Alessandra Balzer and Donna Bray to Launch New Imprint at HarperCollins

Alessandra Balzer and Donna Bray to Launch New Imprint at HarperCollins

New York, NY (April 9, 2008)–HarperCollins Publishers announced today that it has appointed Alessandra Balzer and Donna Bray to the newly created position of Co-Publishers of the new imprint Balzer & Bray. They will join HarperCollins on May 5, 2008, reporting to Kate Morgan Jackson, Senior Vice President and Associate Publisher of HarperCollins Children’s Books.

“We are so pleased and proud that Alessandra and Donna are coming to HarperCollins,”

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Jóhonaa’éí: Bringer of Dawn Receives Lacapa Spirit Prize for Southwest Children’s Literature

Jóhonaa’éí: Bringer of Dawn Receives Lacapa Spirit Prize for Southwest Children’s Literature

The Lacapa Spirit Prize is proud to announce its 2008 winner. Named for Michael Lacapa, children’s book illustrator and writer who died in 2005, the award honors the legacy of his artistic vision and talent for storytelling. This prize acknowledges great books for children that best embody the spirit of the peoples, culture and natural landscape of the Southwest.

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Author Feature: Donald R. Gallo on Owning It: Stories About Teens with Disabilities

Author Feature: Donald R. Gallo on Owning It: Stories About Teens with Disabilities

Donald R. Gallo on Donald R. Gallo: “I have played a variety of roles in the education and book business during the past 47 years, each role overlapping and reinforcing the other. I have been especially fortunate.

“My professional life began as a junior high school English teacher in Connecticut and expanded into college teaching after I earned a PhD at Syracuse University in 1968.

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Author Interview: Carla Killough McClafferty on Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium

Author Interview: Carla Killough McClafferty on Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium

Carla Killough McClafferty, award-winning author of nonfiction middle grade books, is not one of those people who always knew they wanted to be a writer. She backed into the field from a background in science. She has two books out with Farrar, Straus and Giroux, The Head Bone’s Connected to the Neck Bone: The Weird,

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Record Numbers of YA Books Will Be Donated to Teen Patients As Part of Readergirlz, YALSA Literacy Program

Record Numbers of YA Books Will Be Donated to Teen Patients As Part of Readergirlz, YALSA Literacy Program

“Operation TBD” puts 10,000 books into North America’s top pediatric hospitals in celebration of Support Teen Literature Day on April 17

April 14, 2008 (Seattle, Wash.) – Teen patients in pediatric hospitals across the United States and Canada will receive 10,000 young adult novels, audio books, and graphic novels Thursday as readergirlz and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) celebrate the second annual Support Teen Lit Day on April 17.

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In Memoriam: Marian McTrusty of Cedar Park Public Library

In Memoriam: Marian McTrusty of Cedar Park Public Library

On March 29, I had the honor of visiting with librarian Marian McTrusty and her YA book club at the Cedar Park (TX) Public Library.

The full group of 12 teens, plus an enthusiastic mom, Marian, and I discussed Rain Is Not My Indian Name (HarperCollins, 2001)(Listening Library, 2001). Everyone had read the book ahead of time,

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