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"Open a Door... Open a Book...
Open your Mind... to the World."
Celebration of International Children's LiteratureNovember 18, 2006
International Children's LiteratureAbove: Yona Zeldis McDonough and the students of Patrick Marsh Middle
School in Sun Prairie, WI (pictures by Sandra Kowalczyk).Click on the thumbnails for a full view.
Below:Yangsook Choi and students at the Governor's Mansion
(pictures by Hope Rennie).
can take them anywhere. Includes interview segments with Yangsook.
Yangsook Choi grew up in Korea and moved to New York to study art. She was selected as one of the most prominent new children's book artists of 1997 by Publishers Weekly.
She has written and illustrated many children's books. Her books have received several awards, including the International Reading Association's Children's Book Award, a California Young Reader Medal and the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award. Yangsook Choi's visit is made possible with support from the Northeast Asia Council (NEAC) of the Association for Asian Studies.
For more information about the author, go to http://yangsookchoi.com/
Book list:
Fiction:
- The Name Jar - 1st ed. New York: Knopf, 2001.
After Unhei moves from Korea to the United States, her new classmates help her decide what her name should be. Korean Americans
- New Cat. - 1st ed. New York: Frances Foster Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999.
Shortly after coming to America, Mr. Kim, owner of a tofu factory in the Bronx, gets a fluffy silver cat that makes her home in his factory and one night saves it from burning down.
Nonfiction:
- The Sun Girl and the Moon Boy - Retold and illustrated by Yangsook Choi. 1st ed. New York: A.A. Knopf; distributed by Random House, 1997.
A hungry tiger tries to trick a brother and sister into opening their door by pretending to be their absent mother. Folklore -- Korea.
Books Illustrated by Choi:- Rice Is Life. Gelman, Rita Golden 1st ed. New York: Henry Holt, 2000.
Nonfiction. Text and illustrations demonstrate the importance of rice to life on the island of Bali in the country of Indonesia, where rice is consumed for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
- Basket Weaver and Catches Many Mice.Gill, Janet. 1st ed. New York: Knopf; distributed by Random House, 1999. A little grey cat saves the day when Basket Weaver is ordered into a competition to make the perfect basket for the emperor's newborn daughter.
- Earthquake. Lee, Milly.1st ed. New York: Frances Foster, 2001.
A young Chinese-American girl and her family move their belongings from their home in Chinatown to the safety of Golden Gate Park during the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.
- Nim and the War Effort. Lee, Milly. 1st ed. New York: Frances Foster Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997.
In her determination to prove that an American can win the contest for the war effort, Nim does something which leaves her Chinese grandfather both bewildered and proud. World War II fiction
- Good-bye, 382 Shin Dang Dong. By Frances and Ginger Park. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2002.
Jangmi finds it hard to say goodbye to relatives and friends, plus the food, customs and beautiful things of her home in Korea, when her family moves to America. Korean Americans -- Fiction
- This Next New Year. Wong, Janet S.1st ed. New York: Frances Foster, 2000.
A family prepares to celebrate the Lunar New Year and looks forward to the good luck it will bring. Chinese New Year -- Fiction
Cathryn Clinton. It was a graduation gift many writers would envy: a contract for not one but two novels, handed by Candlewick Press editor Amy Ehrlich to Cathryn Clinton as she finished up her studies at Vermont College’s MFA program in Writing for Children. And as if that weren’t enough, the first of those two novels, The Calling, would earn Cathryn Clinton an article in Publishers Weekly's "Flying Starts" section, designating her a first-time author to watch.
Like Esta Lea, her charming protagonist in The Calling, Cathryn Clinton grew up in the South in a long line of preachers and storytellers. "Most of the events in this book come from my family history, and Esta Lea simply put them all together in one story," the author says. Among these based-on-true-life episodes: a blind girl’s sight miraculously restored, relayed "word for word" as the author’s brother witnessed it in a charismatic church, and a slapstick burial scene. "I want to be able to say it’s okay to question, and as readers are asking those serious questions, I want them to be able to laugh, too," the author explains.
Cathryn Clinton’s second novel, A Stone in my Hand, also touches on elements of religion, but in a very different context: it tells the moving story of a Palestinian girl in Gaza City, 1988, whose father is killed in a bus bombing and whose brother turns to violence. "While in graduate school, I had a writing assignment to choose a picture of someone and write about that person," the author says. "In an article about Gaza in National Geographic, I saw a picture of a young Palestinian girl holding a bird in her hand. There was a look of strength in her face. This intrigued me, and I wondered how this girl had survived both internally and externally when the conditions of her growing up years were so harsh. So I sat down and began writing the story of Malaak."
Cathryn Clinton’s upcoming title, Simeon's Fire, is again set closer to home, this time in an Amish community in Pennsylvania. With compassion and insight into a child’s inner struggles and the nuances of Amish traditions, Cathryn Clinton tells a powerful coming-of-age story of family, loyalty, and faith in the face of fear and prejudice.
Cathryn Clinton received her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Iowa and her master of fine arts degree from Vermont College. The mother of two grown daughters, Cathryn Clinton lives with her husband in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Book list:
A Stone in My Hand (Hard Cover)
In Gaza City, 1988, a sensitive, observant girl finds her voice and the strength to move beyond the violence that surrounds her.A Stone in My Hand (Paperback)
FOUR STARRED REVIEWS! The haunting story of a sensitive girl in Gaza City who finds the strength to move beyond the violence that surrounds her (age 11 and up).Simeon's Fire (Hard Cover)
As a rash of suspicious barn fires target his Amish community, a young boy wrestles with a frightening secret in this simply told, deeply affecting novel (ages 8-12).The Calling (Hard Cover)
A brilliant, bold, and hilarious first novel from an exceptional new talent in middle-grade fiction!
Suzanne Fisher Staples was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She grew up in a small community beside a lake in Northeastern Pennsylvania, described in her memoir, "The Green Dog." She was one of four children: two girls and two boys. She graduated from Lakeland High School in Scott Township, Pennsylvania, and attended Keystone College in La Plume, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Her areas of study were English Literature and political science.
She worked as a news reporter and editor for United Press International for ten years in Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, New York, and Washington, DC. She later worked as a part time foreign news editor for The Washington Post. She returned to Pakistan in 1985 to assess the lives of poor rural women on an assignment with the United States Agency for International Development.
Her most recent book is "Under the Persimmon Tree" published in august, 2005. Her other works include "The Green Dog, A Mostly True Story," "Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind," a 1990 Newbery Honor book and its sequel, "Haveli," "Dangerous Skies," and "Shiva's Fire," all of which have won numerous awards.To know more about Suzanne Fisher Staples, visit her website at http://www.suzannefisherstaples.com
Yona Zeldis McDonough was born in Chadera, Israel and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She is a graduate of Vassar College and Columbia University, and the author of numerous books for children and adults. She currently lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.
Her book The Doll with the Yellow Star, has just been named 2006 Once Upon A World Children's Book Award winner by the Simon Weisenthal Center and Museum for Tolerance.
Book List:
For Young Readers
- Benjamin Franklin: An American Original, Henry Holt, 2006*
- Hammerin' Hank: the Life of Hank Greenberg, Walker, 2006 (Forthcoming)
- The Doll With the Yellow Star, Henry Holt, September, 2005
- Who Was John F. Kennedy? Grosset & Dunlap, 2005
- Who Was Louis Armstrong? Grosset & Dunlap, 2005
- Who Was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? Grosset & Dunlap, 2003
- Who Was Harriet Tubman? Grosset & Dunlap, 2003
- A Doll Named Dora, Anne Grosset & Dunlap, 2002
- Peaceful Protest: The Life of Nelson Mandela, Walker Books, 2002
- The Doll House Magic, Henry Holt, 2001
- Sisters in Strenghth: American Women Made a Difference, Henry Holt, 2000
- Anne Frank, Henry Holt, 1997
- God Sent a Rainbow and Other Bible Stories, Jewish Publication Society, 1997
- Eve and her Sisters: Women of the Old Testament, Greenwillow, 1994
- Frank Lloyd Wright, Chelsea House, 1991To know more about Yona Zeldis McDonough, visit her website at http://www.yonazeldismcdonough.com
