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Tune in for a virtual reading on TBD of the winning title by the author and illustrator, followed by a Q&A.

New York, NY – May 9, 2024 – Penguin Young Readers, the Children’s Book Council, and Every Child a Reader are honored to announce that KINDergarten, written by Vera Ahiyya, and illustrated by Joey Chou, published by Random House Studio, is the winner of the eighth annual Anna Dewdney Read-Together Award.

This award is given annually to a picture book that is both a superb read-aloud and sparks compassion, empathy, and connection. The award commemorates the life and work of author/illustrator Anna Dewdney and celebrates her commitment to reading with young children and putting books into as many little hands as possible.

Vera Ahiyya and Joey Chou will gather virtually to record a read-aloud of their winning book, followed by a conversation about their creative process and Q&A. We invite teachers, librarians, booksellers, and parents to submit your own questions, or the questions of young readers for the authors to answer. Submit a question for the Q&A. 

Vera Ahiyya was raised in El Paso, Texas with her wonderful mother and amazing grandparents. Vera has taught Kindergarten and First Grade for the last 16 years. Her online presence is dedicated to influencing other educators by spreading her vast knowledge and love of inclusive children’s books. She is the author of Rebellious Read Alouds, a professional development book for educators. She is also the author of You Have a Voice, Look How Much I’ve Grown in KINDergarten, and the forthcoming Getting Ready series.

Joey Chou is an animation artist and children’s book illustrator. He has illustrated the Little Golden Books, I’m a Reindeer, I’m a Ballerina, I’m a Unicorn, I’m a Dragon, and I’m a Narwhal.

The Honor Books for 2024 are: 

Bella & Blue: Bella Meets Blue by Berrie Torgan-Randall (The Little Press)

Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard; illus. Juana Martinez-Neal (Roaring Book/Macmillan)

Only for a Little While by Gabriela Orozco Belt; illus. Richy Sánchez Ayala (Balzar+Bray/HarperCollins)

Say Their Names by Caroline Brewer; illus. Adrian Brandon (Reycraft Books)

Tango Red Riding Hood by Rachel Hobbs; illus. Carolina Vázquez (Gnome Road Publishing)

Past winners can be viewed here.

The winner and honor books were chosen via voting over the last two months by librarians, teachers, booksellers, and caregivers across the country.

About Anna Dewdney

Anna Dewdney was the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of Llama Llama Red Pajama. Other award-winning books in the Llama Llama series include Llama Lama and the Bully Goat, Llama Lama Time to Share, Llama Llama Misses Mama, Llama Llama Holiday Drama, and Llama Llama Mad at Mama. She was also the author/illustrator of Little Excavator, Nobunny’s Perfect, Roly Poly Pangolin, and Grumpy Gloria. Anna worked as a rural mail carrier and taught at a boys’ boarding school for many years before becoming a full-time author and illustrator. Anna was a committed advocate of literacy, speaking regularly on this topic and publishing articles in the Wall Street Journal and other national outlets.

About Penguin Young Readers

Penguin Young Readers is one of the leading children’s book publishers in the United States. The company owns a wide range of imprints and trademarks, including Dial Books, Dutton, Flamingo, Kokila, Nancy Paulsen Books, Penguin Workshop, Philomel, Puffin, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, Razorbill, Viking, and Frederick Warne. These imprints are home to such award-winning, New York Times- bestselling authors as, Laurie Halse Anderson, Max Brallier, Jan Brett, Eric Carle, Roald Dahl, Anna Dewdney, John Flanagan, John Green, Oliver Jeffers, Brad Meltzer, Ransom Riggs, Ruta Sepetys, Sabaa Tahir, Jacqueline Woodson, and dozens of other popular authors. Penguin Young Readers Group is also the proud publisher of perennial brand franchises such as The Little Engine That Could, the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series, Peter Rabbit, Spot, the Classic Winnie the Pooh, the Very Hungry Caterpillar, Madeline, Mad Libs, the Last Kids on Earth, the Ranger’s Apprentice, and Who HQ among many others. Penguin Young Readers Group is a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

About Every Child a Reader

Every Child a Reader is a 501(c)(3) award-winning literacy charity whose popular national programs include Children’s Book Week, the longest-running literacy initiative in the country, celebrating 105 years in 2024; Get Caught Reading, a classroom role model poster project: and the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature program, in partnership with the Library of Congress.

Contacts:

Penguin Contact: Garrett Bond, Publicity Manager, Brands, Penguin Young Readers gbond@prh.com 

CBC and Every Child a Reader Contact: Carl Lennertz, Executive Director, The Children’s Book Council  carl.lennertz@cbcbooks.org

The long-awaited week is here, and we are honored to be celebrating with young readers, educators, librarians, booksellers, families, book creators, and publishers around the country for the 105th year in a row!

Use #NoRulesJustRead online and let us know all the ways you are celebrating. You can also email pictures of your events and activities (please keep in mind permissions when sharing photos of children) to cbc.info@cbcbooks.org.

 

 

There are lots of great ways to celebrate! Here are a few:

• Join Sophie Blackall for her Children’s Book Week event on Saturday, May 11 at 1pm ET. Sophie will be live at the Brooklyn Public Library and you can tune in from anywhere using this live stream link!

• Join Club No Rules Just Read. Watch Sophie Blackall, this year’s Children’s Book Week poster artist and spokesperson, explain all about the club. Watch the video and join in!

• Have you heard the new Children’s Book Week jingle yet? Watch the lyrics video and sing along with kids of all ages. Teachers can enter to win a box of books by recording students singing along and uploading to Flip. Sing along to the video and check out the challenge information.

• Looking for an event in your area? See what your local library or bookstore has planned for young readers this week. And check out our local event listings for Children’s Book Week specific programs.

• Explore all the FREE resources on the Every Child a Reader website. You can print activity sheets and bookmarks, explore more participation ideas, see our 105 Book Week facts, and more!

 

A guest blog post by Annie Lynn & Tonnye Williams Fletcher

 

Annie Lynn shares:

Children’s Book Week is almost here, and you are no doubt looking for fun, educational activities to share with children as a supplement to the week-long celebration. This year’s slogan, “No Rules, Just Read” is beautifully embodied in the 2024 Poster by award-winning illustrator/author, Sophie Blackall. It can be downloaded along with other resources at everychildareader.net/cbw/.

Music is a great vehicle for content as well as being a wonderful motivator. It can set the tone for your classroom, your dining experience, or your reading experience.

Meet the new Official Jingle for Children’s Book Week. It even has its own musical lyrics video. It was created for educators as a supplement to other extension activities for Children’s Book Week.

One possible extension activity could be to assign students to listen to this jingle/song and memorize it initially as homework. Listening can be done with headphones, on the library or school computer, or listening on a home computer or phone.

Learning the jingle from the video should be fairly comfortable; after all, the lyrics are easy to follow. But what about those students not yet reading? Can this lyrics video help enhance literacy engagement and gains?

We feel the answer is an encouraging YES!

The first thing students will notice is that the words to the jingle light up from left to right, as each word is sung. For readers, following along and singing should be an appropriate level of challenge – just enough difficulty to keep them engaged.

For emergent readers, listening repetitively can bring a familiarity with the song. As they continue to listen and watch the lyrics light up, they sort of “back into reading,” much the same way a toddler will memorize the words to a favorite story, and point to the page that each word is on, pretending to read.

Eventually, students begin to recognize unfamiliar words and discover patterns and then you have a child singing AND reading.

How does singing benefit early literacy skills? An article entitled “Using Music to Teach Early Literacy Skills” from Capstone Publishing, written by Literacy Teacher Ginger Dohmen Thacker, lists some encouraging reasons to incorporate singing into lessons, thus laying the groundwork for a successful learning environment that will be enjoyable for many.

“The early literacy skills required for reading that are enhanced through singing are: phonological awareness, letter knowledge, print awareness, narrative skills, vocabulary, and print motivation.”
There’s also one other important benefit of using music to teach early literacy skills……..it’s FUN! Right

Tonnye Williams Fletcher shares:

In general, kids respond well to using music. Using lyrics videos can enhance things like memory, fluency, and word knowledge. Seeing the words while singing the music/song sets the pace (cadence).

In teaching K-2 elementary music, using lyrics videos serves a multitude of purposes. It scaffolds students’ knowledge of the lyrics until they learn them when we are preparing for a performance. I often start off with a video with lyrics and singing support; then eventually remove the singing support, and finally remove the lyrics support and by that time students have usually memorized the lyrics. In the meantime, however, often they have gained a knowledge of print words that were in their lexicon, but they didn’t know what the words looked like. They’ve built fluency and prosody (aided by the beat of the music). Because they are seeing and hearing and singing the words, they are building effective brain pathways which will help them to recall the words when they encounter them in print subsequently. While I teach music, the effects of this strategy are effective regardless of your subject area.

When I served as a second grade teacher, I also used music lyric videos in my classroom not only to deliver content and provide motivation, but also to develop fluency, phonological awareness, and help students strengthen their vocabulary, all of which align with the science of reading.

The beauty of using music lyrics videos is that it is the perfect blending of science and art, appealing to both sides of the brain. Since it has bilateral impact, it is a phenomenal tool to help students learn and grow in various areas and in various ways. Whether students are already established readers or are emergent readers, using music lyrics videos is a fun strategy that perfectly marries the science of reading, the art of music, and the strength and resilience of our brain, resulting in better learning that is also entertaining and engaging for the students. What better way to celebrate Children’s Book Week than blending books and music?

Check out the lyric video for the official Children’s Book Week jingle, and join the challenge!

 

 

 

 

The team at Every Child a Reader is so excited to share this year’s crop of fun, free resources for readers of all ages to use across the country.

You can take a look at everything currently available below and expect a few more surprises coming your way in early to mid-April!

Children’s Book Week will be celebrated coast to coast May 6-12, 2024!

From beloved children’s book illustrators come 8 brand-new bookmarks and 11 activity pages to enjoy.

Bookmarks from:

• Nancy Armo
• Anu Chouhan
• David Dolensky
• Susan Gal
• Suzy Lee
• Meggie Ramm
• Erin K. Robinson
• Gabby Zapata

Activity pages by:

• Shadia Amin
• Jacqueline Alcántara
• Kent Culotta
• Natasha Donovan
• Braden Hallett
• Jess Hannigan
• Marta Álvarez Miguéns
• Andy J. Pizza
• Elisa Rocchi
• Joséphine Topolanski
• Karen Vermeulen

Print and share these beautiful resources today!

Anyone, anywhere, can celebrate Children’s Book Week. This year we invite you to join CLUB NO RULES JUST READ. How do you join? You read!

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s right…all you need to do is read something during the week, and you are in! Of course, you can do more than that, we have some fun resources and ideas if you and your friends, family, or community want to go big.

 

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Get Caught Reading! Beginning as a May celebration, we are now year-round, and we’ve added 100 new posters in the last 5 years.

These bulletin board-size posters feature role models including children’s book authors, illustrators, teachers, librarians, booksellers, community leaders, and advocates for many important causes.

Here are the 9 new posters!

• Alexene Farol Follmuth is the author of the young adult rom-coms Twelfth Knight and My Mechanical Romance. As Olivie Blake, she is the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six, Alone with You in the Ether, One for My Enemy, and Masters of Death. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, goblin prince/toddler, and rescue pit bull.

 

• Byron Graves is Ojibwe and Lakota and was born and raised on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota, where he played high school basketball. When he isn’t writing, he can be found playing retro video games, spending time with his family, or cheering on his beloved Minnesota Timberwolves. Rez Ball, his debut novel, was just awarded the American Library Association’s 2024 William C. Morris Award for a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens and was awarded the 2024 American Indian Youth Literature for Best Young Adult Book.

 

• Michell Wright Jumpp is an elementary school librarian in Newburgh, NY. She seeks community partnerships to build an inclusive and robust learning environment that inspires unrestricted “ink drinkers” and civically engaged students. Named NYS School Librarian of the Year, Michell has also been featured on The Today Show. She and her family love traveling, dancing, learning about diverse cultures, and dancing, and she writes poetry, classroom jingles, and is working on her first children’s book.

 

• Sandor Ellix Katz is an author, educator, activist, gardener, cook, and nature-lover who lives in rural Tennessee. He says that books have opened many important doors for him. His many books include The Art of Fermentation, winner of the James Beard Foundation Book Award. He is also the subject of the children’s biography, Sandor Katz and the Tiny Wild.

 

• Khoa Le is an illustrator from Vietnam. She graduated from University of Fine Arts in Ho Chi Min City and has been working in publishing most of her life. She has illustrated many books published in Vietnam, Europe, the United States, and the United Kingdom, including The Lonely Polar Bear, Say My Name by Joanna Ho, Miriam at the River by Jane Yolen, and Sugar in Milk by Thrity Umrigar. She currently works and lives with her cats.

 

• Jacqueline Briggs Martin is the author of many books, including the Caldecott Medal winner Snowflake Bentley. Her “Food Heroes” biography series, profile living food pioneers who grow communities through food. The latest is Sandor Katz and the Tiny Wild. She grew up in a Maine farm and now lives in Mount Vernon, Iowa.

 

• Daisy Rain Martin is a writer and English/Literature teacher. She encourages her students to support the Family Justice Center, an organization that supports and empowers families impacted by domestic violence. Together, they provide those in need with basic necessities. Additionally, every young person, 0-18, may choose a new book as a gift. She was named Idaho Human Rights Educator of the Year in 2023.

 

• Rebecca Williford is a proud wheelchair-user and attorney whose work is improving accessibility for people with all types of disabilities nationwide. She has been globally recognized for her work as the President & CEO of Disability Rights Advocates, a national nonprofit legal center that dismantles systemic barriers in education, healthcare, technology, transportation, and more through impact litigation.

 

• Pizza and Taco are the heroes of a bestselling and hilarious young graphic novel series from the mind and pen of Stephen Shaskan. Stephen has written and illustrated over a dozen children’s books. He holds a BFA in illustration from Rhode Island School of Design and worked with kids for twenty years as an early childhood educator and art teacher. He loves performing at musical storytimes, presenting at schools, conferences, and festivals, and teaches comic classes to kids. Stephen often collaborates with his wife, author Trisha Speed Shaskan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Over two dozen 8 ½” x 11” posters are available free to teachers, librarians, booksellers, and parents. The program was relaunched in 2018 thanks to a grant from KPMG and a poster featuring Olympic gold medal gymnast Laurie Hernandez. In 2019 and 2020, posters featuring bestselling authors Kate DiCamillo, Raj Halder, and Raakhee Mirchandani, plus the animated character Phoebe and her Unicorn were made available. Backlist posters include Alicia Keys, Neil Gaiman, Alex Morgan, Horton (Horton Hears a Who!), and Olivia (Olivia book series).

Up to 10 different posters can be ordered on the order form at www.GetCaughtReading.org.

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About Get Caught Reading
A nationwide, year-round campaign to promote the fun of reading books for all ages. Launched in 1999 by the Association of American Publishers and now managed by Every Child a Reader. Get Caught Reading provides teachers and librarians with bulletin board-sized posters of authors, athletes, media stars, and beloved book characters caught reading a favorite!

National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Meg Medina will set out on the 2024 leg of her ¡Cuéntame!: Let’s Talk Books tour this spring. During her tour, Medina will inspire students and families to experiment with “book talks” — the process of sharing books to start conversations and build excitement about reading.

Medina has spent the first part of her Ambassadorship speaking to communities about story sharing and what it means to connect over books, highlighting the invaluable resource that is a community’s public library, and encouraging the reading lives of kids.

She will continue this important work with four events in 2024. Each of Medina’s tour stops include a visit to a local school and a public library event that is open to the community.

Medina will first travel to Los Angeles and Santa Monica for an event at Stevenson Middle School and a public event at 4pm on Friday April 5 at the Santa Monica Public Library.

In May, Meg will meet with students at Fairgrounds Middle School and speak with the wider Nashua, New Hampshire community at 2 pm on Sunday, May 12 event at the Nashua Public Library.

Students and families across the country can connect with Meg’s platform and encourage book talking using this guide.

Follow Meg Medina, The Children’s Book Council, and the Library of Congress for more news and fun!

No Rules. Just Read. is the 105th-anniversary slogan

The Children’s Book Council, Every Child a Reader and Random House Children’s Books are pleased to announce that Sophie Blackall has been chosen as the illustrator for the 2024 Children’s Book Week featuring the theme, No Rules. Just Read.

Blackall will also be the official spokesperson for Children’s Book Week in May 2024, with media appearances and a special live-streamed event planned.

This year marks the 105^th anniversary of Children’s Book Week, the longest-running children’s literacy campaign in the United States. Children’s Book Week is celebrated across the country in schools, public and school libraries, bookstores, community centers, and homes via story times, activity hours, author and illustrator events, scheduled reading time, and more.

You can view Blackall’s brilliant art, which vividly captures the spirit of No Rules. Just Read. on the Every Child a Reader website.

“I feel extremely honored to be the official spokesperson and illustrator for this year’s Children’s Book Week poster,” says Blackall. “To read is one of the most liberating pursuits available to us as human beings. It can open our minds and change our perspectives. It is a delight and an adventure. I wholeheartedly support children being able to select their own books and read them however, wherever they choose. On the bus or upside down or in a tree. I am excited to follow in the footsteps of so many of my children’s book heroes to help promote the joy of reading, to celebrate the power of storytelling, and to applaud the boundless imagination that resides within every child.”

Shaina Birkhead, Associate Executive Director at Every Child a Reader said “Sophie Blackall has been a longtime supporter of Children’s Book Week and we are so thrilled that she has now joined the pantheon of poster illustrators for this beloved program. Children’s Book Week celebrates young readers and their right to find the books that speak to them and shape them for the future. Sophie’s visual interpretation of No Rules. Just Read. perfectly captures the joy in reading what you want, when you want, and however you want!”

The spring 2024 Children Book Week will be held May 6-12, with more news about the November Book Week to come.

Schools, libraries, bookstores, and other locations are invited to sign up today through March 1 to participate. Every participating librarian, teacher, bookstore, and parent will receive two posters in April, as well as links to downloadable bookmarks and activity pages. All materials will also be in Spanish. Further information on where to register school, library, and bookstore events on an interactive map will be provided in March, as well as a list of local authors and illustrators available to do readings during Children’s Book Week.

Sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSegjSa4GfWKkbZwqeyJIZFeHnyGTemB99pwelXgNPpF7vsWqA/viewform?usp=sf_link

 

See the official poster reveal on Publisher’s Weekly here.

 

About Sophie Blackall

SOPHIE BLACKALL is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning illustrator of over 50 books for children, including the Caldecott Medal-winning Finding Winnie and Hello, Lighthouse, and the Ivy and Bean series. Her most recent picture book, Farmhouse, was a New York Times Best Illustrated Book and her forthcoming picture book Ahoy! (April 2024), which celebrates imaginative play and features a fresh, new illustration style, will surely grab the attention of fans and reviewers alike. Sophie grew up on the beach in Australia, but now lives far from the coast, in upstate New York. When she gets restless on dry land, she imagines herself at sea, which is how Ahoy! came about.

 

About Every Child a Reader

EVERY CHILD A READER is a 501(c)(3) award-winning literacy charity whose popular national programs include Children’s Book Week, the longest-running literacy initiative in the country, celebrating 105 years in 2024; Get Caught Reading, a classroom poster project; and the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature program, in partnership with the Library of Congress. Every Child a Reader is managed by the staff of the Children’s Book Council and funded by grants and donors.

 

About Random House Children’s Books

RANDOM HOUSE CHILDREN’S BOOKS (rhcbooks.com) is the world’s largest English-language children’s trade book publisher. Creating books for toddlers through young adult readers, in all formats from board books to activity books to picture books, novels, ebooks, and apps, the imprints of Random House Children’s Books bring together award-winning authors and illustrators, world-famous franchise characters, and multimillion-copy series. Random House is the longtime home of the beloved and bestselling Dr. Seuss books, which continue to make learning to read fun for millions of children everywhere. Random House Children’s Books is a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

 

Random House Children’s Books Media Contact for Sophie Blackall

Jillian Vandall, Senior Director, Publicity

jvandall@penguinrandomhouse.com

 

Media Contact for Children’s Book Week

Carl Lennertz

carl.lennertz@cbcbooks.org

As the home of several national literacy programs and awards, Every Child a Reader has gathered many wonderful author videos in one place. These videos feature bestselling authors and illustrators, promote a love of reading, and offer excellent supplementary content for the classroom, library, and at home.

Additionally, our sponsor organization, the Children’s Book Council, hosts many educational seminars, panels, and award presentations each year. These include panels at Comic-Cons, new book presentations to librarians, teachers, and booksellers, and more!

Our new Author & Events Videos page includes dozens of panel and event videos. Check out the page here.

Notable videos include National Ambassador playlists, award presentations, graphic novel conversations, and Children’s Book Week events!

• 2023 Anna Dewdney Read Aloud Event
• Eloise Greenfield Prize 2023
• Meg Medina – National Ambassador 2023-2024 Playlist
• Jason Reynolds – National Ambassador 2020-2022 Playlist
• 2020 – Children’s Book Week At Home Playlist
• 2014 – Children’s Book Week Champions Playlist

All our author event videos can also be found on our YouTube channel here.

Meg Medina is finishing up her fulfilling first year’s tour as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature with a trip to the Pacific Northwest.

Meg has met and talked with hundreds of young people everywhere she goes, as well as with parents, teachers, school librarians, and public librarians using her inspiring platform, “¡Cuéntame!: Let’s talk books.”

In September, Medina visited Nashville, Tennessee and connected with students from J.E. Moss, Westmeade, and Mt. View Elementary schools, as well as a public event at Nashville Public Library.

For her final stops of 2023, she went to Washington and Idaho!

Kent, WA – November 13 & 14
School event with Mill Creek Middle School
Public event at Kent Library, 6pm on November 14 (Event listing in Spanish) See highlights from Meg’s visit and her exploration of the public library.

Nampa, ID – November 16 & 17
School event with Sage Valley Middle School
Public event at Nampa Public Library, 6pm on November 16                                See highlights from Meg’s visit.

Check out the video highlights of all of Meg’s wonderful visits here, including fun trips to Newburgh, New York and Lake Charles, Louisiana.

 

 

Next week is Children’s Book Week (November 6-12, 2023)!

Hundreds of schools, libraries, and bookstores will be holding special reading hours, and we have cool free bookmarks available to download, a very useful Educator’s Kit with lots of ideas for events, and more.

Want more resources on how your location can promote and get involved? Check out our Media Tools & Fun Stuff as well as how to participate in this year’s Find Your Spark Challenge!