Monica Edinger's Blog, page 26
March 6, 2016
Last Chance to Vote Your Favorite Book Back From the Dead — Tomorrow the Battle Begins!
Today’s your last chance to have a say in the closing battle (judged by the HonorableAnn M. Martin) by voting for your favorite contender to come back from the dead here. The Undead winner will join the two other finalists inthat final event of the contest, it beingSLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books,
And tomorrow the battle beginswithThe Boys Who Challenged Hitler andChallenger Deepjudged by Michael Buckley.
Can’t wait!
February 26, 2016
Book Trailer Premier: Shana Corey and Red Nose Studio’s The Secret Subway
The New York City subway is a unique form of transportation, an enormous system of underground trains that helps people get far and wide throughout a large and busy city. Now I’ve heard of ghost stations, mothballed trains used in coral reefs, but a secret functioning subway — that was news to me. But indeed there was one and Shana Corey tells its story in The Secret Subwayabetted by illustratorChris Sickels of Red Nose Studio. Their utterly delightful collaboration pulls into the stationon M...
February 25, 2016
We’ve Got Contenders, We’ve Got Judges, We’ve Got Brackets — SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books is Coming
Yesterday we revealed the brackets with judges — our final closing judgebeing none other than Ann M. Martin herself. To say we are excited (“we” being us three who constitute the Battle Commanderand ourSLJ editorShelley Diaz) is an understatement. And we know many others gearing up too. But I truly hope even more join in — this is a great way to revisit 16 fabulous 2015 titles and to watch 15 amazing judge-writers at work, considering and exploring them in some terrific ways. Not to mention...
February 21, 2016
The Danger of the Universal “We”(or “They” or even “You”)
Ellen Oh’s recent post, “Dear White Writers” received a thoughtful response from my friend Roxanne Feldman (who is originally from Taiwan, that is Chinese American), “Dear Ellen Oh, You Are Not Me!” In particular, Roxanne wondered who Ellen wasreferring to in her “we”when she wrote “Yes We Need Diverse Books. But that doesn’t always mean that we want YOU to write them.” Roxanne responded that she, “….often find[s] sweeping generalization of all kinds problematic”something that is true for me...
February 16, 2016
Ashley Bryan’s New York City Subway Poster
Anyone who has ridden NYC’s subways will have seen the lovely posters within the cars, frequently by familiar children’s book illustrators. They evidently commission 5 or 6 new ones every year. And this year one of those will be this one byremarkable Ashley Bryan!
Here’s the scoop from the MTA site:
MTA Arts & Design has released a new graphics arts poster, and this one celebrates music and voices of the Bronx. The artwork is titled “New York Voices,” by artist and children’s book author Ash...
February 7, 2016
In the Classroom: Teaching About Slavery
Over the last yearimportant if uncomfortable questions have been raised about how to approach the topic of American chattel slavery with children. I’ve been following the conversations closelyandthey have informed me greatly asI prepare to begin my ownteaching of the topic with my 4th grade students this week. It is aunit I’ve done for many years, always reworking itin response to new learnings, new circumstances, and new thinking.
Part of our year-long study of immigration, the unit is blunt...
February 2, 2016
The Fuzzy Line Between Fiction and Nonfiction
I really appreciate Julie Danielson’s Kirkus blog post, “The Stories In Between” as she considers a topic near and dear to me — the blurry line between certain works of fiction and nonfiction. Two picture books she considers areGreg Pizzoli’s nonfiction Tricky Vic and Deborah Hopkinson’s Beatrix Potter & the Unfortunate Tale of a Borrowed Guinea Pig. These are both works of history, something of particular interest to me. Julie refers to the following comment I made on a 2014 blog post of Bet...
February 1, 2016
SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books — Guess the Judge!
Today we begin revealing judges. Here’s a hint for today’s:she was the very first EVER to win a Newbery Honor for her type of book. Find out who she is here.
January 27, 2016
Frances Hardinge Gets Her Due!
USFrances Hardinge fans have been continually frustrated that she is not better appreciated on this side of the pond. On the other side…well, here’s a lovely bit of news — her latest book The Lie Tree has just been awarded the Costa Award’s Book of the Year. She is the first children’s book writer to win the overall award (over adult finalists) since Philip Pullman over a decade ago.
Happily The Lie Tree is coming out this May in the US thanks to Abrams. I can say that it is fabulous, my favo...
