ALA 2012: What I learned & a recap in photos

We had a great time this year at the American Library Association in Anaheim! It’s been a while since we were out on the West Coast, and it was fun to be able to see old friends who we haven’t seen in a while and make some new ones, too. Attendance was high, enthusiasm was up, and we had a lot of fantastic conversations about both bookish and non-bookish things. A few things I learned from the people I met at ALA, in no particular order:

1. E-books haven’t wiped out hard copies of books yet – especially picture books, and especially in school libraries. “Please don’t stop printing your books,” one school librarian told me. “We can’t do anything with e-books; we need hard copies.”

2. Everyone loves nonfiction these days. Or, if they don’t love it, they’re still looking for more of it, thanks to the new Common Core State Standards.

3. The West Coast equivalent of the Mets/Yankees “Subway Series,” a game between the Angels and the Dodgers, is called a “Freeway Series.” Go figure!

Continue reading

What Are Your Top 3 Beach Reads?

In celebration of July 4th and all of summer’s fun activities, I asked a few Lee & Low authors and staff members what their favorite beach reads are. I’m sure it was difficult to pick just three, but here’s what they came up with:

Don Tate, author of It Jes’ Happened, says: “Reading here has been slow lately. But here’s what’s tops on my summer reading list, books written by friends and critique partners in my local writing community.”

  1. Laugh With The Moon by Shana Burg
  2. Chronal Engine by Greg Leitich Smith
  3. Think Big by Liz Garton Scanlon

 Jaclyn DeForge, our Resident Literacy Expert, explains why she made her choices:During the summer, despite my best intentions, I seldom actually make it to the beach, so here are my favorite travel-centric reads that help me imagine I’m on vacation.”

  1. A Sense of Direction:  Pilgrimage for the Restless and the Hopeful by Gideon Lewis-Krauss
  2. Continue reading

(Summer) School is in Session!

In the first in our new series, resident literacy expert Jaclyn DeForge shares her tips for educators on reading comprehension, the Common Core, and much more!  Prior to joining Lee & Low,  Jaclyn taught first and second grade in the South Bronx, worked in teacher support and development, and wrote English Language Arts curriculum as a literacy coach. 

July is *just* around the corner, and for many, it conjures images of fireworks, barbeques and lazy days at the beach.  But for many of our struggling students and dedicated educators, July means something very different: the start of summer school.

I’ve taught summer school several times over the years and keeping my students engaged and learning was sometimes a challenge, as little minds wandered and the gorgeous weather outside beckoned.  As summer school programs across the country kick into high gear, I’ve compiled a list of Sensational Summer School Read Alouds that really go the distance: 1) the topics have a high student-interest level 2) they can be used to hit multiple Common Core learning standards, and 3) they’re super rich in terms of content.

Silent Star: The Story of Deaf Major Leaguer William HoyToday’s pick: Silent Star: The Story of Deaf Major Leaguer William Hoy 

Continue reading

Happy LGBT Pride Month!

June is LGBT Pride Month, and throughout this month people everywhere (including President Obama) have been celebrating the positive impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people have had in the world. The fight for LGBT rights has always been a matter of civil rights and equality, as our publisher noted in a recent post, and it’s nice that we live in an era when that’s acknowledged by so many people.

Continue reading

ALA 2012: California-Bound

Wasn’t it *just* March? Hard to believe we’re already getting ready for ALA Annual in just a few short weeks. The best part of ALA is always meeting people face to face, and we hope many of you will come find us at Booth #2436 to say hello in person.

We’ll be giving out ARCs of Summer of the Mariposas, Guadalupe Garcia McCall’s follow-up to her award-winning Summer of the Mariposasdebut Under the Mesquite. We’ll also have a limited number of ARCs of Diverse Energies, our upcoming YA dystopian anthology with stories by Ursula K. Le Guin, Paolo Bacigalupi, Cindy Pon, Malinda Lo, and more.

Continue reading

Angelo Sosa’s Chilled Edamame and Spring Pea Soup

guest bloggerCongratulations to our picture book Auntie Yang’s Great Soybean Picnic, which just received its THIRD starred Auntie Yang's Great Soybean Picnicreview! School Library Journal calls it “a stellar title that will rest comfortably next to acclaimed picture-book memoirs by Allen Say, Peter Sís, and Uri Shulevitz.”

Continue reading

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Equality . . . For All

Throughout the history of the United States, equality for all people has been fought for and won time and time again. Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence ”that all men are created equal,” and over time equal rights have been gradually extended to different groups of people. However, equality has never been achieved without heated debate, despite our country’s founding principle that all people are created equal in the first place.

The language used to seek equality has remained familiar over time. Posters demanding equal rights (pictured) contain messages we have all seen or heard. One of my theories is that since the human life span is finite, the message of equality has to be relearned by each generation as it comes to realize that more work needs to be done.

If humans lived longer, would full equality across racial and gender lines have been acquired by now? Ask yourself: Would women suffragists from the 1920s, who so anti-semitism is anti-mevehemently demanded the right to vote, think it was fine for African Americans to be denied this same right? It depends. My theory also includes the caveat that empathy for others does not always translate into citizens banding together for the greater good. Then again, the social evolution of the United States is progressing. This progression is the reason the language and message of equality remains relevant.

Continue reading

Cover Reveal: Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Like dating, designing the right cover for a book can be a long, arduous process. Sometimes a cover gives off the wrong impression. Sometimes it’s too showy, sometimes it’s too dull. Sometimes a cover says all the right things, but lacks sincerity.

But sometimes, you find The One. And you just know.

That was the case with the cover of Summer of the Mariposas, coming this fall from our Tu Books imprint. Summer of the Mariposas, by Guadalupe Garcia McCall, is a YA retelling of The Odyssey set in Mexico. It follows Odilia and her sisters on their quest to return a dead man to his family (you can read an excerpt of the book here).

Continue reading

Betsy Lewin Shares: How to Draw a Puffin

Ever been working on something – a report, a shopping list, a letter to your pen-pal – and thought to yourself, there’s just something missing here? The answer is: a puffin! Since the first day we began working on Puffling Patrol, everyone in the office has been crazy for these endearingly strange-looking birds (new office mascot, anyone?). And now you can draw your very own, thanks to these step-by-step photos from author-illustrator Betsy Lewin:

Drawing a Puffling 2

Continue reading