Upcoming events in the area

Thought I'd throw these up... I think it would be great to share local events via our blog. You can either e-mail me or post your events yourself if you are a member of our bookclub.

February 20th - William Durbin - author of Broken Blade, El
Lector, Darkest Evening and Sampo Lake (and others - some
in the My America serics) will be at the Heritage library
in Lakeville on Wednesday, February 20 at 7:00 pm.

February 23rd - Hubbs Children’s Literature Conference (as
announced in the recent Kerlan Friends Newsletter):
The 16th Annual Hubbs Children’s Literature Conference will
take place Saturday, February 23, 2008, from 8:30am-3:00pm
at the University of St. Thomas O’Shaughnessy Educational
Center on the St. Paul Campus. The 2008 event features Jane
Yolen appearing with Adam Stemple, and Lisa Westberg Peters,
as well as breakout sessions focusing on children’s literacy
topics. To register & for complete program information, visit
http://www.stthomas.edu/education/events/hubbs/default.html.
or call (651)962-4983 for more information.

April 3 - Barbara Joosse (author of Mama, Do You Love Me?)
will discuss her newest book "Grandma Calls Me Beautiful"
at 4:45 at U of MN Libraries' Andersen Library on the West
Bank Campus. This event is open to the public.

May 2 - Extreme Censorship - Banned, Battered, and Burned
Books - Noon to 1:00 pm in Andersen Library. This is part
of the libraries First Friday series, but may be of
specific interest to our group. Speakers will include
Marie Harvat from Children's Literature Research
Collections (CLRC) on the banning of children's and young
adult literature of the 19th & 20th Centuries in the US
and special guest Dr. Heino Beckmann, the German Honorary
Consul, who will speak on Nazi censorship in the context
of modern Germany (sponsored by the Tretter Collection for
GLBT Studies). Event is open to the public.

May 10 is the Kerlan Award Ceremony & Kerlan Professional Day
with speaker Walter Dean Myers. The Kerlan Award is
"presented annually in recognition of singular attainments
in the creation of children's literature and in appreciation
for generous donation of unique resources to the Kerlan
Collection for the study of children's literature". Contact
The CLRC for more information at: clrc@umn.edu

June 24 - Chase Lecture - speaker poet Paul B. Janeczko will
give the lecture at 4:30 pm. More information to come on
CLRC's website:http://special.lib.umn.edu/clrc/

CUBA15 and AMERICAN BORN CHINESE

Our inadvertent theme this month seemed to be cultural identity struggles. Both of these books deal with main characters trying to find themselves among a split cultural identity.

While most everyone enjoyed CUBA 15 by Nancy Osa, there was a feeling that overall it lacked enough poignant moments that would lend itself for good discussion points regarding multiculturalism with younger readers. There were some feelings of frustration with the book, but we discussed whether this was intentional on the author's part wanting the reader to feel as frustrated as the main character, Violet Paz. We also discussed whether or not the author may have purposefully chosen to not focus on the real angst of the multi-cultural situations in the book and more on the actual coming of age of Violet. Was the author's intent to gloss over some of the racial and cultural situations or was she choosing to be "color blind" and not dwell on the possible tensions and issues? Again, final word on the book from the bookclub: Sweet, enjoyable, but not as poignant as expected.

AMERICAN BORN CHINESE by Gene Luen Yang seemed to capture and force people to think more about the struggle which many multicultural youth face whether American-born within a multicultural family or a new immigrant trying to understand a new culture. The three stories are intricately told through graphic novel. We felt this was an excellent way to tell these stories which are all inter-connected and deal with finding and accepting ones true self. This is a book that anyone can learn a lesson from and resonate with even if they are not specifically Chinese-American. We discussed this book's merit in receiving the 2007 Printz Award and felt that it has a broader resonance for readers than several of the others. Our thoughts: this is an intense, sometimes uncomfortable, but powerful and thought provoking book worthy of its award and honors.

ALA announces literary award winners...

The news is out!

"Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schiltz is 2008's Newbery Award winner.

"The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick is 2008's Caldecott Medal winner.

See all the honors and other award winners at American Library Associations website:
http://www.ala.org/ala/pressreleases2008/january2008/announce08.htm

We'll have to consider some of these for our 2008 reads!