Interviews & Profiles

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Session Spotlight: Confronting Difficult Life Events through Story III

 

Young people understand more than we give them credit for. Reading books about difficult topics allows them to think about strife in their lives before they have to face it.— Jewell Parker Rhodes

Today’s blog concludes a discussion by authors Ruta Sepetys, Jim Deem, and Jewell Parker Rhodes at the 2012 Tucson Festival of Books in March entitled “Confronting Difficult Life Events through Story.” In this section, the authors examine their feelings as they worked on books that contained difficult material, and what they are working on next.
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Session Spotlight: Confronting Difficult Life Events through Story II

by Ann Parker, Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona

 

I realized that the lowlands were always given to the poor, so naturally the Ninth Ward would flood.

“I’ll tell you what happened to me, but you have to promise never to use my name.”

. . . Kristallnacht was a blink in time . . .

Today’s blog continues the discussion between authors Ruta Sepetys, Jim Deem, and Jewell Parker Rhodes at the 2012 Tucson Festival of Books in March entitled “Confronting Difficult Life Events through Story.”
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Session Spotlight: Confronting Difficult Life Events through Story

by Ann Parker, Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona

Book cover for Between Shades of GrayToday’s blog begins a discussion by authors Ruta Sepetys, Jim Deem, and Jewell Parker Rhodes at the 2012 Tucson Festival of Books in March entitled “Confronting Difficult Life Events through Story.” The discussion will continue in the next two blogs. All three authors have published books, both fiction and non-fiction, that deal with terrible historical events and the resiliency of people to endure in the most horrific of circumstances.
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Session Spotlight: Monica Brown

by Ann Parker, Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona

Waiting for the Biliburro, Esperanto el Biblioburro

” . . . the story also spoke to her because it contained the themes of finding your voice, of imagination and determination, of social justice and what we can do to spread literacy . . .“

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Session Spotlight: Karen Lynn Williams

by Ann Parker, Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona

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Books can be very powerful, and be careful what you give your children to read!

Karen Lynn Williams

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I attended a presentation at the 2012 Tucson Festival of Books entitled “Picture Books as Global Passports” with authors Karen Lynn Williams and Monica Brown in March. Karen Lynn Williams has published 14 children’s books, many of them about children in other countries, including Africa, Haiti, and Pakistan.
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What Makes Small Presses Successful

by Ann Parker, Pima Community College, Tucson, AZ

As we have seen, all of these small book publishing companies are managing to survive in the midst of the large conglomerate companies that have lots of resources at their disposal to publish and market their books. All of these smaller companies specialize in publishing children’s books from outside the predominant cultural perspective in the US, including books highlighting African American, Asian American, Latino, Native American, and international communities. Generally, as is the case with Children’s Book Press, Just Us Books, and Lee and Low Books, these companies were originally founded to meet a need in the community, namely, the need for books that reflected the experiences of children from multiracial and multiethnic backgrounds, but that were so well written that all children could enjoy them.
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A Conversation with Just Us Books

by Ann Parker, Pima Community College, Tucson, AZ

Last week, we published an interview with Dana Goldberg of Children’s Book Press. He shared his beliefs and strategies for operating a successful small, independent press publishing multicultural and bilingual literature for children. This week, we present an interview with Wade Hudson, Publisher and CEO of Just Us Books.
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A Conversation with Children’s Book Press

by Ann Parker, Pima Community College, Tucson, AZ

Last week, we heard from Jason Low from Lee and Low Books, a company that focuses on writers and illustrators of color. This week, we present an interview with Dana Goldberg, Executive Editor of Children’s Book Press.
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A Conversation with Lee and Low Books

by Ann Parker, Pima Community College, Tucson, AZ

Last week, I shared an interview with Heather Lennon from North/South Books, a company that finds outstanding books from around the world and translates them into English for children in the United States. This week, we hear from Jason Low, Publisher at Lee and Low Books.

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A Conversation with NorthSouth Books

by Ann Parker, Pima Community College, Tucson, AZ

For the month of January I will be exploring several independent book publishing companies that publish multicultural and even bilingual children’s books in the U.S. and that have received national attention for the quality of their books. These companies have not only avoided being bought out by a large conglomerate, they have even been able to successfully compete with some of these larger publishing companies in publishing quality children’s books that sell well. As I discussed in an earlier blog, it is often easier for these independent companies to publish books for “niche” markets such as books from within specific cultural viewpoints, mainly African-American, Asian-American, Native American, and Hispanic. The four companies featured this month are NorthSouth Books, Children’s Book Press, Lee and Low Books, and Just Us Books.
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