ChLA 2011

Thank you to the organizers of the 2011 Children's Literature Association conference held at Hollins University June 23-25. What a packed, busy, stimulating three days!

The highlights for me:

• being on a panel with writers Meg Medina, Wendy Shang, and (my wonderful former student and VCFA graduate) Maha Addasi. Moderated by the amazing Alexandria LaFaye. 
• being on the diversity panel with June Cummins, Sarah Park, Zetta Elliot and Thomas Crisp. Thank you to Sarah and Tom for organizing this convergence of minds.
• meeting Tom Angleberger and Bruce Coville. Learning to fold an Origami Yoda (OK, the simple version)
• seeing original art for Goodnight Moon along with work by Thacher Hurd, Ruth Sanderson, and Ashley Wolff in the exhibition titled Goodnight Hush: Classic Children's Book Illustrations. Part of the yearlong celebration of the life and work of Margaret Wise Brown, Hollins University alumna''32.
• meeting Thacher Hurd, and hearing his wise, reflective, tender, funny exploration of the legacies of Margaret Wise Brown
• meeting Meena Khorana, scholar, biographer, editor, teacher, and the single most passionate advocate I know of in advancing the work of South Asian and diasporic writers in children's literature in America.
• learning about Turkey's 100 Essential Readings, ideologically driven translated texts of classic Western children's literature in an informative and thought-provoking panel paper presented by Neslihan Kansu-Yetkiner. In the same session, learning from Marianna Spanaki about the work of the first Greek children's novelist, Penelope Delta.
• Julia Mickenberg and Philip Nel's lecture on Radical Children's Literature Now!
• the Phoenix Award presentation
• seeing Mary Downing Hahn after a gap of 15 years and picking up the conversation with no effort at all
• and much, much more. A wonderful conference and a warm and welcoming children's literature community.

Finally, because I promised, here is the list of books I referenced in my Diversity Panel paper, No Joke! How Humor Subverts and Interrogates the Imperative of Assimilation in Middle Grade Novels

Alba, Richard and Victor Nee. “Rethinking Assimilation Theory for a New Era of Immigration.” International Migration Review. 31.4 (1997): 826-74. JSTOR. Web. 1 Nov. 2010.

Alvarez, Julia. How Tia Lola Came to Visit Stay. New York: Knopf, 2001. Print.

Berger, Peter L. Redeeming laughter: The comic dimension of human experience. New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1997. Print.

Krishnaswami, Uma. The Grand Plan to Fix Everything. Illus. Abigail Halpin. New York: Atheneum, 2011. Print.

Look, Lenore. Ruby Lu, Brave and True. Illus. Anne Wilsdorf. New York: Anne Schwartz/Atheneum, 2004. Print.

--. Ruby Lu, Empress of Everything. Illus. Anne Wilsdorf. New York: Atheneum, 2006. Print.

Leitich Smith, Cynthia. “Multicultural Humor, Seriously.” Cynsations, 27 July 2004. Web. 14 May 2011. <http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2004/07/multicultural-humor-seriously.html

Leitich Smith, Greg. Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo. New York: Little, Brown, 2003. Print.

Pinkwater, Daniel. The Neddiad: How Neddie Took the Train, Went to Hollywood, and Saved Civilization. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. Print.

Wong, Janet. Minn and Jake. Illus. Geneviève Côté. New York: Frances Foster/Farrar Straus Giroux, 2003.

--. Minn and Jake’s Almost Terrible Summer. Illus. Geneviève Côté. New York: Frances Foster/Farrar Straus Giroux, 2008.

Pictures to come.