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Book Flood Podcast (Ep 4): Author Nikki Shannon Smith on “Stranded”
Nikki Shannon Smith is an educator, presenter, and the award-winning author of over 20 published and forthcoming children’s books. Her titles include OUR BEAUTIFUL COLORS (Little Golden Books), and the board book series Brown Baby Parade (Crown Books/Random House). Nikki is also the author of the AZALEAH LANE chapter book series and five titles in Capstone’s middle grade series, Girls Survive. LENA AND THE BURNING OF GREENWOOD: A TULSA RACE MASSACRE SURVIVAL STORY won the 2023 Oklahoma Book Award. Her middle grade novel, STRANDED, is forthcoming from Scholastic on September 17, 2024. Nikki is from Oakland, California and is represented by Jennifer March Soloway of Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Learn more about Nikki at https://nikkishannonsmith.com/home-page.
LATEST BOOK: Stranded by Nikki Shannon Smith
PRAISE FOR STRANDED:
“Readers will root for Ava as she draws on her ingenuity and strength to survive alone, deep in the Adirondack woods. This gripping tale, loaded with suspense and riveting details, is the modern-day answer to Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet, a fresh and inclusive take on the classic wilderness survival story.”
~Kate Messner, award-winning author of Breakout
“I rooted for Ava the whole way. A great read for those who love tough-as-nails characters and the incredible lengths they go to live, survive, and flourish.”
–Meika Hashimoto, award-winning author of The Trail
PODCASTS
Other Nikki Shannon Miller Books for Sale
Title | Year | Amazon |
Ann Fights for Freedom: An Underground Railroad Survival Story | 2019 | Hardcover | Paperback |
On the Farm: A Brown Baby Parade Book | 2024 | Hardcover |
Noelle at Sea: A Titanic Survival Story | 2019 | Hardcover | Paperback |
The Amazing Life of Azalea Lane | 2020 | Hardcover | Paperback |
The Scrumptious Life of Azalea Lane | 2021 | Hardcover | Paperback |
Our Beautiful Colors | 2022 | Hardcover |
The Dramatic Life of Azaleas Lane | 2020 | Hardcover | Paperback |
The Little Christmas Elf | 2011 | Hardcover | Paperback |
The Scientific Life of Azaleah | 2022 | Hardcover | Paperback |
Love Is All Around: A Brown Baby Parade Book | 2022 | Hardcover |
Christmas Stories | 2015 | Hardcover |
A Star Like Jesse Owens | 2020 | Hardcover | Paperback |
Treasure Hunt | 2019 | Hardcover | Paperback |
Lena and the Burning of Greenwood: A Tulsa Race Massacre Survival Story | 2022 | Hardcover | Paperback |
Charlotte Spies for Justice: A Civil War Survival Story | 2019 | Hardcover | Paperback |
Sarah Journeys West: An Oregon Trail Survival Story | 2020 | Library | Paperback |
Countdown to Christmas: A Brown Baby Parade Book | 2023 | Hardcover |
Halloween Friends: A Brown Baby Parade Book | 2023 | Hardcover |
Stranded | 2024 | Paperback | Kindle |
WEBSITES
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Book Flood Podcast (Ep 7): Deborah Salyer Showcases Amazing Library Resources
As librarians and educators, improving our craft and choosing quality resources are two pieces of the career puzzle. If you want to learn how to use the best resources and how to find the best books, you often end up in one of Deborah Salyer’s many presentation.
Deborah Salyer is an international speaker with 30 years of experience in the classroom and school libraries. Deborah spent a handful of years in the bookseller market and professional development with Media Source.
She is currently the California TeachingBooks Implementation and Training Specialist, which brings her back to work with her former librarian colleagues. She is also a senior presenter with 21 years of experience at the Bureau of Education and Research. Her current seminar is the annual, What’s New in Children’s Books, K-6 where she travels across the country doing book reports.
You can register for her seminars at BER.org. Contact her about your TeachingBooks access at dsalyer(at)overdrive.com (insert the @ symbol).
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ALA Releases Preliminary Censorship Data for 2024
From the American Library Association on social media:
As #BannedBooksWeek kicks off, ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom has released new preliminary data documenting attempts to censor books, materials, and services in public, school, and academic libraries during the first eight months of 2024.
Between January 1 and August 31, 2024, ALA tracked 414 attempts to censor library materials and services. In those cases, 1,128 unique titles were challenged. In the same reporting period last year, ALA tracked 695 attempts with 1,915 unique titles challenged. Though the number of reports to date has declined in 2024, the number of documented attempts to censor books continues to far exceed the numbers prior to 2020.
Additionally, instances of soft censorship, where books are purchased but placed in restricted areas, not used in library displays, or otherwise hidden or kept off limits due to fear of challenges illustrate the impact of organized censorship campaigns on students’ and readers’ freedom to read. In some circumstances, books have been preemptively excluded from library collections, taken off the shelves before they are banned, or not purchased for library collections in the first place.
Read more: https://lnkd.in/d_QhXa6a
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Book Flood Podcast: Award-winning author Margarita Engle
Margarita Engle is the Cuban-American author of books such as Enchanted Air, Drum Dream Girl, Dancing Hands, and The Surrender Tree, which received a Newbery Honor. She served as the national 2017-2019 Young People’s Poet Laureate. Other awards include Pura Belpré Medals, the Golden Kite Award, Walter Honors, Américas Awards, Jane Addams Award, PEN U.S.A., and NSK Neustadt Prize. Recent young adult verse novels include Wings in the Wild and Wild Dreamers. Recent picture books include Eloísa’s Musical Window and Water Day. Engle’s next verse novel is Island Creatures.
Margarita was born in Los Angeles, but developed a deep attachment to her mother’s homeland during childhood summers with relatives on the island. She studied agronomy and botany along with creative writing, and now lives in central California with her entomologist husband and squirrel-chasing Border Collie.
Podcasts
Book Purchases
Title | Author | Illustrator | Amazon Purchase |
Wild Dreamers (4/2024) | Margarita Engle | Hardcover | Paperback | |
Eloísa’s Musical Window (8/2024) | Margarita Engle | John Parra | Hardcover | Kindle |
Eloísa y su ventanita musical (8/2024) | Margarita Engle | John Parra | Hardcover | Paperback |
Social Media
Website | Twitter/X | ||
www.margaritaengle.com | Margarita Engle | @margaritapoet | @engle.margarita |
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