 Dear USBBY members,
We value your membership in USBBY and are always trying to find better ways to serve our members. In this spirit we decided to move to a calendar year membership so everyone’s membership in USBBY would be from January 1 through December 31. This change will better align USBBY with the practices of other professional organizations and make it easier for you to remember when to renew your membership in USBBY. You should have received an email regarding this transition that is specific to your situation. We recognize that this change may result in some questions or concerns. Please reach out to me at [email protected] or to Christina Moorehead at [email protected] with any individual questions you may have. We are committed to meeting your needs as we make this change. Save the date for the USBBY Annual Meeting, virtual again this year on Saturday, November 6, 2021. The meeting will be held at Noon (Eastern); 11:00 a.m. (Central); 10:00 a.m. (Mountain) and 9:00 a.m. (Pacific). Sign up here at https://tinyurl.com/usbby2021. Details about the special program will be sent in the next few weeks. Planning is progressing well for the 14th IBBY Regional Conference at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, March 4-6, 2022. We hope to see you there. Early bird registration is now open: https://www.usbby.org/regional-conference.html Bookbird: A Journal of International Children’s Literature is seeking a new editor or editorial team to begin in January 2023. Information about the editorship and application can be found at https://www.ibby.org/fileadmin/user_upload/IBBY_Bookbird_Search_for_Editors.pdf Our Twinning partners, IBBY Haiti and IBBY Lebanon, are experiencing an especially dire time. An earthquake in Haiti has already killed more than 2000 people and displaced tens of thousands. Lebanon is in a state of political and economic crisis. Shereen in Lebanon shared that there is no fuel, electricity or medicine. USBBY has learned about courage and resilience from our Twinning partners who quickly find ways to help children during crisis situations. We hope you will consider contributing to the Children in Crisis Fund to support their efforts: https://www.usbby.org/donate.html If you have suggestions or ideas for USBBY or would like to volunteer for a committee, please contact me at: [email protected] Wishing you all the best, Evelyn “Evie” Freeman, Ph.D. USBBY President
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USBBY Nominates Dolly Parton's Imagination Library for the 2022 IBBY-ASAHI Reading Promotion Award8/28/2021  Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is the USBBY nominee for the 2022 IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award. Judged by an international jury, the award is given biennially to a group or organization whose outstanding activities continue to make a lasting contribution to book promotion for children and young people. The prize-winning organization will receive a diploma and $10,000, donated by the Asahi Shimbun Newspaper of Japan. The United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY) is the National Section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was chosen by the USBBY IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award Committee after examining a wide array of reading promotion programs in the United States with local, national, and international reach. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which she started in 1995 in her hometown in Sevier County, Tennessee, has proliferated widely throughout the United States as well as expanded into Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The organization works with over 2,500 affiliates and 23,000 communities worldwide. Every month, each of the over 1.8 million children enrolled in the program receives a book in the mail from the time of birth to age five. As of July 2021, the Imagination Library has gifted more than 165 million free books to over 6 million children around the world. Given its broad reach and high impact, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is eminently worthy of the international recognition afforded by its nomination and highly qualified to compete with nominees from IBBY’s 80 other National Sections. The 2022 USBBY IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award Committee is comprised of Elizabeth Poe, chair; Denise Dávila; Sue Christian Parsons; and Laura Shovan. For more information contact the United States Board on Books for Young People at: [email protected].  The United States Board on Books for Young People has nominated Jane Kurtz for the IBBY-iRead Outstanding Reading Promoter Award. The IBBY-iRead Outstanding Reading Promoter Award, established by the Shenzhen iRead Foundation and IBBY, “encourages a real commitment to the cause of reading promotion in the hope of spreading this dedication to others around the globe.” It honors “outstanding individuals who are working to promote the expansion and development of children’s reading.“ Jane Kurtz works to improve the literacy of children, the culture around literacy, and the infrastructure supporting literacy development in Ethiopia and around the globe. Jane grew up in rural Ethiopia and is uniquely positioned to understand the need for grassroots efforts anchored in Ethiopia with multi-pronged approaches to promoting literacy. With a network of relationships to enable the success of these efforts, she has created over 100 bilingual books and developed connections at organizational and governmental levels in Ethiopia, including establishing libraries, speaking at conferences, and recruiting local authors. Jane’s work with literacy addresses the challenges of multiple official languages; lack of books reflecting Ethiopian culture, history, and landscape; obstacles in the translation, publication, and distribution process; and insufficient professional opportunities for educators and librarians. Jane partners with Ethiopia Reads and Open Hearts Big Dreams, using Ready Set Go Books to create an innovative pathway for book creation, translation, distribution, and use that addresses these issues. In addition to her work in literacy, she is a successful author of global picturebooks, speaker at global conferences, and mentor for emerging authors. Her vision has opened the lens for reading promotion as an inspiration for other projects around the world. Committee members who compiled the nomination material that was submitted to IBBY are Committee Chair Kathy G. Short, Susan Corapi, and Meredith Davis. For additional information, contact the United States Board on Books for Young People at: [email protected].  Bookbird: A Flight through Time is a new publication from Bookbird, Inc. and IBBY. Co-edited by Valerie Coghlan and Evelyn B. Freeman, the book traces the history of Bookbird: A Journal of International Children’s Literature, the official journal of IBBY, since its founding in 1957 by Jella Lepman. The journal’s history is intertwined with that of the International Youth Library and IBBY, also founded by Jella Lepman. Through words and images, it tells the story of an important part of children’s literature in an international context over more than sixty years.
The book is organized chronologically into five sections, each with an overview and photo montage. Each section features a poem by a Hans Christian Andersen recipient in English and the poem’s original language. Twenty-two articles are included with contributors from seven countries. The book’s magnificent cover was donated by Hans Christian Andersen recipient Igor Oleynikov. Katherine Paterson wrote the Foreword and IBBY President Mingzhou Zhang shared a Welcome message. Roger Mello, Brazilian author/illustrator and Hans Christian Andersen recipient praised the book: “…a fabulous book, fundamental, indispensable! A gift and a right for those who understand that character and books through time are the possibility of creating a new future.” The book may be purchased online at: https://bookbird.ibby.org/bookbird-a-flight-through-time  Come be a part of the 14th IBBY Regional Conference in Nashville, Tennessee! Sponsored by USBBY, the conference is an opportunity to enrich and expand our thinking about the international world of children and their books. We’ll explore books and topics that have the power to comfort, influence, change, and provide a broader perspective of the world’s conditions and challenges. We look forward to seeing you there. Conference fees include: registration, Friday dinner, Saturday and Sunday lunches, Saturday night Briley Dinner, and Saturday and Sunday Breaks. Conference fees are non-refundable. If you are unable to attend, registration can be transferred to another person. Vanderbilt University requires that all conference attendees must be fully vaccinated. Conference Registration Rates Members USBBY Member: Early Bird (7/1 to 12/31, 2021) $399/Regular rate: $499 USBBY Student/New Career Member: Early Bird (7/1 to 12/31, 2021): $199/ Regular rate: $299 Register online at https://www.usbby.org/registration.html Make your room reservations at the Moxy Hotel Vanderbilt Area. by Brenda Dales |
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