Aida Salazar: Tuesday, November 12th

Reasons to love picture book biographies, some bookish ways to celebrate World Kindness Day, and thoughts on censorship. We’ve got all this and more. I’m Corrina Allen and this is All The Wonders This Week.

Joining me this week to discuss what’s new in the world of children’s literature is Aida Salazar - an award-winning author and arts activist whose writings for adults and children explore issues of identity and social justice.  Her debut middle grade novel-in-verse, The Moon Within, was one of my absolute favorite books in 2019.

• CILIP Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Medals for 2020 have been announced and Kate DiCamillo for Louisiana’s Way Home and Remy Lai for her graphic novel, Pie in the Sky are among the nominees! This is the UK equivalent to the Newbery Award. 
• The I, Too Arts Collective, a literary non-profit, will close its doors at the Langston Hughes House.  
• Publisher’s Weekly announced that Candlewick Press will be publishing an anthology that Aida Salazar is co-editing with Yamile Saied Méndez called, Calling the Moon. It is a middle grade anthology on menstruation by IBPOC middle grade authors.

• Yesterday was World Origami Day - celebrated on November 11th every year. So I want to give a shout-out to two of my favorite middle grade books that just happen to have a little twist of origami - Dan Gemeinhart’s Scar Island and Kelly Barnhill’s The Girl Who Drank the Moon.
• And speaking of crafty things - All the Wonders has an AWESOME craft posted last week - Make Your Own Read-Along Scarecrow Finger Puppet!  It’s so cute and so easy to do with items you have laying around the house - and the perfect way to repurpose old gloves. 
• And today is also National Young Readers Day - an event launched in collaboration with Pizza Hut and the Library of Congress in 1989 to raise awareness about the importance of reading. It’s always held on the second Tuesday of November and had expanded to a full Young Readers Week to encourage principals across the country to select one day this week to read aloud to their students all day long and coordinate other reading-related events to foster reading. 
• And tomorrow, November 13th is World Kindness Day - the perfect day to surprise someone with book, donate to your local library, tuck your favorite title into a Little Free Library, or help out an author by leaving a review for a book you loved. 
• Kweli The Color of Children’s Literature conference has opened for registration. This is a conference that focuses on presenting authors of color and discussing topics relevant to writing diverse books. Aida Salazar’s workshop is called The Woven Verse: How to Craft a Novel In Verse. 
• Educators and authors are starting to create a buzz around the NCTE  (National Council for Teachers of English) convention taking place in Baltimore Nov. 21 -24. This year’s theme is  “Spirited Inquiry.” There will be thousands of educators and authors sharing their expertise.

TV Shows / MOVIES

• On Netflix, there is an original animated feature released this Friday,  November 15th called Klaus.   I checked out the trailer last night and it looks really cute! It’s rated PG and is kind of a re-imagining of the Santa Claus origin story with lots of laughs and a nice message. It reminded me a bit of a mix of Frozen and Arthur Christmas. 
• And if you like ANY Disney owned content then you should know that the Disney+ streaming service is available….. TODAY!   And word is they are moving all their properties away from other providers so if you want to watch anything by Disney, Pixar, Marvel, National Geographic, or Star Wars - Disney+ will be the option.  It’s $7 a month or $70 a year.

Aida

• I just finished reading Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee. This is a critical story that revolves around issues raised by the #MeToo movement. It is an important book and really, a tool for all youth to learn about speaking out against harassment and learning about consent. I’m waiting for my 14 year old daughter to finish reading it so that I can then make my husband and son read it as well. Our family is in for a good conversation, for sure! I also just read The Other Half of Happy by Rebecca Barcarcel (who is part of Las Musas, the debut Latinx kidlit author group I helped found). This a lovely book about being bi-cultural and finding your sense of belonging between two worlds. And right now, my 11 year old son and I are listening to two books simultaneously — Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia and an oldie but goodie, The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis. Tristan Strong just hit the bestseller list this week and I can see why! It is nuanced about African inspired mythology and an action-packed adventure. My son and I are crazy about it!

Corrina

• My daughters and I are almost done with Summer of a Thousand Pies - which is the perfect book to read before Thanksgiving and has inspired us to attempt making our own pie crusts.

Corrina

Something I’ve been pondering this week is the nuances of informal internet writing found in emails, texts, and social media. How the language is evolving and the generational differences I am witnessing. I’ve been reading a fascinating nonfiction book for adults written by linguist Gretchen McCulloch called Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language. It’s all about how internet language has evolved, how someone communicates online depends on when that person first came online, and - it totally explained why my aunts are CONSTANTLY using multiple hyphens and ellipses. It’s so eye-opening!!  So whether you are an educator or author or someone just interested communication trends - this is a fantastic book that helps explain the nuances of language we see and use everyday. Or, as an author - try to replicate authentically.

Aida

 The topic of censorship is important to me, especially in the school setting. I recently attended an educator’s conference and while at a roundtable to share my book, I had the opportunity to speak to about twenty five different educators. A woman in the first group said outright that she could not bring my book to her district because of the word “genderfluid” in the description and that teachers were too busy teaching to take on the fight for a controversial book. I then asked each group of educators who sat at my table if they could bring this book into their classroom and every single one said honestly, they could not. I realized then that my book was being censored not officially but unofficially.  It prompted me to write an essay in response which was published in the National Coalition Against Censorship this week as well. https://ncac.org/news/author-aida-salazar-on-censoring-gender-fluidity-in-schools)