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The winner of the 2010 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is Kitty Crowther

Kitty Crowther is an illustrator and author, born in 1970, who lives and works in Belgium. The jury's citation reads as follows:
Kitty Crowther is the master of line but also of atmosphere. She maintains the tradition of the picture book while transforming and renewing it. In her world, the door between imagination and reality is wide open. She addresses the reader gently and personally, but with profound effect. In her deeply felt empathy with people in difficulty, she shows ways in which weakness can be turned into strength. Humanism and sympathy permeate and unify her artistry.

In Kitty Crowther's books, text and pictures form an integral whole. Her principal works are her own picture books, including L´enfant racine (2003), La visite de Petite Mort (2004), Le grand désordre (2005) and the Poka & Mine series (2005, 2006, 2007, 2010).

She addresses readers personally using a limited repertoire of tools, principal among them pencil, ink and coloured pencils. Facial expressions, posture and atmosphere are captured with unfailing precision. In Kitty Crowther?s world there are no basic stereotypes. The landscapes in which the stories are set resemble the ones we know, but Kitty Crowther sees beyond them to a world richer in possibilities than we imagine.

One of the cornerstones of her authorship is to show how weakness can be turned into strength. Her loyalty to children is unconditional. The sympathy and intense empathy Kitty Crowther shows with her fictional characters is an expression of the deep humanism that runs through all her works.

Examples of Kitty Crowther?s world of imagery can be downloaded from www.alma.se. For more images and interviews with the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winner and jury, please contact the ALMA office: agnes.lidbeck@alma.se or +46 76 540 10 17.

The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) is the world's largest prize for children's and young adult literature. The award, with a total value of SEK 5 million, is awarded annually to one or more recipients. Authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and reading activists are eligible. The award is designed to promote interest in children's and young adult literature, and to promote children's rights, globally. An expert jury selects the winners from candidates nominated by institutions and organizations worldwide. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is administered by the Swedish Arts Council.

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Kids’ Authors team up for “”Exquisite Corpse


 Plans are ramping up for the ninth annual National Book Festival in Washington, D.C., which will take place on September 26. For 2009, the Library of Congress and the National Children’s Book and Literary Alliance have teamed up with 18 children’s book authors and illustrators for a special presentation entitled The Exquisite Corpse Adventure, an ongoing story that will be unveiled over the course of a year. more » » »

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Hilarious, dramatic, moving mayhem from Australian, well-loved children’s author

Andy Griffiths returns with the latest in the Just Series.  Accompanied by hilarious illustrator Terry Denton, he has created another amazing story.

Take one Shakespearean tragedy: Macbeth.

Add Andy, Danny and Lisa – the Just trio, whose madcap exploits have already delighted hundreds of thousands of readers for the last ten years.

more here

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Book – Chicken Little

by Rebecca Emerley

Illustrated by Ed Emberley

"An old chestnut of a tale comes to rip-roaringly glorious, hilarious, gorgeous life in the hands of two picture-book masters...Emberley fille’s dry wit acts as the perfect complement to Emberley père’s art, which leaps off the page, mixing colors with crazed combinations that provide the perfect balance between text and image. Ideal for reading aloud and as a visual stimulant, this title is bound to become the favored version for children and adults alike."

Teaching About Story Structure Using Fairy Tales, Down on the farm lesson, Chicken Little lesson plans, Video, Lesson plan for a similar telling of the story, Chicken Little Literacy/Art Lesson

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40th NAACP Image Awards

The 40th NAACP Image Awards were given out last Thursday night. Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by Bryan Collier (Simon & Schuster) won for Outstanding Literary Work—Children, Letters to a Young Sister: Define Your Destiny by Hill Harper (Gotham Books) won for Outstanding Literary Work—Youth/Teens, and Hip Hop Speaks to Children, edited by Nikki Giovanni (Sourcebooks/
Jabberwocky) won for Outstanding Literary Work—Poetry, the first time that a book for children has won in this category.

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Keats Illustrator Award Goes to Shadra Strickland

 Shadra Strickland was recently named the Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator of 2009, just weeks after receiving the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award on January 26, 2008 for her illustrations in the picture book Bird (Lee & Low, 2008).

The honors were the furthest things from Strickland’s mind when she and I first met last June on a return flight to New York from the American Library Association conference in San Diego. At the time, she was an enthusiastic young passenger sharing the proofs of her drawings for Bird with her seatmate. more » » » 

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Cotsen Children’s Library: Virtual Children’s Books Exhibits

[From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/]
 

http://library.princeton.edu/libraries/cotsen/exhibitions/index.html

Princeton University's virtual exhibit of past exhibits of children's book illustrations offers visuals and brief explanations geared towards children and adults. The easy-to-use website is divided into four virtual exhibits, that contain a portion of what the physical exhibits at the Cotsen Children's Library at Princeton University displayed. The four exhibits can be accessed by clicking on their links on the homepage. The "Water Babies" exhibit contains illustrations of swimming, and was meant as a respite for kids who couldn't escape the city's heat. Each illustration in the virtual exhibit is accompanied by a short synopsis of the book or publication it came from, and often a web link or reading suggestion for more information on the author, illustrator, or subject matter of the book.
The "Magic Lantern" virtual exhibit contains illustrations of magic lanterns, a type of projector widely available for home use, that were the precursors to film and television, and which enthralled children and adults alike. The "Creepy-Crawlies" exhibit highlighted the many illustrations of insects in children's books and natural history. The insects in children's books were most often portrayed as evil or villainous. But, if visitors can put those feelings aside, they will find many beautifully rendered drawings. The physical "Beatrix Potter" exhibit coincided with the publication of the Beatrix Potter Collection of Lloyd Cotsen in 2004, and the virtual exhibit contains illustrations by Potter, and others, with whom the visitor can use for comparison, to see Potter's unique style.

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Computer-esque books to lure boys

Project X (OUP)

The books are aimed at school children up to the age of nine

Books illustrated with computer- generated images are the latest attempt to get boys to enjoy reading.

Oxford University Press (OUP) claims the "truly boy-friendly" content and structure of its Project X books will appeal to boys up the age of nine.

The books have been tested in 2,000 schools and can be used interactively through CD-Roms and whiteboards.

But critics dismissed the publications as "ghastly" and a shallow attempt to mimic computer games.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7815268.stm

 
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Book Review – Ten Little Fingers, Ten Little Toes

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes

 

by Mem Fox,

Illustrated by  Helen Oxenbury

 

 

 

Mem Fox has done it again!!
As everyone knows, nothing is sweeter than tiny baby fingers and chubby baby toes. . . . And here, from two of the most gifted picture-book creators of our time, is a celebration of baby fingers, baby toes, and the joy they—and the babies they belong to—bring to everyone, everywhere, all over the world

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Games, Gizmos and Toys in the Attic

Games, Gizmos and Toys in the Attic, an exhibition on the work of Walter Wick (the I Spy and Can You See What I See? series) is currently on display at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, Conn. The show, which features both large-scale photographs of Wick's work as well as 3D sets, runs through January 26, 2009. Several special events are planned, including an appearance by Wick on October 19 and a costume party with Halloween activities on October 26. More information is available at the museum's Web site.