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Science fiction books supercharged my imagination as a kid. Everything from Star Wars storybooks to Ray Bradbury radio adaptations to The Black Hole – Read Along Book and Record inspired my childhood attempts at telling stories.

I want my 4-year-old daughter to have the same kind of experience, so I turned to the brilliant Goodreads “Science Fiction Picture Books List” for inspiration. It was created by Amanda R. Von Der Lohe who studied children’s literature at Hollins University—writing an entire thesis about science fiction picture books.

I caught up with Von Der Lohe recently, and she had a simple message for GalleyCat readers: “Authors, illustrators and publishers, please please please please please include more girls in science fiction picture books. Parents, read science fiction with your daughters.”

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Earlier today the American Library Association announced the 2013 Youth Media Awards Winners. Click here to read the press release.

Highlights include:

John Newbery Medal Winner (for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature):

The One and Only Ivan written by Katherine Applegate (HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2012)

Randolph Caldecott Medal Winner (for the most distinguished American picture book for children):

This Is Not My Hat, illustrated and written by Jon Klassen (Candlewick Press, 2012).

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award Winner (recognizing an African American author of outstanding books for children and young adults):

Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America, written by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney (Disney/Jump at the Sun Books, 2012).

Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award Winner (recognizing an African American illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults):

I, Too, Am America, illustrated by Bryan Collier, written by Langston Hughes (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2012)

Pura Belpré (Author) Award Winner (honoring a Latino writer whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience):

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, written by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2012)

Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Award Winner (honoring a Latino illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience):

Martín de Porres: The Rose in the Desert, illustrated by David Diaz, written by Gary D. Schmidt (Clarion Books, 2012)

This is amazing good news. Great news, in fact. I’m happy and proud to say that my book, Bystander, is included on the ballot for the 2012 New York State Reading Association Charlotte Award.

To learn more about the award, and to download a ballot or bookmark, please click here.

The voting is broken down into four categories and includes forty books. Bystander is in the “Grades 6-8/Middle School” category. Really, it’s staggering. There are ten books in this category out of literally an infinity of titles published each year. You do the math, people.

For more background stories on Bystander — that cool inside info you can only find on the interwebs! — please click here (bully memory) and here (my brother John) and here (Nixon’s dog, Checkers) and here (the tyranny of silence).

Below please find all the books on the ballot — congratulations, authors & illustrators! I’m honored to be in your company.

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GRADES pre K-2/PRIMARY

Bubble Trouble . . . Margaret Mahy/Polly Dunbar

City Dog, Country Frog . . . Mo Willems/Jon J Muth

Clever Jack Takes the Cake . . . Candace Fleming/G. Brian Karas

Lousy Rotten Stinkin’ Grapes . . . Margie Palatini/Barry Moser

Memoirs of a Goldfish . . . Devin Scillian/Tim Bower

Otis . . . Loren LongStars Above Us . . . Geoffrey Norman/E.B. Lewis

That Cat Can’t Stay . . . Thad Krasnesky/David Parkins

Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out! . . . April Pulley Sayre/Annie Patterson

We Planted a Tree . . . Diane Muldrow/Bob Staake

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GRADES 3-5/INTERMEDIATE

The Can Man . . . Laura E. Williams/Craig Orback L

Emily’s Fortune . . . Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Family Reminders . . .

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Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian Institute

My daughter’s 4th grade class is celebrating Black History Month in the most wonderful way by creating a version of Kente cloth.  While it’s traditionally made with silk and cotton interweaving threads, her class used pens, paints, and colored pencils to create theirs.

Kente cloth is believed to have originated from the Akan people in West Africa*.  The designs are traditionally bright, geometric, and bold.  Additionally, the colors and shapes are usually symbolic of historic events, family trees, the seasons, and proverbs.  (The Smithsonian Institute has wonderful information online about their “Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity” exhibition)

Making Kente cloths in your library is just one of many ideas to celebrate Black History Month.  Texas Library Club has a wonderful list of books, songs, and activities – including a way of making Kente cloths by weaving strips of paper together.

We’d also love to recommend these books for your Black History Month displays:

• BARACK by Jonah Winter, illustrated by AG Ford
• BLACK IS BROWN IS TAN by Arnold Adoff, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully
• BOYCOTT BLUES by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney (download the Teacher’s Guide)
• THE GREAT MIGRATION by Eloise Greenfield, illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist
• SHE LOVED BASEBALL by Audrey Vernick, illustrated by Don Tate
• THIS IS THE DREAM by Diane Z. Shore and Jessica Alexander, illustrated by James Ransome
• WE TROUBLED THE WATERS by Ntozake Shang, illustrated by Rod Brown

And you can also download our Black History Month Classroom Kit.

What are you doing at your library to celebrate Black History Month?  We’d love to hear your ideas (or even photos of any displays you’ve created)!

* As a former librarian, I have to share this disclaimer: I got my information from Wikipedia.