The British Embassy in Washington donated 2,500 Paddington books to schools based in Washington, D.C., just in time for Christmas.

21-Year Old WWII Soldier's Sketchbooks Reveal a Visual Diary of His Experiences

A visual diary with 158 pencil sketches brings to life the wartime experience of noted architect Victor A. Lundy, who served in the U.S. 26th Infantry Division during World War II. In 1942, Lundy was 19, studying to be an architect in New York City. Excited about rebuilding Europe post-war, he and other college men enlisted in the Army Special Training Program (ASTP). But, by 1944, with D-Day planned, the Army needed reinforcements, and Lundy and his company were thrown into the infantry. Lundy couldn't believe it and recalled during an oral history interview that during lectures, he "never listened, I was busy sketching." But soon, "I sort of took to it. ... war experience just hypnotizes young men." Lundy, who is now 92, recalls his inability to listen during lectures. “I was busy sketching,” he admits. During his time in the infantry, he continued to sketch in his pocket-sized notebooks. The drawings, which were created between May and November 1944—when Lundy was wounded—take us from his initial training in Fort Jackson to the front lines in France. The vivid images show everything from air raids to craps games for cigarettes. A sense of longing for home is a recurring theme in his sketches, which include detailed drawings of his bunk as well as particularly dream-like drawing, titled Home Sweet Home, that shows a soldier lounging on a hammock. Lundy, who went on to have an acclaimed architecture career, donated his eight sketchbooks to the Library of Congress in 2009. The sketchbooks have all been digitally archived and are now available for viewing online. Lundy’s gift is a precious one, as in this age of continued war and terror it is more important than ever to learn from our past history.

Author Alice Hoffman said it best: "Books may well be the only true magic."…

It's been a varied week for Richard Lutz, from emptying the house of books via walking in the woods to dealing with British Gas.

Dream opening for booksellers.

From cookbooks to constitutional rights, On Second Thought is proud to present another five stories from our archive to motivate you this Monday. 1) Historian Jill Lepore Explores 'These Truths' Of United States History In November 2018, On Second Thought sat down with Harvard American history professor Jill Lepore to discuss her book These Truths: A History of the United States and the obligation to learn from the past for a brighter future. Focusing on promises made in the Constitution, Lepore discusses the state of institutions like freedom, voting, and social struggles almost 250 years after the country’s founding. 2) Chef Pano Karatassos On 'Modern Greek Cooking' Atlanta chef Pano Karatassos made waves in culinary circles after winning Food Network’s Beat Bobby Flay with his signature lamb pie. Chef Karatassos is the executive chef of Kyma in Atlanta and has tasked himself with bringing traditional Greek foods to the South. He sat down with us last October to talk Greek cuisine

Today, improving caregiver working conditions through community and collective action. Then, parental stress levels are on the raise. And, 50 years of printing books about California.

The school board member has not read the books.

The Library Association of Bermuda is set to host an evening entitled “Books, Bites, & Beverages” on Saturday, November 4, 2023. This event will take place at the Bermuda College Library from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. A treat for book enthusiasts and food lovers alike, the event promises to be an evening of literary […]

Nikita Robinson is once again hosting a community initiative to celebrate World Book Day, with over 1,300 books to be delivered to schools throughout the Island. A spokesperson said, “Evangelist Nikita Robinson of The Worship Room on Magic102.7FM is inviting the public to support a nursery, preschool, public primary, middle, high school or boys and […]

Several classic Star Trek books from the Simon & Schuster era of publishing Trek novels are on sale...

If you enjoy reading, here is a list of 10 must-read authors and their novels that you should read at least once in your life. Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita- Lolita is Nabokov’s most renowned and disturbing novel, telling the narrative of an elderly Humbert Humbert’s obsession for the young Dolores Haze and their love, which defines ... Read more

The post The Must-Read Authors And Their Books first appeared on Storytellers Unplugged.

If you enjoy fiction novels, here is a list of some popular ones you can read in your spare time: Daniel Silva’s Portrait of an Unknown Woman– Daniel Silva’s book about a famous spy and art restorer is a wonderfully fascinating tour into the negative side of the world of art. David Baldacci’s The 6:20 ... Read more

The post List Of The Best Fiction Books first appeared on Storytellers Unplugged.

Inputting a book’s International Standard Book Number (ISBN) into BookScouter is a terrific preliminary stage if you’re selling second-hand eBooks locally or online. This program reveals the average price that more than fifty online book purchasers are prepared to spend for a certain book. Use the pricing history tool to find out how often a ... Read more

The post Use These Tips to Sell Your Used Books first appeared on Storytellers Unplugged.

Well before invention of the computer age, reading each day is a habit that practically that everybody who wanted to learn adopted. There was no constant necessity emphasise the advantages of literature. The following examples will motivate you to pick up a book. Brain stimulation Your cerebral functioning is stimulated if you read day in ... Read more

The post Here are The Benefits of Reading Books first appeared on Storytellers Unplugged.

This week's Top Comics to Buy for November 13 features buzzy books like Absolute Batman, G.I. Joe, and more!

I'm just back from a twelve day trip up to Chicago, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis-St. Paul, where I did a bit of research and visited a bunch of schools and children's indie bookstores.

The trip started inauspiciously, when my flight was canceled because the wind blew the plane onto a belt conveyor.

Eventually, I made it to Chicago, though, where the weather looked like this:
Still, I had arrived ahead of time so I could go down to the Museum of Science and Industry, which has a World War II German u-boat and a chicken incubator.
Next two days were the actual school visits, arranged at Henry Puffer Elementary  and Liberty Elementary by Anderson's Book Shop and at Attea Glenview School and Rondout School by The Book Stall.  Afterwards, I got to hang out with Robert from The Book Stall and stopped by for a couple of pics.

Posing with posters

Then I was off to Milwaukee for a school visit at Atwater Elementary arranged through the Boswell Book Company.
It was my first time I'd ever been to Milwaukee, but sadly didn't have a chance to sightsee, because it was off to Minneapolis-St. Paul for three days of school visits.

Visits at North Trail Elementary and Brimhall Elementary were through Addendum Books; those at Crestview Elementary and Little Canada Elementary were through the Red Balloon Bookshop; and at Valley View Middle School, through Wild Rumpus Books.

Snake!

I had some free time, so I went over to Addendum Books for some pics and had a fun lunch with Katherine and Marcus, the proprietors.

In front of the "Purple Rain" wall

Since I was there over the weekend, I spoke at Red Balloon for the Minnesota SCBWI about Research and the Suspension of disbelief.

I also had the chance to go run a couple times on the Mississippi Riverfront trail and visit the Science Museum of Minnesota.

T.rex!

Triceratops

Stegosaurus!

After Monday's school visit I had a fun lunch with Drew and Jordan of Wild Rumpus Books at Pizzeria Lola (a separate Pizza-a-Day Diet post will be forthcoming).  Then I visited the bookstore, where I met the menagerie.

Copper oven and decorative birch logs

Chicken!

Ferret!

Then I was back to Chicago and spent a day at the Field Museum of Natural History and showed Madeline Smoot of CBAY Books a bit of the city!


Many thanks to all the librarians and booksellers and Blue Slip Media and everyone else who made this happen.  Thanks also to Quinette Cook and all the folks from MN SCBWI who came out for the workshop.  It was great fun meeting you!

For information on how to book me for school visits for the 2016-2017 school year, contact Carmen Oliver at The Booking Biz.

I'm a bit late this year, but here is a preliminary listing of books written and illustrated by Austinites with releases in 2017!  Note that publication dates may change and/or slip...

For books from earlier years, go here.

Picture Books

BOOK OR BELL, by Chris Barton, ill. by Ashley Spires (Bloomsbury 2017).

MIGHTY TRUCK: MUDDY MANIA, by Chris Barton, ill. by Troy Cummings (HarperCollins 2017).

DAZZLE SHIPS: WORLD WAR I AND THE ART OF CONFUSION,  by Chris Barton, ill. by Victo Ngai (Millbrook 2017).

 WHY AM I ME?, by Paige Britt, ill. by Sean Qualls & Selina Alko (Scholastic Press, Sept. 2017).
 
WHOBERT WHOVER, OWL DETECTIVE, by Jason Gallaher (@DraftingJason), ill. by Jess Pauwels (Margaret McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster, July 2017).
 
 CINNAMON, by Neil Gaiman, ill. by Divya Srinivasan (HarperCollins, May 2017).

THE YOUNGEST MARCHER; THE STORY OF AUDREY MAY HENDRICKS, A YOUNG CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST, by Cynthia Levinson (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster 2017)

BOB, NOT BOB, by Liz Garton Scanlon, ill. by Audrey Vernick (Disney Hyperion, Winter 2017)

ANOTHER WAY TO CLIMB A TREE, by Liz Garton Scanlon, ill. by Hadley Hooper (Neal Porter Books/Roaring Brook Press, Aug. 2017).

STRONG AS SANDOW: HOW EUGEN SANDOW BECAME THE STRONGEST MAN ON EARTH, by Don Tate (Charlesbridge, Aug. 2017).

WHAT THIS STORY NEEDS IS A BANG AND A CLANG, by Emma Virjan (HarperCollins 2017).

Middle Grade/Tween

THE GREAT HIBERNATION, by Tara Dairman (Wendy Lamb Books/Random House, September 2017).

GNOMEAGEDDON, by K.A. Holt (McElderry Book/S&S, Fall 2017)

TUT: MY EPIC BATTLE TO SAVE THE WORLD, by P.J. Hoover (Tor 2017).

FAULT LINES IN THE CONSTITUTION: THE FRAMERS, THEIR FIGHTS, AND THE FLAWS THAT AFFECT US TODAY, by Cynthia Levinson and Sanford Levinson (Peachtree 2017).

IF THE SHOE FITS, by Mari Mancusi (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, Fall 2017).

IN A DARK LAND, by Christina Soontornvat (Sourcebooks 2017).

REVENGE OF THE HAPPY CAMPERS, by Jennifer Ziegler (Scholastic 2017).


Young Adult

THIS IS NOT THE END, by Chandler Baker (Disney-Hyperion, Aug. 2017).

WITCHTOWN, by Cory Putnam Oakes (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Oct. 2017).

THE SANDCASTLE EMPIRE, by Kayla Olson (HarperTeen 2017).

AVENGED, by Amy Tintera (HarperTeen May 2017).

They come and they go into our bookstores and libraries and out again without a whisper of awards or significant praise. Yet the true mark of whether or not you are opening up your child to the world is to show them books made internationally. Today we celebrate translations. Even the weird ones. I take that back. ESPECIALLY the weird ones!

The earliest American picture books had only one goal: To provide some form of moral instruction. These days books with clear messages are exceedingly common. The ones that do it well? Much rarer. Here are the 2018 titles that knew what they were doing this year.

Every year I try to keep an eye out for any children's book that gives ample attention to photographs in some way. Thanks to advances in technology and printing, it's never been easier to make books with photographic images. Yet despite this, few come out. Today's list is a small one, but I'm grateful that each and every single one of these books exists.

What one person might consider "odd" could easily be another's cup of tea. It's important, then, to clarify that I don't see "odd" as a bad thing at all. It's healthy for a kid to see a book written for their age level that's outside the norm and dares to get a little bit freaky.Here then, are the 2018 titles that dared to be strange in some way. May they inspire others in the future!

Poems used to be the sole property of April a.k.a. Poetry Month. Now that's changing. Publishers are rapidly putting more faith into the poetry books they produce. So let's take a look at what we saw this year, and the wide range of topics that were touched.

I think you've heard me say before that in many ways easy books are the most difficult titles to write. They are most perfect when they are most simple. And they are most simple, when they limit their text complexity. Can you make complex characters and plots with such small words? You can. These did.

Older than easy but not yet novels. The fact of the matter is that while Easy Books are hard to write, Early Chapter Books are hard to categorize. They're also ideal bedtime books for older children, which means that with the European imports you get a lot of experimentation. American early chapter books are pretty much just written to please. Here then are the books written with 6-9 year olds in mind.

The post How to Set up an Online Bookstore appeared first on DARCY PATTISON.

As an indie publisher, I rely on the POD (Print on Demand) printers. Many indies make most of their money from ebook sales. But for children’s books, the market has consistently been print-driven with only 10-25% of income from ebooks. That can vary widely, as some authors do very well on the Kindle Unlimited platform.

The post How to Set up an Online Bookstore appeared first on DARCY PATTISON.

Just read (and loved) a fun reimagining of the classic fairytale Goldilocks and the Three Bears: GOLDIBOOKS AND THE WEE BEAR, written by Troy Wilson and illustrated by Edwardian Taylor, published earlier this year by Running Press Kids.

Here is Troy Wilson's advice for young writers:

"My advice? Write badly. Badly, badly, badly. Include words and ideas that shouldn't be there. Leave out words and ideas that should be there. Put things in the wrong order. Have your protagonist act wildly out of character. Why? Because that is what your favorite author does.

"You don't see your favorite author's horrible first drafts. Or horrible second drafts. Or horrible third drafts. For that matter, you don't see their attempted books that never, ever turned out at all. (Some things are just dead ends, even for your favorite author.) No, you only see their final, super-duper-polished work, after they got lots and lots of great feedback.

"Everyone starts with bad writing. Every single writer, every single time - no matter how long they've been doing it. You can't avoid your own bad writing. You can't go around it or over it or under it. You have to go through it. Just get it onto the page or screen. You can always fix it later. Except if you let the bad writing - or the fear of bad writing - stop you from writing. Because you can't fix what isn't there."

Thanks, Troy! 

Related links:

Publisher page about Goldibooks and the Wee Bear

More about Troy Wilson at TroyStory.ca, Twitter and Facebook.

More about Edwardian Taylor at EdwardianTaylor.com, Twitter and Instagram.

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Find more advice for young writers and illustrators from children's book creators.

 

I’m designing a photographic history exhibit for a prestigious university. The project requires a series of panels that each depict a different decade, from the 1930s to the present.

Client: “You know, this is all great, but it could use a little more diversity. Right now, there are a lot of photos of all white men, and we don’t want to send the wrong message.”

Me: “Okay, that’s a reasonable request. I could pull some photos of your black student organizations and women’s center and add those to the panels showing the school’s more recent history.”

Client: “Actually, we’d love more diversity in the early panels too.”

Me: “What do you mean?”

Client: “Like this panel depicting the university in the 30s. All the photos are of white men!”

The school did not admit black students until the 1970s.

Categories: Blog Did you miss the last Kickstarter? Would you like a copy of the omnibus, or a copy of book 3 to keep your copies of books 1 and 2 from getting lonely? Now you can pick up a copy of either of those from my friends at Jarlidium Press! Decrypting Rita And with that, I […] (Read more...)

The new books capture all the storylines of the 2024 racing season in stunning photography, reporting and analysis
( Photos: 15, Comments: 15 )

We hear a lot about diversity and inclusion these days, often as it relates to books for young readers. Just as publishing for children and teens has evolved over the years, so has adults’ perception of youth and what is appropriate for them.

A new children's book transforms a sad, scared and anxious little boy into a superhero. The book is called "Cape," in honor of the bright-red cape the little boy wears and finds comfort in following the death of his father. "Cape" is Kevin Johnson's debut picture book, and it's vividly illustrated by artist Kitt Thomas.

Every year, educators worry about “summer slide,” the potential for learning loss when children are not in school. This issue is more pronounced among low-income families who don’t have access to summer camps or other enrichment activities. One way to battle summer slide is through reading for fun, which is associated with many academic and health benefits, including strengthening the brain, increasing ability to empathize, reducing stress and building vocabulary.

School districts are competing against each other for purchases of digital devices as remote learning expands to schools across the country.

A West Virginia official turns up the heat on financial disclosure for the state’s beleaguered schools, and ruffles feathers in the process.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has the pleasure to inform the Permanent Representatives of the launch of a series of Activity Books for young people. [...]

You can describe what a journalist does in any number of ways. One definition that’s as accurate as any is that a journalist is someone who liked having homework back when they were in school so much that they decided to keep doing homework for a career. That certainly describes the team here at Smithsonian magazine. We’re all big readers. So we thought that before our brief winter hiatus—a time when many of us are trying to think of gift ideas to please the empathetic, curious people in our lives—we’d poll the staff of Smithsonian on their favorite books they read this year. Because we’re primarily a history and science magazine, we tried to steer them toward nonfiction published in 2023, but as you’ll hear, we weren’t sticklers for either criterion. We thought it better to let you hear from our staff about the books they were most genuinely excited to share. You’ll recognize some of these voices if you’re an avid listener, but this episode also provides the chance to hear from some of the talented staffers we haven’t been able to feature on the show before now. Find prior episodes of our show here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/podcast/) . There’s More to That is a production of Smithsonian magazine and PRX Productions. From the magazine, our team is Chris Klimek, Debra Rosenberg and Brian Wolly. From PRX, our team is Jessica Miller, Adriana Rosas Rivera, Genevieve Sponsler, Rye Dorsey, and Edwin Ochoa. The Executive Producer of PRX Productions is Jocelyn Gonzales. Fact-checking by Stephanie Abramson. Episode artwork by Emily Lankiewicz. Music by APM Music.

Jeffersons respect for the enlightenment ideals of memory, reason and imagination shaped how he organized his library (Video: Molly Roberts). Read more at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/on-the-hunt-for-jeffersons-lost-books-38566672/

A new exhibition in New York City uses more than 200 texts and artifacts to contemplate Lincoln's rise to the nation's highest office

Some 250 volunteers transported more than 2,000 books

Comic books and graphic novels, popular in many language arts and social studies classes, are just now tiptoeing into the world of K-12 math.

Most districts have the technology to support the basic digital textbooks of today, but not the interactive, multimedia-rich ones of the future.

Team members in Buenos Aires see a hunger for God's Word in a children's home and start using Bible-story colouring booklets to teach the kids.

A long-term OM worker sells Bibles at a bookshop in the Arabian Peninsula and shares daily with people desperate for hope.

With schools facing the challenge of unfinished learning due to the pandemic, the Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) is providing access to online books to every K-12 student in the state. Students can use their school credentials to read required and recreational digital books in the OverDrive Education Sora student reading app. Students also now have seamless access to age-appropriate popular ebooks and audiobooks from the Delaware Libraries’ OverDrive digital collection.

As of Nov. 11, Chromebook deals are aplenty ahead of Black Friday 2024. Check out our top picks from Lenovo, Asus, Samsung, and others.

From Harlan Ellison to Haruki Murakami, via an intergalactic cooking competition, this month has plenty of science fictional treats on offer