the white ravens 2012

We are so pleased to announce that The Wild Swans by Hans Christian Andersen and Thomas Aquinas Maguire is one of the titles for The White Ravens 2012, an annual selection of outstanding international books for children and young adults, which is presented at the Bologna Children's Book Fair. The books for this year's exhibition, 250 titles from more than 40 countries, have been selected from the thousands of books that our library received as review copies from publishers, authors, illustrators, and organisations from all over the world within the last year.

The Festival is named for the “White Ravens” of the International Youth Library, which in specialists’ circles stand for extraordinary and innovative books for children and adolescents. The Library publishes an annual international book review catalogue titled “White Ravens”. The “White Ravens” selected for inclusion in the catalogue all inspire and provoke, set new trends, and are of the highest quality in terms of language, content, and artistry.

More here.

Huffington Post - 11 writing tips

So wonderful--Huffington Post has a slideshow of 11 classic children's book titles and how their stories can help us be better writers.
It begins with The Little Engine that Could:
"'The Little Engine That Could' is one of the best examples of the power of positive thinking. Even when all the other bigger trains tell him he can't make it up the mountain pulling all that weight, the Little Engine succeeds because he is just as fueled by determination and optimism as he is by coal. Although it's an obvious choice for this list, The Little Engine's affirmation is too important not to be included."
(The list of 11 books includes, "Everyone Poops", "Alexander and the No Good, Very Bad Day" and "The Velveteen Rabbit".)

Yay!

We are so honored that this year two Simply Read titles have been chosen as finalists for the 2012 Christie Harris Illustrated Children's Literature Prize, BC Book Prizes!

Pussycat, Pussycat, Where Have You Been? by Dan Bar-el and illustrated by Rae Mate


When I Was Small by Sara O'Leary and illustrated by Julie Morstad

Check out all the Finalists here! Congratulations to all!

book art

Truly amazing book art by Brian Dettmer. But it's sort of creepy that it is being carved from surgical tools! More here. Thanks to Betsy Bird at Fuse #8 for the link.