A Tribute to Maurice Sendak

“There must be more to life than having everything.” -Maurice Sendak

It's a sad day for anyone who's ever fallen in love with a children's book. Influential, unrivaled and famous author Maurice Sendak died this morning, at age 83, four days after he suffered a stroke. Maurice "revolutionized children's books and how we think about childhood simply by leaving in what so many writers before had excluded. Dick and Jane were no match for his naughty Max. His kids misbehaved and didn't regret it and in their dreams and nightmares fled to the most unimaginable places" (Associated Press).

If you've never had the privilege of being taken away by one of Maurice Sendak's books, here are a few suggestions to get you started:

Alligators All Around: An Alphabet

Pierre : a Cautionary Tale in Five chapters and a prologue

Very Far Away

Where The Wild Things Are

Also, make sure to take a look at this awesome blog inspired by the beloved Where The Wild Things Are, called Terrible Yellow Eyes. The pieces presented on this site were done as a tribute to his life and legacy.

And enjoy this brief and lovely adaptation of "Where the Wild Things Are," almost undoubtedly his most famous book:

 

Then view this 2006 NBC interview with Maurice Sendak.

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"Sendak spoke often, endlessly, about death in recent years - dreading it, longing for it. He didn't mind being old because the young were under so much pressure. But he missed his late siblings and his longtime companion, Eugene Glynn, who died in 2009. Work, not people, was his reason to carry on" (Associated Press).

We'll miss you, Maurice... but the wild things cried, "Oh please don't go! We'll eat you up, we love you so!"

The Fault In Our Stars Movie

Although you'd never know it from this blog, I am a huge John Green fan. If you are too, brace yourself, because he's just announced some extremely exciting news on his Twitter account!

His most recent (and arguably best) novel, "The Fault In Our Stars," was optioned very early by Fox 2000. Know what this means? A "The Fault In Our Stars" MOVIE! According to Zap 2 It, writing partners Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber have signed a deal to adapt the novel and the film will be produced by Temple Hill's Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen, who are best known for their work on the "Twilight" franchise.

If you haven't read John Green's "The Fault In Our Stars" yet, YOU HAVE TO! Put a copy on hold by clicking this link.

And for more on John Green, his Twitter can be read here.

Teens’ Top Ten Nominees

The Teens’ Top Ten is an annual “teen choice” book list where every title is nominated by teens and voted on by teens. The 2012 nominations are here and voting will take place during August and September so there's pleanty of time to read the books! Here's the list!

All Good Children by Catherine Austen

Ashes by Ilsa Bick

Abandon by Meg Cabot

Tempest by Julie Cross

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

Eona: The Last Dragoneye by Alison Goodman

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge

Legend by Marie Lu

Hourglass by Myra McEntire

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Shine by Lauren Myracle

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr

All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin

The winners will be announced during Teen Read Week in October. Get reading!!

100th Anniversary of the Titanic

Today marks the 100-year anniversary of the day the Titanic set sail.

It left from Southampton, England on April 10, 1912 and made stops in Cherbourg, France and Queenstown, Ireland before heading westwards over the Atlantic to New York. Four days along the in the big journey, on April 14, Titanic hit an iceberg at 11:40pm. Over the next 2½ hours, the ship gradually filled with water and at 2:20am on April 15, it broke up and sank, bow-first, with over 1000 people still on board, not rescued.

Since then, we have remembered this tragedy with movies, documentaries, books, and even fictional stories. Take a look at a few from our collection:

Titanic: Voices From The Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson

SOS Titanic by Eve Bunting

Titanic Sinks! by Barry Denenberg

Explore Titanic: Breathtaking New Pictures, Recreated With Digital Technology by Peter Chrisp

Titanic by Simon Adams

Kaspar The Titanic Cat by Michael Morpurgo

Titanic: The Long Night by Diane Hoh

Titanic: April 14, 1912 by K. Duey and K.A. Bale

882½ Amazing Answers to Your Questions About the Titanic by Hugh Brewster and Laurie Coulter

Titanic Crossing by Barbara Williams

Unsinkable by Gordon Korman

National Poetry Month

So, I know that yesterday I posted about it being National Humor Month, but April is a really exciting month for librarians (and all books-lovers!) because it's also National Poetry Month!

According to Poets.org, National Poetry Month was established in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets. "The concept is to widen the attention of individuals and the media—to the art of poetry, to living poets, to our complex poetic heritage, and to poetry books and journals of wide aesthetic range and concern."

Familiarize yourself with some new poetry this month. Here are a few book ideas to get you started:

Poetry Speaks: Who I Am edited by Elise Paschen

Something Permanent photographs by Walker Evans, poetry by Cynthia Rylant

The Pain Tree: And Other Teenage Angst-Ridden Poetry collected and illustrated by Esther Pearl Watson and Mark Todd

Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature's Survivors by Joyce Sidman, illustrations by Beckie Prange

Hour of Freedom: American History in Poetry compiled by Milton Meltzer, illustrations by Marc Nadel

It's a Woman's World: A Century of Women's Voices in Poetry edited by Neil Philip

My Name is Jason, Mine Too: Our Story, Our Way by Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin

Humor Month!

April is National Humor Month! And who doesn't like to laugh? National Humor Month was founded in 1976 by best-selling humorist Larry Wilde, Director of The Carmel Institute of Humor. It is designed to bring awareness to the joy and therapeutic value of laughter!

So why not have yourself a good laugh? Here are some funny books you might want to try reading:

Fat Vampire: A Never Coming of Age Story by Adam Rex

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Bras & Broomsticks by Sarah Mlynowski

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Beat The Band by Don Calame

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce

The Big Splash by Jack D. Ferraiolo

International Children's Book Day

Since 1967, International Children's Book Day (ICBD) has been celebrated on April 2nd, on Hans Christian Andersen's birthday. It's a day to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children's and teen's books.

The philosophy behind International Children's Book Day 2012 is that a story can be passed down through generations and preserved for years and years, and across multiple cultures.

"When we read, tell or listen to stories out loud, we’re also continuing an ancient ritual that has played a fundamental role in the history of civilization: creating community. Cultures, past eras and generations come together around these stories to tell us that we are all one, the Japanese, Germans, and Mexicans; those that lived in the seventeenth century and us today, reading our stories on the Internet; grandparents, parents and children. Stories fulfill all human beings in the same way because, despite our enormous differences, we are all, deep down, the stories’ protagonists."

Here are some stories, in English, that were originally told in other languages. Why not check one out, and get yourself connected to another time and place?

A Time of Miracles by Anne-Laure Bondoux

Soldier Bear by Bibi Dumon Tak

A Faraway Island by Annika Thor

The Lily Pond by Annika Thor (This is the sequel to A Faraway Island.)

Departure Time by Truus Matti

Nothing by Janne Teller

Eidi by Bodil Bredsdorff

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi

Moribito II : Guardian of the Darkness by Nahoko Uehashi (This is the sequel to Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit.)

Tiger Moon by Antonia Michaelis

For more international books, check out information on Batchelder Award Winners. The Batchelder Award is given to the most outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States. Click her for a list of winners of this award from 1968-present.