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  • Jarrett J. Krosoczka Creates the Tenth ‘Lunch Lady’ Graphic Novel

    Knopf Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, will release the book on January 28, 2014. The story will feature Lunch Lady, Betty, and nine villains! …

  • This Week on Girls Scouts’ The Studio: Artist Michel Rodrigue

    “For drawing, I’d suggest that you study at a good art school that will give you sound basic skills. You should draw all the time and draw all sorts of …

  • Farrar, Straus and Giroux to Publish ‘Speak’ as a Graphic Novel

    “The novel centers on Melinda, a teen who retreats into isolation and silence after she is raped, finding solace only in her art. It was a National Book Award finalist …

  • Industry Q&A with Robin Smith, children’s book reviewer

    When you were a child or young adult, what book first opened your eyes to the diversity of the world?



    I think the first book I remember really opening my eyes was The Soul Brothers and Sister Lou. I have no idea how well it holds up over time.

    What is your favorite diverse book that you recently read?

    Since I am currently serving on a committee which looks at books from all over the globe, I have many books with diverse characters from all countries. I couldn't possible pick a "favorite," but a new book I think everyone should read is I Have the Right to Be a Child which is an illustrated book about UN Convention on the rights of the child. It is stunning.

    If you could participate in a story time with any children’s book author or illustrator (alive or dead) who would it be?

    I would love to have met and heard John Steptoe--I would love to hear him tell and talk about Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, one of my favorite books of all time.

    How do you introduce books featuring characters of color to parents and kids?

    I really don't do anything different when I share books with characters of color to children, to tell you the truth.
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  • Scholastic Announces Major Redesign of Iconic School Book Club Flyers

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Each Grade-Specific Flyer Offers Books with Varied Reading Levels Found in Each Grade to Help Pre-K to Middle School Students Find Just Right Books and Prepare to …

  • Talking to Teens

    Over the past few weeks, I got to spend time with a diverse group of teenagers from the Leave Out Violence organization and Writopia Lab, and in doing so I realized how little I interact with teenagers on a regular basis. Yet, my job and career revolve around making books for them. How can I possibly be making the best books for today’s teenagers when I don’t even know them?

    Well, this was my chance to get to know them and find out what they loved, hated, made them passionate, and totally turned them off about books. And what I learned really surprised me and made me re-think the way I imagine the readers for my books and YA novels in general.
     
    With both groups, I spread out a whole bunch of YA galleys to get their takes on covers. The galleys ranged from fantasy to historical to contemporary, from photographic to iconic to illustrated, from type driven to image driven. Almost unanimously, no one liked photographic faces on the cover – they all wanted to picture the characters in their own ways and didn’t want to be told right from the start what someone looked like. Fantasy fans told me our fantasy covers looked too much like everything else out there and didn’t tell them anything about what the story was actually about. Romance readers were put off by images of single girls in pretty dresses – again, this was something they’d seen too much already. They were put off by the New York Times bestseller headline because every book they see has that. If a book was trying too hard to appeal to a teen girl, they wanted nothing to do with it.

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  • Diversity in the News

    July 25th – August 2nd, 2013

    NEW AT CBC DIVERSITY THIS WEEK


    CBC DIVERSITY/COMMITTEE MEMBERS IN THE NEWS

    ON OUR RADAR
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  • Veronica Roth to Feature Two Narrators in ‘Allegiant’

    “So: why two POVs? Well, I tried repeatedly to write Allegiant in just Tris’s voice, but it didn’t work; her perspective, her way of seeing things, was a little too …

  • President Barack Obama Directs the Nation’s Attention to Early Childhood Education

    School Library Journal has compiled a list of awards and grants that recognize institutions who work towards building and sustaining early childhood education program. Libraries can turn to the following …

  • This Week on Girls Scouts’ The Studio: Karen Harrington

    “To be a writer is to be a professional observer. Writers are called to notice and put words to those things everyone sees but few can describe. So while everyone …

  • 5 YA Authors Collaborate on a “Traveling Story”

    The authors all adhered the rule of “NO brainstorming, outlining, or discussion of plot ahead of time. The first author writes the first episode of ANY kind of story they …

  • The Central Arkansas Library System Dedicates Children’s Library to Hillary Rodham Clinton

    The former Secretary of State appeared at the dedication ceremony and read Eric Carle’s beloved picture book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Her husband, President Bill Clinton, also attended this event. …

  • Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products & Papercutz Take Fans of the Animated Comedy ‘Rio’ on a New Adventure with Launch of Graphic Novel Series

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Available March 2014, New Ongoing Novel Series Leads to the Highly Anticipated Theatrical Release of Rio 2. San Diego, CA – July 21, 2013 — Papercutz, the …

  • Macy’s Be Book Smart Campaign Gives 10 Millionth Book

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Ten-Year Partnership Has Raised Nearly $30 Million for Reading Is Fundamental and Kids in Need. WASHINGTON – (July 25, 2013) Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) and Macy’s Be …

  • This Week on Girls Scouts’ The Studio: Michelle Nelson-Schmidt

    “I write and illustrate books for kids. Wow! This is my life! I travel to schools all over the United States reading them my books, talking about my journey, and …

  • Guten Tag! My trip with the German Book Office.

    Riky Stock holding a 
    very special German cheese.
    Back in April, Riky Stock, director of the German Book Office in New York reached out to me with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—to join a group of children’s book editors on a trip to Frankfurt and Hamburg to meet with German publishers and agents.  The German Book Office hosts this annual trip for editors to experience the wonders of beer, brats, and books in hopes of building a bridge between our two countries, for both American books that could succeed in Germany and vice versa.

    My fellow editors for this year’s trip included Stacey Barney from Putnam/Penguin (and one of the founders of CBC Diversity!), Sheila Barry from Groundwood Books in Canada, Grace Maccarone from Holiday House, Ben Rosenthal from Enslow, and Reka Simonsen from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Our group had a great vibe, and by the end of the trip, we had our fair share of inside jokes and insightful discussion about books and, in particular, why foreign translations are so difficult for the North American market.
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  • Disney Develops New Mo Willems Game App

    Users will encounter characters from the Mo Willems’ picture book worlds while exploring this app. This app has games and activities for dancing, drawing, taking photos, designing monsters, and driving …

  • ESPN Personality & Award-Winning Author Howard Bryant to Publish Non-Fiction Children’s Book Sport Series with Penguin Young Readers Group

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York, NY – July 22, 2013 – Howard Bryant, senior writer, ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine, and sports correspondent for National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition, will publish three …

  • Beth Revis Contributes a Recipe for a Cookbook

    “The recipes in this cookbook cover everything from snacks to main courses, and they show a wide variety of skills, ingredients, and more. My recipe is what I call ‘healthy …

  • The Aftermath of Maureen Johnson’s Coverflip Challenge

    “Coverflip’s ultimate goal is to show that books have no gender. Let’s stop pre-determining what’s for boys and what’s for girls. And it aims to do this by playing around …

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