Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind

With Holly Meade , winner of a Sydney Taylor Honor in the Younger Readers Category. =D

Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang I.N.K.), the Philippine's first and only organization committed to the creation and promotion of illustration for children, is celebrating its twentieth anniversary with a retrospective exhibit at the Ayala Museum , Makati City, Philippines. I've already been to the exhibit, but I'm going again tomorrow with my students. That's how good it is! It was a real delight seeing the original artwork for some classic and some award-winning Philippine picture books. And some of the art was so good that they made my heart STOP (I'm looking at you, Totet de Jesus ). If you are in the Metro Manila area, you should really visit! Happy anniversary, Ang I.N.K.! :o)

The Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association has selected the following books as recipients for the 2012 Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature. =D Picture Book Award: The House Baba Built: An Artist’s Childhood in China by Ed Young (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) Honor Book: Hot Hot Roti for Dada-ji written by F. Zia and illustrated by Ken Min (Lee & Low Books) Children's Literature Award: The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Wan-Long Shang (Scholastic) Honor Book: Vanished by Sheela Chari (Hyperion) Young Adult Literature Award: Orchards by Holly Thompson (Delacorte Books for Young Readers) Honor Book: Level Up by Gene Luen Yang (First Second Books) Congratulations to all the winners! Click here to see the winners and honor books for the adult fiction and adult nonfiction categories.

Today the American Library Association announced the winners of the 2012 Youth Media Awards - the top children's and young adult books, audio books, and videos of the past year. The winners included. . . Stonewall Book Award Honor book: Money Boy by Paul Yee (Groundwood Books) Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal Honor book: Drawing from Memory by Allen Say (Scholastic Press) John Newbery Medal Honor book: Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai (HarperCollins Children’s Books) Congratulations!!! Click here to see the list of all winners.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2012 Sydney Taylor Book Awards! The Sydney Taylor Book Awards honor new books for children and teens that exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience. The winners will receive their awards at the Association of Jewish Libraries convention in Pasadena, California in June. The Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Younger Readers: Chanukah Lights by Michael J. Rosen with artwork by Robert Sabuda (Candlewick Press) The Sydney Taylor Honor Books for Younger Readers: Naamah and the Ark at Night by Susan Campbell Bartoletti with illustrations by Holly Meade (Candlewick Press) Around the World in One Shabbat: Jewish People Celebrate the Sabbath Together written and illustrated by Durga Yael Bernhard (Jewish Lights Publishing) The Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Older Readers: Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein by Susan Goldman Rubin (Charlesbridge Publishing) The Sydney Taylor Honor Books for Olde...

Congratulations to the finalists of the 2011 Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards (the Cybils)! For this blog, I would like to highlight the following finalists. =D Middle Grade Fiction The Friendship Doll by Kirby Larson (Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers) The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Wan-Long Shang (Scholastic) Warp Speed by Lisa Yee (Arthur A. Levine) Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy (Arthur A. Levine) Fantasy & Science Fiction (Middle Grade) The Inquisitor's Apprentice by Chris Moriarty (Harcourt) Poetry Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto by Paul B. Janeczko (Candlewick Press) Graphic Novels Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch (Amulet) Sidekicks by Dan Santat (Arthur A. Levine) Level Up by Gene Luen Yang and Thien Pham (First Second Books) Fantasy & Science Fiction (Young Adult) Angelfall by Susan Ee (Feral Dream) Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake (Tor Teen) The winners will be announced on Valentine...