As part of the California Young Reader Medal program, educators in California have made my book into a play, and I think it’s great. And I think your student will like performing in it. READER’s THEATER
Doreen Rappaport speaks on Holocaust Remembrance Day
Last April I appeared at the Great Neck Public Library on Long Island and Michal Hoschander Malen, a librarian and editor of reference books and children’s and young adult book editor of the Jewish Book World came to hear me and wrote this review..
TRYING TO CATCH UP WITH ALL OF YOU
Wow, it’s been such an extremely busy but exciting time since I last communicated with you. It’s way too long since I put up a post on WHAT’S NEW. I don’t even know where to start, but I’ll try to tell you some of the highlights of what’s been going on in life with books, kids, adults and travel. You’re looking at a photograph of fifth graders from Sierra Vista Elementary School in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Did you know that there was a Las Vegas in New Mexico. I didn’t. I only learned that when I was contacted by Jacqueline Gomez, the teacher of these students. See how much you can learn every day? We visited three times, all by SKYPE. They read my books, prepared questions for me and we chatted away. It was great. I’m hoping some day to get to this school to meet in person with other students. Look at the photo and you can meet these fifth graders from Sierra Vista.
In October I traveled to France to do research for a new …
CELEBRATE WOMEN’S HISTORY ALL YEAR LONG
HONORING THE FUTURE WOMEN OF THE WORLD WITH WOMEN OF THE PAST
I was honored this month to be interviewed about my books about women by A Mighty Girl, a website of books, toys, movies, clothing and music with positive messages about girls that honors the potential of all girls to grow and become what they choose to become. In other words, to truly become Mighty Girls!
MEET BANK STREET’S AWARD WINNING AUTHORS
Beyond Courage was privileged to win the Flora Stieglitz Strauss award for Non-fiction given out by the Bank Street Children’s Book Committee. I was away during the award ceremony but a live video of all the acceptance speeches are just a click away. R. J. Palacio won the Josette Frank Award for her debut novel, Wonder. J. Patrick Lewis won the Claudia Lewis Award for the best poetry book of the year for young readers, for his anthology National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry: 200 Poems with Photographs That Squeak, Soar, and Roar!
TWO AUTHORS LOOK AT THE LIFE OF HELEN KELLER
I don’t know if you’ve read Deborah Hopkinton’s wonderful new book, Annie and Helen, illustrated by Raul Colon, and published by Schwartz & Wade. I always tell children that everyone is unique and every writer is unique, and we write differently because we are different. Deborah Hopkinton and I love to write about history. When we decided to write about Helen Keller, we took different approaches. Click below and you’ll find out how each of us made our decisions on what and how to write about that amazing woman. http://kidlitwhm.blogspot.com/2013/03/helen-keller-revisited-interview-with.html
OOPS, I’M FLOATING IN CYBERSPACE
The Cyberspace Sydney Taylor Blog Tour for the authors who won awards this year from the Association of Jewish Libraries starts today. Here’s the direct link to my interview. http://slayground.livejournal.com/732906.html.
Look down two entries and find the links to the other author SKYPE BLOG TOURS.
THE NATIONAL DAY OF SERVICE
On Saturday, January 19, 2013, the wonderful organization of First Book that supplies books for thousands of children was part of the National Day of Service started by President Obama to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This day is a wonderful idea: it’s a chance to start all Americans talking, thinking and working on the many ways we can serve our nation. I was especially proud for First Book included Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in its 7,500 book packs for children. Thousands of kids received books that day.
And someone snapped a photograph of an actor who was very interested in learning about Dr. King.
COME, MEET AUTHORS IN CYBERSPACE
I’ve been honored by the Association of Jewish Libraries with The Sydney Taylor Honor Book (Silver) Award for my book, Beyond Courage. The AJL is celebrating its 2013 gold and silver medalists with a Blog Tour, February 11-15, 2013! If you’ve never experienced a Blog Tour, it’s basically a virtual book tour. But instead of having to travel to a library or bookstore to hear an author or illustrator speaker, you go to a website. So get ready for February 11, when my blog tour will be up and learn about the other blog tours by clicking this link: http://jewishlibraries.org/blog. I can’t wait to meet these kindred spirits in cyberspace. .
EXCITING NEWS ABOUT BEYOND COURAGE
The Association of Jewish Libraries has given Beyond Courage a Silver Award in their category, Books for Teen Readers. In the Orbis Pictus Awards for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, it’s Recommended Book, NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English. It’s ,a Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People 2013, which is a cooperative project of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and the Children’s Book Council, and it’s a Core Collections Star title from EBSCO Publishing.