Tag Archives: ALA

TWO LEE & LOW BOOKS TAKE HOME PURA BELPRÉ AWARDS AT THE 2023 AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION’S YOUTH MEDIA AWARDS

New York, NY (January 31, 2023) — The American Library Association (ALA) announced the following Pura Belpré awards for two titles published by LEE & LOW BOOKS INC.: Where Wonder Grows illustrated by Adriana M. Garcia as the 2023 Pura Belpré Youth Illustration Award winner, and Still Dreaming / Seguimos soñando illustrated by Magdalena Mora as a 2023 Pura Belpré Youth Illustration Honor Book.

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Meet Lee & Low at ALA 2018!

It’s that time of year again! The annual American Library Association conference is in just a few days and we would love to meet you! If you will be in New Orleans this year, come visit us in booth #3452 where we’ll give away ARCs, bookmarks, posters, postcards, and other free swag! Continue reading

Come Meet LEE & LOW BOOKS at ALA 2017!

It’s that time of year again! The annual American Library Association conference is just around the corner and we would love to meet you! If you will be in Chicago this year, come visit us in booth #3115 where we’ll give away ARCs, bookmarks, posters, postcards, and other free swag!

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ALA 2015 Recap: Wins in Diversity

Another year, another successful ALA annual! We were so excited to be in San Francisco this year, especially in light of the recent SCOTUS ruling on gay marriage! What better city to be in than the one that elected Harvey Milk to public office and issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2004, kickstarting a fight for LGBTQ marriage rights in California? Continue reading

ALA Youth Media Awards Wins for Lee & Low Books!

Yesterday was the ALA Youth Media Awards, or the “Oscars of Children’s Literature” as they’re sometimes called. It was a big day for diversity. Diverse books and authors were honored across the board and we couldn’t be happier. Continue reading

ALA 2014 Recap: Diversity All Around

Another year, another fantastic ALA Annual, this time in Las Vegas! While “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” we thought it would be OK to break that code, just this one time, in order to share our experiences with you.

Even though the weather was hot (hello triple digits!), attendance was high and spirits were up! We teamed up with the folks of the #weneeddiversebooks campaign to hand out buttons, which were a huge hit! In fact, School Library Journal reported that, “If you ran into a youth services librarian at the American Library Association (ALA) Conference in Las Vegas, odds were good that they were sporting a colorful ‘We Need Diverse Books’ button.”

#weneeddiversebooks buttons
#weneeddiversebooks buttons!

We kept a white board in our booth, and got some great answers from librarians on why we need diverse books:

ALA whiteboard
We need diverse books because…

Quite a few of our authors and illustrators made it out to Las Vegas and our schedule was packed with signings! Don Tate, Glenda Armand, Frank Morrison, René Colato Lainez, Karen Sandler, Mira Reisberg, John Parra, Susan L. Roth, Cindy Trumbore, and Emily Jiang all stopped by the booth to sign books. In true Vegas style, we kept the party going at the LEE & LOW table!

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2014 ALA Signing Schedule

It’s hard to believe that the ALA Annual Conference is just around the corner, but we’re looking forward to a fun-filled weekend in Las Vegas! We have an exciting signing schedule, which you can check out below:

ALA signing schedule

SATURDAY, JUNE 28

Join Us for a Diversity Discussion at ALA in Las Vegas

Last year at the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference, we had a great turnout and discussion during our book buzz event. If you’ll be at ALA, join us again this year to keep the conversation going:

ALA Book Buzz 2014

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ALA Recap: Lee & Low and Cinco Puntos Discuss Multicultural Publishing

This year in Chicago, we hosted a joint book buzz session with Cinco Puntos Press entitled, “Talk is Cheap: A Conversation With Two Multicultural Book Publishers.” The idea was to bring people together to discuss how two small publishers are addressing diversity issues in publishing, and how we can all work together – publishers, librarians, and readers – to bring about real change.

For those who were not able to attend in person, here’s a recap of what was discussed:

Jason Low, publisher of LEE & LOW BOOKS, spoke first. The first thing he emphasized is that, when it comes to more diversity, talking about the problem itself is not enough. Talk must equal action. He gave examples of this mentality from Lee & Low Books’ 20-year history, citing times when the company has identified “gaps” in representation and taken concrete steps to change things for the better: launching several imprints that cover everything from guided reading books in the classroom (our Bebop imprint) to science fiction and fantasy (Tu Books); acquiring Children’s Book Press so their award-winning bilingual titles wouldn’t be lost; and starting the New Voices and New Visions Awards to encourage unpublished authors of color and to help them break into the industry.

Jason also shared some statistics about the makeup of LEE & LOW, both in terms of staff and authors/illustrators: Book_Buzz2

Book_Buzz1

Book_Buzz3Jason closed by citing our recent CCBC study, which shows that the number of children’s books by and about people of color has not grown in eighteen years: “Children’s books are not keeping pace with the demographics of this country.” He stressed that in order to enact real change, “we have to cultivate a renewed sense of reader activism.” What does that mean, exactly? That we need to find ways to recommend these books, to make sure they’re visible. He noted that earlier this summer, his son came home with a summer reading list that was completely white. When something like that happens, he said, we as readers and librarians must speak up and ask for more diversity.

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