Honor Roll
The 2015 Ezra Jack Keats Book Award winners and honorees were celebrated at an awards ceremony held on April 9 during the University of Southern Mississippi’s Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival. Chieri Uegaki (second from l.) won the award for new writer for Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin (Kids Can), and Chris Haughton (second from r.) won for new illustrator for Shh! We Have a Plan (Candlewick). Also pictured are: (far l.) Adam Auerbach, Book Award honoree for new writer for Edda: A Little Valkyrie’s First Day of School (Holt); and (far r.) Mike Curato, Book Award honoree for new illustrator for Little Elliot, Big City (Holt).
All Stars
Author-illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi met up with Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill at the annual Star Wars Celebration convention, which took place at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif., from April 16–19. DiTerlizzi was at the event to promote his book Star Wars: The Adventures of Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight (Disney). Hamill did the audio recording for DiTerlizzi and Holly Black’s The Spiderwick Chronicles, so the convention was a reunion of sorts for the artist and the Star Wars legend.
A Moveable Feast
The Minnesota Book Awards gala was held at the historic St. Paul Union Depot on April 18. Finalists in the children’s book categories gathered for a photo before the ceremony. From left: Kate DiCamillo, William Alexander, Margi Preus, and Kelly Barnhill. Preus won the award for West of the Moon (Abrams/Amulet) and during her acceptance speech compared Minnesota’s literary community to that of Paris in the 1920s.
Get the Picture?
During the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, which took place April 18-19 at the University of Southern California campus, children’s book illustrators spoke on a panel titled “Tell Me a Story: The Art of Children’s Books.” From left: moderator Lee Wind, Salina Yoon, Jon Agee, and Bob Shea discussed different styles of illustration, the use of color to establish mood, and their own creative processes, among other topics.
