Starstruck at the Library

For several years, my library has had the wonderful honor of partnering with Politics & Prose Bookstore, Washington, D.C.'s nationally-known independent bookstore. As part of that partnership, my library has hosted dozens of noted children's authors and illustrators including Newbery Medalists Kate DiCamillo, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor and Katherine Applegate, and Caldecott Medalists Sophie Blackall and Jon Klassen.

This year was another banner year of author and illustrator visits, and a number of the books highlighted at this year's programs have received critical acclaim on "best of the year" lists issued by professional review magazines (Kirkus, School Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly) as well as the New York Public Library and the Chicago Public Library. This year, the Evanston (Ill.) Public Library also has created a "best books" list thanks to the indefatiguable kidlit blogger Betsy Bird, who moved from NYPL to the Evanston Public Library a couple of years ago and some of our visiting authors and illustrators made that list. Several also made the "best books" offered by The Washington Post, as well as The New York Times, which does both a Notable Children's Book list and a 10 Best Illustrated Children's Books list.

So, if you're looking for some great holiday gifts for young readers, start by checking out the books by our visiting authors and illustrators that were chosen as best books of the year! Here's the list, with the books presented by age and then alphabetically by title. (The key to the "best books" lists: CPL is Chicago Public Library; EPL, Evanston Public Library; K is Kirkus; NYPL is New York Public Library; NYT is New York Times; PW is Publisher's Weekly; SLJ is School Library Journal; and WP is Washington Post ).

PICTURE BOOKS:

__ A Greyhound, A Groundhog, written by Emily Jenkins and illustrated by Chris Applehans. (K)
Emily visited our library in February to present this gracefully-written book with quietly stunning illustrations.

 

__ All the Way to Havana, written by Margarita Engle and illustrated by Mike Curato. (K, EPL).
Mike came on his own to present the book, after Margarita got sick and had to cancel. No matter, Mike did a great job explaining how he did the research for this book focused on a family's road trip to visit relatives in an old, but trusty blue car.

__ Creepy Pair of Underwear, written by Aaron Reynolds and illustrated by Peter Brown. (K)
Peter paid us a return visit (he first came a year ago) to read this hilarious sequel to the Caldecott Honor-winning Creepy Carrots. (Kids at our program especially loved that Peter signed copies of the book with a silver Sharpie so that his signature would stand out on the black title page.)

__ Lucia the Luchadora, written by Cynthia Lenor Garza and illustrated by Alyssa Bermudez.(CPL, EPL, K)
Who says girls can't be superheroes? Lucia takes her classmates by storm when she dons the disguise of a luchadora; soon everyone wants to be part of the Mexican lucha libre tradition. Cynthia came this spring to read the book and answer questions about luchadoras.

GRAPHIC NOVELS:

__ Castle in the Stars: The Space Race of 1869, written and illustrated by Alex Alice. (K)
Alex, who hails from France, held the crowd spellbound with his tales of how he came to write this dense and lushly illustrated adventure tale, the first in a series. Featuring hot air balloons, a Bavarian castle and dastardly villains, Alex's book will have you quickly turning pages to see what happens next. If you read French, you can read the second book, which was published earlier this year in France. Otherwise you'll have to wait a year or two, when the English version is published, to see what happens next!

__ Good Night, Planet, written and illustrated by Liniers. (CPL, K, NYT)
Liniers, an internationally known Argentinian cartoonist, has turned his talent to creating graphic novels for beginning readers. In this charming book, he depicts the antics of Planet, a stuffed fawn, and real dog named Elliott after their human family has gone to sleep.

__ Pashmina, written and illustrated by Nidhi Chanani. (CPL).
Nidhi mixes fantasy and realism in this debut book about a teen who is frustrated by her mother's refusal to say why she moved, with her baby daughter, from India to California. When Priyanka finally gets to go to India herself, she begins to understand her mother's courage. At our event, Nidhi did some live drawing and talked about her graphic work for Disney and others.

MIDDLE GRADE NOVELS:

__ Amina's Voice, written by Hena Khan. (CPL, K)
Amina is a middle schooler whose main concerns revolve around friends and school until her beloved mosque is vandalized. In her program at the library, Hena talked about how her timely debut novel is the kind of realistic fiction she liked to read as a child.

__ wishtree, written by Katherine Applegate. (CPL, PW, NYT, WP)
Trees can not only talk, they can help make things better, with some help from humans in the world of this lyrically-written novel. Katherine, who won a Newbery Medal for The One and Only Ivan, presented the book at a program where she had kids both laughing and thinking about what's important in their lives.

NON-FICTION:

__ Marti's Song For Freedom/Marti u Sus Versos por La Libertad, written by Emma Otheguy and illustrated by Beatriz Vidal. (K, NYPL, SLJ)
In her program, Emma talked about the importance of Cuban freedom fighter Jose Marti in her life and in the lives of generations of Cuban-Americans. Her beautifully-illustrated book uses Marti's poetry to illuminate the many twists and turns in his inspiring life.

And one more! This event hasn't happened yet, but the book -- Before She Was Harriet -- already has gotten lots of great reviews and is on three "best books" lists: CPL, EPL, SLJ. So mark your calendars for Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. when author Lesa Cline-Ransome and her illustrator husband James Ransome will talk about their picture book biography of Harriet Tubman.

END NOTES: Thanks to the P&P folks -- especially Margaret Orto, children's & teen events coordinator -- for making it possible for my library to host these programs with outstanding children's authors and illustrators!





 

Spotlight on Debut Authors

My library is fortunate to have lots of visits from kids authors and illustrators, thanks to our partnership with Politics & Prose bookstore.  Most of our visiting authors and illustrators are well-known, mainly because they are the ones that publishers send on tour. Among those we've hosted in the past few weeks, for example, included Newbery Medalist Katherine Applegate talking about her new novel, wishtree, Caldecott Honor Illustrator Peter Brown introducing his latest picture book, Creepy Pair of Underwear, and two graphic novelists -- Liniers from Argentina and Alex Alice from France -- presenting their new comics.

More recently, we offered programs featuring a trio of debut authors: Emma Otheguy, author of the picture book biography Marti's Song For Freedom/Marti y sus versos por la libertad; Nidhi Chanani, author/illustrator of the graphic novel Pashmina; and Julie Segal-Walters, author of This Is Not a Normal Animal Book, a picture book for ages 4-8. While their books vary widely in topic and genre, all three authors presented lively, interactive programs. (Julie also got an assist from Brian Biggs, the illustrator of her book and a well-known figure in the picture book field). As picture book authors, both Emma and Julie also are part of a group called Picture the Books, which consists of debut authors with books published this year.

First up was Emma Otheguy, whose brother and family live in Takoma Park and are patrons of my library. Usually Politics & Prose, working with a publisher, sets up an author event and we host it in our role as an "alternate venue" for the bookstore. In this case, however, I learned about Emma and her debut book on Cuban freedom fighter Jose Marti from Emma's sister-in-law, and I was the one who asked the P&P folks if they'd like to add the event to their calendar, and send a bookseller that night. It was a fortuitous decision, as Emma, a former teacher and current Ph.d candidate, gave a delightful talk, filled with information about Marti, as well as her own connections to him.

Emma told the audience of kids and adults that she decided to write about Jose Marti because her family is Cuban-American and "Jose Marti is very important to Cubans. He's someone who helped Cuba become independent from Spain and he also wrote beautiful poems." In her book, Emma uses lyrical language and free verse -- in both English and Spanish --  to tell Marti's story, beginning with his childhood when "his father took him to the countryside/where he listened to the crickets chirp/ and the roosters crow."

Throughout Marti's Fight For Freedom, Emma highlights Marti's love of nature and his persistent, courageous efforts to rid Cuba of its Spanish rulers. Even prison couldn't dim Marti's ardor for the cause of Cuban freedom, a cause he continued even when forced to move to New York. As Emma writes: "Wherever he went, Jose was inspired/ to find people who also believed in equality and liberty." After 15 years of living in New York, Marti finally was able to return is beloved Cuba, where he died in battle against the Spanish. Emma writes: "He didn't live to see his dreams come true/ but Jose's friends carried his words in their hearts/ and finished the fight."

Emma's stirring text is matched by the illustrations by Beatriz Vidal. Done in gouache, Vidal's artwork has a folk art quality that works well in telling Marti's story. Reviewing the book, Kirkus noted: "In bringing an important life back into the conversation during divided political times, this book spotlights a steadfast hero and brilliant writer still worth admiring today." 

One young audience member asked Emma what was her favorite poem by Marti. She responded that she especially loves this poem:
I come from every place
And I'm on the road to everywhere:
I am art amid the arts,
And in the mountain chain, a link.
 
Emma concluded her program by giving kids a written prompt that allowed them to try writing a bit of poetry in Marti's style. Everyone enjoyed trying it out -- even the adults!

Nidhi Chanani was the second debut author to visit my library this fall. Born in Calcutta, Nidhi moved to the United States with her parents when she was four months old. As a child, Nidhi loved to read, including comics like Garfield and Calvin & Hobbes. "I also loved drawing," she said. "I kept drawing but as I got older it became a smaller part of my life" -- at least for a time. While Nidhi's family had dreams of her becoming an engineer, she ended up majoring in literature at the University of California at Santa Cruz. "My family never discouraged my choices but they didn't really understand them," she said.

After college, Nidhi said she "tried out a variety of jobs" -- waitress, grant writer, secretary, grocery story clerk -- over a period of several years. "None of these jobs is bad, but they just weren't right for me.... I thought that maybe it was time for me to go back to what I liked as a kid -- writing and drawing." So Nidhi enrolled in art school, and while she didn't end up graduating, she did find her creative spark. Since then, Nidhi has made a living as a freelance illustrator, cartoonist and writer. She's worked with Disney and ABC, among others, and her Everyday Love Art products -- including magnets and calendars -- are sold in retail shops around the country. In 2012, Nidhi was named a "Champion of Change" by the Obama Administration. "I never find myself short of inspiration," she said.

Then, a few years ago, "I felt ready to do something longer," Nidhi said. Fortunately, Nidhi already had an idea for a graphic novel featuring an Indian-American teen, so she found a literary agent, who helped her sell the concept to FirstSecond, an imprint of Macmillan known for producing first-rate comics. Nidhi said that her graphic novel, Pashmina, "took about a year" to complete. "I was trying out ideas, re-drawing, trying out more ideas." In the book, Nidhi tells the story of a girl named Priyanka, known as Pri, who is desperate to learn why her mother left India and moved to California years ago. But her mother refuses to discuss her flight, stating tersely that it is a "closed subject." Pri keeps pushing, especially after she finds a magic pashmina -- a type of shawl -- that allows her to visit India, in a fantasy way. Pri eventually goes to India for real, but finds that things are quite different than her fantasies.

In its review of the book, School Library Journal stated: "This dazzling blend of realistic fiction and fantasy is perfect for fans of characters who have to overcome obstacles on their way to growing up." Meanwhile, Kirkus noted: "An original graphic novel, the first written and illustrated by an Indian-American creator, this is both a needed contribution and a first-rate adventure tale." And Nidhi said that's exactly why she wrote Pashmina. "I'd never seen a story like this before. I like to think that I'm filling in some of the gaps. We need to have more Indian-American graphic novels."

Our final debut author, Julie Segal-Walters, got lucky when Brian Biggs, the illustrator of her first picture book, This Is Not a Normal Animal Book, was able to join her at our library event. Having the duo present their book together upped the hilarity factor, especially since Julie's presentation was built around showing audiences just how long it takes to get a picture book published. In fact, Julie got the idea for her book in 2013 and now, four years later, she's finally holding a finished copy in her hands. In between, Julie, a lawyer and civic action specialist, spent many hours perfecting the text, and then many months waiting for Brian to create the artwork.

While This Is Not a Normal Animal Book is ostensibly about different kinds of animals, it ends up being a hilarious battle between the author and the illustrator over who's actually in charge of the story. In its review, Publishers Weekly called the book "a knowing and very funny behind-the-scenes look at the art -- and negotiation -- of collaboration." Biggs' art adds color and humor to Julie's spare text; his opening illustration showing all of the animals featured in the book has been juried into the prestigious Society of Illustrators Original Art Exhibit this year.

Biggs noted that he's illustrated, or written and illustrated, 63 books since he began drawing in 1969. He's now working on a book that he's both written and illustrated, and has plenty of other work lined up. Julie, meanwhile, has written three other picture book manuscripts, and is waiting to hear back from publishers. But she's also busy with other projects. In addition to helping create Picture the Books, Julie also recently was part of a group that just launched a new blog, M Is For Movement. Here's how she and the other contributors explain their mission in a note on their website: "We recognize that activism takes many forms, including interpersonal interactions, grassroots organizing, public policy advocacy, political participation, and protest. Through this blog we aim to highlight children’s books that include a wide range of engagement tactics, as well as the history of movements and the stories of remarkable individuals who lead and participate in social justice initiatives."

ENDNOTES: A big thank you, as always, to Politics & Prose Bookstore for the partnership that allows us to host authors and illustrators at my library. Thanks also to Lee & Low, which provided a review copy of Marti's Song For Freedom/Marti y sus versos por la libertad; to FirstSecond for the review copy of Pashmina; and to Simon & Schuster for the review copy of This Is Not a Normal Animal Book. And finally, a big "Merci!" to Maurice Belanger, who took the wonderful photos at the events featuring Emma Otheguy and Nidhi Chanani.














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Fun with Dave Barry

As a children's librarian at a public library, there are some questions I get asked quite frequently. These are questions like "Do you have any dinosaur books?'" or "Where are your graphic novels?" or the ever-practical, "Do I need a key for the restroom?"

Those are questions I can answer pretty easily. But there's one often-asked question that's much harder to answer and that is, "Where are your 'funny' books?" Kids ask me that all the time! We do have some funny books, of course, and there are more funny children's books being published than ever before. Yet there still aren't nearly as many as I -- or our young patrons -- would like.

So, when the good folks at Politics & Prose, our wonderful independent bookstore, asked if our library would like to host Dave Barry as he presented his new book for kids, I immediately and emphatically said "Yes!" For I had read an advanced review copy of the book, The Worst Class Trip Ever (Disney-Hyperion, $13.99, ages 8-12), and knew that it would be a great addition to our "funny books" collection. And I knew that Dave himself would make a hilarious presentation. It was a win-win situation for us.

In The Worst Class Trip Ever,  Dave tells the story of several eighth graders who travel from Florida to Washington, D.C. on a school trip and find themselves both in trouble with their teachers and in danger from some mysterious men who just may be targeting the President of the United States. Dave is a facile writer with a master touch when it comes to pacing, which makes The Worst Class Trip Ever a real page-turner.

And, of course, Dave knows how to make people laugh. For example, in the opening chapter, which Dave read at our program, the first-person narrator, eighth grader Wyatt Palmer, tells what happens when his dad encounters an alligator when going out to get the newspaper early one morning. Disregarding his wife's warning to first put on some clothes, Wyatt's dad is wearing only his threadbare boxers, which have very little elasticity left and are "held up by stains." Naturally, the alligator incident attracts the attention of passers-by as well as the local police, and Wyatt's dad -- holding up his boxers so they don't fall off -- ends up on the local evening news. The capper? After seeing the newscast, Wyatt's mother silently takes the boxers and burns them by the side of the family pool.

The audience loved hearing Dave read that section of his new book. The audience also loved hearing other parts of Dave's presentation, including his comments on the "hard-listening music" he plays with a band in his spare time, and how he managed to stay calm when a bookstore owner placed a huge snake over his shoulders during a book reading with fellow Peter & the Starcatchers author Ridley Pearson.

Although Dave came to talk mainly about The Worst Class Trip Ever, it wasn't an event just for kids. In fact, many Dave's adult fans were there, including a couple from Pittsburgh who drove down specifically for the presentation and then were driving the four-plus hours back home after it was over. Many of the adult fans had been regular readers of Dave's Pulitzer Prize-winning humor column, and still enjoy his annual Year in Review articles.

Dave and me (Credit: Bruce Guthrie)

As I noted in my introduction of Dave, his comedic powers were clear from an early age. At his Pleasantville, N.Y. high school, for example, Dave was elected "class clown." After he graduated from Haverford College, Dave got a job as a reporter at a newspaper in West Chester, Pa. In two years, he was promoted to city editor and -- much more importantly -- began writing a humor column for the newspaper. Another funny writer named Gene Weingarten discovered Dave's humor column and hired him to write for The Miami Herald. Dave's Herald column was so popular that it was syndicated nationally in hundreds of newspapers and, in 1988, he won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary. One interesting side note: a column that Dave wrote in 2002 is credited with bringing international attention to a very important annual celebration -- Talk Like a Pirate day -- which will take place this year on Saturday, Sept. 19.

Dave ended his weekly column in 2004 but he has continued writing in other forms. He has published more than two dozen books; among his adult books are Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs, I'll Mature When I'm Dead, and the just-published Live Right and Find Happiness (Although Beer Is Much Faster). One of Dave's books, Big Trouble, was turned into a movie, and two of his books were the basis for the TV show, Dave's World. Dave also has found fame with a stunt he once pulled on national TV -- setting fire to a pair of men's underpants with a Barbie doll. Yes, he actually did that.

At our program, however, Dave also noted how much he enjoys writing for kids, adding that he's currently working on another book for young readers. In talking about writing for kids, Dave said he was particularly delighted when astronaut Catherine Coleman read Science Fair -- written by Dave and Ridley -- during her time on the International Space Station. As Dave put it: "I just started out writing for my little high school paper and I've ended up having a book read in the International Space Station!"

A Wonderful Visit from Jon Klassen

For a picture book superstar, Jon Klassen is a remarkably low-key kind of guy. After all, this is someone who has won the top national and international children's book illustration awards -- the Caldecott Medal here, the Kate Greenaway Medal in Great Britain. He's the first person to win both of those awards, and only the second person to win both a Caldecott Medal and a Caldecott Honor in the same year. Clearly he's superstar, and yet he is an easy-going superstar who really enjoys interacting with his young fans.

Jon giving his 2013 Caldecott acceptance speech.

Jon's down-to-earth persona recently was on display at my library, where he gave a presentation on his work, including his newest book, Sam & Dave Dig a Hole (Candlewick Press, $16.99, ages 4-7). Unfazed by making a presentation to dozens of kids and adults crammed into our Children's Room, Jon -- wearing his trademark sports cap -- read calmly from several of his books as he showed the illustrations up on the big screen. First up: I Want My Hat Back.

To mix things up, Jon also offered an amusing drawing demonstration midway through the program.Using Photoshop to draw a picture of a turtle, Jon then showed how to create a number of emotions in the turtle, merely by changing just the position and size of the turtle's eyes. It was a great reminder of how the eyes of the big fish are so important in Jon's 2013 Caldecott Medal-winning book, This Is Not My Hat.

Jon finished up his presentation by reading from one of his own favorite books as a kid, In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories, retold by Alvin Schwartz. For fans of Jon's work, it was especially interesting to see in those stories the same kind of dry, slightly dark humor that marks Jon's own books.

At our event, Jon just read one story -- "The Green Ribbon" (a classic tale about how the ribbon allows a woman to keep her severed head attached to her body) --and his audience was rapt. And, despite Jon's reminder that he didn't write that story and so couldn't answer questions about it, several young fans kept circling back to it in the Q&A, much to the amusement of both Jon and the audience.

While Jon is relaxed with fans, however, he's a perfectionist when it comes to his work. When I interviewed him in October 2013, for example, he talked about staying awake all night, worrying about the hand-lettering he did for This Is Not My Hat. At the library program, he spoke of his frustration in trying to get the right look for the all-important yarn in the illustrations for Caldecott Honor-winning Extra Yarn, which was written by Mac Barnett. Finally, Jon said, he went out and purchased an inexpensive sweater, scanned it, and then used those scans to create the illustrations.

Jon's newest book, Sam & Dave Dig a Hole, also was written by Mac Barnett. It features Jon's trademark subtle palette, yet he has managed to create an amazing number of different shades and variations on the all-important brown of the dirt dug up by Sam and Dave. In reading the book at the library program, Jon began by urging the audience to notice the title page. Although he noted that title pages are typically "sad" pages because no one pays attention to them, the title page of Sam & Dave Dig a Hole plays a crucial role in the story.

As Jon read the book, the kids in the audience became more and more voluble as Sam and Dave continued to just miss unearthing bigger and bigger gems hidden in the earth's depths. Just as the audience did in our library's recent Caldecott Club reading of Sam & Dave Dig a Hole, these young fans at Klassen's program were audibly disbelieving of how clueless the two boys seemed to be, unlike their dog. Asked later about the fact that Sam and Dave come so close to finding gems, yet never find them, Jon said: "They always miss them because it's funny."

But the biggest surprise of the book comes at the end, when Sam and Dave (and their dog) fall through the hole and then end up in a place that looks like the place they started -- as shown on the title page! -- but clearly isn't exactly the same. Kids notice this fact right away, while it takes most adults longer to see what's happened. As to where Sam and Dave are at the end of the book, Jon left it to his fans to come up with their own ideas. The kids at the library program clearly were intrigued by this challenge, and came up with various suggestions about what had happened.

The wide-open ending of Sam & Dave Dig a Hole also has been a source of much speculation in the children's literature world since the book was published. In a recent post on his 100 Scope Notes blog, for example, Travis Jonker wrote about several different theories about the ending of the book; the theories range from "The Epic Dream Theory" to "It Was All a Dream, Man Theory" and are fascinating to read. Don't forget to also read the comments that follow the post, which offer even more theories, with one commenter pointing folks to a fascinating interview with Jon and Mac about the book on the "Cynsations" blog.

The book clearly is already popular with fans, and many people believe it could earn Klassen yet another Caldecott Medal or Caldecott Honor. The "Calling Caldecott" blog, which focuses on potential Caldecott winners, recently had an interesting discussion about the book.

Jon finished our library event by spending more than an hour with fans, signing their books, and answering questions. Chief among the questions: what are you working on now? Jon said that he was doing illustrations for another picture book written by Mac Barnett, and also was struggling to write and illustrate the last book in his "hat" trilogy (after I Want My Hat Back and This Is Not My Hat). But Jon acknowledged that it's "terrifying" for him to both write and illustrate a book now that he's won the Caldecott Medal.

All too soon, it was time for Jon to head off at the airport. As he went back into our staff area to claim his jacket and backpack, he noticed an unusual "window" there and asked if he could take a photograph. The "window" used to be a real window, but now looks out onto a brick wall. Some time ago, one of our library staffers used construction paper to create a beach scene on the window's bottom half, but the top half still shows the brick wall. It's not something that attracts any attention from most visitors.  It takes someone with a special eye, a keen sense of a detail, and a darkly witty sense of humor -- someone, in fact, just like Jon Klassen.

Me, Jon & my daughter Sally, a Klassen fan.

END NOTES: Thanks so much to Kerri Poore, children's & teen events coordinator at Politics & Prose Bookstore and Rachel Johnstone of Candlewick Press for bringing Jon to my library. Thanks also to Jon for his memorable presentation. It's not often that you meet such a down-to-earth superstar!

Holy Bagumba! It's Kate DiCamillo!

The kids, towing their grown-ups, began arriving at 6 p.m., determined to nab a good seat for the 7:30 p.m. program starring kid lit star Kate DiCamillo in the Takoma Park Community Center auditorium. By 7 p.m., most of the seats in the 150-seat auditorium were taken, and the room was humming with excitement. (To accommodate the crowd, we even opened an overflow room, with a live feed, down the hall). So, when Kate herself walked down the aisle at 7:30 p.m. last Friday night and took her seat on the auditorium stage, it was no surprise that the audience -- now overflowing into aisles and any open carpet space -- burst into applause.

Posing with Kate - note my "Holy Bagumba" button

 I had the honor and privilege of sharing the stage with Kate, who didn't want to do a formal presentation but instead had asked me to lead a conversation with her before taking questions from the audience. As she told me before we went onstage: "Karen, you're in charge. That's why I'm so relaxed!" Admittedly, I was less relaxed, having never before led a program attended by 200-plus people.  But I love Kate's books, and I had immersed myself in them and in her two Newbery acceptance speeches, for the past couple of weeks. Between this immersion method and the interview experience garnered in my previous life as a newspaper reporter, the onstage conversation between us flowed smoothly. I had a blast, and Kate told me later that she'd like to take me on the road with her!

Because I was on the stage and couldn't take notes, I don't have any direct quotes from the program. It was televised by the city of Takoma Park TV, however, and I'll update this post with a link to the televised version as soon as it is posted. Suffice to say that our conversation ranged from Kate talking about how she moved from Minnesota to Florida with no socks (and quickly went out and purchased some in the first cold snap) to what it's like to get "the call" about winning the Newbery Medal (in 2004 for The Tale of Despereaux and earlier this year for Flora & Ulysses) to her hilarious new book, Leroy Ninker Saddles Up.

Meanwhile, here are just a few "snapshots" from the memorable evening:

Snapshot No. 1: (courtesy of friend/neighbor Suzanna Banwell). Kids holding copies of their favorite books by Kate running down the hill outside the Community Center to get to the auditorium. As Suzanna said: "It gave me chills to see these kids so excited about books and an author!"

Snapshot No. 2: Kids thrilled to ask Kate questions, some of them so excited that they didn't listen to previous questions and answers, which meant that Kate answered the same question three times: "What inspired you to write Because of Winn-Dixie?" A veteran of kid Q&A sessions, Kate patiently responded each time, and in fact reworked her answer each time so that it didn't sound repetitive. (Short answer: During one of the coldest winters in Minneapolis, Kate was homesick for Florida. She also was without a dog, for the longest time ever in her life. So she decided to write a book set in Florida starring a dog.)

Snapshot No. 3: Kids asking questions I'd never thought to ask, helping us all to learn more about Kate and her writing. One example: "Why does Mercy Watson (star of the Mercy Watson beginning reader series) love buttered toast so much?" Kate responded by noting that, one day,  she was giving a ride to a friend, who decided to eat slices of liberally-buttered toast in Kate's brand-new (and much-prized) Mini Cooper. Irritated about crumbs and butter on the new upholstery, Kate asked her friend if she could put away her food until she was out of the car. Instead, her friend responded with a lecture on the merits of buttered toast. Kate, who had been struggling to bring Mercy Watson alive on the page, took that lecture and gave Mercy what is now her most famous characteristic: her passion for buttered toast.

Jon Scieszka, take note!

 Snapshot No. 4: A young library patron named Paulette asking Kate to sign a short story that Kate had written with Jon Scieszka, another kid lit star and the first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. (Kate was named the fourth ambassador in January). The story is included in one of the Guys Read books edited by Scieszka. Kate signed the page on which the story began, and then gleefully crossed out co-author Scieszka's name. Paulette is now determined to come to our Nov. 21 event featuring Scieszka to see if he decides to take revenge by crossing out Kate's name.

Snapshot No. 5: Kate staying after the program to sign books until everyone in the line, which snaked around the auditorium, had their books signed. One of the last people to have their books signed was Frank, a custodian at the community center. Because he was working, Frank couldn't hang out in the line, but instead popped in at the last minute in hopes that Kate would still sign his book. Of course she did!

 Huge thanks go to Politics & Prose Bookstore, especially Kerri Poore, for having the idea to ask Kate to do a program on Friday, Aug. 29 before her headliner appearance at the Aug. 30 National Book Festival. Thanks also to the unflappable Jennifer Roberts, executive director of marketing and publicity at Candlewick Press, Kate's publisher. Jennifer made sure everyone could hear Kate speak and kept the book-signing line moving. Lots of "Yippie-i-ohs" to Kate the Great for coming to share herself and her stories, and for teaching us all the heart-touching new word of "capacious." Finally, thanks to all of the kids and their grown-ups who comprised our overflow crowd and made the evening so fun!

Kate (the Great) DiCamillo Is Coming!

Yes, the current National Ambassador for Young People's Literature AND the current Newbery Medalist is coming to my library! If you're in the Washington, D.C. area, mark your calendars for Friday, August 29 at 7 p.m., when Kate will speak in the auditorium of the Takoma Park (Maryland) Community Center, which connects to our library. I'll be moderating (whoo-hoo!) the program; I've been told that Kate likes to do a Q & A format at her programs. Then she'll sign books afterwards.

How did my library, which is, after all, tiny -- as well as the only small, city-run library in Maryland -- get the honor of hosting the great Kate DiCamillo? Well, chalk it up to our partnership with Politics & Prose Bookstore, the independent bookstore in DC.

A couple of years ago, the P&P folks asked if we'd like to partner with them on author events; we provide the space for the events, and they provide the authors. Talk about a deal for us  See, P&P has more authors for events than they have space and time on their store calendar, which is why they reached out to us and to several other libraries in the area to see if we could form a partnership. The benefits for my library are immense because we get to host authors we never could afford to pay to come. P&P sells books at the events for people who'd like to have the visiting author personally sign their volume, but no purchase is required to attend any of the programs.

Ben Hatke

Recent authors whom we have hosted with P&P include graphic novelist Ben Hatke, of Zita the Spacegirl fame, Llama Llama picture book creator Anna Dewdney, and internationally-acclaimed author/illustrator Maira Kalman.

And now Kate DiCamillo! She's actually coming to DC for the National Book Festival, which will be held indoors for the first time on Saturday, August 30 at the Washington Convention Center. It was Kerri Poore, energetic coordinator of children's & teen events at Politics & Prose, who had the brilliant idea to ask Kate's publisher, Candlewick Press, if she might be willing to tack on an extra event the night before the festival. Lo and behold, she was!

I've interviewed Kate several times and so know how amazingly nice she is. Still I have to admit that I'm a tad nervous about moderating the program.
But I know that Kate will put me, and the audience, right at ease, as we talk about her ambassadorial platform -- "Stories connect us" -- her latest Newbery-winning book, the utterly delightful Flora & Ulysses, her newest book, LeRoy Ninker Saddles Up, and more. It's sure to be a wonderful night, so watch this space for a wrap-up right after it happens.

Kate's not the only author we're co-hosting this fall with P&P at the Takoma Park Maryland Library. Our partnership with P&P has produced a great line-up of children's (and adult) authors who will be speaking in our library's Children's Room (that's where we generally host authors and illustrators; hosting Kate in the auditorium is an exception).

For example, at 7 p.m. on August 28 -- just the night before Kate speaks -- Caldecott Honor author/artist Peter Brown will be talking about his newest picture book, My Teacher Is a Monster! (No I Am Not). It's great timing because that's the first week of school around here, so Brown's pitch-perfect, comic send-up of teacher-student dynamics should draw a good crowd of preschoolers and early elementary-age students.

Other upcoming events include: graphic novelist Eleanor Davis, who will talk about her new adult short story collection, How to Be Happy, on Monday, Sept. 15 at 7:30 p.m.; a trio of middle-grade authors -- Annie Barrows, E.D. Baker and Jessica Day George -- who will talk about their latest books on Thursday, Oct. 9 at 7:30 p.m.; and author Shannon Hale, talking about The Princess in Black, the launch of a new early chapter series, on Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 7:30 p.m. I'll be blogging about each event as they occur, so stay tuned for more!

"Zita the Spacegirl" Author/Artist Ben Hatke Wows the Crowd

Graphic novelist Ben Hatke is a sprite of a man, and sprightly too, constantly in motion as he talks and shares his love of comics with young fans. He certainly wowed the crowd of 75-plus kids and adults who came to my library the other night to hear him talk about the latest book in his best-selling Zita the Spacegirl series. (We're lucky to have a partnership with Politics & Prose, the well-known Washington, D.C. independent bookstore; the partnership allows us to host well-known authors and artists like Hatke a our library, while P&P gets to sell books at the events to anyone who wishes to purchase them).

Hatke clearly revels in speaking to kids about comics and drawing and making stories. He began by giving the excited crowd a short, dynamic lesson in the mechanics of comics, and why he loves them. It was a bit like taking Scott McLeod's masterful teen/adult book Understanding Comics, pulling out the key tenets, and then presenting them in a way that was both entertaining and educational for school-age kids. Kids listened intently as Hatke drew and talked about things like the way comics "play on things our brain likes to do, like making connections" as we move from one panel to the next.  Everyone laughed as Hatke illustrated the way comics show time; he drew three panels, the first showing a bunny whistling as she sets out at sunrise one day, the second showing her sweating in the heat of the noonday sun beating down on her, and the third showing her totally spent under the light of the moon.

Hatke draws for the crowd.

Kids also got a real kick out of the way Hatke detailed his love for using body language to carry parts of his stories. To show what he meant, Hatke drew a character who looked mildly grumpy and who had a thought bubble over his head that read "I am angry!" Then Hatke drew a second character who entire body was contorted with rage and whose thought bubble read "Who stepped on my cheeseburger?!" As Hatke noted: "I use the idea of body language to show as much as I can of how the characters feel. It's a way to make the words and the pictures really work together."

Hatke said he's always been drawing, and always been interested in stories, "all kinds of stories -- chapter books, picture books and, of course, comics." Interestingly, Hatke said it was his wife who had the initial idea for the Zita books: Zita the Spacegirl, Legends of Zita the Spacegirl, and the just-published The Return of Zita the Spacegirl (First Second, $17.99 hardback, $12.99 paperback, ages 5-12). "When I was in college, I met a really cute girl" who had created the character of Zita the spacegirl, Hatke said. "I thought I'd try to impress her by developing the character. It worked -- she married me!"

Some young fans at my library pose with Zita the Spacegirl.

Asked by a young audience member why he chose to make the main character a girl, Hatke said that while "I don't really think a lot about that, I do have four daughters and I grew up with two sisters. So I've been around girls having adventures." Of course, audience members wanted to know whether Hatke plans more Zita books. "Probably. But right now I'm working on some other books." Hatke added that "Zita will be older when we next see her," noting that he's thinking of have her "age in real time," so that if the next Zita book comes out five years from now, she'll be five years older. The final sketch in The Return of Zita the Spacegirl gives a hint of that, contrasting a teen-age Zita with the familiar younger version.

Meanwhile, Hatke is having fun trying out something new -- a picture book. Using our library's ELMO (a type of overhead projector), Hatke gave the crowd an early look at Julia's House for Lost Creatures (ages 4-8), which will be published by First Second in early September. Hatke's whimsy works well in the picture book form, as he tells the story of a girl who lives in a "walking house" and welcomes all kinds of creatures who need a home. As more and more creatures pile into the house, however, things get chaotic until Julia figures out a solution that works for everyone. Hatke also previewed the book he's working on now ("Maybe the best thing I've ever done") about a "little girl and a robot and a friendship that develops over the summer").