Morning Notes: Road Trip Edition

THE 2019 YOUTH MEDIA AWARDS: ENHANCED

Good news time. The most prominent awards in children’s literature is about to get more diverse. Beginning in 2019, the Youth Media Awards will “highlight titles selected by the American Indian Library Association (AILA), Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA), and the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL)“. Click here to read the full announcement.

THE CROSSOVER

Author Kwame Alexander is adding publisher to his repertoire next spring when his new imprint Versify debuts. And the first batch of books sound pretty interesting. Click here to read.

ALL THE PODCASTS

Sorry to see All the Wonders is closing up shop, but their podcasts (Picturebooking, Books Between, and All the Wonders (now rebranded The Children’s Book Podcast)) will live on.

ARE THESE BOOKS NOTABLE OR NOT?

I am (sadly) not attending ALA Midwinter this time around, but if I did, I’d definitely check out the Children’s Notable Books discussion. Click here to see the books the committee will discuss and when.

THE SEXISM OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

Disappointing. The Guardian conducted an in-depth analysis of the 100 most popular books of 2017 and found that female characters were massively underrepresented. Click here to read all the findings.

This is a hard one. Should I send you all to the latest Coming Soon: 2018 Picture Books Part Eight at Mile High Reading? Probably. Should you check out the latest Katherine Applegate book at Watch. Connect. Read.? Yes. I should definitely share the Fall 2018 Children’s Sneak Previews at Publishers Weekly? Uh huh. And what about this:

Yes, you’re seeing that correctly – a new early reader series by Mo Willems. It’s been a good week for buzz.

Lots of Seuss-related animated film news here, including a . . . prequel to How the Grinch Stole Christmas? Click here to read.

I think I speak for us all when I say I really would like to have Gary D. Schmidt as my teacher.

Every other year, Gary Schmidt loads up a bus with his students from Calvin College and they depart Grand Rapids, MI, for the Northeast to tour literary spots. I was so happy to have this great group over to the studio last night! pic.twitter.com/TeWBhU45gX

— Jarrett J. Krosoczka (@StudioJJK) January 20, 2018