LISNews: Librarian News

A Report AT Ha'aretz Daily says Egypt's children can buy the affordable old books distributed by the governmental publishing house Dar Al Maaref, written over 50 years ago. "But they are so out of date and written in a language children find difficult to understand," complained Abul Magd in an interview with the Egyptian monthly, "Egypt Today." Children's literature is a painful subject that comes up each time a book fair is held in Egypt - and is dropped just as quickly. Thus, for example, only one session will be devoted to the subject of children's literature and its distribution problems in Arab countries, among the dozens of other discussions that will be held in the context of the fair.

ALA Announces 2006 Newbery, Caldecott Winners
Here is a list of the winners of the 2006 John Newbery and Randolph Caldecott medals, along with other award winners and honor books, announced today at the 2006 American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio.

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

Newbery Medal:
Criss Cross, by Lynne Rae Perkins (Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins)

Newbery Honor Books:
Whittington, by Alan Armstrong, illustrated by S.D. Schindler (Random House)
Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (Scholastic Nonfiction, an imprint of Scholastic)
Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale (Bloomsbury Children's Books)
Show Way, by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Hudson Talbott (G.P. Putnam's Sons)

Caldecott Medal:
The Hello, Goodbye Window, illustrated by Chris Raschka, written by Norton Juster (Michael di Capua Books, an imprint of Hyperion Books for Children)

Caldecott Honor Books:
Rosa, illustrated by Bryan Collier, written by Nikki Giovanni (Henry Holt and Company)
Zen Shorts, written and illustrated by Jon J. Muth (Scholastic Press)
Hot Air: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride, written and illustrated by Marjorie Priceman (An Anne Schwartz Book from Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Simon & Schuster)
Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems, illustrated by Beckie Prange, written by Joyce Sidman (Houghton Mifflin Company) -- Read More

Back in 1930 when Freud's "Society and its Discontents" was published, profanity was seldomly used publicly, but when it was, it was used creatively. Nowadays it seems to be an everyday thing, sometimes an every-other-word thing....and especially among young people.

The Cincinnati Enquirer does an informal survey, including observations by librarians, teachers and students, most responding that parents and the media are to blame.

So watch that shhhhh thing...you might get a four-letter word back in response.

Senate Democrats announced an early education agenda this week that would give all Indiana children a free book each month, from the day they are born until they turn 5. The program is already offered in nine Indiana communities and more than 500 communities in 40 other states, including Tennessee, where the program was founded by singer Dolly Parton.

David Dotson, executive director of the Dollywood Foundation, said Imagination Library helps kids learn to love books before they even enter a classroom.