« Un livre » or "Press Here"

Wanting to write one last post before 2012 is just a memory, I felt like I had too little time to come up with something clever or interesting. So leave it to my dear friend Louise Borden to introduce me to the most marvelous children's book… and to hand me the subject of my ultimate post for the year. French author and illustrator Hervé Tullet has created a playful picture book entitled « Un Livre » using… simple dots in primary colors. Originally published in France in 2010 by Bayard Jeunesse then translated into English by Christopher Franceschelli and published in the United States by Chronicle Books in 2011, this innocent looking book gives the most simple commands—touch, press, turn, blow, shake, clap, tap—and the reader is thus engaged in joyous activity of the most basic kind, that of letting his or her imagination run wild with endless possibilities. Just watch the joy in the book trailer on YouTube:

Hervé Tullet

I love this book! For kids of all ages, this delightful creation is a great way to end the year, and to start a new one. Albert Einstein, after all, once famously said, "Logic will get you from A to Z. Imagination will get you everywhere."

To see what children say at the end of the book, 

see bottom right-hand corner!

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« Jazz Band » at Politics & Prose

Wow! Seventy-five kids from Washington International School and fifteen students from the Sheridan School came out this morning to Politics and Prose to hear me speak (in French) about my new book, Jazz Band! They were attentive. They asked great questions. They were fun. What a delightful audience and what a pleasure to see them. Merci à toutes et à tous d'être venus.

Avant l'événement : j'ai quand-même un peu le trac…

J'explique le principe du livre bilingue…

Des élèves de la Sheridan School (6e)

Des élèves CE2 de la Washington International School

Ils ont posé des questions géniales !

Tous bilingues ! Même certains, trilingues !

Avec les jeunes lecteurs et lectrices, c'est tellement sympa.

Un lecteur et des lectrices un peu plus grands…

Merci à Politics and Prose, la librairie la plus branchée de Washington

C'est grâce à Kerri, responsable de la section jeunesse francophone

Une amie et consœur, Louise Borden, auteure extraordinaire

DCPL Mount Pleasant Library

We are so very lucky. After two years of renovation, the gorgeous, wonderful, state-of-the-art, historic District of Columbia Public Library Mount Pleasant Branch has re-opened. Mayor Gray was there to cut the ribbon, the drummers were there to create the rhythm, the children were there to enjoy the unbelievable upstairs children's section (with the original murals by Aurelius Battaglia), the council members were there to applaud the efforts, the librarians were there to do their thing—help people find information, check out books, and expand their knowledge and connect through the use of the library. As a resident of the neighborhood, a reader, a teacher, and a children's book writer, I feel very fortunate to have this institution just a few short blocks from my home. It will be my weekly destination (and on foot, to boot!). Hooray for libraries!! Hooray for DCPL!! Hooray for Mount Pleasant.

The drummers brought the beat…

Yeah, District of Columbia Public Libraries!

Young readers

Veronica, DCPL Mt Pleasant librarian

Jess Stork, DCPL children's librarian

Ward 1 Council Member Jim Graham and Ginnie Cooper

Councilman Graham, Mayor Gray, and others

« Jazz Band » est là !

Jazz Band sort aujourd'hui ! Publié aux Éditions Talents Hauts et illustré par Grégoire Vallancien, mon deuxième livre jeunesse fait partie de la collection bilingue DUAL. Avec le premier chapitre en français, le deuxième en anglais, le lecteur, pour connaître la suite de l'histoire, doit passer… de l'une à l'autre langue.

Jazz Band raconte l'histoire de Margot, jeune pianiste de classique qui doit quitter Paris pour aller vivre à New York avec sa famille. D'abord réticente, elle intègre le jazz band de son collège américain et c'est là que l'aventure commence. Elle rencontre une jeune batteuse enthousiaste, un beau contrebassiste silencieux, un pianiste de jazz renommé français qui habite Manhattan, et… un jazzman légendaire qui lui laissera un souvenir inoubliable. 

Jazz Band, my second children's book, is being released today in France by Éditions Talents Hauts. Written both in French and in English, the book is part of a bilingual collection called DUAL—readers begin the novel in French, but to find out what happens next, they switch to English.

Jazz Band tells the story of Margot, a young classical pianist who is far from enthusiastic when she learns that her family is leaving Paris for New York. But she joins the jazz band in her new American school, meets a lively girl drummer, a handsome but silent double bassist, a famous French-American pianist who lives in Manhattan, and… a legendary jazzman who has more than one surprise up his sleeve.

Salon du livre jeunesse d'Eaubonne 2012

Avec Jade et Guillaume, fans de Combinaison gagnante

J'ai éprouvé un immense plaisir à me trouver à Eaubonne samedi dernier où les Eaubonnais m'ont réservé un accueil particulièrement chaleureux : j'y étais invitée pour recevoir le Prix « Coup de Pouce » décerné à des auteurs ou des illustrateurs pour un premier ou deuxième ouvrage jeunesse. Mon livre Combinaison gagnante a remporté le prix dans la catégorie CE2/CM1. Pour ce salon qui a lieu tous les ans depuis 29 ans (!), toute une ville se mobilise autour de la lecture, de l'écriture, des livres, et de la belle illustration jeunesse : la médiathèque intercommunale, les élèves de la GS jusqu'en classe de cinquième, les professeurs des écoles, les parents, les services culturels de la mairie, les libraires, les éditeurs, sans parler de l'Institut Charles Perrault qui est, lui aussi, partenaire dans cette grande aventure. Nous, les auteurs et les illustrateurs, nous avons été impressionnés par le dynamisme, le dévouement, et le travail de tous ceux et celles qui œuvrent pour que ce salon remporte, lui aussi, un franc succès. Bravo !

Avec Natalie Goniche (de la médiathèque intercommunale)

Avec Béatrice Boutignon et Vincent Dumas 

(lauréats « Coup de Pouce » dans d'autres catégories)

Les remerciements pour les élèves et la ville d'Eaubonne

Avec M. le maire d'Eaubonne, les autres lauréats, et nos prix

Un « Coup de Pouce » !

Jeudi matin dernier, j'ai reçu une nouvelle qui m'a fait extrêmement plaisir : mon livre « Combinaison gagnante » a remporté le prix dans la catégorie CE2/CM1 du 16ème Prix « Coup de Pouce » décerné par la ville d'Eaubonne. Ce prix est un prix de littérature de jeunesse décerné par un jury d'enfants des établissements scolaires de la ville et récompense un(e) auteur(e) d'une première ou seconde œuvre jeunesse publiée.

Ouah ! J'en suis tout émue. Vraiment, je suis ravie de savoir que des enfants de huit et neuf ans ont choisi mon livre parmi d'autres comme celui qu'ils préfèrent.

Je me dépêche pour voir si je peux me rendre au salon…
À suivre…

(For those who don't read French, I just won my first literary award!)
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Hooray for "Soldier Bear"

With the annual announcement of the American Library Association's Newbery and Caldecott prizes, January is always an exciting month for anyone interested in children's literature, and even more so for those of us who write, illustrate, translate, edit, publish, or have any connection with this vibrant field of literature. But what many people don't know is that the ALA awards other prizes each year as well. One of them is the Mildred L. Batchelder Award. Yesterday, I was thrilled to learn that Laura Watkinson's translation of "Soldier Bear,"written by Bibi Dumon Tak, illustrated by Philip Hopman, translated by Laura from the Dutch, and published in the United States by Eerdmans' Books for Young Readers has been awarded the 2012 ALA Batchelder award for translation of an outstanding children's work from a foreign language. Only the very best translators receive this award, and Laura is more than deserving: the story is beautifully and seamlessly rendered in English. When I read it last December, after happening upon it at the Eerdmans' booth at the NCTE conference in Chicago, I was both moved and delighted. BRAVO, Laura! And Bravo as well to Eerdmans' Books for taking a chance on a story from outside our sometimes very insular American borders!
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Erica Silverman's visit

She came.
She read.
She conquered.

Children's author Erica Silverman recently visited our school. Erica's books, from "Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa" to "The Halloween House," from "Liberty's Voice: Emma Lazarus" to "Big Pumpkin," are well known and loved by the children at Rochambeau. The CE1 students were particularly lucky to have two hours with the author at the library where Madame Domenge graciously welcomed us. During the first hour, Erica explained how, after growing up in New York in an apartment and never owning a horse, she was able to imagine the latest story in the "Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa" series: "Spring Babies." She talked abou ther love of the library, mwhat fun it is to do reserach about subjects she knows very little about, and how reading (and writing) books allow us to travel to faraway places and enjoy some "make-believe." After an eye-opening Question + Answer, Mrs. Paul's and Mrs. Ermler's students performed a Readers' Theatre of "Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa," which Ms. Silverman thoroughly enjoyed and applauded. She was especially thrilled when she got her "surprise!": The students sang Cocoa's lullaby… in French.

After the recess break, during which students from all grades crowded around Erica for a quick chat, it was back to the library for her presentation of the story behind "Big Pumpkin." She explained that as a child, her grandmother would take her to the most wonderful place in the world: the New York Public Library, where there was an entire room just for children's books. Erica's love of books as a child, and in particular, her of of an old Russian folktale called "The Turnip" were an inspiration for "Big Pumpkin." After playfully reading the book all together (…and that pumpkin just sat!), there was again time for a Q+A, followed by another surprise: Jules, a student from Ms. Dorit's ESL class, read "La Nuit de Halloween," in French, to Erica, who doesn't speak more than a few words of la langue de Molière. When the bells rang at the end of the school day, we all wondered how the time had passed by so quickly.

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