Cynthia Leitich Smith's Blog, page 80

Video: Celebrating Día with Pat Mora

By Gayleen Rabakukk
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations



El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children's Day/Book Day), commonly known as Día, is a celebration every day of children, families, and reading that culminates yearly on April 30. The celebration emphasizes the importance of literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Día is a nationally recognized initiative that emphasizes the importance of literacy for all children from all backgrounds. It is a daily co...

Our Story Begins

By Gayleen Rabakukk
[image error] for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

Our Story Begins: Your Favorite Authors and Illustrators Share Fun, Inspiring and Occasionally Ridiculous Things They Wrote and Drew as Kids, edited by Elissa Brent Weissman (Atheneum, July 4, 2017) is now available for pre-order. From the promotional copy:

From award-winning author Elissa Brent Weissman comes a collection of quirky, smart, and vulnerable childhood works by some of today’s foremost children’s authors and illustrators—rev...

Author Interview: Marianna Baer on the Twisty Turns of Becoming a YA Author

By Gayleen Rabakukk
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

We welcome Marianna Baer to talk about her new YA novel, The Inconceivable Life of Quinn (Amulet, April 2017). From the promotional copy:
Quinn Cutler is sixteen and the daughter of a high-profile Brooklyn politician. 
She’s also pregnant, a crisis made infinitely more shocking by the fact that she has no memory of ever having sex. Before Quinn can solve this deeply troubling mystery, her story becomes public. Rumors spread, jeopardi...

In Memory: Patricia C. McKissack

By Gayleen Rabakukk
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

Patricia C. McKissack, honored children's author from Chesterfield, dies at 72 by Jane Henderson
from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Peek: "...'I think my mother died of a broken heart.' Fredrick McKissack Jr. said his mother and father were 'best friends and partners.'”

Before becoming an author, Patricia earned a master's degree from Webster's University and taught English at a junior high school in Kirkwood, Missouri.

In a 1998 story by...

Cynsational News

By Cynthia Leitich Smith & Gayleen Rabakukk
for Cynsations

The Power of Representation by Ellen Oh from Nerdy Book Club. Peek: "In books, you can be anything you want. A rock star, an astronaut, a warrior queen.... Books allowed me to escape from the hardships of real life....But I didn’t know that it also helped me develop a complex. You see, all I ever read were books about white kids."

The Convenient Indian: How Activists Get Native Americans Wrong by Melanie Benson Taylor from the Los An...

SCBWI Initiative: Lin Oliver on Books For Readers

By Gayleen Rabakukk
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators recently announced a new initiative: Books for Readers. To learn how this program would get books into the hands of more young readers, I interviewed SCBWI's Executive Director Lin Oliver.

So, each region will be nominating an organization, and then the SCBWI Board of Advisors and staff will pick one or two organizations that will receive the books, right?

Most of our SCBWI regi...

New Voice: Hena Khan on Amina's Voice

By Gayleen Rabakukk
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

Hena Khan, a well-published picture book author makes her novelist debut with Amina's Voice (Salaam Reads, March 2017). From the promotional copy:

A Pakistani-American Muslim girl struggles to stay true to her family’s vibrant culture while simultaneously blending in at school after tragedy strikes her community.

Amina has never been comfortable in the spotlight. She is happy just hanging out with her best friend, Soojin. 

Except now...

New Voice: Andrea Page on Sioux Code Talkers of World War II

By Gayleen Rabakukk
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

Andrea M. Page is the first-time author of Sioux Code Talkers of World War II (Pelican Publishing, 2017). From the promotional copy:

In World War II, code-making and code-breaking reached a feverish peak. The fabled Enigma Cipher had been broken, and all sides were looking for a secure, reliable means of communication.

Many have heard of the role of the Navajo Code Talkers, but less well-known are the Sioux Code Talkers using the Lakota,...

Author Interview: Michelle Markel Explores the Birth of Children's Literature

By Gayleen Rabakukk
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

Each January the kidlit community celebrates the Newbery Medal and Honor Books awarded by the Association of Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association. Some even have gatherings to watch the webcast of the awards presentation, but do we know about the man the award was named for?

Michelle Markel offers insight in her new picture book: Balderdash!: John Newbery and the Boisterous Birth of Children's Books...

Cynsational News

By Cynthia Leitich Smith & Gayleen Rabakukk
for Cynsations

Not So Simple by Susan Tan from CBC Diversity. Peek: "Then came a question on race.... I quickly found my answer and carefully chose my spot—halfway between the group of students who identified as white and the group who identified as Asian....I was shocked when my teacher disciplined me in front of the class...chastising me for choosing two groups when her survey allowed her to tick only one box."...