McConnell Center August 2011

Volume 1, Issue 1 August 2011

University of Kentucky School of Library and Information Science

The McConnell Center for the Study of Youth Literature Good Enough to Eat: Come Devour a Good Book!

Come celebrate the freedom to read with us as we kick off Banned Books Week with the Good Enough to Eat Contest on Tuesday, September 27th from 4–6pm.

Open to all UK students, faculty, and alumni, the contest is free to enter and $2 (cash only) to judge and eat the entries. Registration deadline for entries is September 17th. Edible books must feature a children’s book and be mostly edible. Entries may be dropped off at the McConnell Center (3rd Floor, Room 310N, Lucille Little Fine Arts Library) on the 27th between 9am and 3pm.

Register your entry at: http://bit.ly/nj258t Past entries include last year’s Best Overall Winner Holes by Louis Sachar and baked by

Tricia Calico and Katie Fielding (pictured left) and Most Creative Winner Can’t Stop a Quidditch Match based on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling and created by Maggie Nunley. You can find a list of banned books at ALA’s website here: http:// tinyurl.com/26aahc8 Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating our freedom to read. It is held during the last week of September and draws attention to the harms of censorship while highlighting the benefits of free and open access to information. This year, Banned Books Week is celebrated from September 24th–October 1st.

Find out more about it here: http://www.ala.org/bbooks

Table of Contents ● Good Enough to Eat ● Save the Date! ● Call for Proposals ● Connecting With Characters ● Read and Review ● Conference Featured Presenters ● Blog Information ● About the Center

Save the Date! McConnell Conference 2012 Ready for the 2012 McConnell Conference?

Save the date and join us Friday, March 23rd Save the Date: and Saturday, March 24th, 2012 at the March 23rd and Embassy Suites Hotel 24th at Embassy in Lexington!

The 2012 featured Suites Hotel, presenters include MT Lexington KY Anderson, author of Printz Honor books The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: The Pox Party and The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation; Jennifer Holm, author the Babymouse Series, Penny from Heaven and Turtle in Paradise, one of this year’s Newbery Honor winners; and Lisa

Desimini, illustrator of She Sang Promise, Dot the Fire Dog, and My Beautiful Child.

We’ll also have our usual Meet the Author sessions, Youth Media Sessions, and others to be announced (see inside for details about the Call for Proposals). The New Book Room will be available, and we’ll have several book signings.

The Conference website is not available yet. Please check back soon for complete Conference information: http:// www.uky.edu/CommInfoStudies/SLIS/ McConnellConference/2012.html

2011 featured presenters from left to right: Matt de la Peña, Rafael López and Sharon Draper at one of the book signings this past spring

McConnell Conference 2012: Call for Proposals Would you like to present a breakout session at the 2012 McConnell Conference?

Breakout sessions are to be 50-minute informational or instructional programs related to youth literature. The deadline for submissions is October 1, 2011.

Basic conference registration is required of all presenters. Please direct questions to Dr. Stephanie Reynolds at stephanie.reynolds@uky.edu Notifications of acceptance will be made by November 15, 2011.

The 44th McConnell Conference will be at the Lexington Embassy Suites Hotel on March 23–24, 2012.

Some of last year’s proposals selected for breakout sessions include Serving Latino Families in Your Library presented by Katie Cunningham and ¡Sí se puede! / Yes You Can! El Día de

los Niños, El Día de los Libros/ Day of the Child, Day of the Book at Your Library! Presented by Lisa Tewes.

Deadline for submissions is October 1, 2011.

Notifications of acceptance will be made by November 15, 2011.

Fall 2011 Youth Lit/Service Courses The McConnell Center has resources for the following courses:

LIS510 Children’s Literature and Related Materials (3): A survey of modern and historical children’s lit.

LIS610 Library Materials and Literature for Children (3): A survey and historical study of library materials and literature for children up to grade 6.

LIS613 Information Resources and Services for Children (3): A study of effective programming for children and young adults.

Dr. Reynolds’s Youth Lit Wiki: http://sites.google.com/site/ youthlitmatters/index

Connecting with Characters Contest Enter your children/student’s artwork and letters for them to win a signed book from this year’s presenters!

The Connecting with Characters Contest is held in conjunction with the 2012 McConnell Conference for Youth Literature, which will feature Jennifer L. Holm and MT Anderson.

We hope the Contest will provide an opportunity for the youth of Kentucky and the surrounding states to connect with the works of these wonderful contributors to the world of literature for youth.

The Contest is open to all youth in Kentucky and its border states who are in preschool through 12th grade during the 2011–2012 school year. However,

the following conditions apply: Entries may only be submitted by a teacher or librarian, but must include a parent's or guardian’s signature on the entry form; teachers and librarians may not enter his/her own child; and only one entry per person will be accepted. All letters and pictures must be the original work of the entrant.

Pictures and letters must be received by February 1, 2012. No late entries will be accepted. Letters must be written to a book character as outlined in the rules under Levels of Entry. Letters should be thoughtful, explain why the writer feels a connection with the character, and reflect the writer's feelings about the character. The entrant's name must be on the back of the entry, not the front. Entries received without the

entrant's name on the back of the letter or drawing, and/or without the contest entry form, will not be considered.

Please do not staple entry forms to letters or drawings. Entries will not be returned and become the property of the McConnell Center.

For levels of entry and how to enter, please see the full contest rules here: http://bit.ly/oncdYJ If you have questions, feel free to contact Dr. Stephanie Reynolds at stephanie.reynolds@uky.edu.

(Picture is of Dot the Fire Dog, Feed, and Turtle in Paradise, samples of some of the books your children can base their work on!)

Featured Presenters for McConnell Conference 2012 The 44th McConnell Conference will feature authors MT Anderson, Jennifer Holm, and author/illustrator Lisa Desimini. Here’s a little more about them!

MT Anderson is the author of many books for all ages.

His juvenile fiction titles include Whales on Stilts!, Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware, and The Game of Sunken Places trilogy, while his young adult titles include Thirsty, Feed, and two Printz Honor Winners: Octavian Nothing: The Kingdom on the Waves and

Octavian Nothing: The Pox Party.

Check out his website for more information: http://mt-anderson.com/ Jennifer Holm also writes books in a varied range of ages. Her books for younger readers are the Babymouse and Squish series, while her books for older readers include three Newbery Honor Books: Our Only May Amelia (2000), Penny from Heaven (2007), and Turtle in Paradise (2011). Check out her website for more information: http://www.jenniferholm.com/

Lisa Desimini has written and illustrated over thirty books for children, many of which have won awards. Some of her works include Dot the Fire Dog, Iris Has a Virus, My Beautiful Child, She Sang Promise, and the cover for 1995 Newbery Award Medal Winner Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. Check out her website for more information: http://www.lisadesimini.com/

ARC Read and Review!

Help us read and review our new Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) for the McConnell Center Blog Youth Lit Matters.

This is a great way to practice your book reviewing skills! ARCs will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis.

Preference will be given to those with previous youth literature experience and/or completion of LIS 610 or 614, and you will need to sign them out with the GA. Check out the blog for examples of reviews: http:// youthlitmatters.wordpress.com/ and see the list below for available titles.

Juvenile Fiction Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes

by Jonathan Auxier Dear America: With the Might of Angels by Andrea Davis Pinkney

For more information, please contact: Dr. Stephanie Reynolds (stephanie.reynolds@uky.edu) or graduate assistant Rachel McGuire (remcguire@uky.edu).

Young Adult Ashes by Ilsa J Bick Bronxwood by Coe Booth iBoy by Kevin Brooks Reel Life Starring Us by Lisa Greenwald The Shattering by Karen Healey The Hourglass Door by Lisa Magnum Deviant by Adrian McKinty Ashfall by Mike Mullin Boy 21 by Matthew Quick The Phantom Limb by William Sleator and Ann Monticone

http://www.uky.edu/CommInfoStudies/SLIS/mcconnellcenter/

On the Blog and In the Center On the Blog: For book reviews of new and upcoming youth literature, check out our blog Youth Lit Matters at: http:// youthlitmatters.wordpress.com/ Here are some of the titles we’ve covered so far this year: A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford, YA Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile by Gloria Houston, picture book Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku by Lee Wardlaw, picture book

Meadowlands: A Wetlands Survival Story by Thomas Yezerski, picture book, nonfiction *Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler, YA *Janitors by Tyler Whitesides, JF *Flyaway by Lucy Christopher, JF Don’t forget, you can also help us out with the reviews by volunteering for our ARC Read and Review program!

In the Center: Join us for the McConnell Center Reading Club where we meet and discuss new titles.

This summer we discussed The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins as well as Ash by Malinda Lo. Check out our Facebook page for the most up-to-date information on titles and meeting times: https://www.facebook.com/ groups/164302160289842/

* part of the ARC Read and Review

About the Center A vital gathering place for books and ideas, the McConnell Center is committed to identifying excellent literature for children and adolescents and to bringing this literature to the attention of those adults who have an academic, professional, career, or personal interest in connecting young readers with books.

We maintain two main, noncirculating collections: Our Current Collection includes all books sent to us for review by publishers during the current year.

The Permanent Collection is several collections of books maintained in the Center as a resource for students and librarians. It includes the Basic

Collection, the Award-winning Collection (Caldecott, Newbery, Printz, Morris, Pura Belpré, Sibert, and Orbis Pictus Awards), the Kentucky Collection (notable Kentucky authors and books about Kentucky), the Reference Collection, and the Periodical Collection.

Starting Monday, August 22nd, our Fall 2011 hours will be Monday and Wednesday 12–5pm and Tuesday and Thursday 9–2pm.

Please visit our website for more information: http://www.uky.edu/ CommInfoStudies/SLIS/mcconnellcenter/

http://www.uky.edu/CommInfoStudies/SLIS/mcconnellcenter/

Contact us!

Dr. Stephanie Reynolds stephanie.reynolds@uky.edu Rachel McGuire, GA remcguire@uky.edu Visit us!

Lucille Little Library, 3rd Floor, Room 310 N Fall Hours: Monday and Wednesday 12–5pm; Tuesday and Thursday from 9–2pm