Every year in November I attend the Annual International Children’s Literature Celebration in Madison, Wisconsin.  This was the 10th year and the program was wonderful. Kathleen T. Horning, director of Cooperative Children’s Book Center gave an overview of 80 books set all over the globe. Some books were familiar to me and some were new. I am excited to start reading the books I haven’t read before.

Anna Pellowski talked about her journey as a writer, librarian and bookmaker. She has travelled to more than 100 countries, has researched different storytelling techniques, and has shared her knowledge with many communities. She did a fantastic show-and-tell with a handkerchief story and a string story. I am eager to try her clever string story but I am afraid I will get the string tangled in my fingers and it will stay there forever!

After lunch we heard from Atinuke who is the author of the Anne Hibiscus books and the No.1 Car Spotter. Not only did she introduce us to her wonderful books but she also told us a story that kept us all spellbound. Her voice, her singing, and her accent made her presentation come alive.

Mitali Perkins was next. I have read many of Mitali’s books and have loved them. Since we both come from India I was looking forward to her presentation very much. She is funny and insightful and her anecdotes of growing up between two cultures resonated with me. I set there smiling because I felt like she had shared these stories with me a long time ago and I knew them all.

Ginny Moore Kruse ended the program with How to Keep on Keeping Up: Finding out all Year about Outstanding Children’s Books. She invited the attendees to share ideas about how to keep up with new books published in the coming year and many of us did. I know I’m going to read the books I bought today and check new books out at a library. I also plan to attend CCBC’s monthly book discussions.

I am looking forward to next year’s conference and I hope budget cuts don’t take away this event.

Thank you Rachel Weiss (Assistant Director of Center for South Asia) for organizing this event.

A couple of weeks ago I did a Reading Day at the Executive Mansion in Madison, Wisconsin. The Reading Day is a part of the Read On Wisconsin, is a statewide book club for students and book-lovers across the state. Every month, the first lady, Jessica Doyle, recommends books for different age groups. She travels across the state to promote readings and literacy. She also invites school to come to the residence. Boys Without Names was chosen for middle school readers for October and I was fortunate to meet students from three different schools: Maple Dale Indian Hill School District (Milwaukee), Robinson Elementary School (Beloit) and Richmond School (Sussex). It is such and honor to have all my books chosen as Read On Wisconsin book and great privilege to work with the Jessica Doyle and the program coordinator Ashley Huibregtse.

Fall is here, and that means long walks before settling down for the winter. I love to take my daughter’s and son-in-law’s two dogs, Molly and Snickers, along with me. Snickers is a good walker until she sees other dogs. Then she starts barking. It doesn’t occur to her that the dog is four times as big as she is.
Molly, on the other hand, is a poky little walker. She sniffs and saunters along. When she sees a big dog, she keeps her head down and minds her own business. When she sees kids and people, she wants to play, while Snickers barks. They both leap when they see a squirrel or a rabbit. Here is a picture of Molly (the black one) and Snickers (the brown one).

Boys Without Names was an October pick for Read On Wisconsin. Read on Wisconsin is a statewide book club for students and book-lovers across the state. What is truly amazing is that this year's top picks are recommended by students and educators across Wisconsin. I'm thrilled to have my book on the list along with Boo to You by Lois Elhert and Stiches by David Small. For the complete listing of this month please go to http://readon.wi.gov/

September picks were One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia and The Wednesday Wars by Gary. D. Schmidt. Please check out more on Wisconsin's First Lady Jessica Doyle's Read On Wisconsin website mentioned above.

Also, Aline Pereira, Managing Editor of PaperTigers, recently interviewed me. Please go to http://www.papertigers.org for the interview. They have also reviewed Boys Without Names – read the review here. I hope you enjoy browsing the website. It has a wealth of information for teachers, educators, and students.

Since BOYS WITHOUT NAMES came out I have been working on other
projects. Usually, when the book is out I promote it but I don't
continue my research on that subject. This book is different and the
child labor is so widespread and the issue of poverty, homelessness,
abuse, and starvation are so huge that I keep coming across articles
and stories about them. They take me back to BOYS WITHOUT NAMES. I
can't leave Gopal and all the children that are like him.
I read this article last week in India Tribune on Child labor. It says
60 million children in India are working as child laborers!
http://www.indiatribune.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2884:over-60-million-child-laborers-in-india&catid=125:general-news&Itemid=400
There is so much to do. I hope the awareness that this exists is the first step in trying to do something about it.

Aline Pereira, Managing Editor of PaperTigers has posted a group interview with five authors in this link: Group interview with authors Matt Ottley, Rukhsana Khan, Jennifer Cervantes, Charles R. Smith Jr. and Kashmira Sheth

My picture book Monsoon Afternoon is highlighted in the Peek-a-Book section – click here to access the writeup.

Last, here are some pictures from the recently held Children’s Book Author and Illustrator Discussion Panel (see previous post):

…will be held on Saturday, May 15. Two sessions will be held:

• Madison Public Library, Sequoya Branch (4340 Tokay Blvd), 9:30-11:30 AM
• Barnes and Noble West (7433 Mineral Point Rd), 3:00-5:00 PM
  

Click here to download the flyer and read more about the event.

Last Saturday, the Wisconsin Chapter of the Society of Children’s Writers
and Illustrators (SCBWI) held it’s annual Spring Luncheon. The location
was the beautiful Oconomowoc Lake Club. The day was a pure spring day in
Wisconsin—beautiful blue sky, warm sun, daffodils in bloom, budding
trees, and weeping willow branches arching over the water.

And then the day got even better. The speaker was Molly O’Neill,
assistant editor at Katherine Tagen Books (HarperCollins). She talked
about what an editor looks in a manuscript. She discussed the elusive
“voice” and gave concrete examples from various books. Her talk was
insightful and informative and the handouts she had passed out helped
greatly. With the points in hand, it was easy to concentrate on her
talk.

Writing is a lonely business so an event like this fuels excitement and
enthusiasm. Being part of SCBWI community has been great—from attending
national conferences and regional retreats to being in an excellent
critique group. I feel fortunate to be part of it.

No event can go on without hard work. A big special thanks to the
Luncheon organizer Thelma Godin and Emily Kort. They did a fabulous
job!        

Wisconsin
Children’s Author Event
Saturday,
April 17 – 3:00 p.m.
Books &
Company
1039 Summit
Avenue, Oconomowoc
(262) 567-0106
Read more about the event here.

BOYS WITHOUT NAMES will be out tomorrow. Here are some pre-pub reviews from various journals and book blogs:

• Publishers Weekly: “Sheth’s lush prose creates a vivid portrait of slave labor without losing the thread of hope that Gopal clings to.”
• Booklist: “As Gopal dreams of escape, he builds tenuous friendships with his fellow workers. Those wary bonds form a dramatic counterpoint to the children’s daily misery, described in moving, palpable detail, and skillfully steer the story away from docu-novel territory to its hopeful conclusion. Pair this eye-opening title with Susan Kuklin’s Iqbal Masih and the Crusaders against Child Slavery (1998)”.  — Gillian Engberg
• School Library Journal: “……..well-told survival story with a social conscience”. – Kathleen Isaacs, Children’s Literature Specialist, Pasadena, MD
• From January issue of BookPage: “Adroitly contrasting the rich sensory detail of Gopal’s village life and the sensory deprivation of his factory life, Sheth has created a story worthy of her storytelling protagonist.” http://www.bookpage.com/books.php?id=10012757 

  
• Flamingnet Top Choice: “Boys Without Names is a superb book. The characters are so real, and the material is raw…..Once I read the first fifteen pages I was hooked, and couldn’t put it down. It seemed like I was one of the boys as their emotions poured out onto the page.”  – Flamingnet Student Book Reviewer APB (Reviewer age: 13) http://www.flamingnet.com/bookreviews/newreviews/newbookreview.cfm?title=Boys%20Without%20Names
• From Richiespicks: “This story about story has me recalling why it is that I so dearly love sharing books, why I so often seek out and always enjoy hearing other people’s stories, and why I get such a kick out of telling my own.” http://richiespicks.pbworks.com/BOYS-WITHOUT-NAMES
• Susan Uhlig’s review: “Don’t miss it! I know I’ll be rereading it.” http://www.susanuhlig.com/  
 
 

• From Lindsey’s library: “I feel as if I am also one of those boys without names, working in the sweatshop, and through their experience of creating family and bonds, and reminded fondly of my own childhood…It was everything I was hoping for and more, and I recommend that everyone read it.“ http://www.lindseyslibrary.com/2010/01/boys-without-names/#more-1431