Stay tuned for the last leg of our Skype tour coming this winter! For more information, please read the FAQ.
February 4, 2012: Sweet Reads
Check out these February new releases...
January 29, 2012: Tweet Tips
Coming soon to a Twitter feed near you...
The #MGlitchat team—which includes Mixed-up Files founder Elissa Cruz—will be hosting a series of Twitter chats in February called “Tips from the Pros.” Each week, authors, agents, editors and publicists will share their tips about writing and publishing MG books in today’s market. Want to join the fun? Check the MGlitchat blog for a list of dates, times, and guest experts.
January 26, 2011: Ring! Ring!
What’s it like to win the Newbery? “I picked up the phone, and it was like history changed,” Jack Gantos says of the call informing him he’d just won the Newbery Medal for his novel Dead End in Norvelt. For more about his reaction, check out this article in Publishers Weekly. It was a busy week for Mr. Gantos, who also won the 2012 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction.
January 26, 2012: Jewish-Themed Books Honored
Winners of the Sydney Taylor Book Award were announced January 17. The award is given annually to new books for children and teens that exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience. The award memorializes Sydney Taylor, author of the All-of-a-Kind Family series.
The gold medal in the older readers category went to Susan Goldman Rubin for Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein. Honor books were Lily Renee, Escape Artist: from Holocaust Survivor to Comic Book Pioneer by Trina Robbins with illustrations by Anne Timmons and Mo Oh; Hammerin' Hank Greenberg: Baseball Pioneer by Shelley Sommer; and Irena’s Jars of Secrets by Marcia Vaughan.
For more…
January 23, 2012: The Newbery Medal Goes to…
According to the publisher, Dead End in Norvelt tells the “entirely true” and “wildly fictional” story of two months in the life of a kid named Jack Gantos, “whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is grounded for life by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews bad blood at every little shock he gets.”
Newbery Honors went to two books: Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai, which also won the National Book Award last year, and Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin.
Other winners today were:
• Kadir Nelson, who won the Coretta Scott King Book Award for Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans;
• Joan Bauer, author of Close to Famous, and Brian Selznick, author of Wonderstruck, who received The Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience;
• Susan Cooper, author of the classic The Dark Is Rising Sequence, who won The Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults; and
• Guadalupe Garcia McCall, who won the Pura Belpré Author Award for Under the Mesquite.
For a complete list of winners and honorees in all categories, visit the ALA Web site…
January 23, 2012: Mixed-up Files Authors Honored at ALA
A huge shout out to Wendy Shang and Sheela Chari, two of our very own Mixed-up Files members, who were honored at today’s ALA winter meeting. Shang was awarded The Asian/Pacific American Award for Children’s Literature for her middle-grade novel The Great Wall of Lucy Wu. Sheela Chari, author of Vanished, a middle-grade mystery, received the honor in the same category. The awards, which are selected by the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association, recognize works of exceptional literary and artistic merit that highlight Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage.
For more on the awards...
January 22, 2012: Esme’s Picks
January 19, 2012: The Mystery Revealed
• Horton Halfpott by Tom Angleberger
• It Happened on a Train by Mac Barnett
• Vanished by Sheela Chari
• Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby
• The Wizard of Dark Street by Shawn Thomas Odyssey
Special congratulations to finalist and Mixed-up Files member Sheela Chari, who launched Vanished on our blog this summer!
For more on Sheela and Vanished…
For a complete list of Edgar finalists in all categories, including young adult and adult…
January 18, 2012: The OWL Hoots in March
Jill, a 7th grade English teacher and blogger, is looking for authors, readers, and other bloggers to join her in celebrating March Middle-grade Madness on “The O.W.L.” blog (Outrageously Wonderful Literature for the Middle Grades). Says Jill, “I'm putting together a fun March where I'll do nothing but highlight middle-grade books, but I need a little help.” Visit The OWL to learn more about writing a guest post, posting a review, or hosting a giveaway.
January 16, 2012: The Medals Are Coming! The Medals Are Coming!
Betsy Bird, New York City public librarian and School Library Journal blogger, reveals her predictions for the 2011 Newbery and Caldecott Awards here.... The actual awards will be announced January 23 at the midwinter meeting of the American Library Association. Stay tuned!
January 4, 2012: Narrowing the Field
Finalists for the 2011 CYBIL awards were announced this week. Awards will be given across a wide range of categories including fiction, nonfiction, fantasy and science fiction, graphic novels, and poetry. On the short list for middle-grade fiction is The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by our very own Mixed-up member Wendy Shang.
For the complete list of CYBIL finalists...
For more on Wendy and The Great Wall of Lucy Wu...
January 4, 2012: Blogger Picks Indie Bests
Children’s author, editor, and “Rogue Librarian” blogger Edward T. Sullivan lists his picks for the best books from independent publishers in 2011…
January 3, 2012: Author and Ambassador: Walter Dean Myers
Walter Dean Myers, five-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award and two Newbery Honors, has been named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. Myers, who succeeds author Katherine Paterson, has chosen “Reading Is Not Optional” as the theme of his two-year term of service.
“Walter Dean Myers is one of America’s preeminent authors of books for young people,” says Dr. Billington. “He is a lifelong advocate for reading for young people, and he has practiced what he preaches in schools and detention centers across the country.”
The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature is named by the Librarian of Congress based on recommendations from a selection committee representing many segments of the book community. The selection criteria include the candidate’s contribution to young people’s literature and ability to relate to children. The position was created to raise national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education, and the development and betterment of the lives of young people.
For more about Myers…
For more about the award…
Like to have a visit but can’t manage the logistics? The website www.skypeanauthor.wetpaint.com helps you plan a virtual visit with an author / illustrator. It’s geared to teachers and librarians working with grades K-12.
In addition, middle-grade author Kate Messner has complied a list of authors who offer free 20-minute skype chats with book clubs and classes that have read one of their books. http://kmessner.livejournal.com/106020.html
From the Mixed-Up Files is the group blog of middle-grade authors celebrating books for middle-grade readers. For anyone with a passion for children’s literature—teachers, librarians, parents, kids, writers, industry professionals— we offer regularly updated book lists organized by unique categories, author interviews, market news, and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a children's book from writing to publishing to promoting.
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I am librarian at Academy of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans, LA and would like to have a lit of authors who skype. Thanks,
Carrel
[Reply]
Elissa Cruz Reply:
July 7th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
The link on this page does have a list of authors who skype. I think they are listed under the Members tab at the top of the page.
Good luck finding the perfect author for your virtual school visit, and thanks for stopping by From the Mixed-Up Files!
[Reply]