Monsters vs. pepper

I got to talk with families about monsters last night. 

We built an exquisite community monster and talked about monsters in books. 

How monsters are stand-in for big and scary things in life. 

We asked kids & their grownups:

How do you defeat a monster? 

Their answers:
Fight.
Hide.
Do the floss & make everyone laugh.
Be brave.
Stand next to whoever the monster is targeting.
Kindness.
Trickery.
Befriend.
Speak up….

I read tons of monster books for this and noticed that often it’s creativity that beats monsters best.

Like small holes in armor, spears in the eye, or pepper.

So, here’s to the resistance: To courage. To standing with the oppressed. Paying attention. Speaking up. Yes! And...

Here's to creativity! 

To sharing our gifts. our light. our stories. art. music.

Let your creativity give life to others. 

Because …HOPE! 

Spreading hope and love and beauty.
Those things make us stronger and braver and ready to resist fight monsters.

And maybe some pepper and the floss might help, too.

Book Party!

The verdict is in!

 

After months of evaluating beautiful books of 2016,

the Jefferson County Library Kids' Caldecott committee has chosen their favorites.

The envelope, please...    

Our Mock Caldecott Award goes to 

The Night Gardener by the Fan brothers. 

The committee found the Fan brothers' illustrations excellent, 

with great hints and subtleties in visual story, 

and a story itself both inspiring and hopeful. 

Our Mock Caldecott honors:

Ada's Violin by Susan Hood, illustrated by Sally Wern Comport

Ada's Violin captivated our committee with its powerful true account and its collage illustrations.

The Storyteller by Evan Turk 

wowed us with layer upon layer of story and meaning, woven in both text and illustrations.

The kids were also quite impressed that Mr. Turk used 

sugared tea, indigo, and fire in the making of the illustrations.

Maybe Something Beautiful by F. Isabel Campos & Theresa Howell, illustrated by Rafael Lopez

Our committee appreciated the vibrant exuberance in Maybe Something Beautiful, 

as well as the true story of how art transformed a neighborhood.

Return by Aaron Becker

This wordless book fascinated our kid voters. 

They discovered intricate details tucked within each page, 

and appreciated the fantastical world Becker created in his book trilogy.

They liked that the story dove deep, like a mystery.

And our children's librarian Martha Ashenfelter came up with the best Caldecott treat yet!

Sparked by the colorful illustrations and murals from Maybe Something Beautiful, 

Martha helped kids created their own edible canvases

with graham crackers, frosting, candy, and apricots.

 

 

A party with Caldecotts and apricots.

Candy and canvases.

 

Glorious in composition, sweetness, and stickiness!

Thank you, Jefferson County Library.

I'm grateful to have been part of another year of Mock Caldecott goodness. 

Hooray for beautiful books

and stories that inspire!

Here are the official American Library Associaton's picks:

Caldecott Award:  

Radiant Child by Javaka Steptoe

Caldecott Honors:

They All Saw A Cat by Brendan Wenzel

Du Iz Tak? by Carson Ellis

Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford and R. Gregory Christie

Leave Me Alone by Vera Brosgol

Caldecott Club

It's Mock Caldecott season!

Beginning November 4, 

we'll meet Thursdays 

at the Jefferson County Library in Port Hadlock,Washington

from 3:45 - 4:45 p.m.

 

Get ready to be wowed by beautiful reads,

learn about the Caldecott selection process,

grow your critical thinking skills, 

and help choose the stand-out picture books of 2016.

Read more about it here.

I'm so honored to get to join our stellar children's librarian

Martha Ashenfelter and the Jefferson County Library 

for a second helping of Caldecott Soup.

I'll keep you posted on all the book deliciousness!

A few of the books we'll be looking at:

They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel

They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel: I'm wowed by how this book plays with visual point of view. Clever in the extreme.

The Storyteller by Evan Turk: Set in Morocco, this layer-upon-layer story is intricate and deep. The illustrations are done in ink as well as indigo and sugared green tea. Striking.

Sam and Jump by Jennifer K. Mann: Soft and sweet, this is a poignant book about loss and connection.

There is a Tribe of Kids by Lane Smith: I love how this book deals with the concept of collective nouns simply and efficiently, but the illustrations tell a deeper story.

Ada's Violin by Susan Hood, illustrated by Sally Wern Comport : This is an amazingly uplifting true story that starts in a garbage dump. Gorgeous illustrations!

Before Morning by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Beth Krommes: Here is another beauty with simple text and visual story that begs to be followed again and again.

Pirates in the Library

It's National Library Week.

How glad I am for libraries this week and always.

How rich it is to have a place to borrow books,

 to load up on research, art, music, words, and stories!

How glad I am for the staff at my library, 

gracious souls who do not even sniff

when the wildebeests and I emerge

with a mountain of books to take home. 

How patient they are with the noise and flamboyance 

of kid-ruckus and story hour, 

even when small bears and dragons and pirates

weave and wail beyond their story circles.

How perfectly like a matchmaker 

is our children's librarian, 

always hunting down treasure 

to help her patrons fall in love with reading.

Happy Library Week! 

Our latest librarian-found treasures: 

When Mischief Came To Town by Katrina Nannestad

Hector and Hummingbird by Nicholas John Frith

Tea Party In the Woods by Akiko Miyakoshi

Detective Gordon: the First Case by Ulf Nilsson

Love that Dog by Sharon Creech

When Books Dream, and Other Caldecott Thoughts

When books sleep, do they see in color? 

In their slumbering, do they take a wayward path, 

meandering through bright worlds and words, 

do their characters reach for lofty things?

Do books dream

of Caldecott and Newbery?

Or do they wish

to be read,

to be loved,

from end to end,

from page to page,

word after word after word?

On Monday, the American Library Association announced their choices,

the most distinguished books of 2016. 

They've picked the stellar standouts, 

a handful of beautiful treasures. 

Finding Winnie gets the Caldecott medal this year. 
Oh happy day for illustrator Sophie Blackall and author Lindsay Mattick!

Caldecott Honors go to:
Waiting, by Kevin Henkes,
 
Trombone Shorty, illustrated by Bryan Collier & written by Troy Andrews,

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement,
illustrated by Ekua Holmes & written by Carole Boston Weatherford

and one more Caldecott Honor-

glorious surprise!

Last Stop on Market Street,  illustrated by Christian Robinson & written by Matt de la Peña
rode home not only a Caldecott Honor,
but a Coretta Scott King Honor,
and the Newbery Medal,
the award given each year for the most distinguished contribution
in American literature for children. 
What an exciting day!

Some of our other book favorites were honored on Monday with special awards as well.

Drum, Dream Girl, illustrated by Rafael Lopez & written by Margarita Engle
won the Pura Belpre' award for illustration.

Mango, Abuela, and Me, illustrated by Angela Dominguez & written by Meg Medina
earned Pura Belpre' Honors in both writing and illustration.

Emmanuel's Dream, illustrated by Sean Qualls 

& written by Pacific Northwest author Laurie Ann Thompson

was honored with the Schneider Family Book Award. 

Yay, Laurie! 

And tomorrow, our Library Mock Caldecott committee
finds out our own winners - different from the American Library Association awards,
but just as important to our small readers.

Last week, the committee had to stand up
and defend their favorite book finalists,
provide good, deep dirt on why their books mattered.

 Nearly every kid present had a different favorite book.
Each speaker, even my crowd-shy wildebeests,
braved the limelight to give strong, passionate, thoughtful evidence
as to why that book was a winner.
And that's when it struck me -
each book wins.
Each book published has a chance to speak, to set a spark in a child.
And that is a win.

That's the beauty and the power
of these little, flat packages of words and pictures
that we call books.

So if tomorrow at the Library Mock Caldecott Awards Party,
there just happens to be one Mock Caldecott winner
and a surprising eight Honor books,
it is because

each of those books
has won over
some very passionate readers.

And if you just happen to be around tomorrow -

Thursday, January 14, 2016 at 3:45 p.m.

at the Jefferson County Library,

come in for the party!

All are invited!

Come see the books!


Have some party snacks and toothpicks!

 
If you read five books, you get to weigh in on the People's Choice vote.

And next Thursday at 3:45 p.m. at the library,
we'll write letters to authors and illustrators.
We'll send awards to our winners.
 

Here's to books that dream,
and to books that spark readers and dreamers!