Countdown to ALA Newbery 2014 Winners!

COUNTDOWN TO ALA NEWBERY 2014 WINNERS!

Many schools and libraries put together Mock Newbery Award book clubs, rallying their students to read the books that are getting “winner buzz” each year and then putting together discussion groups to talk about the books they’ve read.

In December or January, ballots are assembled and the students can vote on their favorites and see which book “won” that year’s Mock Newbery Award. Sound like fun? It is!

Here are a few links for more information to get started at your school:

Newbery Book Club

Eva Perry Mock Newbery

ACPL Mock Newbery and General Children’s Book Site

If you’re on Goodreads, there is a forum filled with librarians, teachers and readers, who discuss books all year long as books are published. They discuss the pros and cons about each title’s potential as a Newbery Medal contender.

I’ve often learned about new books that I’ve missed, and I enjoy the conversation about good books in these forums.

Newbery 2014 Discussion Groups on Goodreads (all the boards are at this link and it’s super easy to join – just one click at the top left!)

In case you’ve been a bit swamped with lesson plans or life (who isn’t?!), here are a few of the books (down below!) folks have been buzzing about all year long as potential Newbery winners. (We’re focusing on the Newbery since this is a Middle-Grade Savvy Site. Of course, all the awards from Picture Books through the Young Adult Printz Award are at the links below.)

Let us know which are your favorites for the 2014 Newbery Medal, and don’t forget to watch the ALA Newbery Broadcast next Monday, January 27th. (This link takes you to a full page from ALA with all the info and details!)

Information about how to log in and watch it LIVE is right here: Live ALA Youth Media Awards Broadcast (This is a direct link to the *live* broadcast Monday morning at 8:00 a.m. ET).

Just a *few* titles – and there is NO predicting what will happen!

     

Kimberley Griffiths Little’s next Middle Grade novel, THE TIME OF THE FIREFLIES, will publish July, 2014 by Scholastic. (Her Young Adult debut, FORBIDDEN, launches November 2014 with Harpercollins). You can find her hanging out a lot on Facebook. Enjoy Teacher’s Guides, Mother/Daughter Book Club Guides, and “filmed on location” book trailers at her website.

"How a Book is Made" by Harpercollins - must see videos!

"How a Book is Made" with Author Lauren Oliver and HarperKids
by Kimberley Griffiths Little 

If you are a teacher, librarian, parent, or writer yourself looking for something unique and different for you or your students/children, check out this wonderful new series of videos by HarperKids, a division of Harpercollins. How a Book is Made - (AND Revised, Edited, Designed - and BORN), before it gets to the shelves of your local bookstore or library.  Lauren Oliver is a bestselling Middle-Grade and young Adult author who narrates these 4-5 minute videos about how she a writer gets ideas and develops them, and then writes and revises a book. She takes you through all the steps, including videos with her editor and copy-editor and designer at Harpercollins talking about their jobs (inside their offices in NYC) and leading us through their role in how a book is made. It's fascinating. As a writer, I'm pretty familiar with the first few videos and how a book goes through the process of getting edited and copy-edited, etc. I've also read quite a bit about the rest of the in-house process, but the Production video was especially interesting to see the pieces of the book and how it's bound and glued and created. It was fun to actually *see* it on these videos, and I think your students or children will enjoy seeing this unique and amazing process.   There are 8 videos total, between 3-5 minutes apiece. Take some time afterward to discuss with your students what they've learned, as well as discuss the various book careers that are possible or they might be interested in. Don't forget that there is a whole Art Department at each publishing house that hires freelance artists and graphic designers who create the covers and choose the fonts and design the book inside and out, from concept to finished product for those artists in your midst!   1. How a Book is Made: Developing Ideas w/ Lauren Oliver  2. Writing the Story w/ Lauren Oliver 3. Editing the Book w/Editorial Director Rosemary Brosnan 4. Creating the Art w/ Harper's Art Director 5. Proofing the Story w/ Harper's Managing Editor 6. Printing the Book, w/ Production Director    7. Reading the Book w/ Lauren Oliver     HOW A BOOK IS MADE - EPISODE 1: DEVELOPING THE IDEA   Enjoy!   ~Kimberley P.S. If you watch the first one, it will automatically take you to the next one in order on Youtube. :-)

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Meet the Spellbinders

Kimberley Griffiths Little is the recipient of the Southwest Book Award, The Whitney Award for Best Youth Novel of 2010, and the author of the highly acclaimed, The Healing Spell and Circle of Secrets, published by Scholastic Press. Look for her books at the Scholastic Book Fairs, as well

as two more forthcoming novels in 2012 and 2013. She lives on a dirt road in a small town by the Rio Grande with her husband, a robotics engineer and their three sons. Kimberley is a favorite speaker at schools around the country, presenting "The Creative Diary", a highly successful writing

workshop and has been a speaker at many conferences. Please

visit her website 

to download free Teacher's Guides and Book Club Guides. 

 

 

Carolee Dean has made numerous appearances as a guest poet/author at schools, libraries, poetry events, and teacher/library conferences. She holds a bachelor's degree in music therapy and a master's degree in communicative disorders, and she has spent over a decade working in the public schools as a speech-language pathologist. Her first novel, Comfort,was nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults, was named the Best YA Novel of 2002 by the Texas Institute of Letters, and was on the TAYSHAS (Texas Library Association) reading list. She conducts teacher trainings on inspiring reluctant writers including "The Secret Language of Stories" and "Random Acts of Haiku."

To find teacher's guides, writing activities, and information about author visits, go to www.caroleedean.com.

  

  

Caroline Starr Rose spent her childhood in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and New Mexico, camping at the Red Sea in one and eating red chile in the other. She's taught English and social studies to upper elementary and middle-school students in New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, and Louisiana. Back in New 

Mexico, Caroline now writes middle-grade novels and picture books full time.

   UPCOMING AUTHOR EVENTS

Caroline Starr Rose

Friday, April 19th
NM Library Association Youth Luncheon

Albuquerque, NM  

 

Kimberley Griffiths Little 

Saturday, April 27th 

NM Battle of the Books, Author Guest 

Silver City, New Mexico

Kimberley Griffiths Little 

May 3-5
Presenter and critiquer at the  

Niagara Writers Conference

http://niagararetreatandconference.com

Kimberley Griffiths Little 

May 9-11  

Presenter, Publication Primer 

LDStorymakers Conference 

Provo, Utah