Monica Edinger's Blog, page 24

The Hallmark Great Stories Award

I would say there are never too many awards, especially those that honor children’s book creators. So here’s anice, shiny new one (with not just a shiny medal, but some significant cash, and positioning of the winning title in stores):

KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ —In keeping with its vision to create a more emotionally connected world, Hallmark Cards today introduces the Hallmark Great Stories Award, honoring new children’s picture books that celebrate family, friendship a...

Philip Pullman’s Ponytail

It is “moving towards the place where I think the end will be. I’ll be so glad to reach it so I can cut my hair.” He has promised not to do so until the book is done. “When I cut my ponytail off I shall put it in a zip-lock bag and give it to the Bodleian,” he says with a smile. In a tone of mock self-importance, he adds: “Present it to the nation.”

“The book is getting longer. But it is filling up with things that are all germane to what the story is becoming. Some of the themes I turned up...

Winner of Hans Christian Andersen Award, Cao Wenxuan, in NYTimes

“The children went to school as usual, and read their books as usual, but the beautiful rise and fall of their voices as they read out loud got weaker and weaker until they were no longer capable of reading aloud,” reads one passage in the English translation by Helen Wang. “People were worried. They were sweating with anxiety. When the hunger was at its worst, they thought about gnawing on stones.”

That’s fromBronze and Sunflower, a venerated work of Chinese children’s literature by thenewes...

I Get to Select Someone Awesome

I don’t think I’ve mentioned here yet that I’m a member of the 2018 Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Committee. I was surprised and delighted when invited as I had thought ALA committees like this were out of bounds for me given my hope to have another book under contract one of these days. But there is no problem with this committee as far as that goes and so I’m on it!I’m veryexcited to be working with my fellow committee members: chair Betsy Bird, Timothy Capehart, Wendy Lukehart, and Sharon McKell...

Social Media Misogyny Today

Trying to navigate throughsocial mediacan be challenging at times. I struggle to figure out how representational of our country today are certain widely reported statements. For example, the disturbing statements directed toward women (often notable ones), because they are women. Are we really a nation full of people who think so poorly of women? Is it a small loud group harnessing Twitter and the like? Or is it a reality that there is indeed a significant portion of Americans who indeed harb...

Cultural Appreciation or Appropriation?

“Justbecause you throw colored powder around, doesn’t mean you are celebrating Holi,” Priya Patel, a Bed-Stuy resident of Indian descent told us.Shesharedher own personalhistory with Holias a counterpoint:

“My family used to go to a Hindu temple is Jersey City which was about a two and a half hour drive from our home. We had low key celebrations in the parking lot after service withdholaks and kirtans on blast. It was fun, [but] it was definitely a smaller scale operation. I never would have...

The NeverEnding, Never Single Story Continued

In response to the“Hannah and Allie Talk Jewishness and Whiteness” postover at the Reading While White blog last week I wrote the following comment:

I think daily of the importance of recognizing that there is no single story. Many of my students are multi-racial, multi-ethnic. The other day we were filling out answer grids for standardized tests and some of these students were understandably stymied and frustrated at the optional question regarding race and ethnicity. As for religion, we hav...

Whether or Not to Indicate Race

I’ve been thinking a lot about the identification of race in print, say inpublicationssuch asreviews as well as in the books themselves. Thoughtful posts and discussion about it (such as this one from my friend Roxanne Feldman,this Read Roger blog post, this from Kirkus editor Vicky Smith, andthis episode of the Horn Book podcast with special guest Hannah Gómez)regarding how and when and if to identify race, not to mention the fraught possibility of misidentification, have certainly informed...

I’m on Sabbatical next Spring and so…an Offer

My school gives out one sabbatical a year and, happily, I’m the lucky teacher who receivedone for next year, taking the spring semester off to work onmy Alice in Wonderland project. But not all the time. You see,for the first time,I’m completely free during the school year to accept speaking invitations without having to try to figure out if I can get the coverage, be allowed to go, etc.You can get a sense of what I like to talk about here, but I’m open to new ideas as well. One thingI’d real...

In The Classroom: Book Graffiti

Some time ago my friendSusannah Richards, professor of educationat Eastern Connecticut State University, told me about book graffiti, a fabulous way to share favorite books. Ever since I had wanted to do it and finally did a few weeks ago with my 4th graders. I asked each student to chose one favorite book from the current school year to feature. It could have been read independently or one I’d read aloud to them. They went off an found cover photos, pasted them on a large sheet of brown pape...