Announcements

UTAH CHILDREN'S WRITERS AND ILLUSTRATORS

Announcement List—February 1, 2007

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CONGRATULATIONS!

To Sharlee Glenn, whose picture book, KEEPING UP WITH ROO, was just named the recipient of the 2006 Dolly Gray Award for Children's Literature, for promoting high quality children's literature that includes positive and realistic characters with developmental disabilities. She and the illustrator, Dan Andreason, were recognized at the award ceremony at the opening session of the Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Developmental Disabilities conference at the Kona, Hawaii Sheraton Keauhou Bay and Resort on February 1, 2007.

To Kim Williams-Justesen, who is working on scripts for a possible new animated series for The Cartoon Network.

To Nathan Hale, who has a picture book coming out in a new way, embedded in a GE television commercial. This is called a TiVo "Easter Egg." Toward the end of the ad the screen flashes an image of red theater curtains—if you hit pause at that point, you will get a slideshow on your TV of the picture book. It's six pages long, it's a version of
The Frog Prince. It begins airing on February 5, 2007.


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NEW BOOKS

from Rick Walton, MERRY MAPS AND CHRISTMAS CLUES: 25 TREASURE HUNTS FOR THE SEASON, from Leatherworks.

from Sara Zarr, STORY OF A GIRL, Little, Brown, January 2007.

from Kimberley Heuston, POWER PLAY: THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR by Harcourt.

COMING SOON 

Spring 2007

from Mark and Cara Buehner, GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS.

from Chris Crowe, TWO ROADS with Deseret Book.

from Chris Crowe, TEACHING THE SELECTED WORKS OF MILDRED D TAYLOR by Heinemann.

from Jessica Day George, DRAGONSKIN SLIPPERS, from Bloomsbury.

May, 2007.

from Becky Hall, Morris and Buddy, The Story of the First Seeing Eye Dog, comes out in March 2007.

from Sherry Meidell, THE CENTAUR, written by May Swenson, from Utah State University Press.

from Mike Tunnell, the sequel to WISHING MOON, MOON WITHOUT MAGIC, with Dutton.

from Carol Williams, OH THE GAMES YOU CAN PLAY ON A CHECKERBOARD, from Gibbs Smith.

Summer 2007

from Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson, NIGHT OF THE BLACK BEAR, from National Geographic (May).

from Ann Dee Knight Ellis, THIS IS WHAT I DID, July.

from Nathan Hale, author/illustrator, THIEVES LIKE US, and YELLOWBELLY AND PLUM, from Putnam.

from Becky Hall, 1-2-3 COUNT WITH ME: A UTAH COUNTING BOOK, a pb, to Sleeping Bear Press.

from Becky Hall, THE BIOGRAPHY OF MORRIS FRANK, to Albert Whitman.

from Mette Harrison, THE PRINCESS AND THE HOUND, a fantasy YA,
from Harper Eos.

from Carla Morris, THE BOY WHO WAS RAISED BY LIBRARIANS, a picture book, illustrated by Brad Sneed, from Peachtree.

from Danna Kessimakis Smith, WHAT BEST FRIENDS DO, a picture book, published by Hyperion books for Children

Fall 2007

from Shannon Hale, BOOK OF A THOUSAND DAYS, Bloomsbury.

from Anne Bowen, CHRISTMAS IS COMING, Illustrated by Tomek Bogacki (Carolrhoda Books, Fall, 2007)

2008

from Kim Williams-Justesen, sequel to MY BROTHER, THE DOG, 2008

from Shannon Hale and Dean Hale, RAPUNZEL'S REVENGE, illustrated by Nathan Hale, January 2008.

from Gloria Skurzynski, SWEAT AND BLOOD: A HISTORY OF AMERICAN LABOR UNIONS.

from Sharlee Glenn, JUST WHAT MAMA NEEDS, by Harcourt.

2009

from Anne Bowen, I KNOW AN OLD TEACHER, Illustrated by Stephen Gammell, (Carolrhoda Books, Fall, 2009)

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APPEARANCES AND EVENTS

February 9, 2007—Rick Walton will be visiting Snow Springs Elementary School in Lehi.

February 15-17, 2007—Gloria Skurzynski will be speaking at the LTUE sci-fi conference on the Brigham Young University campus, and at the educators' conference that follows. Check it out at http://www.ltue.org and come to the conference if you're interested—it's free! Also her husband, Ed Skurzynski will speak on the history of rocketry at this same conference.

February 24, 2007—Sara Zarr will be at The King's English book store in Salt Lake City for a reading and signing of her debut YA novel, Story of a Girl. The event will be at 2 p.m. 

February 26th, 2007—Anne Bowen will be doing school visits in Jackpot, Elko and Wendover, Nevada.

February 28, 2007—Rick Walton will be visiting Manila Elementary in Pleasant Grove.

March 1, 2007—Rick Walton will be speaking at UELMA.

March 1, 2007—Ken Baker will be at Peruvian Park Elementary in Sandy, UT.

March 1, 2007—Gloria Skursynski will speak to college students at Central Missouri StateUniversity.

March 5-8, 2007—Rick Walton will be visiting several schools in the St. George area.

March 6, 2007—Anne Bowen will be doing a school visit at West Elementary, Tooele.

March 8, 2007—Gloria Skurzynski will be presenting at the Children's Literature conference in Warrensburg. 

March 10-12, 2007—Gloria Skurzynski will be in Missouri doing school visits

March 12, 2007—Ken Baker will be visiting Westside Elementary in Springville, UT.

March 14, 2007—Ken Baker will be visiting Northlake Elementary in Tooele.

March 23-24, 2007—Sharlee Glenn will be presenting at the LDStorymaker Conference

April 9-13, 2007—Gloria Skurzynski will speak at several schools near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

April 12, 2007—Sharlee Glenn will be doing an assembly at Riverton Elementary School

April 19th, 2007—Anne Bowen will be doing a school visit at Wasatch Elementary, Ogden.

April 20, 2007 --Rick Walton will be visiting East Elementary School in Tooele.

May 7th, 2007—Anne Bowen will be doing a school visit at University School of Nashville, Nashville, TN.

May 11, 2007 --Rick Walton will be speaking to the Granite School District librarians.

June 11-15, 2007 --Rick Walton will be on the faculty of the BYU Writing for Young Readers workshop.

June 17-22, 2007 --Rick Walton will be on the faculty of Writers at Work.


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SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES

Sara Zarr is now the ALAN State Representative for the State of Utah. ALAN is the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents, an affinity group of NCTE (National Council for Teachers of English), and is considered the leading society dedicated to the study of Young Adult Literature. Sara wants you to know that for a mere $20, you can be a member! With your membership, you become a subscriber to the gorgeous print journal The ALAN Review, published three times a year. The journal contains articles on YA literature and its teaching, interviews with authors, reports on publishing trends, current research on YA literature, a section of reviews of new books, and ALAN membership news. For more information about ALAN, visit http://www.alan-ya.org. To download a membership form, go to http://alan-ya.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=65&Itemid=31. You can contact Sara Zarr at sara@sarazarr.com if you have any questions.

Randall Wright is now available for storytelling for birthday parties, church socials, business meetings, school events, etc. He tells original stories, folk tales, ghost stories, etc. For information and prices email him at randall.w.wright@comcast.net.

BRING AN AUTHOR OR ILLUSTRATOR TO YOUR SCHOOL

When kids get to meet and learn from real authors they get excited about reading and writing. It's a great way to bring books to life. For information on presentations, fees, and contacts, go to www.ucwi.org/visit.htm, or check out the author/illustrator websites below. If you've never held an author visit and don't know what to do, go to www.rickwalton.com/utahauth/bringing.htm for information, guidelines, and advice.


A DEAL FOR SPECIAL CAUSES

If you want to get books into the hands of kids who need them--e.g., kids in shelters, kids in hospitals, kids in foreign countries, kids in summer reading programs--we can get you select novels, picture books and joke books at rock bottom prices. You can get hardcover books at prices lower than a cheap paperback. Contact Rick at rick@rickwalton.com or Carol at carolthewriter@yahoo.com for more information.


GET BOOKS INTO THE HANDS OF YOUR STUDENTS

Rick Walton has a supply of deeply discounted books. If you buy one copy for each of the students in your school, Rick will do a day long visit at your school for free.

For more information see www.rickwalton.com/aboutric/deal.htm.

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UTAH AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR WEBSITES

Matthew Armstrong -- www.matthewart.com  
Ken Baker -- www.bravemonster.com 
Anne Bowen -- www.annebowenbooks.com 
Ann Edwards Cannon -- www.aecannon.com 

Ann Dee Knight Ellis – www.anndeeellis.com 
Chris Crowe -- www.chriscrowe.com 
Alane Ferguson -- www.alaneferguson.com 
Guy Francis -- www.guyfrancis.com 
Sharlee Glenn -- www.sharleeglenn.com 
Shannon Hale -- www.shannonhale.com 
Mette Ivie Harrison -- www.metteivieharrison.com 
Kim Williams Justesen -- http://hometown.aol.com/kimorchid/myhomepage/profile.html 
Sherry Meidell -- www.sherrymeidell.com 
Robert Neubecker -- www.neubecker.com 
Michael Nordenstrom -- www.riversoffire.com 
Julie Olson -- www.jujubeeillustrations.com 
Gloria Skurzynski -- http://gloriabooks.com 
Dana Kessimakis Smith -- www.danasmithbooks.com 
Will Terry -- www.willterry.com 
Laura Torres-- www.lauratorres.com   
Michael O. Tunnell-- www.michaelotunnell.com  
Rick Walton -- www.rickwalton.com 
Kevin Wasden -- www.kevinwasden.com 
Hala Wittwer-- www.artbyhala.com  
Carol Lynch Williams -- www.carolinutah.com 
Randall Wright -- www.booksbywright.com 

Sara Zarr and Ann Dee Knight Ellis are both a part of the Class of 2K7--a group of about 40 debut novelists across the country who are all publishing in 2007. They have an ezine for the group that will come out quarterly for anyone who is interested. There will also be a pamphlet, a movie (a short short movie), and some other pub stuff. The official website has more details. www.classof2k7.com. It's turning into a very cool project! Check it out!


UTAH WRITER AND LITERATURE ORGANIZATIONS WEBSITES

BYU Children's Book Review -- http://cbpr.lib.byu.edu  
Children's Lit. Assoc. of Utah (Beehive Book Awards)-- www.clau.org  
League of Utah Writers -- www.luwrite.com 
UCTE/LA -- http://community.weber.edu/uctela 
UT Council/International Reading Assoc. -- www.utahreading.org 
Utah Children's Writers and Illustrators -- www.ucwi.org 

If you have a Utah organization related to children's literature, please send it to us and we'll add it to the list.


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Are you, or do you know an author or illustrator of books for young readers? Are you sponsoring a children's literature related event? Is there something else related to this list that we should announce? Send announcements to rick@rickwalton.com.

Are you interested in writing for kids? If so, you should join the Utah Children's Writers listserv. Get involved with other writers in discussions about writing, reading, and marketing literature for kids. To join, send a blank e-mail to utahchildrenswriters- subscribe@yahoogroups.com.