Walter Dean Myers passes away

 Esteemed young adult and children's author has passed away.

 Walter Dean Myers, beloved and deeply respected children’s book author, died on July 1, 2014, following a brief illness. He was 76 years old. 
It is a great loss.

http://www.cbcbooks.org/walter-dean-myers-prolific-and-beloved-author-of-award-winning-childrens-books-dies-at-age-76/#.U7RbkpRdW1U

Other web links:
http://walterdeanmyers.net/

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/07/03/328054042/book-news-children-s-author-walter-dean-myers-dies-at-76

http://educationservicesnews.blogspot.com/2014/03/all-white-world-of-childrens-books.html


Interviews
http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/myersw

http://www.nypl.org/author-chat-walter-dean-myers
(Transcript of Live Chat,July 29, 2004)

http://video.pbs.org/video/2262568011/
(7/31/12- Reading is not optional for kids)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEA9SUhANSI
(8/6/12)

Podcasts
http://www.adlit.org/second_chances/

http://www.npr.org/2012/01/10/144944598/to-do-well-in-life-you-have-to-read-well

http://storycorps.org/listen/walter-myers-and-his-son-christopher-myers/

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93699480
(Walter Dean Myers , Bad Boy makes good.)

All white world of children's books question continues with Walter Dean Myers and Christopher Myers

Jersey City. NJ  resident and award winning children's author, Walter Dean Myers and his son,also an award winning artist and author tackled the question of representations of children of color in youth literature in the Sunday New York Times  dated March 16. 2014.

Walter Dean Myers article, " Where Are the People of Color in Children’s Books?"  stressed the need and importance of having protagonists of color in books for youth and recounted his discovery and love of literature as a child and his dissatisfaction as an adolescent when he could not find literature that reflected his life experiences.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/opinion/sunday/where-are-the-people-of-color-in-childrens-books.html?_r=0

Christopher Myers article, "The Apartheid of Children’s Literature", examined the background reasons for the dearth of youth  literature by and about people of color.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/opinion/sunday/the-apartheid-of-childrens-literature.html?action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article

Many will remember that these issues have been visited before in the classic article, "The All-White world of children's books" by Nancy Larrick published in the Saturday Review (1965, September 11) that raised many of these issues.

Other books such as the The all-white world of children's books and African American children's literature,  edited by Osayimwense Osa (1995)  [PS153 .N5 A399 1995] and Free within ourselves : the development of African American children's literature by Rudine Sims Bishop (2007) ,[ PS153 .N5 B526 2007b] also examined these issues.

See also
http://educationservicesnews.blogspot.com/2013/06/all-white-world-of-childrens-books.html

Jersey City Author Walter Dean Myers shares feelings about reading

Author and Jersey City resident, Walter Dean Myers recently was featured on PBS Newshour and shared his feelings about reading. The program shows him visiting his old school in Harlem and sharing some of his story and his love of reading with the students.Myers is the Library of Congress' national ambassador for young people's literature. ( Thanks to Fred Smith for sharing this with me!)

Walter Dean Myers named National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

The January 3, 2012 issue of the New York Times reported that ..on Tuesday January 3, 2012, Mr.[Walter Dean] Myers, 74, will be named the national ambassador for young people’s literature, a sort of poet laureate of the children’s book world who tours the country for two years, speaking at schools and libraries about reading and literacy"

According to the New York Times article,January 3, 2012,  C1 of the New York edition with the headline: "Children’s Book Envoy Defines His Mission"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/03/books/walter-dean-myers-ambassador-for-young-peoples-literature.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Mr. Myers is the third person to hold this post awarded by  the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, and Every Child a Reader, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Children’s Book Council, a trade association for children’s book publishers. Katherine Paterson, young adult novelist, and children's author Jon Scieszka were previous holders of this position.

Mr. Myers, a young adult and children's author  highlights the lives of urban teens in many of his books. His books are often considered edgy due to their realistic situations and characters, but  also uplifting.

Mr. Myers will be touring schools and libraries in the next two years speaking about reading and literacy. As quoted in the article, Myers maintains that:
“I think that what we need to do is say reading is going to really affect your life,” he said in an interview at his book-cluttered house here in Jersey City, adding that he hoped to speak directly to low-income minority parents. “You take a black man who doesn’t have a job, but you say to him, ‘Look, you can make a difference in your child’s life, just by reading to him for 30 minutes a day.’ That’s what I would like to do.” 

Mr. Myers, a Jersey City resident, also serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the M. Jerry Weiss Center for Children's and Young Adult Literature (http://web.njcu.edu/programs/mjwc/).

NJ Center for the Book honors Walter Dean Myers

Walter Dean Myers honored by the NJ Center for the Book

2:30 to 4:30 pm

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Rutgers University Zimmerli Art Museum

New Brunswick campus

Walter Dean Myers will receive the Rutgers School of Communication and Information Award for Distinguished Literature for Children and Young Adults at an open event, free to the public, on Wednesday, April 27, 2011, from 2:30 to 4:30 pm in the Rutgers University Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick campus. The award ceremony commemorates the tenth anniversary of the New Jersey Center for the Book. Mr Myers is considered a towering presence in service to youth who has, through his fiction, nonfiction and poetry, redefined young African American males in literature by opening their confrontation with urban life and their survival with pride and belief in the future. Mr. Myers is called, “one of today’s most important authors of young adult literature,” “a giant among children’s and young adult authors,” and "one of the most important writers of children’s books of our age.” Mr. Myers' work has earned many accolades. His first book, “Where Does the Day Go,” was selected by the Council on Interracial Books for its Children's Award. Other works have also won on seven occasions a place among the American Library Association (ALA) Notable Books for Children and five times among the ALA Best Books for Young Adults. The Child Study Association of America has twice awarded his fiction the Children’s Book of the Year. He has six times received the Coretta Scott King Award, was a Newbery Honor Book recipient twice; and, with his illustrator son Christopher, a Caldecott Honor Book recipient twice. The author was honored with two Lifetime Achievement Awards for the entire body of his work, the first sponsored by School Library Journal, and the second by the Margaret A. Edwards Foundation.

Weiss Center Spring 2011 Events

M. Jerry Weiss Center for Children’s and Young Adult Literature http://web.njcu.edu/programs/mjwc/Content/announcements_and_events.asp New Jersey City University 2039 Kennedy Boulevard Jersey City, NJ 07305 is sponsoring/co-sponsoring the following programs: Tuesday, March 22, 2011,Tonya Bolden, author of Finding Family, Time: Thursday, March 22, 5-7 pm Location: Gothic Lounge (Hepburn Hall 202) (click here for campus map) Lecture, panel discussion, book signing, and reception

See http://www.tonyaboldenbooks.com/ to view books.)

(Attention teachers: Finding Family study guide http://www.bloomsburykids.com/node/8664)

Monday, April 4, 2011, University Lecture Series, Walter Dean Myers, Time: Monday, April 4, 4pm, Location: Gothic Lounge (Hepburn Hall 202) (click here for campus map) Lecture Tuesday, April 5, 2011,William Low, Author/Illustrator, Old Penn Station, Machines Go To Work , Henry and the Kite Dragon . Time: Tuesday, April 5, 1:30 pm, Location: TBA. Lecture Wednesday, April 13, 2011,Yvonne Thornton, author of Something to Prove and The Ditchdigger's Daughters, Time: Wednesday, April 13, 5-7 pm, Location: Gothic Lounge (Hepburn Hall 202) (click here for campus map),Lecture, panel discussion, book signing, and reception

National Book Awards (2010) Announced

Jersey City's Walter Dean Myers is a finalist in the National Book Awards for his young adult novel , Lockdown!

The other winners and finalists are:

YOUNG PEOPLE'S LITERATURE

WINNER: Kathryn Erskine, Mockingbird (Philomel Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group) -

Finalists:Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker (Little, Brown & Co.) -
Laura McNeal, Dark Water (Alfred A. Knopf) - (Juv.M1693d )
Walter Dean Myers, Lockdown (Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers) -
Rita Williams-Garcia, One Crazy Summer (Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers) -

http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2010.html

Other winners and finalists were

FICTION

WINNER: Jaimy Gordon, Lord of Misrule (McPherson & Co.)

Finalists:
Peter Carey, Parrot and Olivier in America (Alfred A. Knopf)
Nicole Krauss, Great House (W.W. Norton & Co.)
Lionel Shriver, So Much for That (Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)
Karen Tei Yamashita, I Hotel (Coffee House Press) -

NONFICTION

WINNER: Patti Smith, Just Kids (Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)

Finalists:
Barbara Demick, Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea(Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group)
John W. Dower, Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq(W.W. Norton & Co/The New Press )
Justin Spring, Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Megan K. Stack, Every Man in This Village Is a Liar: An Education in War(Doubleday)


POETRY

WINNER: Terrance Hayes, Lighthead (Penguin Books)

Finalists:
Kathleen Graber, The Eternal City (Princeton University Press)
James Richardson, By the Numbers (Copper Canyon Press)
C.D. Wright, One with Others (Copper Canyon Press)
Monica Youn, Ignatz (Four Way Books)

Local Author wins the Arbuthnot Award

Walter Dean Myers of Jersey City NJ, wins the Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award for 2009 from the American Library Association.
See http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/arbuthnothonor/arbuthnothonor.htm
Other Award Winners are:

From Teri Lesesne, YALSA Blog http://blogs.ala.org/yalsa.php?cat=21
and the winners are...
I am sitting here in the Ballroom of the Philly Convention Center waiting for the awards ceremony to begin. Pardon typos along the way. I will clean this up later when I have some time to do more than type. We are set to begin shortly.

ALEX Awards

AMERICAN SHAOLIN
BAD MONKEYS
ESSEX COUNTY VOLUME 1
GENGHISTHE
GOD OF ANIMALS
A LONG WAY GONE
MISTER PIP
THE NAME OF THE WIND
THE NIGHT BIRDS
THE SPELLMAN FILES

SCHNEIDER FAMILY AWARD

KAMI AND THE YAKS young children
REACHING FOR SUN middle grade book
HURT GO HAPPY teen book

CORETTA SCOTT KING

CORETTA SCOTT KING STEPTOE: SUNDEE T FRAZIER for Brendan Buckey's Universe and Everything in It

Two author honor:

NOVEMBER BLUES BY SHARON DRAPER
TWELVE ROUNDS TO GLORY BY CHARLES SMITH

AUTHOR WINNER: ELIJAH OF BUXTON BY CHRISTOPHER PAUL CURTIS
ILLUSTRATOR HONOR

THE SECRET OLIVIA TOLD ME
JAZZ ON A SATURDAY NIGHT

ILLUSTRATOR: ASHLEY BRYAN FOR LET IT SHINE

EDWARDS: ORSON SCOTT CARD

PRINTZ HONOR:

DREAMQUAKE
ONE WHOLE AND PERFECT DAY
REPOSSESSED
YOUR OWN SYLVIA

PRINTZ WINNER: THE WHITE DARKNESS

BATCHELDER HONOR: THE CAT, NICHOLAS AND THE GANG

BATCHELDER AWARD: BRAVE STORY

SIBERT HONOR: NIC BISHOP SPIDERS, LIGHTSHIP

SIBERT WINNER: THE WALL

PURA BELPRE

ILLUSTRATOR HONOR: MY NAME IS GABITO, MY COLORS MY WORLD

ILLUSTRATOR WINNER: LOS GATOS BLACK ON HALLOWEEN

AUTHOR HONOR: FRIDA: VIVA LA VIDA, MARTINA THE BEAUTIFUL COCKROACH, LOS GATOS BLACK ON HALLOWEEN

AUTHOR WINNER: THE POET SLAVE OF CUBA

ODYSSEY AWARD:

HONORS: BLOODY JACK (LISTEN AND LIVE), TREASURE ISLAND (LISTENING LIBRARY), HARRY POTTER 7 (LISTENING LIBRARY), DOOBY DOOBY MOO (SCHOLASTIC), SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT (HARPERCOLLINS)

WINNER: JAZZ (LIVE OAK)

ARBUTHNOT: WALTER DEAN MYERS

CARNEGIE MEDAL (VIDEO): JUMP IN FREESTYLE EDITION

GEISEL AWARD HONORS: FIRST THE EGG, HELLO BUMBLEE BAT, JAZZ BABY, VULTURE VIEW

GEISEL AWARD: THERE IS A BIRD ON YOUR HEAD

CALDECOTT HONOR ILLUSTRATOR: HENRY'S FREEDOM BOX, FIRST THE EGG, THE WALL,, KNUFFLE BUNNY TOO

CALDECOTT: INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET

NEWBERY HONOR: ELIJAH OF BUXTON, THE WEDNESDAY WARS, FEATHERS

NEWBERY: GOOD MASTERS, SWEET LADIES