The Picture-Book Meister Wins Again
Janet Halfmann, one of Wisconsin’s most prolific picture-book authors–if not the most–has won yet another award. Her book Animal Teachers had already won a Gold Best Book Award from the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, but now it has also received a PLATINUM Best Book Award in the Preschool and Early School Years categories.
Here’s what the organization’s write-up said:
Animal Teachers
(By Janet Halfmann/ illus Katy Hudsom, Blue Apple $17.99 Score:)How do animals learn? They don’t go to school or have books. In a charming and informative book, they learn from their teachers, their mothers, fathers and sometimes the herd they live with in the great outdoor classroom of the world. Each new idea is followed with interactive questions that give children a chance to make the connections between their world and how they learn.
Age: Preschool, Early School Years. Award Year: 2014.
Janet’s books have also won a Council for Wisconsin Writers Tofte-Wright Children’s Literature award and honorable mention.
For more information about CWW, its annual contests and awards, please go to http://www.wiswriters.org/index.htm.
Short Story Places First
Thanks to fellow writer and CWW Tofte/Wright Children’s Literature contest honorable mention and former first-place winner Janet Halfmann for writing this article.
SM Author Jerrianne Hayslett’s Short Story Wins First-Place Prize
Hayslett serves on the CWW Board of Directors and author of the award-winning book, Anatomy of a Trial.
Learn more about CWW and its mission at www.wiswriters.org.
Animals Teach in CWW Honor Book
Among the many truly superb writers in Wisconsin are those whose works were recognized by receiving honor mentions in the Council for Wisconsin Writers 2014 contests.
How Do Animals Learn To Swim, Fish, Box, Or Build?
More information about Janet, Animal Teachers and her other books is at http://www.janethalfmann.com/
Children's Writers' Good June News
Here’s what’s been happening on the children’s book publishing front during the past month:
The hard-cover edition of Ann Bausum‘s Stonewall, which was released in May, has earned starred reviews and is now sharing the spotlight with the audio book production from Listening Library. Ann reports that her fellow author Tim Federle, who narrated the audio book, has earned an Earphones Award for his performance from AudioFile magazine. The reviewer notes: “…Bausum’s account of the gay rights movement…is told with heartbreaking candor, and Tim Federle’s narration wrings all the emotion from this gripping history. With vocal intensity that is by turns fearful, angry, or touching….”
Ann and her fellow Wisconsin writer, Bridget Birdsall, winner of CWW’s 2014 Tofte/Wright Children’s Literature Award for her YA novel Double Exposure, will be at Madison’s west side Barnes and Noble on June 11 to read, talk, and sign their books. The public is invited to attend: Thursday, June 11 at 7 p.m., B&N in West Towne Mall, 7433 Mineral Point Road. “Our event coincides, quite happily, with GLBT Book Month (the timing of which can be traced back to the events I write about in Stonewall),” Ann says.
Becky Wojahn‘s Malcolm at Midnight won the Kansas William Allen White Children’s Book Award. She plans to be in Kansas in October for the award presentation. Malcolm is one of the Wisconsin Golden Archer nominees for the next school year.
Sheila Cohen has a middle school biography of Wisconsinite Sterling North published by the Wisconsin Historical Society coming out this coming October. Sterling North wrote many books and was literary critique at the Chicago Daily News for many years, but his claim to fame for kids is that his book RASCAL was made into a Disney movie in the 1960’s.
JoAnn Macken‘s Baby Says “Moo!” is out as a padded board book.
Lisa Moser‘s Squirrel’s Fun Day has been selected for the summer reading lists by the New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and Queens Library.
CWW Contest Awards Presented
Council for Wisconsin Writers contest winners of first-place awards and honorable mentions were feted Saturday, May 16, at the CWW Annual Awards Banquet at the Wisconsin Club in Milwaukee.