Ever wonder what happens after the publisher buys the book but before it goes to print? Editor Abby Ranger is our guest this month. She’ll give us a look at what happen inside a big publishing house and all the things they to do make a story shine.
The League of Exceptional Writers is a free mentoring program sponsored by the Oregon Society of Children’s book Writers and Illustrators and hosted by the Cedar Hills Powell’s Bookstore. We meet every second Saturday at 2pm from October to May. Avid readers and writers ages 8 to 18 are welcome. Please share the poster below with your friends, your school and your library.
It is my very great privilege to work at one of Portland’s legendary independent bookstores: Annie Blooms Books. On Sunday the bookstore and her intrepid owner Bobby Tischner celebrated 40 years of fostering a literary community in Multnomah Village. I love going to work with my generous and wise colleagues. I love helping our patrons find just the right book, especially for the youngest readers, and I love the role indie bookstores play in upholding the First Amendment. In an era full or dark and foreboding news I’m very happy to say that I know of several new independent bookstores opening in the northwest and across the United States. It gives me much hope for the future. 
THEY CALL ME GÜERO by David Bowles is a collection of poems which together form a loose narrative about a boy living in South Texas and occupying the physical but also social and emotional space that spans the US-Mexico border. The poems are short and ring clear with emotional and physical details that will strike a chord with any reader. There are many words in Spanish but none that would be a barrier to a reader who knows only English. The glossary in the back is more a courtesy than a necessity. Teachers will be delighted to find many poetic forms and devices used throughout which make it ideal for using in school. I also found it notable in that it doesn’t shy away from the main character’s spiritual practice. A gem from Cinco Puntos Press
My favorite verse novel in quite a while is JAZZ OWLS: A NOVEL OF THE ZOOT SUIT RIOTS by Young People’s Poet Laureate, Margarita Engle. She takes on an episode in our national history that should be far better known–a racially targeted riot between soon to deploy WWII sailors in Los Angeles and the Hispanic community there. Engle’s spare language and vivid descriptions bring to life a time when the military was still racially segregated, a time when interracial marriage was not legal in California–only 75 years ago. This would be such a great book to discuss in a classroom or book club. The references and afterward make it clear that, as vicious as the racial attacks on Mexican-American’s were, justice was done in the end. The military did integrate and freedom to marry a person of another race did become legal. Still it’s chilling to see how easily the sailors of the 1940s found it to scape goat the Mexican community and how reluctant local law enforcement was to arrest servicemen on the eve of deployment. The art by Rudy Guitierrez strikes just the right tone. This is a gem of a book which I hope will find its way into many a high school history class.
What a treat to spend the weekend with Oregon’s school librarians. And then hearing keynote speakers R. Gregory Christie and Mitali Perkins was just the icing on the cake.
Emily Whitman is the author of THE TURNING, a fabulous story steeped in the selkie mythology of folk who can shape sift into seals. She will be kicking off the year with a look at what really makes a setting sing.