Children’s Book Week

May 12-18 is the 95th anniversary of Children’s Book Week, the annual celebration of children’s literature and the love of reading. This year’s host is Kate di Camillo, National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. LeVar Burton, actor, producer, director, and host of Reading Rainbow, is this year’s Impact Award Recipient.

This is the only children’s book award that is voted on by the readers, and not selected by committee. There are several categories including K-2 Book of the Year, 3-4 Grade Book of the Year, 5-6 Grade Book of the Year, Teen Book of the Year, Illustrator of the Year, and Author of the Year. Voting is open until May 12.  You can go to the site below to vote.

http://www.bookweekonline.com/toolkit

Picture book (K-2) nominations for Book of the Year, 2014 

Alphabet Trucks

Bear and Bee

Chamelia and the New Kid in Class

The Day the Crayons Quit

Mustache Baby

Read more about Children’s Book Week at their website.

http://www.bookweekonline.com/about

The Day the Crayons Quit

Drew Daywalt gives the reader a unique perspective on crayons in his debut picture book, The Day the Crayons Quit. Each crayon has its own voice, and uses it to express his or her own feelings in its own color.  One day Duncan opens his crayon box and instead of crayons, he finds letters written to him by each crayon.  The crayons are fed up with traditional color stereotypes.  Why do apples have to be red, and water blue? Is the sun yellow or orange? Pink is upset that Duncan doesn’t use her at all because he thinks she’s a girl’s color. And what about the almost invisible white and poor naked beige? They all have feelings and they’re all tired of being taken for granted. By the end of the story, Duncan decides to rethink the color possibilities and draws an orange whale and a blue dinosaur in a green sea,  a purple dragon under a black rainbow, a green monkey and a pink airplane, just to name a few.  His teacher gives him an A+ for creativity.

I give Drew Daywalt an A+ for his debut picture book!  In addition to being fun, it also has deeper layers of stereotypes, prejudices, and personality for the more sophisticated reader to explore.

And, of course it never hurts to have an awesome illustrator like the renown Oliver Jeffers bringing your words to life. Based on the sales so far, The Day the Crayons Quit has become an instant success and destined to be a classic picture book.

To see a video of The Day the Crayons Quit, go here.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDBTwtEuY24

To read about Crayola Crayon Day go here.

http://julianaleewriter.com//?s=crayola+crayon+day&search=Go

Picture Book Hybrids

Jeopardy had a category tonight of hybrid musical groups.  That got me thinking of creating my own list of hybrid picture books.  Combine two picture books with one or more of the same words in the titles to create one new title.  Example:  The Napping House and The House on Pooh Corner  (which I realize isn’t considered a picture book on it’s own, but it’s my favorite children’s book)…

The Napping House on Pooh Corner

Pretty easy, huh?  And fun too!

  Here is what I’ve come up with so far.  Add your own in the comments!

The Ugly Duckling Gets a Cookie!?

Harold and The Day the Purple Crayon Quit

The Pigeon Wants a Poky Little Puppy

The Very Grouchy Ladybug Girl

Miss Spider’s Tea Party Rules

The Gingerbread Boy + Bot

The Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck, Duck, Moose!

This is Not My Cat in the Hat

Z is for This Moose Belongs to Me

Mr. Tiger Goes Where the Wild Things Are

A Troop is a Group of Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

Goodnight Owl Moon

The Butter Battle Bunny Book

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Snowy Day