by Michelle Bayuk<\/p>\n
Hello. This is my first blog post here (or anywhere). I’ll be posting news and information from the world of publishing.<\/p>\n
Today, I’m pleased to share the very exciting news from the Children’s Book Council<\/a> and the Library of Congress that Jon Scieszka has been named the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. There was a wonderful celebration this morning at the Mulbery Street Branch of the New York Public Library, including librarians, publishers, media, and a couple of classes from area schools. You can read articles in The New York Times<\/a><\/em>, Publishers Weekly<\/em><\/a>, The Washington Post<\/a><\/em>, and more today and in the days to come.<\/p>\n \u00a0Here’s the text of the press release:<\/p>\n January 3, 2008<\/font><\/p>\n LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS APPOINTS AUTHOR JON SCIESZKA INAUGURAL NATIONAL AMBASSADOR FOR YOUNG PEOPLE\u2019S LITERATURE<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n Program To Be Run By Library\u2019s Center for the Book,\u00a0Children\u2019s Book Council, CBC Foundation<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has appointed children\u2019s book author Jon Scieszka as the first National Ambassador for Young People\u2019s Literature. The position was created to raise national awareness of the importance of young people\u2019s literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education, and the development and betterment of the lives of young people.<\/font>\u201cThe Library of Congress has long provided free, primary-source educational material for K-12 on the Internet,\u201d\u009d said Billington. \u201cThe position of National Ambassador for Young People\u2019s Literature is a natural extension of that role. Jon Scieszka will be an articulate emissary, promoting reading and literature among young people, which are important for the health and creativity of our democratic society.\u201d\u009d<\/font> <\/font>\u201cJon Scieszka\u2019s platform will spotlight the diversity and breadth of children\u2019s literature available today and in so doing present a solution to what can be done to change the state of reading in this country,\u201d\u009d said Robin Adelson, executive director at Children\u2019s Book Council.<\/p>\n Born in Flint, Mich., Jon Scieszka earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in writing from Albion College and a master of fine arts degree from Columbia University. He held a number of teaching positions in the first through eighth grades before taking a year off to develop ideas for children\u2019s books. He is the author of several bestselling children\u2019s titles, including \u201cThe Stinky Cheese Man,\u201d\u009d which won a Caldecott Honor medal, \u201cThe True Story of the Three Little Pigs\u201d\u009d and the Time Warp Trio, a chapter book series. Scieszka is the founder of Guys Read (www.guysread.com), a nonprofit literacy organization.<\/p>\n The National Ambassador for Young People\u2019s Literature is named by the Librarian of Congress for a two-year term, based on recommendations from a selection committee representing many segments of the book community. The selection criteria include the candidate\u2019s contribution to young people\u2019s literature and ability to relate to children. The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, the Children\u2019s Book Council (CBC) and the CBC Foundation are the administrators of the National Ambassador for Young People\u2019s Literature initiative. Financial support for the National Ambassador program is provided by Cheerios (leading sponsor), Penguin Young Readers Group, Scholastic Inc., HarperCollins Children\u2019s Books, Random House Children\u2019s Books, Houghton Mifflin Company, Macmillan Publishers, Harcourt Children\u2019s Books, Holiday House, Charlesbridge, National Geographic Children\u2019s Books, Candlewick Press, and Marshall Cavendish Publishers.<\/p>\n The appointment was announced today at the Mulberry Branch of the New York Public Library by Center for the Book Director John Y. Cole.<\/p>\n \u201cCheerios is truly delighted to help launch the post of National Ambassador for Young People\u2019s Literature,\u201d\u009d said Ricardo Fernandez, marketing manager for Cheerios. \u201cProviding children with access to books and fostering their ability to grow up to be readers is important to all of us.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n Through its Spoonfuls of Stories program, Cheerios puts books into the hands of children and encourages families to read together. Over the past six years, Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories has distributed more than 30 million books\u2013free of charge\u2013inside cereal boxes and donated more than $2.5 million to First Book, a national children\u2019s literacy organization.<\/p>\n The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress was established in 1977 by Public Law 95-129 to use the resources of the Library of Congress to stimulate public interest in books and reading. With public and private sector support, the center carries out its mission through a national network of affiliates in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and in cooperation with more than 80 national reading promotion partners such as the Children\u2019s Book Council. The center plays a key role in the Library of Congress\u2019s National Book Festival, held each year on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. For more information about the center, go to www.loc.gov\/cfbooks.<\/p>\n The Children\u2019s Book Council, established in 1945, is the nonprofit trade association of publishers of trade books for children and young adults in the United States. The CBC promotes the use and enjoyment of trade books for young people, most prominently as the official sponsor of Children\u2019s Book Week, the longest running literacy event in the country. The goal of the Children\u2019s Book Council is to make the reading and enjoyment of books for young people an essential part of America\u2019s educational and social goals, as well as to enhance the public perception of the importance of reading by disseminating information about books for young people and about children\u2019s book publishing. The CBC Foundation\u2019s \u201cEvery Child a Reader\u201d\u009d program seeks to harness the collective power of the children\u2019s book publishing industry to create a positive social impact in the nation\u2019s communities. For more information about the CBC and the National Ambassador for Young People\u2019s Literature, go to www.cbcbooks.org.<\/p>\n # # #\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n <\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Michelle Bayuk Hello. This is my first blog post here (or anywhere). I’ll be posting news and information from the world of publishing. Today, I’m pleased to share the very exciting news from the Children’s Book Council and the Library of Congress that Jon Scieszka has been named the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. There was a wonderful celebration this morning at the Mulbery Street Branch of the New York Public Library, including librarians, publishers, media, and a couple of classes from area schools. You can read articles in The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, The Washington Post, and more today and in the days to come. \u00a0Here’s the text of the press release: January 3, 2008 LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS APPOINTS AUTHOR JON SCIESZKA INAUGURAL NATIONAL AMBASSADOR FOR YOUNG PEOPLE\u2019S LITERATURE Program To Be Run By Library\u2019s Center for the Book,\u00a0Children\u2019s Book Council, CBC Foundation Librarian of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[11,22,34,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-priority-group-i","category-childrens-literature","category-awards","category-news-of-interest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}