ALAN’s Picks: October 2011

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ALAN’s Picks is a monthly book review column compiled and edited by Dr. Pam B. Cole of Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA.

All the Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2011, 354 pp., $16.99
Family/Love/Relationships/Responsibility/Organized Crime
ISBN: 978-0-374-30210-8



At the age of seventeen and with both parents dead, Anya is responsible for a dying grandmother, her mildly disabled older brother, and her younger sister. She is the oldest daughter of the head of an organized crime business, chocolate no less. Told in the future tense, this story involves chocolate as an illegal substance. After being accused of attempted murder by giving her ex-boyfriend poisoned chocolate, she finds herself in a jail for young girls. As if she has room in her life for additional drama, Anya falls in love with the district attorney’s son; their relationship does not have his blessing. Continue reading →

Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award 2012 Committee Announced

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The 2012 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee is pleased to announce the appointment of four new members. The new members were chosen from an extremely impressive group of candidates and will join six returning members from the 2011 committee. Members of the selection committee must be: 1) ALAN members and 2) classroom teachers, university professors, or librarians. Committee members will serve for two years with the possibility of reappointment for a third.

The new members are:

  • Jonatha Basye Librarian Ralston High School, Ralston, NE
  • Kellee Moye Classroom Teacher Hunter’s Creek Middle School, Orlando, FL
  • Mindi Rench Classroom Teacher Northbrook Junior High School, Northbrook, IL
  • Lois Stover Professor St. Mary’s College of Maryland, St Mary’s City, MD

The seven returning members from the 2011 committee are:

  • Ricki Ginsberg, Committee Chair Classroom Teacher Rockville High School, Vernon, CT
  • Wendy Glenn, Past Chair Associate Professor University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
  • Carolyn Angus Director George G. Stone Center for Children’s Books, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA
  • Lois Buckman Librarian Caney Creek High School, Conroe, TX
  • Jeff Harr Classroom Teacher Theodore Roosevelt High School, Kent, OH
  • Jeff Kaplan Associate Professor College of Education, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL
  • Diane Tuccillo Teen Services Librarian Poudre River Public Library District, Fort Collins, CO

For more information about the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award, including the award context and criteria and submission information, please visit the ALAN website http://www.alan-ya.org/amelia-elizabeth-walden-award/ or contact Ricki Ginsberg at rickiginsberg [at] gmail [dot] com.

ALAN’s Picks: September 2011

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ALAN’s Picks is a monthly book review column that is compiled and edited by Dr. Pam B. Cole of Kennesaw State University.

Reviewed this month:
Alice Blissby Laura Harrington
The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens
Emily and the Rats in the Belfry by Lynne Jonell & Illus. Jonathan Bean
The Future of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Macker                                                     Jefferson’s Sons: A Founding Father’s Secret Children by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
My Boyfriend Is a Monster 2: Made for Each Other by Paul D. Storrie & Illus. Eldon Cowgur
Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier
A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie by Matt Blackstone
The Undrowned Child by Michelle Lovric

Alice Bliss by Laura Harrington
Viking/Penguin, 2011, 306 pp., $25.95
Family/Death/War
ISBN: 987-0-670-02278-6

Fifteen-year-old Alice Bliss has a treasure many teens desire but don’t often experience: a close, supportive relationship with her dad. Matt Bliss, formerly an engineer, but now carpenter/craftsman, coaches little league baseball and utilizes his skills as a farm team pitcher. Alice and Matt share gardening, his workshop, and life lessons. This special bond causes Alice incredible pain, though, when her father’s Army Reserve unit is called up. After only six weeks, rather than the usual six-month training period, Matt is deployed to Iraq. From the day Alice, her eight-year-old sister, and their mom drive Matt to Fort Dix, Alice’s life becomes a blur. She wears her dad’s shirt for weeks until her mother sneaks it into the trash; she lives on memories and often hears her dad’s words of encouragement. Alice and her mother struggle to connect, but they frequently end up fighting; both hold the pain of Matt’s absence welled inside. Younger sister, Ellie; Uncle Eddie, and Gram provide what support they can, but ultimately the family faces a stark reality: Matt will not be coming home alive.

Continue reading →

Under the Radar August 2011

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UNDER THE RADAR

A discussion of books from smaller publishers by four members of the ALAN Board,

Ricki Berg, James Bucky Carter, Paul W. Hankins, and CJ Bott.

Guantanamo Boy

By: Anna Perera

Today, the committee of Under the Radar is excited to review Guantanamo Boy by Anna Perera. It was first published in England in 2009 and will be published by Albert Whitman and Company on August 1st, 2011. The novel is set six months after 9/11, when 15-year-old Khalid and his family, Pakistani father, Turkish mother, and two younger British sisters are visiting family. Without his family’s knowledge, Khalid is arrested as a terrorist and taken first to Karachi, then Kandahar and finally to Guantanamo Bay. During his interrogation, he is beaten and tortured for crimes he did not commit. Guantanamo Boy covers over two years of his life.

Continue reading →

Grant Money for Teachers!

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ALAN Sponsors two grant programs for teachers and researchers, the ALAN Foundation Research Grants and the Gallo Grants to attend the ALAN Workshop.
ALAN Foundation Research Grants
Members of ALAN may apply to the ALAN Foundation for funding (up to $1,500) for research in young adult literature. Proposals are reviewed by the five most recent presidents of ALAN. Awards are made annually in the Fall and are announced at the ALAN breakfast during the NCTE convention in November. The application deadline each year is September 15th.

Applications for the grant: Alan Foundation Application

Gallo Grants
The Gallo Grants were established in 2003 by former ALAN Award and Hipple Award recipient Don Gallo to encourage educators in their early years of teaching to attend the ALAN Workshop for the first time. The grants provide funding—up to $750 each—for two classroom teachers in middle school or high school each year to attend the ALAN Workshop. (The amount of a grant may be less than $750 if the applicant lives within commuting distance of the convention location where airfare and housing would not be necessary or has access to other funding). In addition to the $750 grant, the registration fee for the workshop will also be covered. Recipients will receive half of the grant ($375) before the workshop. The remaining half of the grant will be disbursed at the end of the ALAN Workshop. The ALAN Workshop is held at the annual convention of the National Council of Teachers of English on the Monday and Tuesday prior to Thanksgiving Day. Applicants must be teaching full-time; must have been classroom teachers for less than five years prior to the year in which they are applying; and must not have attended an ALAN Workshop previously. Membership in ALAN is not required for consideration, though applicants are expected to become ALAN members if they receive this grant.

Applicants must fill out the grant application form and submit an essay of no more than 750 words explaining their interest in Young Adult Literature, what they hope to gain by attending this year’s ALAN Workshop, and how they hope to use the experience in their classrooms in the future. A letter of support must also come from the applicant’s school system. The deadline for submission is September 1st. Applicants will be judged on their ability to articulate their understanding of the value of Young Adult literature as well as their explanation of how they intend to use YA books and the information they gather at the Workshop in their own classrooms.

Recipients of Gallo Grants are required to submit, within 30 days after the workshop, brief (two-page) anecdotal reports of their ALAN workshop experiences—noting highlights and commenting on the value of the experience personally and professionally, particularly its impact on teaching.

The Grant application: Gallo Grant Application