004 recipient of the ALSC/ pletion of Ph.D. degrees. Sagebrush Education Resources Litera- ture Program Award. The award, donated As a member of ALSC, she has served on by Sagebrush, is designed to honor a the Research and Development Com- member of ALSC who has developed and mittee, the (John) Newbery Award implemented a unique and outstanding Committee, and the Board of Directors. reading or literature program for children She was president of the association from (infants through age fourteen). Keane will 2000 to 2001. Currently, she serves as receive $1,000 to support her attendance ALSC’s representative to the International at the upcoming ALA Annual Conference Federation of Library Associations and in Orlando, Florida. Virginia Walter, 2004 Distinguished Service Institutions (IFLA) Section on Libraries Award Winner for Children and Youth. A tireless advocate for bringing kids and books together, Keane evolved a multifac- sound effects, and characters that burst Walter brought the process of outcome eted approach to discussing books that with personality. evaluation to children’s and young adult culminated in the development of The librarians through her influential books Kids Book Beat, a public access television Members of the 2004 Carnegie Award Output Measures for Public Library show which features students enthusias- Committee are: Pamela Petrick Barron, Service to Children: A Manual of tically sharing their opinions on the chair, Dept. of Library and Information Standardized Procedures (ALA Editions, books they have read. Keane had previ- Studies, University of North Carolina- 1992) and Output Measures and More: ously produced one-on-one booktalks, a Greensboro; Sharon Grover, Arlington Planning and Evaluating Public Library Web site containing more than 1,400 County (Va.) Dept. of Libraries; Peggy Services for Young Adults (ALA Editions, booktalks, and a radio call-in show. The Hagen, Fairport (N.Y.) Public Library; 1995). Her book Children and Libraries: Kids Book Beat TV show brings middle Joyce R. Laiosa, Voorheesville (N.Y.) Public Getting It Right is in its second printing at school students together to discuss books Library; Jeanette Larson, Austin (Texas) ALA. Children’s librarians frequently cite for their grade level, as well as books for Public Library; Amy E. Sears, Teaneck her research on library summer reading younger children. Viewers can, and do, (N.J.) Public Library; Sharon K. Snow, San programs and children’s use of electronic make suggestions via e-mail for addi- Jose (Calif.) Public Library; Catherine library catalogs. Her book, Hi, Pizza Man!, tional books to be discussed on the show. Threadgill, Charleston County (S.C.) published by Orchard Press in 1995, has Keane has noted an increase in the circu- Public Library; and Lynn K. Vanca, become a storytime classic. In 1998, lation of the books featured on The Kids Richfield Branch Library, Akron-Summit Making Up Megaboy, a moving and Book Beat, and publicity for the show has (Ohio) County Public Library. acclaimed young adult novel, was pub- resulted in a weekly column for a local lished by Dorling Kindersley. newspaper.

Walter Receives Distinguished “Her work has influenced library services “With The Kids Book Beat TV show, Keane Service Award to children both nationally and interna- and her students demonstrate a passion tionally,” said committee chair Patsy for books and literature that reaches Virginia Walter, an ALSC past president, is Weeks. “We are pleased to present this beyond the classroom and brings books the 2004 recipient of the ALSC Dist- award to such an outstanding member of immediately alive for kids,” said selection inguished Service Award. The award hon- the Association for Library Service to committee chair Marge Loch-Wouters. ors an individual ALSC member who has Children.” “Keane’s enthusiastic encouragement made significant contributions to, and and can-do attitude contribute to the had an impact on, library service to chil- Members of the award selection commit- energy the students put into their innova- dren and to ALSC, as well as a sustained tee were Patsy Weeks, chair, Heart of Texas tive television show. In addition, Keane’s contribution over time to the under- Literature Center, Howard Payne Uni- determination to provide access to the standing or expansion of library services versity, Brownwood, Tex.; Amy Kellman show’s book reviews to children through- to children. (ret.); Margaret Kirkpatrick, Irving School, out the state via the school Web page is Wichita, Kan.; Kate Todd (ret.); and especially noteworthy.” Walter has been involved with children Blanche Woolls, School of Library and and libraries as Children’s Services Information Science, San Jose State Members of the award selection commit- Coordinator at Los Angeles Public University, Calif. tee were Marge Loch-Wouters, chair,

continued on page 58

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ALSC News

2004 ALA Annual Conference Schedule *Designates a closed meeting.

Thursday, June 24 10:30 A.M.–12 P.M. Yuyi Morales, Belpré Award winner, will 2–4:30 P.M. Attracting the Youngest Patrons. conclude the program. A book signing ALSC Executive Committee “There is no frigate like a book,” said will follow. Emily Dickinson—and preschoolers 4:30–6 P.M. make great sailors. We know that it’s Striking Gold with Golden Books: The Joint AASL/ALSC/YALSA Executive good to introduce books early to chil- Significance of Little Golden Books in Committees dren. But which ones? What makes a the History of the Family Literacy great preschool book? How can libraries Arena. Little Golden Books made a sig- 7–9:30 P.M. highlight and support activities for nificant impact on children’s access to Great Beginnings! ALSC Preconference babies and toddlers? A panel of authors, books, and several renowned authors Reception illustrators, and librarians, moderated got their start illustrating the sweet, by author Marilyn Singer, will discuss charming stories. This program traces Friday, June 25 these and other questions. the history of little Golden Books, their 8 A.M.–5:30 P.M. significance to children’s early literacy Great Beginnings! Libraries and Early 1:30–3:30 P.M. and learning, and their impact on chil- Literacy Preconference. Early literacy is Living Legends: You’re So Famous, I dren’s publishing. Participants will also a hot topic in the library world these Thought You Were Dead. Steve Herb, discover the “science and theory” days. Learn about the latest research ALSC Past President, will moderate a behind this publishing phenomenon. and best practices from your colleagues panel of “living legends in public library and some of the nation’s experts in early service to children.” Following a ques- Together Is Better: Creative Colla- learning. Go home with practical ideas tion-and-answer period, each panelist borations Help Libraries Reach New for building partnerships, adding a will describe his or her biggest chal- Audiences. Three diverse projects proven program to your services, and lenges and success stories. demonstrate how public libraries can influencing public policy to support promote literacy and reach new and early literacy @ your library! Program This: After-School Program- underserved audiences through creative ming 101. Come and hear basic ideas partnerships with family literacy pro- 1–5 P.M. and practical advice on producing and grams and government agencies. NASA @ Your Library Training promoting after-school programs for Audience members are invited to bring school-age kids. flyers highlighting collaborative pro- 2–4 P.M. grams for distribution at a literature *2005 Sibert Committee Seeing the Whole Picture: Evaluating table. Youth Services—Pardon Me for Being a 2–4 P.M. 2–5:30 P.M. Manager VI. Evaluation is critically Notable Children’s Books Committee important to everything we do. A *2005 Arbuthnot Committee PowerPoint retelling of Ed Young’s *2006 Arbuthnot Committee Saturday, June 26 Seven Blind Mice will illustrate this *2005 Batchelder Committee *2005 Wilder Committee 8–9 A.M. management principle in the final *2005 Caldecott Committee Priority Group Consultants stand-alone program in the Pardon Me for Being a Manager series. Dr. Virginia Organization and Bylaws Committee

8:30–11 A.M. Walter of UCLA and Jerry West of the 2–5:30 P.M. *2005 Sibert Committee U.S. Department of Education are fea- *2005 Carnegie Committee tured speakers, along with a panel of *2005 Newbery Committee 9–11 A.M. library experts discussing their success- Notable Children’s Recordings ALSC Connections. Make connections ful local evaluations. Committee with new ALSC members and officers. Notable Computer Software for Learn about committee opportunities, Serving the Reading Needs of Latinos Children Committee conference programs, and more at this in the U.S. through Children’s informal coffee/tea reception. Literature. This panel will present an 8–10 P.M. overview of Latino literature for chil- Stories for a Saturday Evening. Please 9:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. dren in English and Spanish. Criteria join us for ALSC’s annual evening of Division Leadership for examining Spanish-language books storytelling, featuring renowned story- for children, as well as a discussion of tellers from around the country and the the Americas Award, will be included. world.

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ALSC News

Sunday, June 27 6:30–11:30 P.M. ducting a storytime or booktalk, be safe 8:30–11 A.M. Newbery/Caldecott Banquet and Post- and know what is legal. *2005 Caldecott Committee Reception. Join award-winning authors and illustrators at this annual event cel- 10:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. 9:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. ebrating the year’s most distinguished Notable Children’s Books Committee All Committee Meetings I and II books for children. *2005 Wilder Committee Charlemae Rollins President’s Pro- *2006 Belpré Committee Monday, June 28 gram. Discover the myths and realities Notable Children’s Videos Committee 8:30–9:30 A.M. of how net-generation youth actually Planning and Budget Committee ALSC Awards Program. Enjoy a conti- use technology in the public library. nental breakfast, followed by the pres- Learn about successful technology- 10:30 A.M.–12 P.M. entation of the ALSC Batchelder, related library programs and services Reading or Cheating? Using Research Carnegie, and Sibert Awards. and the marketing techniques to pro- to Support Audiobooks in the Literacy mote them. Create a personal plan of Landscape. Current research dictates 8:30–10 A.M. action for your own library. that engaging different learning styles is Joint Youth Council Caucus crucial in a successful literacy program. 1:30–3:30 P.M. A panel will discuss theoretical as well Youth Privacy Matters: Practical From Landmark to DK: The Life and as practical issues related to audiobooks Approaches to Implementation. Youth Times of Children’s Nonfiction. Author while researchers will share current privacy laws can be confusing, given the and critic Leonard Marcus will present information supporting the use of audio complex laws and policies in effect at all an illustrated lecture on the changing in literacy instruction as a means of levels of government. In this program, trends in nonfiction for children from meeting learner needs. panelists and audience members will the 1960s to today. The program will discuss scenarios from public and feature a reactor panel of publishing’s 1:30–3:30 P.M. school library settings that best illus- most noted editors of children’s nonfic- New Perspectives on School Outreach trate the practical dilemmas that librar- tion. Programs. How can school outreach ians face in attempting to implement programs presented by the public these regulations while adhering to the A (Scary) Success Story: The First library improve literacy? Learn how ideals of intellectual freedom rights for Online Serialized Novel for Kids. public libraries, school districts, univer- youth. Wondering how to reach children who sities, and funding agencies can work are glued to their home computer together to support literacy. 9:45–10:15 A.M. screens? Explore how libraries can help Membership Meeting children build literacy skills using an Pura Belpré Award Celebration. Join online novel as an integral part of pro- the winning and Honor Book authors 10:30 A.M.–12 P.M. gramming and services. Author James and illustrators of the 2004 Pura Belpré Native American Literature for M. Deem and Youth Services Director Medals for an afternoon of celebration. Children: Evaluating and Developing a Tim Wadham describe a unique online Collection for Schools and Public novel project developed by Arizona’s Storytelling 101. A panel of lively and Libraries. There is a wealth of books and Maricopa County Library District. Their experienced storytellers will share the media that accurately portrays native project involves a scary mystery novel, basics of storytelling, along with ideas peoples in exciting and life-affirming written by Deem and posted serially on for storytelling programs at your library. ways. We will present examples of this the Library District’s Web site, and a literature along with the tools needed series of related programs. Hear how 2–3:30 P.M. for both the evaluation of your present librarians in other systems used the All Discussion Group Meeting I collection and the selection of new Maricopa online novel as a key outreach materials. program for their patrons. Come away 2–4 P.M. motivated to take your library reading *2005 Caldecott Committee Who Owns Snow White? Copyright events in a new, online direction. *2005 Newbery Committee Issues for Youth Services Librarians. No need to get in trouble with the law! Mind in the Making: The Science of 2–5:30 P.M. Noted copyright expert Carrie Russell, Early Learning. Through an intensive Notable Children’s Books Committee ALA Washington Office, will discuss the outreach campaign and a thirteen-part Notable Children’s Recordings Committee dos and don’ts for children’s and young television series, the Mind in the adult librarians in public and school Making communications initiative aims 3:30–5 P.M. libraries. Whether you are presenting a to provide resources to early childhood All Discussion Group Meeting II program, designing a Web page, or con- continued on p. 58

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2004 ALA Conference Schedule, cont. continued from page 57

caregivers working in a variety of set- library or participate in summer read- site at www.ala.org/alsc; click on tings. Speakers will share methods for ing programs. “Events and Conferences.” presenting research in formats accessible to families, communities, and the media. 2–4 P.M. 2–5:30 P.M. Notable Computer Software for ALSC Board of Directors I Summer Reading Initiatives: Research Children Committee and Best Practices. Hear an overview of *2005 Nominating Committee 5:30–7:30 P.M. current research demonstrating the First Annual Children’s Poetry Reading. positive impact of public library sum- Talk about Books! The art of book dis- Poetry demands to be heard—and what mer reading programs on students’ aca- cussion is a learned skill: one must better place to hear it than ALA? Join us demic achievement. Discuss the ways practice, read, and practice some more. at the first annual ALSC-sponsored librarians are helping eliminate sum- Participants will pre-register and be Children’s Poetry Reading. Poets include mer learning loss in reading through assigned a small list of books. Each per- host Marilyn Singer, Doug Florian, Nikki innovative services to children and their son reads his or her titles, takes notes, Grimes, Helen Frost, Lee Bennet families. Learn what other librarians are and prepares for a critical, facilitated Hopkins, Jane Yolen, and many others. doing to ensure that low-income chil- discussion of those books. To register dren have access to nutritious meals for the discussion group, call the ALSC during the summer, and how they are office at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 2166, or e- Tuesday, June 29 using such efforts to engage children mail Meredith Parets at mparets@ 2–5:30 P.M. who might not otherwise visit the ala.org. Link to the book list on the Web ALSC Board of Directors II

continued from page 55 children who might not otherwise take Library, Stamford, Conn.; Jean Hatfield, part in a summer reading program. Johnson County Public Library, Merriam, Menasha (Wisc.) Public Library; Jane Community partners will be trained to Kan.; Jill Walker, Baker and Taylor, Gardner Connor, South Carolina State administer the off-site summer reading Bridgewater, N.J.; Alison Grant, West Library, Columbia; Patricia Dollisch, program and be provided with resources Bloomfield Township District Library, DeKalb County Public Library, Decatur, including game sheets and reading logs. Bloomfield, Mich.; Bettye Smith, District of Ga.; and Susan M. Knipe, Everett (Wash.) Because of the community’s demograph- Columbia Public Library; Cindy Public Library. ics, efforts will be made to reach the Lombardo, Orrville (Ohio) Public Library; Spanish-speaking and Khmer-speaking Lynn Vanca, Akron–Summit County Long Beach PL Receives populations. Public Library, Akron, Ohio. Summer Reading Grant The Long Beach Public Library and Information Center will use the grant to Penguin Putnam Awards $600 The Long Beach (Calif.) Public Library make printed summer reading materials, Grants to Four Winners and Information Center is the 2004 recip- including promotional materials and ient of the ALSC/BWI Summer Reading activity sheets, available in English, Four librarians have been named winners Program Grant. The $3,000 grant, Spanish, and Khmer. of the 2004 Penguin Putnam Books for donated by BWI, provides financial assis- Young Readers Award. The recipients are tance for public libraries to develop out- “This innovative summer reading pro- Kathy Clair, Shepherd Middle School, standing summer reading programs for gram proposal takes summer reading into Ottawa, Ill.; Kimberly DeStefano, John J. children. The grant also recognizes ALSC new directions,” said Meaghan Battle, Daly Elementary School, Port Wash- members for outstanding program devel- chair of the selection committee. “The ington, N.Y.; Nicole Sparling, West opment. proposal recognizes that there are parts Babylon Public Library, Babylon, N.Y.; of the Long Beach population that are not and Terry W. Warner, Miami-Dade Public The winning program is an off-site ver- being served by the traditional summer Library, Miami Beach, Fla. sion of the library’s in-house summer reading program and undertakes real reading program. Recognizing that a sig- problem solving to address this issue in Each librarian will receive a $600 grant, nificant portion of the community is not several ways.” donated by Penguin Putnam, to attend being reached by the traditional summer the 2004 ALA Annual Conference in reading program, the library will establish Members of the award selection commit- Orlando, Fla., June 24–30, 2004. Recipients partnerships with family daycare tee were Meaghan Battle, chair, Farming- of the annual award must have one to ten providers, healthcare providers, and ton Community Library, Farmington youth recreation programs that serve area Hills, Mich.; Caroline Ward, The Ferguson continued on page 60

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ALSC News Creative Quest Snares John Cotton Dana Award for Halifax Public Libraries

For the strategic design and promotion Evaluation 1. Attract and hold the attention of of its challenging Summer Reading An in-depth evaluation of its previous older children through a sophisti- Quest program, Halifax (Nova Scotia, summer reading programs showed that cated and multilayered interactive Canada) Public Libraries received one of programs were traditionally successful program and age-appropriate con- this year’s John Cotton Dana (JCD) in the aggregate, but some groups, such tent. Library Public Relations Awards. as those in the inner city, had been 2. Brand the program with strategic underrepresented. messaging and appealing visuals. The 2003 Summer Reading Quest 3. Establish corporate sponsorships to invited Halifax area children ages five support and enhance visibility. through twelve to become active partic- 4. Market the program with strategic ipants in an interactive program. The partners Boys and Girls Club and libraries significantly increased partici- YMCA day camps near libraries to pation by the target audience and were reach target age and site audiences. hailed as a smashing success by chil- dren, parents, and corporate sponsors. Implementation For more information about the pro- Throughout the program, Halifax staff gram, especially the striking graphics, used strategic PR/promotional tools to contact Halifax Public Libraries’ Com- reinforce program and strategic messag- munications Officer at (902) 490-5852. ing. Public relations materials promoted the program to kids and pitched the What made this program stand out? The strategic reasons behind the program— JCD award rewards library public rela- literacy—to parents, partners, and tions, and while public relations is often sponsors. Marketing connected the closely intertwined with library pro- library with the branded program grams and events, it is not the same images, strategic message of excite- thing. It may seem difficult at first to ment, involvement on all program separate programs from the public rela- materials, and supporting information tions tools and techniques that support directly aimed at target markets. them. Trading cards were part of the Halifax Advertising ensured maximum library quest. visibility through a cost-effective adver- The basic hallmarks of a solid public tising investment. relations campaign include: Assessing previous programs also showed a high percentage of returning Success 1. Needs Assessment. An identified participants, but few newcomers each issue based on research and analysis. year. The assessment also showed low After the rush was over, the Halifax crew 2. Planning. Strategic messages to each participation among boys ages ten looked at the program, tallied the meas- target audience, including coordi- through twelve. urable results, and compared the results nated, comprehensive PR and care- to the original goals. They scored direct fully tailored program elements to Armed with this knowledge, Halifax hits on all counts: statistical highlights; achieve specific objectives. Public Libraries developed strategic parent, child, partner, and staff feed- 3. Implementation through an appro- objectives to balance participation back; issues to address; and ideas for priate mix of strategic communica- between communities, especially future improvements. tions tools and techniques. increasing participation by inner city 4. Evaluation. Thoughtful assessment of youth and boys ages ten through twelve, The 2004 John Cotton Dana Public results and ideas for improvement. and to boost completion rates across the Relations Award–winning entries will be service area. on display at the John Cotton Dana The JCD Award Committee and award booth at the ALA Annual Conference in sponsor H.W. Wilson hope these guide- June in Orlando, Fla. After the confer- lines will help readers develop their own Planning ence, the entries can be interlibrary future successful entries. Collaborating with program planners, loaned from ALA. librarians, and community partners, Here’s how the Halifax Summer Reading Halifax staff designed a strategic PR plan —Marsha Iverson, King County Library Quest combined key PR techniques with and coordinated program components System, Issaquah, Wash., and Floyd C. the development and implementation of to address the following issues raised in Dickman, Columbus, Ohio, members of the its successful award-winning program. their initial evaluation: 2004 John Cotton Dana Award Committee

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ALSC News Board Major Actions ALSC Seeks Authors, Ideas Electronic Actions Want to see your name in print? Interested in helping your division? The following actions were voted on by the board on the ALSCBOARD electronic The ALSC Publications Committee is looking for authors as well as ideas for discussion list. The month/year of the publications that youth services librarians would be interested in buying for vote is in parentheses after each action. your libraries and professional collections.

Are there subject areas you feel should be addressed? They can be book ideas, VOTED, to increase the honorarium for like the book of “best practices” that you needed when you started your the Arbuthnot lecturer from $750 to career. They could be shorter pieces, like brochures, that would target hot $1,000 effective immediately. (February topics such as the importance of family literacy, or different learning styles. 2004) Send us your brainstorms! VOTED, to add the following statement to Contact Jennifer Duffy, ALSC Publications Chair, at [email protected] with your the Duties and Responsibilities of Board ideas or if you are interested in becoming an ALSC author. We look forward to Members: hearing from you! 5. To select, when a vacancy exists, an interim ALA/ALSC Councilor, and to inform the secretary of ALA Council in advance of the interim Councilor’s first continued from page 58 of L. Frank Baum at the Baldwin Library meeting. (January 2004) in February 2005. “The land of Oz is a years of experience as a children’s librar- familiar theme in our state, but there is a VOTED, beginning with 2004, to include ian, work directly with children, and have dearth of knowledge on the Oz books and the Sibert medal and honor books, and never attended an ALA Annual their place in children’s literature at the the Belpré medal and honor books with a Conference. turn of the century,” explains Hatfield. copyright date of the previous year, on the Her proposal, “L. Frank Baum: A Wizard annual Notable Children’s Book List. Members of the award selection commit- with Words,” involves the creation of a (November 2003) tee were: Kathie Meizner, chair, Chevy selected annotated bibliography of writ- Chase Library, Chevy Chase, Md.; Patricia ings by and about Baum, as well as the VOTED, to approve the charge for the development of oral presentations on Gonzales, Los Angeles Public Library; Children’s Collection Management in Helma Hawkins, Kansas City Public Baum’s work. Public Libraries Discussion Group: Library, Kansas City, Mo.; and Amanda Williams, Central Texas Library System, Laiosa, head of youth services at the To provide a forum for the discussion of Austin, Texas. Voorheesville (N.Y.) Public Library, will common issues and concerns in children’s study alphabet books of the nineteenth collection development and maintenance. century. “I want to study the illustrations (September 2003) Two Bechtel Winners as well as the illustrators of alphabet Announced books,” said Laiosa. “Looking at these books from long ago, I might find many Midwinter 2004 Actions Jean Hatfield and Joyce Laiosa are the clues to the way children were treated, VOTED, to endorse the resolution pro- 2004 recipients of the Louise Seaman the toys or playthings of long ago, and posed by the ALA Committee on Bechtel Fellowship. where adults fit into these scenes. It will Legislation’s Subcommittee on Privacy be fascinating to see how girls and boys and endorsed by ALSC’s Legislation The Bechtel Fellowship is designed to were portrayed in their daily activities, Committee: “Resolution on USA Patriot allow qualified children’s librarians to and how we see them today.” Act-Related Measures that Infringe on the spend a month or more reading and Rights of Library Users.” studying at the Baldwin Library of Members of the award selection commit- Historical Children’s Literature, part of tee were Karen Nelson Hoyle, chair, VOTED, to modify the function statement the George A. Smathers Libraries at the Children’s Literature Research Collections, of the ALSC Research and Development University of Florida in Gainesville. The University of Minnesota Libraries, Committee to read: “To discover areas of fellowship provides a stipend of $4,000, Minneapolis; Adele R. Bennett, Brentwood library service to children in need of which must be used in 2005. (N.Y.) Public Library; Sana P. Daliva, study and development, and to stimulate Kahului (Hawaii) Public Library; Kathy and encourage such research. To advance Hatfield, youth and outreach services East, Wood County Public Library, library service to children through the use manager for the Johnson County Library Bowling Green, Ohio; and Nancy Gifford, of research and statistics. To educate chil- in Merriam, Kan., will study the literature Schenectady County (N.Y.) Public Library. dren’s librarians on the value and use of

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ALSC News research and statistics. To serve as a liai- son to the ALA and division research committees as appropriate.”

TABLED, a motion to further modifica- tion of the Research and Development Committee function statement.

VOTED, to modify the function statement of the Legislation Committee to read: “To serve as a channel of communication on legislative matters between the ALA Legislation Committee and the Division, recommending to the ALSC Board changes as necessary in federal, state, and local legislation proposed by the ALA Legislation Committee. To call to the attention of the ALA Legislation Com- mittee and to recommend to the ALSC Board endorsement or revision of legisla- tion affecting children that might be pro- posed or supported by the ALA Legislation Committee.”

VOTED, to modify the function statement of the Quicklists Consulting Committee to read: “To serve as consultants and to promote books and other resources through recommendations, compilations of lists, and related services for mass media, individuals, and institutions/ organizations in the production of pro- grams, films, and other materials/services for children, their families, caregivers, and teachers. Requests will be made through the ALSC office. Quicklists Consulting Committee will function electronically. Attendance at conference will be optional with the exception of the committee chairs.”

VOTED, to amend the function statement of the Library Services to Special Population Children and their Caregivers to read: “To speak for special population children and their caregivers; these may include those who have learning and physical differences, those who are speaking English as a second language, those who are in a nontraditional school environment, those who are in nontradi- tional family settings (such as teen par- ents, foster children, children in the juvenile justice system, and children in gay and lesbian families), and those who need accommodation service to meet their needs. To offer leadership in discov- ering, developing, and disseminating information about library materials,

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ALSC News programs, and facilities for special popu- VOTED, that the use of the Caldecott win- the field of children’s literature is chosen lation children and their caregivers; to ner or honor book seal (or those of other to write and deliver a lecture that will develop and maintain guidelines for awards) on updated versions of award make a significant contribution to the selection of useful and relevant materials; winners by their publishers be permitted, world of children’s literature. and to discuss, develop, and suggest ways provided (a) that it be clearly noted on the in which library education programs can book’s cover that the book in question is a Through his editing, Jackson has brought prepare librarians to serve these children revised or updated edition, and (b) that young readers the fine words of award- and their caregivers. the book jacket (or cover, if applicable), winning writers such as Frances Temple, and copyright information page clearly Paula Fox, Gary Paulsen, Virginia VOTED, to add the investigation of a state, “The original [2000/appropriate Hamilton, Angela Johnson, and Nancy Research Award to the charge/responsi- year] edition was awarded the [Randolph Farmer. A publishing powerhouse, he bilities of the sitting ALSC New Awards Caldecott Medal/appropriate award].” founded Bradbury Press in 1968, Orchard Task Force. in 1986, and DK, Inc. in 1996. Jackson now VOTED, that in manuals for the following works as editorial director of Richard VOTED, to modify the eligibility require- awards, the phrase “IN ENGLISH” be Jackson Books, an imprint at Simon & ments for the ALSC Melcher and Bound inserted into the terms of the awards: Schuster’s Atheneum division. In more to Stay Bound Scholarships to allow Batchelder, Belpré, Caldecott, Newbery, than four decades as an editor, he has applicants to have earned up to twelve Sibert, Wilder. And further, that wording sought out and nurtured new talent. graduate credits. in the Belpré Manual be such as to allow for the inclusion of as many words and “With the 1970 publication of Judy VOTED, that ALSC will partner with proj- phrases in Spanish, as is appropriate. Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me ect CATE in submitting an IMLS grant to Margaret, Jackson daringly made it fund “Reducing the Digital Divide: VOTED, that $5,000 be transferred to the acceptable to publish previously taboo Outcome-Based Public Library Guide- Wilder and the Belpré Endowment Funds topics,” said Arbuthnot Committee Chair lines for Technology and the Young 21st in August of FY 2004 and again in August Pat Scales. “Readers responded, and the Century Learner (Project CATE2).” If of FY 2005. Total amount of these trans- market was changed forever.” grant is awarded, ALSC, and in particular fers: $20,000. the ALSC Research and Development Jackson, who was born in 1935, studied at Committee, will implement the grant. VOTED, that ALSC establish a Theodor Yale and New York Universities. He Seuss Geisel Award. First award to be recently moved to Maryland so he can VOTED, to ask the sitting New Awards given in 2006. First committee to be personally, and on a daily basis, share fine Task Force to create guidelines and appointed in fall 2004. First committee literature with his grandchildren, he said. develop criteria for award proposals that sits in 2005. Membership: one chair and may be received by ALSC in the future. To six members. Charge: To select author(s) Members of the selection committee were charge the sitting New Awards Task Force and illustrator(s) of a book who demon- Pat Scales, chair, South Carolina to evaluate the current award proposals strate great creativity and imagination in Governor’s School of the Arts, Greenville; under consideration by ALSC. his/her/their literary and artistic achieve- Connie Champlin, Media Tech ments to engage children in reading. Consulting, Indianapolis, Ind.; Candace VOTED, to approve the 2006 Nominating Deisley, College of St. Rose, Albany, N.Y.; Committee: Nell Colburn, chair; Richard Joanne Jonas, Chula Vista (Calif.) Public Farley; Carole Fiore; JoAnn Jonas; Rhonda Library; and Susan Pine, New York Public Puntney; Kathy Simonetta. Jackson to Deliver 2005 Library. Arbuthnot Lecture TABLED, a motion on the award eligibility of books originally published by their Richard Jackson, editor of books for chil- authors or very small presses and subse- dren and young adults, will deliver the quently republished by larger or ‘main- 2005 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture. stream’ publishers. Each year, an individual of distinction in

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Get Your Name in Print Submit an Article to Children and Libraries

Children and Libraries (CAL) is the official “The Last Word” is an end-page feature references. Insert two hard returns between publication of the Association for Library that will run in each issue and highlight paragraphs. Number all pages. Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the brief, light, or humorous essays from Use a minimal amount of formatting in American Library Association (ALA). CAL is children’s librarians, such as: a humorous files. Specialized formatting may be lost in the vehicle for continuing education of story about a library experience; a short translation from one program to another; librarians working with children, which trivia quiz or puzzle about children’s lit- mark specialized formatting with text showcases current research and practice erature; a brief, creatively written insight instructions such as . Do not use relating to library service to children and on library service, children’s literature, or the automatic footnote/endnote feature on spotlights significant activities and pro- programming; a very short question- your word processing program; create end- grams of the Association. and-answer interview with a popular notes manually at the end of the article. author; a funny story about what kids are If sending a disk, label it with the first overheard saying in libraries. “The Last author’s name and all file names. Manuscript Consideration Word” will be a place for children’s librar- ians to share these stories and get their Submit manuscripts that are neither under Writing and Bibliographic Style name in print. Please send your ideas or consideration nor accepted elsewhere. Send finished stories to the editor. four copies of the manuscript to the CAL Children and Libraries follows the 14th edi- editor at the address below. (One copy if tion of The Chicago Manual of Style. Authors Attach a cover sheet indicating the title of sending by e-mail.) Editor will acknowledge are responsible for accuracy in the manu- the article and the full name, title, affiliation, receipt of all manuscripts and send them to script, including all names and citations. phone number, fax number, e-mail address, at least two referees for evaluation. Accepted Editor may revise accepted manuscripts for and complete mailing address of the first manuscripts with timely content will have clarity, accuracy, and readability, consistent author. Include a 200-word abstract. scheduling priority. with publication style and journal audience. Place tables on separate pages. Notations should appear in text for proper table and Manuscript Preparation figure placement (e.g., “insert table 1 here”). Address Provide a title and caption for each table and For information on formatting your manu- figure. Send correspondence and manuscripts to script, editorial style, guidelines for text and Supply charts and graphs as spreadsheet Sharon Korbeck, CAL editor, E1569 Murray art, and copyright forms, contact the editor programs or as graphics (TIFFs or high-res- Lane, Waupaca, WI 54981, (715) 258-0369, e- at the address given. olution JPEGs). Camera-ready copy is also mail: [email protected]. For citations, use endnotes as described acceptable. You need not provide graphs in in the 14th edition of The Chicago Manual of final form. If you prefer, you may provide a Style, section 15. rough version, or even a sketch. If so, please Submit manuscripts and text (including mark all data points clearly. We will create references, tables, notes, and bibliogra- the graphic. You will have a chance to review phies) to the editor by e-mail as a rich text or the graphic when you review your Microsoft Word file attachment or copy the typeset pages during the text directly into the body of an e-mail mes- proofing stage. sage, or send on a 3½" disk or on CD. Photos can Illustrative material (such as high-resolution also be included digital images) MUST be sent via disk or CD. with manuscript. Disks and CDs must be PC-formatted. Color or black and white photos are Full length features (e.g., scholarly,research acceptable. We also and “best practice” articles): fifteen to can accept digital twenty pages, double-spaced. images of at least 300 Short features (e.g., interviews with dpi resolution. (Pict- authors, librarians, or others involved ures from the Web are with library service to children): three to not of sufficient quality ten pages, double-spaced. for printed material The Last Word: 500–750 words, double- because their resolution spaced. is too low.) Photos will be returned to author(s) after Long and short features should be well publication. researched with themes relevant and of Submit either Microsoft interest to children’s librarians and all Word or WordPerfect files. those involved and interested in library Double-space the entire man- service to children. uscript, including quotes and spr04-CAL_3p.qxd 5/7/2004 12:25 PM Page 64

FROM GRISHAM TO MOTHER GOOSE:Who’s to Say What Kids Should Read? Sharon Korbeck

Abby Gerbers is only eight, but don’t be surprised to find my mom and dad and my sister and brother.” And she her hunkered down with a copy of John Grisham’s latest loves going to the library, “cuz I learn new stuff.” book. She may not be able to read all the words—litigious, in particular, slips her up—but she relishes feeling “all As for Steven, well, he’s just five now, and his biggest liter- grown up.” ary influences to date have been SpongeBob SquarePants, Bob the Builder, and the Cat in One afternoon last year, while the Hat (he still wears the visiting my sister and her three gloves and bowtie months after kids, I asked my niece, Abby, to Halloween). While he isn’t pick out a book she could read ready to pick up a book as to me. Books by Rosemary mature as Abby’s legal thrillers Wells and Mercer Mayer jutted genre, he’s always willing to be out of her bookcase. Dr. Seuss read to. As only he could put it, books were scattered on the Steven said books and going to floor. And a well-read copy of the library make him feel “spe- Miss Alaineus by Debra Frasier cial.” was on the nightstand (I got the latter for my six-year-old niece, Last year, the kids continued to Alaina, and had since adopted feel special as they donned the book’s title as her affection- their Dr. Seuss-inspired garb as ate moniker). (left to right) Abby, Steven, and Alaina Gerbers a diminutive Cat in the Hat and prove that no reading tastes are too mature or too his blue-haired comrades, ridiculous for children.The Wisconsin trio was dressed But instead of selecting one of in Dr. Seuss garb for Halloween 2003. Thing 1 and Thing 2 (Abby’s copious books in the playroom, older, so she got to be Thing 1, Abby left and returned with of course!). Grisham’s The Brethren, which she had unearthed from my sister’s nightstand. I’m thrilled my nieces and nephew are growing up around books. And I feel I’ve played a part in that. As those in our Initially stunned at her selection, I was proud when she profession know, learning starts at home, and what’s bet- actually began to read the legal thriller aloud. She didn’t ter than having a librarian in the family? get very far before a word, I can’t recall what, stumped her. Soon she put down Grisham, triumphantly vowing to read So as much as I hope I’ve fostered their reading readiness it on her own. I’ll check back with her next year. and love of literature, I realize the learning is reciprocal. Hanging out at my sister’s house one Sunday afternoon How does her sister, six-year-old Alaina, choose her last winter, I lounged on the couch wondering aloud what favorite read? to do. Subzero temperatures trapped us inside. There were no good movies on TV. The DVD player was broken. And I “It was the book lying on the couch,” her dad quipped. was tired of getting beaten at Chutes and Ladders. That day, it was It’s Halloween, Dear Dragon by Margaret Hiller. The well-thumbed copy told me it was read a lot, Abby had the perfect solution. “Whenever you’re bored, even in the non-scary months of February and May. No you’ve always got a book to read,” she said. I couldn’t have matter. Alaina just wanted me to know, “I like reading to said it better myself.

Got a great, lighthearted essay? A funny story about children and libraries? Books and babies? Pets and picture books? A not-so-serious look at the world of children’s librarianship? Send us your Last Word to Sharon Korbeck at [email protected]. spr04-CAL_3p.qxd 5/7/2004 11:16 AM Page cvr3

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