Shana Corey: Her Life in Books

What self-respecting bookworm wouldn't want to be Shana Corey? As an editor at Random House Children's, she works with award winning authors on graphic novels, middle grade fiction and YA. She's also an author in her own right, working steadily on her laptop when her children are asleep. Shana has written many picture books and early readers that have kept my children's noses in books. She also specializes in incisive biographies of women long-forgotten, by focusing on small moments where they have turned the tide of history.

Shana's latest picture book biography Mermaid Queen: The Spectacular True Story of Annette Kellerman, Who Swam Her Way to Fame, Fortune and Swimsuit History! (Scholastic, 2009) with pictures by  Edwin Fotheringham was a huge hit at my children's elementary school during their Mock Caldecott round-up. Shana kindly took the time to talk about Mermaid Queen, some of her other books, the research involved, and in-house writing. She also explains why her current list of books she has edited are such treasures. (Hint: if you're a Babymouse fan, read on!)

YA- Palooza at the Beaverton Library

I've been busy lately. Busy running. Busy cooking and eating; my favorite winter sports. Busy trying to break my obsessive social networking habits. And, thankfully, busy writing.

But I just heard about an event that's got me wanting to drop everything and pick up some YA fiction. Oregonians have got access to some delectable home-grown authors, five of whom will talk about their work, their writing processes and publishing.Who? You may ask, and I'll tell you:

• Lisa Schroeder (I Heart You, You Haunt Me, Chasing Brooklyn, and Far From You)
• L.K. Madigan (2010 William C. Morris Award Winner! Flash Burnout)
• Christine Fletcher (Ten Cents A Dance, Tallulah Falls)
• April Henry (Torched, Shock Point, and Face of Betrayal)
• Laini Taylor (National Book Award Finalist! Blackbringer, Silksinger, and Lips Touch Three Times)

Where? The Beaverton Library
When? Wednesday, January 27th, from 7-8:30 PM.

Now I'm busy making room for it in my schedule. I'll be there!

Peek Inside the Crystal Ball

A fortune teller once told me that I would be a librarian one day. Upon hearing this, my mother snarkily responded that the lady with the crystal ball wasn't prescient, but had made an educated guess based on my nerdish attire.

Hmph.

Obviously, my mother has no sense of just how hip today's librarians are.

But I do. And librarians are the kind of crowd I choose to run with all day this Saturday at the OLA/WLA Mock Newbery Workshop.

Current Newbery Committee members Katie O'Dell, Steven Engelfried, and Sarah French will educate us about the award criteria, the selection process, and, perhaps, what it feels like to influence a world of young readers. Oh, the power they wield! 

Then we'll break into small groups to discuss the books, and pretend that we are the power players when we vote for 2009's most distinguished work of American literature for children. I love to role play. I wonder if we will accurately predict the future award winners.

Below is the selection of books we'll be discussing. We're definitely in for some good reads.  But I feel like getting ahead of the game and issuing my prediction:

When You Reach Me (Gold)
Heart of a Shepherd (Silver)
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Silver)

What do you forsee? If you have any predictions for Newbery (or Caldecott) medal winners, post them here, soothsayers!

Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone

Heart of a Shepherd by Rosanne Parry

 The Magician's Elephant, by Kate DiCamillo

 

Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman

 

A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck

 

 

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

 

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin