by Karen Hildebrand 

The African Studies Association recently announced the winner of their 2011 Children’s Africana Book Awards (CABA).

The awards are given to outstanding K-12 books on Africa published in the United States. The awards are designed to encourage the publication of accurate, balanced children’s materials on Africa, to recognize literary excellence, and to acknowledge the research achievements of outstanding authors and illustrators. 

The Best Book for 2011 is Seeds of Change: Planting a Path to Peace by Jen Johnson with glorious illustration by Sonia Lynn Sadler. It was also named to the IRA’s Notable Books for a Global Society list.   Both the author and illustrator will attend the African Studies Association meeting in Washington on November 18 where they will join in the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Children’s Africana Book Awards at the National Museum of African Art downtown on the Mall. Johnson and Sadler will also participate in the Teachers Workshop at the ASA meeting hotel on November 19 and present Seeds of Change with a middle school environmental studies lesson plan at the Young Readers Center at the Library of Congress. 

The 2011 Honor Book, S is for South Africa by renowned South African author, Beverly Naidoo and photographer Prodeepta Das, also fills an important niche in outreach programs for elementary schools.   It documents the tremendous amount of positive change that has taken place in South Africa since the end of Apartheid. With remarkable economy, its pithy text accompanied by remarkable photographs of school children and market women convey an enormous amount of information about South African society and economy today.  Naidoo, a multiple CABA honoree, will send a video message to the CABA ceremony which, like her video for the 2010 award, will be posted at the African Access website.

Corus Entertainment’s Kids Can Press has announced an initiative designed to inform children about the world and to help the children in one devastated part of it—Haiti. Kids Can Press will donate 50% of its profits from the sales in North America of This Child, Every Child: A Book About the World’s Children to ONEXONE, a nonprofit foundation committed to improving the lives of children.The donation will be used to deliver books to children in Haiti and will be distributed in a variety of ways, including donations to libraries at two new schools: L’École Nouvelle Zoranje and L’École Nouvelle Royal Caribbean.

This Child, Every Child, shows kids what life is really like for children across the globe. Using the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as a template to compare and contrast kid’s experiences and opportunities, author David J. Smith introduces young readers to the world beyond their own borders and reveals the challenges children face in obtaining adequate food, clean water, health care, education, and more. Smith, a leader in international education and author of the bestselling book If the World Were a Village, felt compelled to share with young readers the dramatic and sobering facts about children around the world. “These issues are not light or easy, but they affect millions of children,” says Smith.

“David’s books are emblematic of what we’re committed to do with the CitizenKid collection in terms of providing a foundation for children and families to learn about the world, explains Lisa Lyons, president of Kids Can Press. In addition to donating part of the profits from the sale of This Child, Every Child, Corus Entertainment's flagship kids network YTV will be supporting the initiative in Canada by donating advertising time on-air as well as online at YTV.com.

To learn more about the partners in this project, visit the websites of Kids Can Press, Corus Entertainment Inc., and ONEXONE.

After years of lurking on the fringes of mainstream literature and seeking acceptance from a broader audience than teenagers and die-hard fans and collectors, graphic novels finally seem to have gained general approval. The popularity of the illustrated books has soared, with comic and book stores and even libraries devoting large amounts of shelf space to them. To learn more, read the full article by Adam Tedder in the News section of The Courier-News.

 

 

British author Brian Jacques, creator of the popular Redwall series, died in Liverpool on February 5 of a heart attack. The 21-book series has sold an estimated 20 million copies worldwide. Listen to a piece about Jacques on NPR.