From: writerbabe_at_aol.com
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2014 17:14:19 -0400 (EDT)

Our 11th Poetry Blast, hosted by Barbara Genco and Marilyn Singer, will be held at ALA Annual on Sunday, June 29 from 3-4:30 on the PopTop Stage, Las Vegas Convention Center. The participating poets, in presentation order, are: Joan Bransfield Graham, Nikki Grimes, Kenn Nesbitt, Kari Anne Holt, Marilyn Nelson, Emily Jiang, Jacqueline Woodson, Alan Katz, Margarita Engle, and Marilyn Singer. Hope to see you there!



-----Original Message----- From: CCBC-Net digest <ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu> To: ccbc-net digest recipients <ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu> Sent: Wed, Jun 11, 2014 4:26 am Subject: ccbc-net digest: June 10, 2014


CCBC-NET Digest for Tuesday, June 10, 2014.

1. Frances Foster 2. Non-Fiction and Point of View 3. Re: The Role of YALSA 4. re:Hold On 5. RE: ccbc-net digest: June 09, 2014 6. Re: The Role of YALSA 7. Nonfiction and YALSA 8. =?utf-8?Q?Re:_[ccbc-net]_ccbc-net_digest:_June_09,_2014?= 9. RE: ccbc-net digest: June 09, 2014

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Frances Foster From: Helen Frost <helenfrost_at_comcast.net> Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 10:06:23 -0400 X-Message-Number: 1

Whenever I see the argument that trade publishers won't publish something because it wouldn't make enough money, I think of Frances. She was open to so many books that might have been considered risky from a marketing perspective; in her editing, her total focus was on making each book the best book it could be. That came first, then she worked with marketing to bring the book to as many readers as would benefit from it. She is an especially outstanding example of that set of priorities, but not unique by any means. I think this is still how most editors work.

She leaves an amazing legacy in the books she edited, the authors and illustrators she nurtured, and the colleagues she supported and encouraged.

Helen Frost
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Non-Fiction and Point of View From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu> Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 09:13:07 -0500 X-Message-Number: 2

Thank you, Marc, for bringing up point of view in non-fiction. I think this is an extremely interesting and important dimension when thinking about critical thinking (which is a fundamental dimension of Common Core,).

You mentioned Paul FLeischman's "Eyes Wide Open: Going Behind the Environmental Headlines" (Candlewick, September) and Steve Sheinkin.
"Eyes Wide Open" and Sheinkin's "Port Chicago 50: DIsaster, Mutiny and the Fight for Civil Rights" (Roaring Brook Press) are both texts that, if I were a teacher in middle or high school, I'd be eager to use in the classroom to talk about both research and point of view. Indeed, Fleischman's book is ABOUT critical thinking.The environmental movement is the subject but also the means by which he talks about how we as humans respond to issues and information. Where do we get our information and how do we know it's reliable? (To paraphrase one of my favorite quotable moments in the book: Get your gas from Exxon, don't get your news from them.) What happens when we don't like what we're hearing or reading? What happens when we are presented with information
  that challenges what we believe or think we know? How do we respond as individuals, and as the human race?

Sheinkin's book is completely grounded in a social justice perspective--that is the position from which he explores what happened when the Port Chicago men refused to load munitions after a deadly explosion. It doesn't change the facts, but for me it invigorates the narrativee in which the facts are presented, and encouraging readers to think about the impact of this is an exciting prospect to me.

I'm looking forward to talking about this (and voice and lots of other good stuff!) when we discuss Tonya Bolden's "Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln and the Dawn of Liberty" (Abrams, 2013) the week of June 23.

Megan

-- 
Megan Schliesman, Librarian
Cooperative Children's Book Center
School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison
600 N. Park Street, Room 4290
Madison, WI  53706
608/262-9503
schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
My regular hours are T-F, 8-4:30.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re:  The Role of YALSA
From: Lynn Rutan <lmrutan_at_gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 10:45:57 -0400
X-Message-Number: 3
Marc raises several interesting points and one of them is prodding me out of my 
usual lurkdom.  I don�t want to make this a bash YALSA thread but I think it is 
important to emphasize the impact that selection and award committees have.  I 
do a fair amount of speaking to groups about youth literature and collection 
development.  Sadly many librarians, especially school librarians, have few 
review sources, fewer budgetary resources and even less time to spend on 
purchase evaluation and collection development.  Selection lists such as Notable 
Books and what used to be BBYA  are an enormously important starting point for 
making purchase decisions.  When YALSA decided to water down BBYA, they took a 
lot of usefulness out of the list - especially as it did not become much shorter 
without nonfiction and graphic novels.
As hard as it is for those of us who are fortunate enough to remain connected to 
review journals and publisher information, many working librarians are working 
from a very handicapped position.The old BBYA list put up a carefully vetted 
recommended list of what was really best for teen libraries and that was often 
the one place that librarians and teachers had as a starting place to find out 
what was being published and what was good.  I�m one of those that fought hard 
against the change to BBYA and as I speak to groups, I hear often that the new 
list - BFYA - is not valued.  In a time when schools are scrambling to 
understand and meet CCSS, librarians really need to know as much as possible 
about what is being published in nonfiction and what is really excellent 
quality. I think the loss of nonfiction to BBYA is a huge disservice to 
librarians and teachers and ultimately to kids.
I am very happy to have the YALSA Nonfiction Award but the need for a nonfiction 
selection list remains extremely important.  I�m watching school administrators 
make horrifying decisions about what materials will be used in classrooms such 
as some pretty awful packaged programs and I want to give librarians and 
teachers access to as much information about quality alternatives as possible.
Lynn Rutan
Bookends -  Booklist Online Youth Blog
lmrutan_at_gmail.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: re:Hold On
From: Edith Campbell <crazyquilts_at_hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 10:48:07 -0400
X-Message-Number: 4
You've reminded me of Speak So You Can Speak Again: The Life
of Zora Neal Hurston by Lucy Hurston. There are have other interactive books
similar to this, but not nearly as many as I thought we might see.
Adding these bits of realia truly bring a book to life and make it possible for
young readers to inquire on a level beyond the text. I think that's part of
what I've come to enjoy about nonfiction: the images, sources notes and other
bits that accompany the text allow a reader to engage in ways quite different
from how they do with fiction.
Edi
Campbell
Crazy QuiltEdi
http://campbele.wordpress.com
_at_crazyquilts
crazyquilts_at_hotmail.com
"Live where you fear
to live. Be notorious."
~Rumi
 		 	   		  
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: RE: ccbc-net digest: June 09, 2014
From: Mary Losure <mblosure_at_msn.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 12:40:08 -0500
X-Message-Number: 5
I think  narrative non-fiction for kids will become more and more popular if we 
take a few tips from best- selling narrative non- fiction books for the adult 
market.   
They are people centered.  They have characters that are real. Every bit of 
information  advances the story. Nothing is included simply because it's 
"educational" or provides "context" that has nothing to do with the story.
 
 I think it would help if the adult gatekeepers to children's literature were to 
keep in mind that non-fiction written for children to read for pleasure does not  
have be on "important"  topics or be full of "context"  to have value.  Stories 
about everyday people -- especially the women and children who are often left 
out of the historical record -- offer huge possibilities for narrative 
non-fiction.  I also think such stories will add more diverse voices to the 
world of children's books.
 
 
Mary Losure
Children's book author
www.marylosure.com
 
> 
> Subject: Teen, YA, and women-related nonfiction
> From: Lionel Bender <lionheart.brw_at_btinternet.com>
> Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 11:06:44 +0100
> X-Message-Number: 1
> 
> As a book packager producing children's illustrated nonfiction for a range of 
publishers and as initiator of the 21st Century Children's Nonfiction 
Conference, I am aware of many of the problems of Teen, YA, and Women-related 
NF.
> 
> First, publishers in general believe Teen and YA kids do not read many or any 
books�fiction or nonfiction�just as they used to believe boys don't read. They 
can find lots of evidence to support this, particularly for NF. Result: There 
are few of these books on the market, and there is little sign of things 
changing among mainstream publishers. A few new publishers have emerged to fill 
this niche, but most of the books they produce are not Common Core material but 
lifestyle guides, edgy subjects, or very much at the pseudo-adult end of the 
spectrum. These publishers are making inroads, so there is a chance other 
publishers will jump on the bandwagon. 
> 
> Second, there are Teen and YA titles out there that are perfect for Common 
Core, but they are hard to find. The big NF educational, school-and-library 
publishers such as Lerner, Capstone, and Rosen do produce biographies about 
sportswomen, famous women in history, and famous women in science�admittedly a 
fraction of the number about famous men�but you won't find these in bookstores. 
Why? Because these titles do not fly off shelves, bookstores don't stock them. 
If you ask a bookstore to supply them, it possibly won't or even can't. 
Publishers don't want to deal with small orders or it is economically unviable 
for bookstores to make them, so bookstores have to resort to dealing with 
wholesalers. Wholesalers won't stock such books because they don't fly off the 
shelves. As an individual, buying direct from a publisher is far too costly. And 
now, some publishers products are effectively unavailable from online stores 
such as Amazon. So these books are hard to find and sometimes too costly to buy. 
You have to trawl through each and every publisher's website to find them.
> 
> Because such books are not widely read or are hard to find, they are not 
widely reviewed. So teachers, librarians, parents, bookstore owners, let alone 
children, are not  aware they exist.
> 
> Random reports do show that older kids do like to read NF. But like the boys 
saga, they read what interest them�celebrities, lifestyle choices�rather than 
what they are given or can easily find. 
> 
> As for authors self-publishing such titles or creating ebooks of them, if the 
books are illustrated they are either too costly to produce as picture research 
and picture reproduction fees prices are prohibitively high, or software does 
not yet exist for creating a standard ebook format suitable for all readers.
> 
> 
> Lionel Bender
> Bender Richardson White
> www.brw.co.uk
> www.childrensNFconference.com
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
> 
 		 	   		  
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: The Role of YALSA
From: Alison Hendon <alisonhendon_at_bookops.org>
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 13:40:31 -0400
X-Message-Number: 6
I too agree with Ed Sullivan and Marc Aronson - diluting BBYA to Best
Fiction was a real mistake.  The problem with the YALSA Excellence in NF
Award, however, is the crossover age range between the Sibert and EINF.  A
book like Steve Sheinkin's Bomb, for instance, appeared on both lists.  I
really don't think there's so little good J or YA nonfiction that we need
to duplicate titles.  I've seen 9 YA nonfiction titles so far this year
that I would consider great candidates for EINF.
Alison
On Mon, Jun 9, 2014 at 11:02 AM, <sully_at_sully-writer.com> wrote:
>
> I could not agree more with Marc Aronson's characterization of the YALSA's
> BBYA travesty as an "unforgivable abomination" and I, too, see YALSA's
> Excellence in Nonfiction Award as an opportunity to bring attention to
> nonfiction for older teens. However, in not having any official criteria
> identifying what constitutes "excellence in nonfiction," I would argue the
> award lacks legitimacy. The "we know it when see it" approach is difficult
> to take seriously.
>
> Edward T. Sullivan, Rogue Librarian
> http://www.sully-writer.com
> http://sullywriter.wordpress.com
>
>
>
-- 
Alison M. Hendon
Young Adult Selector, BookOps
The shared technical services organization of New York Public Library and
Brooklyn Public Library
917.229.9552
alisonhendon <christopherplatt_at_bookops.org>_at_bookops.org
Want more reading recommendations?
Check out our Bibliocommons Lists
<http://brooklyn.bibliocommons.com/lists/show/188334243_green_turtle_880> on
the Brooklyn Public Library website
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Nonfiction and YALSA
From: PamSHolley_at_aol.com
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 14:42:43 -0400 (EDT)
X-Message-Number: 7
 
It would be remiss of me to not explain some of the  rationale for the 
change from BBYA to BFYA and the addition of the Excellence in  Nonfiction 
Award. 
If you haven’t had a chance to read an article I wrote  entitled “Best” 
Book Selection Through the Years [Young Adult Library Services {YALS},  Spring 
2010, pp 32-37], you might want to as it explains the changes in the BBYA  
committee and what led to its becoming the BFYA  committee. 
In the 1960s most of the titles on the list were  nonfiction, an average of 
62.1%, a percentage that by 2010 had diminished to a  mere 18.2%. In real 
numbers, the BBYA list in 2010 had 79 fiction titles and 11  nonfiction; 2009’
s list had 73 fiction and 13 nonfiction and 2008’s list  featured 74 
fiction and 11 nonfiction, and so on. YALSA wanted to continue  promoting 
nonfiction, but it was obvious there were fewer and fewer nonfiction  titles on 
the 
BBYA list each year, which is what led to the decision to change  BBYA to 
BFYA. In tandem with that, and to better promote nonfiction, the  Excellence 
in Nonfiction Award was established and, responding to concerns, now  
includes both the award books as well as a vetted list of nonfiction titles.   
Of course this Excellence in Nonfiction list isn't yet  as well known, but 
it will become better known as librarians and those who speak  to groups 
promote it. Don't forget that YALSA also has the Outstanding Books for  the 
College Bound list which includes a large number of nonfiction titles  
appropriate for STEM classes. Although this committee currently meets only every  
five years, perhaps it’s time for it to meet more often.  And never overlook 
the Quick Picks list  which always has a variety of nonfiction titles with 
great teen appeal. The end  result of all these changes is that YALSA is now 
able to provide significantly  more recommended nonfiction than before.  
Help is available from several products. To aid  librarians, and to keep 
costs low, there is a downloadable title called Reads 4 Teens which features 
32 thematic  brochures and 9 bookmarks composed of titles from YALSA’s 2014 
award and  selection lists. There is also a downloadable product from the 
2014 Outstanding  Books for the College Bound committee, appropriately titled 
Outstanding Books for the College Bound, which features pamphlets  and 
posters built around their list. A free product from YALSA, which works on  both 
Apple and Android mobile devices, is the Teen Book Finder App which has  
proved very popular. So there are many available lists for those who wish to use 
 them.  More information can be found  at  
_http://www.ala.org/yalsa/products%26publications_ (http://www.ala.org/yalsa/products&publications)    
Pam Spencer Holley 
Past President,  YALSA
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: =?utf-8?Q?Re:_[ccbc-net]_ccbc-net_digest:_June_09,_2014?=
From: deborahhopkinson_at_yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 18:06:08 +0000
X-Message-Number: 8
While I agree with Mary that narrative nonfiction needs to be engaging and 
dramatic,  I do think  it is possible -- and essential -- to write nonfiction 
that is entertaining but also provides appropriate context that supports the 
narrative thread. 
The Hive Detectives is a fantastic example of this in its layout and design. We 
are invested in the story BECAUSE we understand the context and what’s at stake. 
And of course oral histories, interviews, art, photographs, maps, and picture 
books can help support longer narrative nonfiction in this regard.
A couple of examples from adult nonfiction come to mind of exceptional use of 
context. One, of course, is Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s classic Pulitzer Prize 
winning A Midwife’s Tale.  The context here is the key -- the way in to making 
her life and times come alive.  
Also I just reviewed a fantastic adult nonfiction book, Judith Flanders’ The 
Victorian City, that would be great to excerpt and use in conjunction with 
teaching any Dickens novel.  In one sense it is ALL context:  fascinating, 
detailed, vibrant, entertaining, and endlessly fun. 
 Deborah Hopkinson
Sent from Windows Mail
From: Mary Losure
Sent: ‎Tuesday‎, ‎June‎ ‎10‎, ‎2014 ‎10‎:‎40‎ ‎AM
To: ccbc-net, Subscribers of
I think  narrative non-fiction for kids will become more and more popular if we 
take a few tips from best- selling narrative non- fiction books for the adult 
market.   
They are people centered.  They have characters that are real. Every bit of 
information  advances the story. Nothing is included simply because it's 
"educational" or provides "context" that has nothing to do with the story.
 
 I think it would help if the adult gatekeepers to children's literature were to 
keep in mind that non-fiction written for children to read for pleasure does not  
have be on "important"  topics or be full of "context"  to have value.  Stories 
about everyday people -- especially the women and children who are often left 
out of the historical record -- offer huge possibilities for narrative 
non-fiction.  I also think such stories will add more diverse voices to the 
world of children's books.
 
 
Mary Losure
Children's book author
www.marylosure.com
 
> 
> Subject: Teen, YA, and women-related nonfiction
> From: Lionel Bender <lionheart.brw_at_btinternet.com>
> Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 11:06:44 +0100
> X-Message-Number: 1
> 
> As a book packager producing children's illustrated nonfiction for a range of 
publishers and as initiator of the 21st Century Children's Nonfiction 
Conference, I am aware of many of the problems of Teen, YA, and Women-related 
NF.
> 
> First, publishers in general believe Teen and YA kids do not read many or any 
books—fiction or nonfiction—just as they used to believe boys don't read. They 
can find lots of evidence to support this, particularly for NF. Result: There 
are few of these books on the market, and there is little sign of things 
changing among mainstream publishers. A few new publishers have emerged to fill 
this niche, but most of the books they produce are not Common Core material but 
lifestyle guides, edgy subjects, or very much at the pseudo-adult end of the 
spectrum. These publishers are making inroads, so there is a chance other 
publishers will jump on the bandwagon. 
> 
> Second, there are Teen and YA titles out there that are perfect for Common 
Core, but they are hard to find. The big NF educational, school-and-library 
publishers such as Lerner, Capstone, and Rosen do produce biographies about 
sportswomen, famous women in history, and famous women in science—admittedly a 
fraction of the number about famous men—but you won't find these in bookstores. 
Why? Because these titles do not fly off shelves, bookstores don't stock them. 
If you ask a bookstore to supply them, it possibly won't or even can't. 
Publishers don't want to deal with small orders or it is economically unviable 
for bookstores to make them, so bookstores have to resort to dealing with 
wholesalers. Wholesalers won't stock such books because they don't fly off the 
shelves. As an individual, buying direct from a publisher is far too costly. And 
now, some publishers products are effectively unavailable from online stores 
such as Amazon. So these books are hard to find and sometimes too costly to buy. 
You have to trawl through each and every publisher's website to find them.
> 
> Because such books are not widely read or are hard to find, they are not 
widely reviewed. So teachers, librarians, parents, bookstore owners, let alone 
children, are not aware they exist.
> 
> Random reports do show that older kids do like to read NF. But like the boys 
saga, they read what interest them—celebrities, lifestyle choices—rather than 
what they are given or can easily find. 
> 
> As for authors self-publishing such titles or creating ebooks of them, if the 
books are illustrated they are either too costly to produce as picture research 
and picture reproduction fees prices are prohibitively high, or software does 
not yet exist for creating a standard ebook format suitable for all readers.
> 
> 
> Lionel Bender
> Bender Richardson White
> www.brw.co.uk
> www.childrensNFconference.com
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
> 
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Subject: RE: ccbc-net digest: June 09, 2014
From: Mary Losure <mblosure_at_msn.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 16:44:45 -0500
X-Message-Number: 9
Thanks, Deborah. I will definitely take a look at those titles!  And I'm 
certainly not arguing against "appropriate context that supports the narrative 
thread"  --just facts that load down the story so that kids won't read it for 
pleasure.  It's a hard line to draw sometimes.  A challenge, I think.
 
Mary Losure
www.marylosure.com
 
From: deborahhopkinson_at_yahoo.com
To: mblosure_at_msn.com; ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu
Subject: Re: [ccbc-net] ccbc-net digest: June 09, 2014
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 18:06:08 +0000
While I agree with Mary that narrative nonfiction needs to be engaging and 
dramatic,  I do think  it is possible -- and essential -- to write nonfiction 
that is entertaining but also provides appropriate context that supports the 
narrative thread. 
The Hive Detectives is a fantastic example of this in its layout and design. We 
are invested in the story BECAUSE we understand the context and what�s at stake. 
And of course oral histories, interviews, art, photographs, maps, and picture 
books can help support longer narrative nonfiction in this regard.
A couple of examples from adult nonfiction come to mind of exceptional use of 
context. One, of course, is Laurel Thatcher Ulrich�s classic Pulitzer Prize 
winning A Midwife�s Tale.  The context here is the key -- the way in to making 
her life and times come alive.  
Also I just reviewed a fantastic adult nonfiction book, Judith Flanders� The 
Victorian City, that would be great to excerpt and use in conjunction with 
teaching any Dickens novel.  In one sense it is ALL context:  fascinating, 
detailed, vibrant, entertaining, and endlessly fun. 
 Deborah Hopkinson
 
 
 		 	   		  
---
END OF DIGEST
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Received on Wed 11 Jun 2014 04:14:50 PM CDT