CLCSC GALA AWARDS CEREMONY 2024

At the Luminarias Restaurant for the CLCSC Fall Gala.

A week ago I attended the gala awards ceremony of the Children’s Literature Council of Southern California, held at Luminarias Restaurant in Monterey Park in East Los Angeles. Many members of our Book Chat Thursday group were there helping to celebrate excellence in children's literature. 

Book Chat Thursday group: Ann Whitford Paul, Linda Guthrie, Dana Middleton, Colleen Paeff , Caroline Arnold

The event began with a delicious breakfast buffet and fund raising auction followed by the presentation of awards. Poet Mason Granger was an excellent Master of Ceremonies for the program. Awards were presented to Marla Frazee for In Every Life; Sally J. Pla for The Fire, The Water, and Maudie McGinn; Tracy Badua for The Takeout; Abdi Nazemian for Only This Beautiful Moment; Dan Santat for a Distinguished Body of Work; to Stephanie Moran and Muammar Reed of MiJa Books for Distinguished Service in the Field of Children’s Literature; and to Olivia Bates who received the Caroline Gill Award for Exceptional Volunteer Service. After short introductions by members of the award committee, each of the winners gave engaging talks as they accepted the award. The morning ended with a book signing by the winners of the awards.

Book Signing. Dan Santat, Marla Frazee and other awardees.

I attend this event almost every year and enjoy the opportunity to see teachers and librarians and meet with other authors. I am always impressed by the talent and breadth of the children’s literature community in Southern California.

Colleen, Dana and Me

Many thanks to Dana Middleton for the photos.. 

2023 CLCSC AWARDS CEREMONY: Celebrating Books and Reading for Children

Book signing at the CLCSC Award Ceremony

On Saturday, October 21, 2023, the Children’s Literature Council of Southern California (CLCSC) held their annual awards ceremony at the Luminarias restaurant in Monterey Park, California. Winners this year included Marie Arnold (no relation), Joe Cepeda, Nikki High, Rex Ogle, and Benson Shum, honored for their contributions to the Kid Lit community.

After eating a delicious brunch, each of the honorees gave a five-minute talk telling about themselves and their books. Then, all of the authors and illustrators signed books (available for purchase at the event from Once Upon a Time Books.) 

With past awardees and our plaques.

As a past winner (2020) during the pandemic, when the ceremony was held online, I and other past winners were invited as special guests to be available to sign our books in person and to have our photos taken with our winners plaques. Attendees at the event also had a chance to bid on baskets of books at a silent auction.

It was a pleasure to be back in person at this annual event and to reconnect with the librarians and teachers who are members of CLCSC. I was also glad to have the chance to chat with the other authors who were there. With many thanks to everyone on the CLCSC board and award committee for a very enjoyable morning and for continuing to be champions of books and reading for today’s children. 

CLCSC AWARDS PROGRAM: Honoring Southern California Authors and Illustrators

On Saturday, November 12, 2022, I was happy to attend the annual awards celebration of the Children's Literature Council of Southern California, held in person for the first time since the pandemic. In 2020, I was honored to receive the nonfiction award for my book Butterflies in Room 6, but at that time the ceremony was held online and interaction was limited to my computer screen. It was wonderful to be able hear this year's recipients tell about their books in person, and to listen to the keynote speech by Dr. Claudette McLinn and Michael McLinn of the Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature (CSMCL.) 

The event was held in the social hall of Throop Church in Pasadena. While we listened to the speakers we sipped tea and coffee and dined on delicious sandwiches and desserts. Before and afterward everyone had a chance to chat and catch up on the news of the last two years! Many thanks to all the people at CLCSC for making the event possible.

 

Here is a list of the 2022 award winners:

Distinguished Work of Juvenile Non-Fiction
Cougar Crossing by Meeg Pincus, Illustrated by Alexander Vidal

Outstanding Picture Book Reflective of World Events
Outside, Inside by LeUyen Pham

Outstanding Contribution to Juvenile Fiction
Real by Carol Cujec and Peyton Goddard

Stellar Work of Fiction for Young Adults
The Girl from the Sea by Molly Ostertag

Dorothy C. McKenzie Award
for Distinguished Service to the Field of Children's Literature
Keren Taylor from WriteGirl

ACCESS BOOKS: Creating School Libraries

Last Saturday I volunteered, along with dozens of other literacy enthusiasts--many of them high school students--to sort books, label them, and prepare them for a new library at Compton Early College High School in Southern California. The day was organized by Access Books, whose mission is to “provide quality books to public school and community libraries where the majority of students live at or below the poverty line.” Since 1999, with the help of volunteers, they have refurbished over 300 libraries and donated more than 1.7 million books. They also collaborate with partners to host fun, literacy experiences for families in communities throughout Los Angeles. In addition to providing books, volunteers create and paint wonderful murals inside and outside the libraries. In Compton I watched them painting a huge Phoenix rising on one of the school walls, books soaring into the sky on another and colorful flowers next to the library door.
I was so impressed by the quality of the books we processed, the enthusiasm of the volunteers, the incredible art, and the amazing transformation of an empty room into a school library. The dedicated Access Books team is led by Becky Constantino, Founder and Director.
I first heard of Access Books when we both received awards from the Children's Literature Council of Southern California in the fall of 2020. Access Books was commended for its service to the community. I am glad that I was able to participate last Saturday in one of their projects.
For more information about Access Books go to their website https://www.accessbooks.net/our-mission.html. They are always looking for more volunteers and donations!

OGE MORA: Keynote Speaker at the CLCSC 2021 Virtual Fall Gala

Oge Mora, Caldecott Winner for Thank You Omu

In an ordinary year, the Children’s Literature Council of Southern California would be celebrating children’s books at their annual Fall Gala, with delicious food, a keynote speaker, and awards to authors, illustrators, and people with distinguished service in the field of children’s literature. But this year, as in the fall of 2020, the Fall Gala was virtual, and was held on Saturday, November 13. While not as much fun as being there in person, it was a pleasure to attend virtually.

The featured speaker was children’s book author/illustrator Oge Mora (pronounced oh-gay), who gave an inspirational talk about the collage technique she uses to illustrate her books. Using examples from her Caldecott winning book Thank You Omu and other titles, she showed how she gets her ideas, selects her papers--sometimes creating them herself--and the secret of the tiny bits of paper that may look like scraps but can turn out to be the key to an illustration. Here are a few samples of slides she used in her talk.

 

After Oge Mora’s presentation, this year’s honorees of the CLCSC awards were announced: Masha D’yans, Cindi M. Alvitre and Carly Lake, Keith Calabrese, Ernesto Cisneros, Jordan Ifueko and Alana Weisberg. Carly Lake and Jordan Ifueko could not attend, but each of the others gave a thoughtful and gracious acceptance speech. The final part of the program was a panel discussion with Oge Mora and the award winners. 

Panel Discussion: Alethea Allarey, Moderator; Oge Mora, Keith Calabrese, Alana Weisberg, Ernesto Cisneros

Congratulations to the winners, and to the 2021 Fall Gala Committee and Awards Committee for a terrific program. Many thanks to CLCSC President Jennifer Driscoll for chairing the event.

Jennifer Driscoll, CLCSC President

For more about the program and winners please go to the CLCSC website: www.childrensliteraturecouncil.org .

CLCSC Virtual Fall Gala and Award Ceremony: Nonfiction Award for Butterflies in Room 6

Caroline with CLCSC Award for a Notable Work of Non-Fiction for Butterflies in Room 6

Yesterday, November 7, 2020, the Children's Literature Council of Southern California held their Fall Gala and celebrated this year's children's literature awardees at a virtual ceremony. I am proud to have received the award for a Notable Work of Juvenile Non-Fiction for my book Butterflies in Room 6. Other award winners this year are Laura Taylor Namey, Margaret Dilloway, Roseanne Greenfield Thong, Rebecca Constantino. Following an inspiring keynote address by author Deborah Heiligman, the award winners was introduced, and then we each gave a short acceptance speech. My award was presented with a lovely introduction by Annalisa Engh. Here are my remarks:

It is indeed an honor to be receiving this year's nonfiction award for my book Butterflies in Room 6. Thank you. 

I have been writing books for a long time, and pleased that a number of them have been honored by Children’s Literature Council in the past. For this book, Butterflies in Room 6, it is the first time as both author and photographer. A challenge in taking photographs of children and animals is that neither stay still for long! For many years I worked on books with photographer Richard Hewett, now passed away. I learned a lot about photography from him—a key being patient and willing to take LOTS of photos to get just the right one. I have also learned from my husband Art, my in-house tech guru, who is an excellent photographer and who helped me with the close-up pictures in this book

The idea for Butterflies in Room 6 began with an author visit several years ago at Haynes School in Los Angeles where I met Jennifer Best, a kindergarten teacher, who told me how she hatches eggs every year with her students as they learn about life cycles. The following spring, I embedded myself in her classroom, which enabled me to follow the process and get the photos I needed for my book Hatching Chicks in Room 6. At the time, I noticed that the children were also raising Painted Lady butterflies--watching the caterpillars grow in a jar, turn into chrysalises, and, after a week or so, emerge as beautiful butterflies. It seemed like the perfect sequel to Hatching Chicks. So, two years later, I was back in Room 6, learning about caterpillars and butterflies.

But this time, I wanted to do the project myself at home first so I could anticipate the pictures I would need and get some practice taking pictures of butterflies.  Most people who raise butterflies start with caterpillars. But I wanted my book to show the whole butterfly life-cycle, from egg to adult. So, I ordered Painted Lady butterfly eggs from a scientific supply house. The tiny blue eggs, no bigger than a grain of salt, came in a small vial. A note with the package said there were 35 eggs, with a few extra, in case some didn’t hatch. In fact, there were 100 eggs in the vial and every single one of them hatched! I soon had 100 very hungry caterpillars in containers all over my house! I had also ordered special caterpillar food to feed them, and within a few weeks, I had 100 beautiful butterflies.

Mrs. Best also ordered butterfly eggs, and I followed the students in Room 6 as they raised their butterflies, documenting the children’s excitement at each step of the process—looking through magnifying glasses, watching the caterpillars grow, and letting the butterflies rest on their hands for a moment before thy flapped their wings and flew away into the neighborhood. 

I couldn’t have written Butterflies in Room 6 without the help of Jennifer Best and her kindergarten students. I thank them for welcoming me into their classroom and for sharing the wonder of metamorphosis with me. I am also grateful to the children’s parents and the school principal, Barbara Meade, for their enthusiastic support. And I thank everyone at Charlesbridge Publishing, especially my wonderful editor Alyssa Pusey, who contributed to making this such a special book.

I want to express my gratitude to the Children’s Literature Council for choosing Butterflies in Room 6 for this very special honor today, especially Charmetria Marshall and everyone on the award committee.  And to President Jennifer Driscoll and all the people who worked so hard to make the arrangements for this special virtual celebration—Thank You!  

And here is my beautiful plaque!

 

CLCSC AWARD FOR NONFICTION: Butterflies in Room 6

I am so pleased to learn that my book Butterflies in Room 6: See How They Grow will be receiving the nonfiction award from the Children's Literature Council of Southern California (CLCSC) for books published in 2019. The annual Fall Awards Gala will be held virtually this year on November 7th. 
The chair of the Awards committee, Charmetria Marshall, wrote: We want to thank you for such an exploratory and fun book that highlighted the joy of a real class of children learning science first-hand. The committee found that the vivid images greatly enhanced the reading. 
Thank YOU Charmetria, and all the members of the Awards Committee!

The Children's Literature Council is a non-profit organization established in 1961 to promote greater interest in literature for children and young people, and to encourage excellence in the field. The awards are presented annually at the Fall Gala to celebrate and recognize the outstanding work of Southern California authors and illustrators. Other award winners this year are Laura Taylor Namey, Margaret Dilloway, Roseanne Greenfield Thong, and Rebecca Constantino. The keynote speaker at the Gala will be Deborah Heiligman.

Fall Gala of the CLCSC featuring Steve Sheinkin, Los Angeles, CA

A week ago I attended the annual celebration of children's book authors and illustrators by the Children's Literature Council of Southern Calfornia, held this year at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles. As always it was a wonderful time see friends and to reconnect with teachers and librarians. After a delicious breakfast we proceeded to the auditorium to hear award winning author Steve Sheinkin give an inspiring keynote address followed by the presentation of awards.  This year's honorees are Jennifer Holm, Outstanding Work of Fiction, K.G. Campbell, Outstanding Picture Book, Nikki Grimes, Myra Cohn Livingston Award for Poetry, Nicola Yoon, Peggy Miller Award for Young Adult Literature, and Alyson Beecher and Alethea Allarey, Dorothy C. McKenzie Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Field of Children's Literature.
Thanks to the Fall Gala Committee and the Awards Committee for an excellent job!

At breakfast with LAPL librarian Marcia Melkonian

Kristin Fontichiaro and Roger Sutton at the CLC Spring Workshop in South Pasadena

Last Saturday I went to hear Kristin Fontichiaro, Clinical Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the School Library Media Program at the University of Michigan School of Information, and Roger Sutton, Editor in Chief of The Horn Book Magazine, talk about the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and how they are going to affect school and public libraries--and already are.  This was the spring workshop of the Children's Literature Council of Southern California, held in the wonderful, spacious library at the South Pasadena Middle School.

Kristin's lively talk, peppered with "I'm going to Italy!" in anticipation of her participation in an international conference on this subject in Rome, focused on the features of Common Core and some of the practical and political issues surrounding its implementation.  She discussed 10 things you (meaning librarians) can do to support the folks implementing CCSS and their students. The slides for her talk are on the web and you can see them here.  Roger focused on how the CCSS are going to impact the publishing of books for children.  The emphasis in Common Core is on nonfiction and developing skills for close reading of nonfiction texts--which may mean an increase in the number of nonfiction books being published.  Good nonfiction, he said, has a point of view and is scrupulously researched.  For nonfiction authors like me, it sounds like nothing has changed--we still must write the very best books we can!

BOOK CHAT THURSDAY: Authors, Illustrators, Teachers and Librarians Discuss Books

Once a month, usually on a Thursday evening, I join a group of writers, illustrators, teachers and librarians that meets in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles to discuss children's books. Usually we talk about one picture book and one middle grade or YA novel.  This past month we discussed Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein and Noah Webster and His Words by Jeri Ferris. After the meeting, Sandy Schuckett, a retired LAUSD librarian, summarizes our discussion. We have recently launched a blog called Book Chat Thursday with Sandy's reports of our thoughts about the books we have read.  (The posts are backdated for the last several years so you can see all the books we've read since 2007.) We'd love to have your comments too!
Our group enjoys eating as much as reading and our meetings always include a variety of delicious snacks.  A separate page on the blog lists some of the recipes we have enjoyed.  As time goes on, we will be adding more.
We have been meeting since 2007. The group was organized under the auspices of the Children's Literature Council of Southern California

CLC Fall Gala and Book Award

I was pleased to learn that my books, A Bald Eagle’s World, A Moose’s World, A Polar Bear’s World, and A Walrus’ World (from the Caroline Arnold’s Animals series published by PictureWindow Books) have been awarded The Best Written and Illustrated Suite of Nonfiction for Children by the Children’s Literature Council of Southern California.  I will receive the award at the CLC Gala, Saturday, November 5^th.  The featured speaker at the luncheon was supposed to be Australian author, Mem Fox, author of Possum Magic and many other best-selling books but she has had to cancel.  Instead, the keynote speaker will be two-time Newbery winner, Lois Lowry.  I have heard her speak before and she is always outstanding.  The CLC (formerly known as SCCLCYP—Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People) is a non-profit organization that promotes greater interest in literature for children and young people and encourages excellence in the production and selection of books in that field. It will be celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year! The annual fall Gala honors southern California children’s book authors and illustrators.  Hope to see you there! 

The Gala will be from 12:30 to 4:00 pm, on Saturday, November 5^th at the Romanesque Room, 50 East Green Street, Pasadena, CA 91105.  Go to the CLC website for information and to make reservations.