NEWS FOR JUNE (and beyond)

NEW BOOKS FOR 2014

 David Schwartz has entered the world of e-publishing with

•The Hidden World of the Forest

•The Hidden World of the Pond

• The Hidden World of the Meadow

These are close adaptations of print books with way cool interactive features including audio, slide shows, zoom, etc., Galloping Turtle Books.

Marfé Ferguson Delano, Explore My World: Butterflies, National Geographic, June

Marfé Ferguson Delano, Explore My World: Frogs, National Geographic, June

Sue Macy, Roller Derby Rivals, Holiday House, July

April Pulley Sayre, Rah Rah, Radishes board book, Little Simon, July 15

Karen Romano Young, TRY THIS!, National Geographic Kids, August

Cheryl Harness, Flags Over America, A Star-Spangled Story, Albert Whitman, September

Sue Macy, Sally Ride: Life on a Mission, Aladdin, September

Steve Sheinkin and Jim Murphy have stories in Guys Read: True Stories, 

Walden Pond Press, September

Dorothy Hinshaw Patent, Super Sniffers: 
Dog Detectives on the Job, 

Bloomsbury, September

Steve Jenkins, Creature Features, 
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October

Elizabeth Rusch, Scientists in the Field: The Next Wave: 
The Quest to Harness the Power of the Oceans, 
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October

             • Junior Library Guild selection

Dorothy Hinshaw Patent, Decorated Houses, Charlesbridge, January 2015

April Pulley Sayre and Steve Jenkins, Woodpecker Wham, Holt, Spring 2015

April Pulley Sayre, Raindrops Roll, Beach Lane Books, Spring 2015

AWARDS

Steve Jenkins: 2014 Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor book for Nonfiction for The Animal Book

Dorothy Hinshaw Patent: The 2014 Edward O. Wilson Biodiversity Technology Pioneer Award For Exemplary Advocation of Biodiversity Through the Authorship of Children's Science Literature from the American Computer Museum

Dorothy Hinshaw Patent: Dogs on Duty: Soldiers’ Best Friend on the Battlefield and Beyond

            • ALA Notable Children’s Book

            • 2013 Best Children’s Books, Children’s Book Committee

            • 2013 IRA Teachers’ Choices Reading List

            • 2013-2014 Great Lakes Great Books (Michigan Reading Assoc.)

            • NYSRA 2014 Charlotte Award

            • Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award 2015 list (IL)

            • 2015 Bluestem Award list, Illinois School Library Media Association

APPEARANCES

June 14 Sue Macy, Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum, Adams, Massachusetts, 3 p.m.

June 20-22 Vicki Cobb and Dorothy Hinshaw Patent are presenting at the Children's Nonfiction Conference, New Paltz, NY. 

June 22 Susan E. Goodman, Picture Book Project Seminar, The Narrative Arc of the Nonfiction Picture Book, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA, 12:00-1:30

June 24-25 Deborah Heiligman: 2014 Children's Literature Conference, Shenandoah University

June 24 Steve Jenkins: 2014 Children's Literature Conference, Shenandoah University

June 28 Gretchen Woelfle: ALA Conference, Las Vegas, NV: signing Write on, Mercy! The Secret Life of Mercy Otis Warren at Boyds Mills booth, 11-12; Mumbet’s Declaration of Independence at Lerner booth, 2-3

June 30: Jan Greenberg: ALA Conference, Las Vegas, NV, ALSC Book and Media Awards Program, including Sibert Awards 8:30-10; signing The Mad Potter: George E. Ohr, Eccentric Genius at Macmillan Booth 10:30-11:30.

OUT AND ABOUT WITH INK AUTHORS IN MAY

NEW BOOKS

Ann Bausum, Stubby the War Dog: The True Story of World War I's Bravest Dog (National Geographic for Kids)

Ann Bausum, Sergeant Stubby: How a Stray Dog and his Best Friend Helped Win World War I and Stole the Heart of a Nation (National Geographic, YA)

Steve Jenkins, Eye to Eye: How Animals See the World (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

            Dorothy Hinshaw Patent, Dogs on Duty: Soldiers' Best Friends on the Battlefield and Beyond (paperback, Walker)
            • Flicker Tale Award in nonfiction, Dakota Library Association (Childrens' Choice Award)

AWARDS

Cheryl Harness, 2014 Missouri Humanities Award: Distinguished Literary Achievement for writing and illustrating historical non-fiction books for children, (see Events below)

Elizabeth Rusch, Eruption!: Volcanoes and the science of saving lives (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

            • YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction nominee

            • Orbis Pictus recommended

            • Pennsylvania Readers Choice Award nominee

Elizabeth Rusch, Electrical Wizard: How Nikolas Tesla Lit Up the World (Candlewick)
            • CBC/Bank Street College Best Book 2014

Deborah Heiligman, The Boy Who Loved Math (Roaring Brook)
            • Winner, 2014 Cook Prize for best STEM picture book, Bank Street College

Melissa Stewart, No Monkeys, No Chocolate (Charlesbridge)
            • Honor book, 2014 Cook Prize for best STEM picture book, Bank Street College

EVENTS

May 4 – Susan Kuklin: Cooper Union, New York, NY,  PEN/World Voices Literary Festival YA/Children's Panel

May 10 – Gretchen Woelfle: Ashley House, Sheffield, MA, with illustrator Alix Delinois, presenting Mumbet’s Declaration of Independence.

May 14 – Susan Kuklin: Simmons College, Boston, MA, CBC/CBB Diversity Committee Children’s Book Week

                                               

May 15 – Vicki Cobb: White Plains, NY, PACE University School of Education Conference: Rethinking STEM-D Education: Innovative Practices from the Field; Videoconferencing with Alexandra Siy, Dorothy Hinshaw Patent and Carla Killough McCafferty, in a panel discussion: Science That's Fun to Read and Teach

May 17 – Ann Bausum, author program and family event "Stubby the War Dog and his Favorite Doughboy," Westport Public Library, Westport CT

May 17 – Ann Bausum, Booksigning and reception West Haven Veterna’s Museum & Learning Center, West Haven, CT.

May 17 – Cheryl Harness: Missouri Humanities Council, St. Louis, MO., presentation of 2014 Humanities Award: Distinguished Literary Achievement

May 17 -- Deborah Heiligman: Gaithersburg Book Festival, Gaitherburg, MD, Writing Picture Book Biographies

May 18 -- Deborah Heiligman: Temple Emanu-El, New York, NY, Conference on Jewish Story

May 18 – Barbara Kerley: Concord Bookshop, Concord, MA, with illustrator Edwin Fotheringham, presenting A Home for Mr. Emerson

May 22 -- Deborah Heiligman: Cook Award presentation, Bank Street College, New York, NY

INK Author News for April

 NEW BOOKS

Beneath the Sun by Melissa Stewart, ill. by Constance Bergum (Peachtree)

A Place for Butterflies by Melissa Stewart (revised edition, Peachtree)

LATEST AWARDS

The Mad Potter: George E. Ohr, Eccentric Genius by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan (Roaring Brook)

            • Orbis Pictus Recommended

            • Booklist Best Book

            • School Library Journal Best Book

            • CBC/NCSS Notable for Social Studies

            • Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award Master List

The Animal Book by Steve Jenkins (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

            • John Burroughs Riverby Award

            • featured title, New England Book Show eBook category.

The Mystery of Darwin's Frog by Marty Crump, ill. by Steve Jenkins and Edel Rodriguez (Boyds Mills)

            • John Burroughs Riverby Award

Animals Upside Down by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
            • featured selection, New England Book Show

Eruption!: Volcanoes and the Science of Saving Lives by Elizabeth Rusch (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

            • 2014 CCBC Choices

Volcano Rising by Elizabeth Rusch (Charlesbridge)

            • 2014 CCBC Choices

Rotten Pumpkin, by David Schwartz (Creston Books)

            • 2013 Distinguished Book, Association of Children's Librarians of Northern California

Courage Has No Color, by Tanya Lee Stone (Candlewick)

            • NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature for Youth/Teens

APPEARANCES

April 3-5 Melissa Stewart will speak at the National Science Teachers Association conference in Boston, MA.

April 7: Deborah Heiligman will speak at the Simons Foundation in New York City: Lyrical And Logical: A Reading of Children's Books About Math.  

April 9: Steve Jenkins and his co-author Robin Page will speak at the TLA (Texas Library Association) Conference in San Antonio, TX.

April 10-11 Melissa Stewart will speak at the Massachusetts Reading Association annual meeting in Quincy, MA.

April 10-11: David Schwartz will speak at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics National Meeting, New Orleans, LA.

April 10-12: Deborah Heiligman will speak at the Festival of Faith and Writing, Calvin College, Grand Rapids MI.

April 26: Steve Jenkins will speak at the 32nd annual Spring Festival of Children’s Literature at Frostburg State, MD.

April 26: Susan Kuklin will be guest speaker at the 2014 Stamford Literary Competition Award Ceremony, Stamford, CT. 

Growing from our Work

At the end of March, I’ll be flying to Michigan to receive the Mitten Award from the Michigan Library Association.  The award is for a book (“Dogs on Duty: Soldiers’ Best Friends on the Battlefield and Beyond”) that does a good job of communicating information to its target audience.  I work hard to achieve that goal, so I feel honored to receive this award.  At the conference I will also be giving a keynote address, which has gotten me thinking: What topic is especially appropriate for a keynote?  This question has been wandering around in my head for a while, and I’ve finally decided on the answer for me, at this time in my career.

A nonfiction writer is a person who loves learning new information and feels the urge to communicate the fascinating information she/he has learned to other people.  We go through the years finding intriguing topics, enjoying our research, and putting it all together in a form we hope will inspire and engross our readers.  We learn a lot, meet all sorts of experts, and probably visit some fascinating locales.  But I realize now that we do so much for ourselves in the process of being dedicated to looking for truth and communicating our knowledge to others.

This work helps make us be more open in a number of ways.  We learn to explore all sides of a topic, to investigate different versions of the “facts,” and to communicate the complexities of “there are no simple answers” to our audience in clear, nonjudgmental language.  I think nonjudgmental is a big part.  Years ago I wrote “Where the Wild Horses Roam,” about wild horses in the West.  There were, and still are, big controversies about these animals.  To some, they are a symbol of wildness, an integral part of the history of the American west that must be honored and protected.  To others, like ranchers who purchase grazing leases on the public lands that house the horses, these equines are not just a damn nuisance, they steal the vital and sometimes sparse food their cattle need to fatten up and provide income for the ranchers.

I did my best to express the concerns of both sides and shrugged.  “If both ranchers and horse advocates hate me after reading this, I’ll know the book is good.”  But I was wrong—both sides appreciated what I wrote because I stated each side of the story accurately and without any evaluative language.  They just wanted to be heard.  I try to keep that lesson in mind whenever I write about a potentially controversial topic.  “Just the facts, ma’am” has become my mantra.

That's just one example of the unexpected bonuses I've received from this work. Now, after more than 40 years in this business, I realize how much of value I’ve learned, not just the facts and theories, the interactions and exceptions, but also the variety of it all—so many cultures, so many ways of seeing the world and of being in the world, so much glorious variety in Nature.  So, as you can imagine, I’m nowhere near finished yet.  I want to continue learning and communicating as I keep finding more and more intriguing stories available for exploration.

Out and About with INK Authors

NEW BOOKS

BEYOND MAGENTA: TRANSGENDER TEENS SPEAK OUT by Susan Kuklin (Candlewick)

FEATHERS: NOT JUST FOR FLYING, by Melissa Stewart, ill. by Sarah S. Brannen (Charlesbridge)

MUMBET’S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE by Gretchen Woelfle, ill. by Alix Delinois (Carolrhoda)

AWARDS

Sibert Honor Book

Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, The Mad Potter: George E. Ohr, Eccentric Genius

Finalists for the Cook Prize for the Best STEM Picture Book:

Deborah Heiligman, The Boy Who Loved Math

Melissa Stewart, No Monkeys, No Chocolate

Finalist YALSA award for Excellence in NF for YA

Tanya Lee Stone, Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, America’s First Black Paratroopers

ALA Notable Books 2014

Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, The Mad Potter: George E. Ohr, Eccentric Genius

Deborah Heiligman, The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdös

Elizabeth Rusch, Eruption!:  Volcanoes and the Science of Saving Lives

April Pulley Sayre, ill. Steve Jenkins, Eat Like a Bear

Steve Sheinkin, Lincoln's Grave Robbers

Tanya Lee Stone, Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, America's First Black Paratroopers

  

EVENTS

Friday, February 7, Cheryl Harness will be speaking on “Creating Books for Young TimeTravelers” in Denver at the Colorado Council of the International Reading Association.

Saturday, February 8, Kelly Hall Milner, along with Kathleen Krull and Cindy Jenson-Elliott will address “Nonfiction v Common Core” at the California School Library Association Conference in San Diego.

Same day, same place, Gretchen Woelfle and Alexis O’Neill will talk about “Turning History into Story.”

Some of the Eureka! Award Books

Last month I blogged about the Eureka! Awards for Nonfiction, given each year by the California Reading Association.  A recap:

I like all things about the Eureka! Awards.

I like that they honor many types of nonfiction – those closely tied to the curriculum and those that are not.

I like that all age levels receive Eureka! Awards: K-12.

I like that small presses are liberally represented among the prize winners.*

I like that awards go to books with clever, often multi-disciplinary approaches to a subject.

*Small presses with 2013 winners include Annick Press (4 awards,) Scarletta Junior Readers, Mountain Press, Dawn Publications, Lee & Low, Bearport, Calkins Creek, and Wordsong, as well as big NY-based houses.

A list of all the 2013 Eureka! Winners is here. 

Bones Never Lie: How Forensics Helps Solve History’s Mysteries by Elizabeth MacLeod (Annick Press) blends history and science into a mystery format as it explains how old and new forensic science has solved age-old mysteries about the deaths of Napolean, King Tut, Anatasia Romanov, and a recent King of Thailand.

The Great Bicycle Experiment: The Army’s Historic Black Bicycle Corps, 1896-97 by Kay Moore (Mountain Press Publishing), uncovers an obscure bit of history. This group of intrepid athletes rode primitive bicycles on wretched roads over mountains, through rivers, and broiling prairies. Period photographs show just how challenging the rides were. Subsequent history of the corps reveals racist injustice that was not overturned until the 1970s.

Cowboy Up? Ride the Navajo Rodeo by Nancy Bo Flood (WordSong) takes us out West, and gives us a multi-layered day at the rodeo. We hear a voice in verse of a young rodeo rider; the announcer rousing the crowd, and a narrative that explains the intricacies of each event. Stunning action photographs complement the text.

Here Come the Girls Scouts by Shana Corey (Scholastic) is a wonderful example of how illustrations and book design can add to the power of the text. Hadley Hooper’s paintings bring Daisy Low’s energy and enthusiasm alive.

Potatoes on the Rooftop: Farming in the City, by Hadley Dyer (Annick Press) also uses book design to make an impact. This book combines nutrition, geography, zoology, botany, with lots of go-out-and-get-your-hands-dirty activities. Urban gardens at home, in schools, and communities all around the world are presented.

It Can’t Be True  (Dorling Kindersley) is for readers who are interested in how big, how tall, how much, how fast. Chapters on the universe, the earth, living things, and feats of engineering are presented with photos, graphs, drawings and wacky analogies. (“An adult heart pumps enough blood to fill 5.3 10,000 gallon road tankers every month.”)

Animals Upside Down: A Pull, Pop, Lift & Learn Book  by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page (Houghton Mifflin) Leave it to these two authors to show us yet another quirky view of the animal world. Pull, lift, slide to see some odd creatures and how they live. 

Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building by Christy Hale (Lee & Low Books) will intrigue kids from pre-K to 12, as it relates kids’ play (stacking cups, mud pies, building blocks, sand castles, house of cards, etc) to architectural treasures all around the world, in rhyming verse. Back matter introduces the architects represented.

10 Plants That Shook the World by Gillian Richardson (Annick Press.) Some food – pepper, tea, sugarcane, cacao. Some not – papyrus, rubber, cotton, cinchona (source of quinine.) All these plants have had enormous economic, political, and social consequences through the centuries. Lots of biology info too.

Cool World Cooking by Lisa Wagner (Scarletta) gives us recipes with text and visual directions, suitable for many ages of children (with adult help.) While it certainly can offer curriculum connections, it also offers a great way to have fun with kids at home.

Happy eating and reading to you all!