An Interview with Rosemary Clement-Moore on Prom Dates from Hell (Delacorte, 2007)(excerpt) by Candy Havens of Fresh Fiction.

8th Annual BYU Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Workshop will be held June 11 to June 15 at the BYU Conference Center in Provo, Utah. From the promo copy: “Learn how to write, illustrate and publish in the children’s and young adult fiction and non fiction markets. If you can’t spend all day, join us for the afternoons only. During this intensive five-day workshop, beginning to advanced writers and illustrators will be tutored in small-group sessions by published authors and artists.” The faculty includes authors Dandi Daley Mackall and Jeanette Ingold as well as editors Krista Marino (Random House) and Margaret Miller (HarperCollins) and agent Stephen Fraser of the Jennifer DiChiara Agency.

Who Put the B in the Big Apple Circus Poster Contest: Readers age four to seventeen are invited to create “a circus poster for a chance to win a Family 4 Pack to The Big Apple Circus! Posters should feature one of the colorful stars from Who Put the B in the Ballyhoo?… The deadline is Sept. 1. See rules and entry form. Learn more about Who Put the B in Ballyhoo? by Carlyn Beccia (Houghton Mifflin, April 2007).

2007 Notable Children’s Books in the English Language Arts from the Children’s Literature Assembly. Honorees include: Casey at the Bat by Ernest L. Thayer, illustrated by Joe Morse (KCP Poetry/Kids Can Press, 2006)(illustrator interview); Hugging the Rock by Susan Taylor Brown (Tricycle, 2006)(author interview); The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin (Little Brown, 2006)(author-illustrator interview); Rules by Cynthia Lord (Scholastic, 2006)(author interview); and Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt (Kids Can, 2006)(author-illustrator interview). See the complete list!

Barbara O’Conner has joined the LiveJournal community! Barbara is the author of such acclaimed novels as Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia (FSG, 2003) and Taking Care of Moses (FSG, 2004). Her latest release is How to Steal a Dog (FSG, 2007). Visit Barbara’s LJ!

Meet the Authors and Illustrators: David Lubar from Children’s Literature.

Congratulations to Tim Wynne-Jones on the publication of The Boat in the Tree, illustated by John Shelley (Front Street, 2007). From the promo copy: “Tim Wynne-Jones creates a fantastical story of how sibling rivalry develops when a family adopts a new brother. John Shelley’s illustrations display the boy’s wonder-filled worlds—one grounded in reality, the other in the boy’s elaborate imagination—and how the boy accepts his new brother from one world into the other.” Tim is a colleague of mine on the faculty of the Vermont College MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults. Read a Cynsations interview with Tim.

Congratulations also to Jerry Wermund on the publication of Focus on Minerals, illustrated by Tony Sansevero (Rockon, 2007). Jerry’s books offer a poet’s look at geology; he is one of the rare self-publishing success stories. Jerry and Tony are both members of Austin SCBWI. Read a Cynsations interview with Jerry.

Thanks to Jen Robinson’s Book Page and Brian from Dispatches from an MFA Seeking Writer for highlighting my recommendation of don’t you forget about me: Contemporary Writers on the Films of John Hughes by Jaime Clarke, foreword by Ally Sheedy (Simon Spotlight, 2007).

Thanks also to The Road Less Traveled: the Blog of Alyssa Goodnight, which says of Tantalize (Candlewick, 2007): “So many twists and turns and surprises, such a fun heroine, so many zany and quirky characters. I really, really loved it.” Read the whole recommendation.