A few photos from last week.... IFLA / ALA....

I took a few snaps with my phone last week.  They're not great photography, but they give you a sense of the evenings.

First we had the Gale-Cengage reception, where both Susanne Clower and Pam Males won prizes in the Bingo game!  (Sorry, Susanne, I only captured Pam's big win.)

IFLA - Gale/Cengage night

Click on the photo to go to the album....

Then on Thursday, we had the social evening with ALA (American Library Association) executives, at Susanne's sister's house in Woodlands.  It was a wonderful evening of library talk -- and the food (catered by Chutney Cafe) was delicious.

Below is Barbara Stripling, the current ALA President (centre), with Susanne Clower (UWCSEA Dover) and Ruth Soeding (GESS).

See more candid shots here:

ALA-ISLN Evening, Aug 22, 2013 Click on the photo above to go to the album

We were especially thrilled to have one of our international school students attend the evening:  Rabiah, who is in Grade 12 at UWCSEA Dover.  

Rabiah attended the ALA Annual Conference in June as she is an avid YA blogger -- she picked up over 80 ARC (Advanced Reader Copies) at the conference.  See her blog, The Confessions of a Readaholic, or follow her on Goodreads, where she has over 5,000 books on her shelves.

We are interested in getting students who are YA lit fans (or avid readers in general) from all the international schools together, especially those who blog or are active on sites like Goodreads.  A Saturday summit?  The start of a student booklovers network here in Singapore?  Rabiah is very keen -- and as we only have her around until next June -- this is the year to do it.  If you are willing to get involved -- or know of students at your school who would -- please contact me or Susanne Clower.

-- Katie Day 

Red Dot Readers at Lycee Francais de Singapour

Recently LFS celebrated their students' involvement in the ISLN Red Dot Awards with their own awards ceremony.

Individual and Class awards were enthusiastically received amid much excitement. The children shared poetry, reflections and songs inspired by the themes explored in their favourite Red Dot 2012 books. Congratulations to Daniele Weiler and the teachers at LFS for inspiring such enthusiasm for reading in their students.

ISLN Readers' Cup 2012

8 schools, 18 teams, 102 contestants across 3 divisions! Great participation and lots of fun at the 2012 ISLN Readers' Cup. The students competed with great spirit, and certainly knew their books well, as is reflected in the tied result for first place in the Younger Readers' Division.
Results were:
Younger Readers - Equal First Place tp SJI, UWC East and UWC Dover. Second place CIS. Third place SAIS.
Older Readers - First Place UWC Dover. Second place CIS. Third place AIS.
Mature Readers - First Place SJI. Second Place AIS. Third Place GESS.
A big congratulations to these teams, and to all teams that participated.
A special mention must go to SJI which was the only school to compete in all three divisions. Well done.
Our grateful appreciation to our hosts, UWC East; our judges; our wonderful Quizmaster Mr Bruce Home, and our sponsors Bookaburra Books for the major prizes  and APD for the audience prizes.

FW: Author/Race car driver visit for the Singapore F1

.......A Canadian author, former race car driver, school principal and English teacher.....  What an great way to connect our libraries and readers to the hype of the F1 race in Singapore!

Anthony Hampshire has written a series called Redline Racing Series, using his knowledge of car racing and his passion to reach some of the reluctant readers in his classes.  The series is available through Follett.

Tony would stay with our principal and he has factored his flight costs into his daily fee so it's not only a great opportunity, but also a great deal!  $750 for a day, in which he would do several presentations.

Below is some information, from Tony, about himself and his presentations.  

Please let me know if you would be interested in having him visit your library.  I will need to confirm with him ASAP as he needs to organize his schedule, book flights and get his tickets to the Singapore F1 :)  Really, the sooner the better!

Thanks!

Sarah (storrible@cis.edu.sg)

****************************************************************************************************************************************************

PRESENTATIONS 

I think that you will need a clear idea as to what I could provide as a visiting author.  I've done many school presentations since the RedLine books were first published in 2001, particularly at the regional Foothills Young Authors Conference.  My presentations are interactive, usually a good deal of fun, and the reviews I've had back from conference organizers indicate that students rate them highly.  As a sample, attached is a .pdf copy of my Young Authors Conference mid school Powerpoint presentation from last year. I also have different versions of this to suit younger/older audiences. 

The substance of my presentations is not about how awesome my books might be and although I could have some shipped out and available for purchase, it isn't a sales pitch.  As old LA/English teachers never die, I use my professional training, racing and author experiences to encourage kids to find their own stories.  We're all writers, and we all have a voice.  While I am a published author and ex racing driver, I am first and last a teacher, and present that way.  I explain my writing process, story development, and share tips that I've learned from experience that students may be able to use.  My goal is to for them to come away with a stronger sense of enablement as writers, perhaps even somewhat inspired.  To accomplish that, I like to directly involve the kids in dialogue and some readings from my books.  As you'll appreciate, that's very difficult to do with 400+ kids in a gym, so given the option I much prefer to do two or three smaller sessions with several classes in a Library or classroom over the course of a day rather than a one shot presentation for everyone.  While I may thus be at a school for most of a day doing several presentations, there's much more value for the school to have an author work with smaller groups, and my fee would be the same.  As a frugal ex-Principal, I know that it's always about value....

To leverage the Singapore GP specifically, I would adapt some of my presentation materials.  I also think it could be fun to correspond electronically with classes & teachers prior to arrival especially if they're involved in GP activities leading up to the race.  I have a fair amount of knowledge about Formula 1 and some first hand experience with a top level racing team.  

For sample chapters from all RedLine Racing books, photos and critical reviews, please see my website at       http://www.anthonyhampshire.com/index.htm   

I also currently serve as the webmaster (and sometimes crewman of last resort) for the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports team in California, which heeps me current with modern racing. 

See    http://www.mathiasenmotorsports.com/

PRESENTATION FEES

For a local conference the standard author presentation fee here is $500/day, higher if out of town.  Singapore is a tad out of town for me, so the $750 fee per presentation would be fine. To offset the travel costs of a trip of this distance (see below), I would need to have three or four school presentations confirmed, each at that rate.   As detailed above I would be quite prepared to spend all or most of a day in each school over the week leading up to the race for presentations and interacting with kids and teachers about writing and racing.  I won't do supervision however...

School Programs with Award-winning Author SherMay Loh & Lord Archibald!

Epigram Books is proud to present the next installment of the Archibald series by award-winning author, SherMay Loh: Archibald and the Black Knight's Ring!

We believe that SherMay may be familiar to many teachers and schools as she has appeared in schools such as Tao Nan, Henry Park, RGPS and Haig Girls amongst others when she released her first novel. We hope that more schools would like to invite SherMay to their schools this year!

A new program that we have in 2012 is the Assembly Talk (Option 1) organized in conjunction with the Budding Writers League and Monsters Under the Bed. For the Assembly Talks, experienced trainers will help your students rediscover the fact that writing can be fun and even teach them how to get published!

Our second program is the Fireside Chat (Option 2), a more intimate session where SherMay would host a group of students to talk about her experiences writing and reading, and will encourage your students to do the same. For schools that held the Fireside Chats previously, SherMay has updated her program to incorporate a discussion about her latest novel as well as new practical examples to inspire the kids. 

Lastly, Archibald Wants Your Help! If you have students interested in participating in our brand new review initiative, please refer to the banner visual for more information! This initiative is a fantastic way to get your students reading and writing and involve them in the publication of a brand new novel. 

We look forward to hearing back from you soon. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you need more information on any of the programs or initiative. 

Best regards,

Felicia Low-Jimenez

Rights & Marketing Manager | Epigram Books

felicia@epigrambooks.sg | +65 62924456 | 1008 Toa Payoh North #03-08 Singapore 318996

www.facebook.com/epigrambooks | www.epigrambooks.sg

Words Go Round: Singapore Writers Festival: Feb 27 - March 10

This year's Singapore Writers Festival has a stellar line-up of children's and young adult authors, including Garth Nix, John Boyne, James Roy, Jack Heath, Kirsty Murray, and others.

Schools can sign up for events (the deadline is Feb. 13th) -- and there are some public ones as well.  E.g.,

A Confusion of Princes: A Garth Nix Special Preview

29 Feb 7pm – 8pm
The Arts House, 1 Old Parliament Lane, Blue Room
FREE

Internationally bestselling fantasy author Garth Nix welcomes you to a special preview of A Confusion of Princes, his long-awaited standalone science fiction novel. A riveting read, this space opera forms the background for Imperial Galaxy, a massively multiplayer online game (written by Garth Nix and developed by Creative Enclave, of which Garth is also a founder) that lets you play the part of a noble prince serving in the navy of a galaxy-spanning empire. An event of truly intergalactic scale!

Literary Cocktail: Enter the Old Kingdom with Garth Nix

1 Mar, 7pm
The Arts House, 1 Old Parliament Lane, Blue Room
$22 (including $2 ticketing fee)
Click here for tickets: www.bytes.sg
(A cocktail / mocktail will be served together with delicious canapés.)

Enjoy canapés and a specially concocted drink, Sabriel Surprise, with international bestselling fantasy author Garth Nix, as he invites you into his rich, imaginative world, and enthrals you with tales from his fantasy adventures. Be prepared for an out-of-this-world experience.

Author Biography

Garth Nix (Australia)

With more than 5 million copies of his books sold, Garth is an acclaimed and best-selling fantasy novelist for young adult readers. In particular, he is known for his Abhorsen trilogy, The Seventh Tower series, andThe Keys to the Kingdom series. A full-time writer since 2001, he previously worked as a literary agent, marketing consultant, book editor, book publicist, bookseller, and a part-time soldier. Garth’s next book will be the science-fiction adventure A Confusion of Princes, to be published in April 2012.

2012 ALA Award Winners and Honors

And the 2012 ALA Award Winners and Honors are…

As advocates for international schools and libraries, we understand the excitement of book award and honor winners and having the information as soon as possible. We wanted to take this opportunity to share with you the list of all of the American Library Association's 2012 Award and Honor titles that were announced this morning.  

In addition, make sure to read about our Give Away at the bottom of this email message!

John Newbery Medal

"Dead End in Norvelt," written by Jack Gantos

Two Newbery Honor Books also were named:

·      "Inside Out & Back Again," written by Thanhha Lai
·      "Breaking Stalin's Nose," written and illustrated by Eugene Yelchin

Randolph Caldecott Medal

"A Ball for Daisy," illustrated and written by Chris Raschka

Three Caldecott Honor Books also were named:

·      "Blackout," illustrated and written by John Rocco
·      "Grandpa Green" illustrated and written by Lane Smith
·      "Me … Jane," illustrated and written by Patrick McDonnell 

Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults:

"Where Things Come Back," written by John Corey Whaley

Four Printz Honor Books also were named:

·      "Why We Broke Up," written by Daniel Handler, art by Maira Kalman
·      "The Returning," written by Christine Hinwood
·      "Jasper Jones," written by Craig Silvey
·      "The Scorpio Races," written by Maggie Stiefvater

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award

Kadir Nelson, author and illustrator of "Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans"

Two King Author Honor Book recipients were selected:

·      Eloise Greenfield, author of "The Great Migration: Journey to the North," illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist
·      Patricia C. McKissack, author of "Never Forgotten," illustrated by Leo and Diane 

Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award:

Shane W. Evans, illustrator and author of "Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom

One King Illustrator Honor Book recipient was selected:

·      Kadir Nelson, illustrator and author of "Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans"

Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement:

Ashley Bryan is the winner of the Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime achievement

Schneider Family Book Award

The Jury chose not to award a book in the category for children ages 0 – 8 because no submissions were deemed worthy of the award.

Two books were selected for the middle school award (ages 9 – 13):

·      "Close to famous," written by Joan Bauer
·      "Wonderstruck: A Novel in Words and Pictures," written by Brian Selznick

The teen (ages 14-18) award winner is "The Running Dream," written by Wendelin Van Draanen

Alex Awards 
for the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences:

•   "Big Girl Small," by Rachel DeWoskin

•   "In Zanesville," by Jo Ann Beard

•   "The Lover's Dictionary," by David Levithan

•   "The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens," by Brooke Hauser

•   "The Night Circus," by Erin Morgenstern

•   "Ready Player One," by Ernest Cline

•   "Robopocalypse: A Novel," by Daniel H. Wilson

•   "Salvage the Bones," by Jesmyn Ward

•   "The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures," by Caroline Preston

•   "The Talk-Funny Girl," by Roland Merullo 

Margaret A. Edwards Award

Susan Cooper is the 2012 Edwards Award winner

·      "Over Sea, Under Stone"
·      "The Dark Is Rising"; "Greenwitch"
·      "The Grey King"
·      "Silver on the Tree"

If you are interested in the many other Awards and Honors posted at the ALA Mid-Winter Conference, please let us know and we will send you the complete list.

At the 2011 ALA Summer Conference, I had the opportunity to meet with Lane Smith and he autographed an advanced copy of "Grandpa Green", which is now a Caldecott Honor Book. We would like to Give Away this copy to a lucky International School or Librarian. If you would like to enter our Give Away, here are the rules and directions:

1.   Registrations must be from an International School (Librarian, Teacher or Administrator) or International Librarian.

2.   Registrations need to be sent to giveaway@jennifer-nelson.com and MUST include the following information: name, job title, school name and email address.

3.   Registrations need to be submitted on or before 9:00 AM US CST Tuesday January 31, 2012.

4.   Winner(s) will be announced on our Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/jennifernelsonllc ) and Twitter account (@jnelsonllc) on Thursday February 2, 2012.

If you would like for us to send you an easy to complete Order Form for the above Award and Honor titles, please let us know. In addition, the Award and Honor Lists will be posted on Children's Plus, Inc.'s website at www.childrensplusinc.com.

Please let us know if we can be of any assistance with your book, AV, furniture, supply and automation needs! We are here to be of assistance to you!

Best regards,

Jennifer Nelson Saracevic

President

Jennifer Nelson, LLC

Email:             jennifer@jennifer-nelson.com

Office:            +1-847-380-2153

Skype:            jnelsonsaracevic     

Linkedin: Jennifer Nelson Saracevic

Sklobal:          Jennifer Nelson Saracevic

Facebook: www.facebook.com/jennifernelsonllc

Twitter: @jnelsonllc

Website: www.jennifernelson.com

I would like to invite you to follow us on Twitter and connect with us on Facebook and Sklobal. 

Jennifer Nelson LLC  (www.jennifernelson.com) : Signature Solutions for International Education and Libraries

National Year of Reading 2012

2012 has been designated the National Year of Reading in Australia. A website of resources has been developed to promote reading with adults and children which you will find useful with your school community.

To receive regular updates from the website you can join the mailing list or follow on twitter @love2read2012.

The Love reading>for children link is especially useful, containing an excellent list of blogs and websites for book selection and reading promotion for children.

Join the Twitter discussion - The Amazing Read. #NYR12

Happy reading 2012 to you and your school community! Linda