This week, Lisa Stringfellow crafts a special Little Free Library; Ezra Jack Keats Award winners and honorees celebrate the award’s 35th anniversary; Rabbit Hole Bookshop has a rockin’ new display; and Scholastic goes to YALLWEST.
Lovely Little Library
During the pandemic, debut author Lisa Stringfellow (A Comb of Wishes, HarperCollins/Quill Tree) built a Little Free Library she named Little Free Kidlit Library, located in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston, which will highlight work by BIPOC authors. Each shingle of her library’s roof displays a cover of a book by a BIPOC children’s book creator. Informed by Caribbean culture and folklore, Stringfellow’s forthcoming middle grade novel follows Kela, a girl who, in the wake of her beloved mother’s death, discovers an artifact that causes a wrathful mermaid to make a tempting offer.
An Illuminating Discussion
Earlier this month, Books of Wonder in New York City hosted a Crowdcast panel titled “The Luminaries”, moderated by author and artist Pat Cummings (bottom r.). In honor of the 35th anniversary of the Ezra Jack Keats Award, four past winners and honorees took part in the conversation (pictured clockwise from top l.): Mike Curato (Little Elliot, Big City, Holt), Meg Medina (Tía Isa Wants a Car, illus. by Claudio Muñoz, Candlewick), and Sydney Smith (Small in the City, Holiday House/Neal Porter). The panelists spoke about what the award meant to them and how it has influenced their careers.
Rock and Roll with It
On April 13, the day after its reopening, Rabbit Hole Bookshop in Brigg, England, was broken into with the help of a sizeable rock. In a flash of creative inspiration, the independent bookstore utilized the rock to help celebrate the same-day launch of The Rock from the Sky (Candlewick), a long-form, darkly humorous picture book by Caldecott Medalist Jon Klassen.
Y’All Read-y for This?
This past Sunday, April 18, I Read YA virtually dropped by YALLWEST Santa Monica Book Festival for a talk titled “The Ultimate Summer Shelf Care Event”. Scholastic editorial director David Levithan moderated the panel on summer releases, which featured authors (pictured top row, from l.): Brianna Bourne (You & Me at the End of the World), Leah Johnson (Rise to the Sun), Francisco X. Stork (On the Hook), (middle row, from l.) Debbie Rigaud (Simone Breaks All the Rules), Levithan, Mason Deaver (The Ghosts We Keep), and (bottom row) Sabina Khan (Zara Hossain Is Here) in conversation about their books.
