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Virginia Hamilton and Molly Bang

Today we reveal the answers to the Children’s Author Trivia Volume 28.

58. This children’s author broke through a number of barriers in her career. She was the first African-American author to win the Newbery Medal, with M.C. Higgins the Great. She was the first children’s book author to receive a MacArthur Fellowship. She won many awards, including the Hans Christian Andersen Award. Do you know who she is?

Virginia Hamilton wrote over 40 award-winning books for children and young adults.

Although she passed away in 2002, Open Road Media is publishing several of her books as e-books, including Cousins, The House of Die’s Drear, Anthony Burns, Zeeley, Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush, M.C. Higgins the Great, and The Planet of Junior Brown. They supplied this lovely video about Virginia Hamilton’s inspiring career.

Note:  I do not have an affiliation with Open Road Media.

59. Our second illustrator and author also has had numerous awards, including Caldecott Honors. Her mother had studied medical illustration, but our subject didn’t take up illustration until after trying several other careers, including a degree in French and a reporting stint that ended when she was fired. She started illustrating folktales, and then later she branched out into writing her own stories. Recently this author has been writing science books, and in 2010 one of her children’s picture books won the AAAS/Subaru SB & F Prize for Excellence in Science Books. Any idea who this illustrator and author might be?

Molly Bang‘s Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life won the AAAS/Subaru SB & F Prize for Excellence in Science Books in 2010 (with Penny Chisholm).

More information about books by Molly Bang at Amazon’s author page.

 

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Three Books For Black History Month

This year there were three wonderful books to celebrate African American History Month on the Cybils nonfiction picture book shortlist.

Henry Aaron's Dream by Matt Travares (Candlewick Press)
Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Little Brown Kids), illustrated by Brian Pinkney.
Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald by Roxane Orgill (Candlewick Press)

Although all are about a piece of black history, the flavor of each is distinct.

Henry Aaron’s Dream is an uplifting history of a man who broke barriers with quiet hard work and unquestionable talent. The earthy real story is wonderfully done and Matt Tavares’ illustrations are simply luscious. His illustration of Henry Aaron reading the lineup to see that he was starting a baseball game for the Milwaukee Braves captures an incredibly emotional moment with delicious simplicity.

I like the layout, with a single column of text on each page. It is easy to read aloud to a group. The audience can see the illustrations clearly and you can find the text to read without having to search. Henry Aaron’s Dream is perfect for struggling readers, and the story appeals to all baseball fans, but particularly to boys.

I recently did a blog post about the amazing writing/illustrating pair of Andrea and Brian Pinkney. Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down is adds yet another high quality book to their bibliography. Although it is not a personal story of one individual, it does tell a piece of history that deserves to be remembered.

Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald by Roxane Orgill has a lot of educational potential, but it comes with a warning. Ella Fitzgerald’s early life was a difficult one. Her father wasn’t around, her mother passed away and Ella fell into the wrong sort of crowd. Some of the rough spots may make children uncomfortable. But you could do many fun tie-in activities with reading Skit-Skat:  Play some of Ella Fitzgerald’s music, learn some of the dances, explore the clothes of the time, delve into the history of the Depression, read about Ella Fitzgerald’s later life. Skit-Skat has a vibrant energy that could be a jumping off point to many discoveries. Ready, set, go.

Note: Henry Aaron’s Dream was provided by the publisher as part of the Cybils review process. The other books were available at my local library.

nonfictionmonday

Nonfiction Monday is a blogging celebration of nonfiction books for kids. We invite you to join us. For more information and a schedule, stop by the new Nonfiction Monday blog to see who is hosting each week.

This week’s post is at Three Turtles and Their Pet Librarian .

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Children’s Author Trivia Volume 28

How well do you know children’s literature? Can you name these author/illustrators?trivia-logo

58. This children’s author broke through a number of barriers in her career. She was the first African-American author to win the Newbery Medal, with M.C. Higgins the Great. She was the first children’s book author to receive a MacArthur Fellowship. She won many awards, including the Hans Christian Andersen Award. Do you know who she is?

59. Our second illustrator and author also has had numerous awards, including Caldecott Honors. Her mother had studied medical illustration, but our subject didn’t take up illustration until after trying several other careers, including a degree in French and a reporting stint that ended when she was fired. She started illustrating folktales, and then later she branched out into writing her own stories. Recently this author has been writing science books, and in 2010 one of her children’s picture books won AAAS/Subaru SB & F Prize for Excellence in Science Books. Any idea who this illustrator and author might be?

Edit: The answer is now posted.

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Pat Mora and James Ransome

Our trivia questions from last week featured two children’s authors/ illustrators from the 2010 National Book Festival.

56. Our first author finds time to write when she isn’t busy promoting literacy. Living in New Mexico, her books for children are often bilingual, with themes from the desert and the Southwest. Her grandparents came from Mexico during the early 1900’s and now she works to record the culture of the area. Any ideas who she might be?

Pat Mora is probably best known for her work in creating the literacy initiative El día de los niños/El día de los libros, Children’s Day/Book Day, which will be April 30, 2011.

She tells a bit about how she came to be a children’s author in this video. She reveals her first published books were poetry for adults. Her passion for multicultural books is evident.

A selection of Pat Mora’s books:

57. This illustrator has an incredible story to tell. Growing up in rural North Carolina, his school offered no art classes. He taught himself to draw using the few how-to-draw books he found in the school library and by watching television shows about art and artists. When he moved to New Jersey at the beginning of high school, he finally could take art courses. He went on to obtain a degree in illustration and has become an award-winning illustrator of children’s books. No wonder he is on the Children’s Book Council’s list of seventy-five authors and illustrators everyone should know.

The illustrator who had a passion for art as a child is James Ransome. James illustrates books with many authors, but especially with his wife, Lesa Cline Ransome. He is also an illustrator for the serialized book The Exquisite Corpse Adventure, available at Read.gov.

You can see a video of James Ransome at the National Book Festival.

Don’t forget to take a look at some of his wonderful illustrations. Many of these books would be great selections for Black History month.