Earn up to 3

Hours of

Graduate Credit

Children’s Literature Conference

June 20–24, 2016 su.edu/childrenslit

Matt de la Peña“I will always write about kids growing up with less. My own experience with poverty is the single most defining piece of my childhood. If my stories create empathy, great. But that’s not exactly what I’m after. I just think the lives of kids growing up in difficult circumstances are beautiful and worthy, too.”

Matt de la Peña is the recipient of the 2016 Newbery Medal for his book Last Stop on Market Street illustrated by Christian Robinson. He is the author of six young adult novels including Ball Don’t Lie, Mexican White Boy, We Were Here, and I Will Save You, all of which were named ALA-YALSA Best Books for Young Adults. His novel, The Living, was named a 2014 ALA Pura Belpré Author Honor Book. He is also the author of the critically-acclaimed picture book A Nation’s Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis illustrated by Kadir Nelson.

Peter Sís“The really connecting thing in all my books is the fact that somebody’s dreaming about places or searching for someplace, going places. I think if I wouldn’t have left Prague my books would be different. And I think everything I did in my books in this country comes from the sentiment of leaving another place [and] coming to a new place.”

Peter Sís is an internationally acclaimed illustrator, author, and filmmaker with more than twenty books to his credit. His vast body of work, including the celebrated titles Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei, Tibet Through the Red Box, and The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain, have earned him a MacArthur Fellowship, Hans Christian Anderson Award, Sibert Award, and three Caldecott Honors. He is also the illustrator of Pam Muñoz Ryan’s The Dreamer, a Pura Belpré Award winner, Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book, and ALA Notable.

Christian Robinson “I love being able to do the work I do. It’s unfortunate that my work might stand out because it features a certain amount of diversity and tackles uneasy topics. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to imagine a day when there isn’t a diversity gap in books for children, to see more kids of different colors on the covers of bestselling books?”

Christian Robinson creatively blends mediums such as collage and paint to illustrate picture books. His unique style has won the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor, the Robert F. Sibert Honor and Boston Globe-Horn Book Nonfiction Honor for Josephine written by Patricia Hruby Powell. He was honored with the 2014 Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator award for Rain! Some of his other titles include Gaston, written by Kelly Dipucchio, Leo a Ghost Story by Mac Barnett and the Smallest Girl in the Smallest Grade written by Justin Roberts. His latest creation, Last Stop on Market Street, by Matt de la Peña was named a 2016 Caldecott Honor winner.

Pam Muñoz Ryan“I want children to love the book for the sake of the book. I want them to clutch it to their chest and say, ‘I loved this book.’ I want my books to elicit discussion between students and between students and teachers. I want the children to have affection for what they read.”

Pam Muñoz Ryan is the author of the 2016 Newbery Honor winner and New York Times bestseller, Echo, as well as the recipient of the Kirkus Prize, the NEA’s Human and Civil Rights Award, and the Virginia Hamilton Literary Award for multicultural literature. She has written more than forty books for young readers. Her celebrated novels, Esperanza Rising, Riding Freedom, Becoming Naomi Léon, Paint the Wind, and The Dreamer, have received numerous accolades, among them two Pura Belpré Awards, a NAPPA Gold Award, a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, and an Americas Award. Her picture books include Amelia and Eleanor Go For a Ride and When Marian Sang, both illustrated by Brian Selznick, as well as the beginning reader series Tony Baloney.

Meet the Authors and Illustrators

By Anastasiia Sapon

Above, detail from the cover of The Smallest Girl in the Smallest Grade by Justin Robertts, illustrated by Christian Robinson

call 540.545.7215 email infoclc@su.edu visit www.su.edu/childrenslit

Dr. Karen Huff is the coordinator of the elementary education program at Shenandoah University. In addition to teaching at the university level, she has taught elementary and nursery school children. She has also conducted numerous workshops for parent groups and in-service training.

Dr. Mary Bowser is the coordinator of the secondary education program at Shenandoah University and teaches courses in undergraduate and graduate education. A former high school English teacher,

Dr. Bowser has conducted writing workshops for teachers and administrators throughout the South.

Linda Sittig, co-author of New Kid in School: Using Literature to Help Children in Transition, is a reading consultant for Loudoun County Schools. She received the Eleanor Johnson Award from the International Reading Association for the Outstanding Elementary Language Arts Teacher of the Year.

Faculty

Questions?

Close your eyes and picture a small clan of ancient people sitting around a fire. One of them stands to deliver a story about the successful hunt of the day while a different member of the group approaches the cave wall. With a special twig and a pot of hoarded ochre mixed with animal fat, our prehistoric artist starts to paint scenes from the oral story. Thus was the beginning of Words and Pictures – the Art of the Matter.

Whether our books are illustrated, or we add our own mental embellishments to longer works, there is no denying that as humans we are drawn to the symbiotic relationship of words and pictures. As teachers and librarians, we depend upon that vital relationship to hook our students on literature.

For one delightful week this summer we will immerse you in the beauty of pairing words and pictures to enhance your instruction. Each morning during our week-long conference you will hear prestigious authors and illustrators share their own stories about their work. From current and past Newbery Medal and Caldecott Medal winners to recipients of the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, the Orbis Pictus Award, the Theodor Geisel Award, the Golden Kite Award, the Coretta Scott King Honor, the Kirkus Prize, the Edgar Award for Mystery, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and designated New York Times Best Selling Author distinctions, our selection of guest speakers will dazzle you with their talent.

With us you will have the opportunity to chat with a Newbery or Caldecott Medal winner in the morning, sit in on a round table discussion with an international Hans Christian Andersen Winner in the afternoon, and get your newly purchased book signed by a New York Times Best Selling Children’s author before you retire for the day. We promise you that the week you spend with us will not only invigorate your passion for sharing literature and illustration with students, but will also recharge your energies for the next school year.

Each day of the conference begins with listening to a nationally awarded author or illustrator sharing their personal stories. After lunch on your own, you will chose the afternoon presentations you wish to attend, either taking classes for credit, sitting in on workshops given by talented educators, or participating in an informal roundtable hosted by an author and/or illustrator from that particular day. We offer the featured authors’ and/or illustrators’ books for sale each day and time is always allotted for book signing.

Those of us involved with the Shenandoah University Children’s Literature Conference love what we do – finding the best and brightest authors and illustrators of children’s literature and bringing them to Winchester, Virginia to enrich other educators’ lives. We look forward to having you join us in a celebration as old as mankind – the marriage of words and pictures.

Conference Hours9 am – 4:30 pm

Monday, June 20 – Friday, June 24, 2016

LocationShenandoah University is located in the scenic and historic Winchester, Virginia countryside, 75 miles west of Washington, D.C., affording participants the best of two worlds: the peacefulness of a small town and easy access to a major metropolitan area.

The campus, at the crossroads of U.S. Routes 50 and I-81, is adjacent to a large municipal park with many recreational opportunities. Two major shopping centers are within walking distance.

Pat Mora“I will never know what it’s like to have only one language in my head. I have the pleasure of being able to move back and forth between Spanish and English, and I incorporate both languages in my books.”

Pat Mora founded Children’s Day, Book Day, El día de los niños, El día de los libros often known as Día, in 1996 to promote family literacy. Pat’s Book Fiesta captures the Día spirit. She has won numerous awards including the coveted Pura Belpré Honor Award for Doña Flor: A Tall Tale about a Giant Woman with a Great Big Heart in 1996. Some of her other titles include Agua, Agua, Agua, Abuelos, Bravo, Chico Canta! Bravo! and The Desert is My Mother/El Desierto es Mi Madre. Many of her books are bilingual, presenting topics affecting Mexican-American families and culture.

Sara Pennypacker“I think maybe the biggest rewards of writing are once the books are done, it’s this long dialogue. I’ve said my part, and then I get to hear back from children, and nothing in the world moves me more than when I get a letter from a kid who says, ‘Until I read your book, I thought I was the only one.’ In the larger sense, what a book does is connect an individual reader with the rest of his tribe.”

Sara Pennypacker is the author of the award-winning New York Times bestselling Clementine series. She has received numerous awards for her books including the Christopher Award for Clementine’s Letter and the Golden Kite Award for Pierre In Love. Her other books include Summer of the Gypsy Moths, Sparrow Girl and The Amazing World of Stuart. Her latest books include the first book in a new series, Waylon! One Awesome Thing, illustrated by Marla Frazee and the novel PAX illustrated by Jon Klassen. She is the founder of the ShareOurBooks.org program which lends books provided by authors for community reads.

Daniel Salmieri“Although I didn’t always know I wanted to make them, children’s books were always very important to me, growing up. I loved having them read to me as I looked at the pictures. I was transported deep into the story and the world of a book in a way that felt magical.”

Daniel Salmieri grew up in Brooklyn, NY, making drawings of fighter jets and Ninja Turtles. He is the illustrator of the best-selling picture books written by Adam Rubin. He has also illustrated Meet the Dullards written by Sara Pennypacker and Around the World on Eighty Legs written by Amy Gibson. His artwork has been awarded the Borders Original Voices Award and the NAIBA 2013 Book of the Year Award. His work has been recognized by The Society of Illustrators and American Illustration.

Eric Litwin“All children learn differently. Yet we often teach them to read as if they all learn the same way. My books blend traditional reading methods such as phonics and sight words with multisensory techniques such as music and movement to help every child learn to read and love books.”

Eric Litwin is a song-singing, guitar-strumming, New York Times Best Selling, award winning author who brings early literacy and music together. He is the author of the beloved first four Pete the Cat picture books and the exciting musical series The Nuts and Groovy Joe. Eric’s books have sold over seven million copies, been translated into eight languages, and won many literacy awards including a Theodor Geisel Seuss Honor Award.

Adam Rubin “The other day, I walked out on stage in front of 600 kids who knew my work by heart. They were screaming out lines from the book and just generally going insane. It’s hard to believe that words I peck out on a laptop in my apartment wind up swirling around the brains of hilarious little kids and creating these really beautiful family bonding moments for people I’ve never met. It’s surreal.”

Adam Rubin is the New York Times best-selling author of seven children’s books illustrated by Daniel Salmieri. His books include Dragons Love Tacos, Secret Pizza Party, Big Bad Bubble, Robo-Sauce, and the Darn Squirrels Trilogy. Those Darn Squirrels received a 2009 Borders Original Voices Award. He spent ten years working as a creative director in the advertising industry before leaving his day job to write full time. He teaches improv to grown ups, showing them how to be more like children, and he loves magic tricks.

Greg Pizzoli“One of the things that I learned in grad school is that a book is not a vessel. The form of the book, the shape that it takes – it’s not just a blank thing. Every part of it has meaning. The paper stock, the ink choice, the font, the trim size: everything about it contributes to the meaning of the story.”

Greg Pizzoli’s first picture book, The Watermelon Seed, was published in 2013 and won the 2014 Geisel Award for the most distinguished book for beginning readers. His next book, Tricky Vic: The Impossibly True Story of the Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower, was selected for The New York Times ten Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2015. Some of his other titles include Number One Sam, Templeton Gets His Wish, and Good Night Owl.

Jarrett Krosoczka“It is an awfully sad misconception that librarians simply check books in and out. The library is the heart of a school, and without a librarian, it is but an empty shell.”

Jarret Krosoczka’s love of fun shines through in each of the books he has written and illustrated. His books include Punk Farm, Baghead, Peanut Butter and Jellyfish, Ollie, the popular graphic novels in the Lunch Lady series and his chapter book series, Platypus Police Squad. His imaginative books are beloved by children everywhere. He travels to schools where he is embraced by children and lunch ladies. He has received numerous state awards and has won the Children’s Choice Book of the Year twice for the Lunch Lady series, which is being made into a movie featuring Amy Poehler.

By Lorraine Scheppler

By Derek Fowles

Above, detail from the cover of Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin, illustrated by Daniel Salmeri

Above, detail from the cover of Punk Farm by Jarrett Krosoczka

E.B. Lewis“Matisse, on his deathbed, with a bamboo pole in his hand, drew on the ceiling. That’s how I want to go out. Figuring out that last line. As artists we need to fill ourselves up to overflowing, and then give it all back.”

E. B. Lewis calls himself an “artistrator” to encompass his beautiful pieces of art and illustrations. Over 70 books have been graced with his exquisitely detailed paintings including Nikki Grimes’ Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman, the 2003 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner; Alice Schertle’s Down the Road, an ALA Notable Book; Tolowa M. Mollel’s My Rows and Piles of Coins, an ALA Notable Book and a Coretta Scott King Honor Book and Bat Boy and His Violin by Garvin Curtis, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. He was awarded a 2005 Caldecott Honor for Coming on Home Soon written by Jacqueline Woodson.

Wendelin Van DraanenMatt Tavares“I’ve been drawing since I was a baby, and my work has always had a sort of illustrative quality, since I’ve always liked making pictures that tell stories.”

Matt Tavares is the author-illustrator of Growing Up Pedro which was named a 2016 Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children Honor Book. Some of his other books include Becoming Babe Ruth, Henry Aaron’s Dream and Mudball. He is also the illustrator of Jack’s Path of Courage, Helen’s Big World and Lady Liberty by Doreen Rappaport; The Gingerbread Pirates by Kristin Kladstrup; and Jubilee! by Alicia Potter. His books have won numerous awards, including three Parents’ Choice Gold Awards, six Oppenheim Gold Seal Awards, an Oppenheim Platinum Award, an International Reading Association Children’s Book Award.

“I see literature as a method of guidance, information, and contemplation, and consider it the greatest compliment possible when a reader tells me that a book of mine really made him/her think.”

Wendelin Van Draanen is the author of numerous young adult and middle grade novels and mysteries. Now in its tenth installment, The Sammy Keyes Mysteries have been nominated for the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best Juvenile Mystery five times, with Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief winning the award. Before becoming a full time writer, Van Draanen was a math and computer science teacher. Her first book, How I Survived Being a Girl, was met with acclaim and praise, and her insightful book, Flipped, was made into a movie directed by Rob Reiner. She also runs a literacy/fitness campaign called “Exercise the Right to Read.”

Above, detail from the cover of The Other Side by Jacqeuline Woodson, illustrated by E.B. Lewis

We wish to acknowledge support for this conference from the Claude Moore Center for Literacy at Shenandoah University and the

Claude Moore Charitable Foundation.

Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre (on SU’s campus) will be presenting “My Fair Lady” June 16 – June 26, 2016.

Early Bird Registration Rates through May 31, 2016:

Registration rates after June 1, 2016:

$495 (audit/no credit) $545 (audit/no credit)

$580 (2) graduate credits $630 (2) graduate credits

$595 (3) undergraduate credits $645 (3) undergraduate credits

$595 (3) graduate credits $645 (3) graduate credits

Course Information

Theatre

Fees

STEP 1DOWNLOAD

STEP 2COMPLETE

STEP 3MAIL

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT CLC

su.edu/childrenslit | infoclc@su.edu | (540) 545-7215

TO REGISTER

Download* the registration form at www.su.edu/childrenslit and mail with payment to:

Hornet CentralShenandoah University1460 University DriveWinchester, VA 22601

Registration form and payment

due byJune 16, 2016

*If you would prefer a hard copy be sent to you, please email or call.

“ ‘Books ground us,’ said President Tracy Fitzsimmons as she welcomed us to Shenandoah University. This phrase struck me as being the perfect introductory remark for the conference. Books have not only grounded me, but have been my ‘rabbit-hole’ and ‘magical wardrobe’ – my escape hatch and gateway. I had to pinch myself to believe that I was really here, part of a crowd of people who all feel the same about the written word and reading!”

John, Librarian

“Southern hospitality extends to a love of books and reading. It was book love from start to finish.”

Andrea Davis Pinkney, Author

“I’ve really enjoyed this conference, once again! I’m sure I’ll be back in the future, so you’ve got to keep it going. And going, and going, and going…”

Laura, Librarian

Attend the conference for two or three hours of graduate credit, or three hours of undergraduate credit. You also have the option to audit for no credit.

To secure graduate credit, you must enroll in either the writing section (ENG 502) or the literature section (ENG 503). To receive undergraduate credit, you must enroll in the education section (EDU 403).

The writing section will focus on critical writing and writing in the content areas. The literature section will introduce techniques for using children’s literature to teach reading and writing.

Course requirements for two hours of graduate credit and three hours of undergraduate credit can be completed during the week of the conference.

To receive credit, you must compile an annotated bibliography of children’s literature or submit a major, documented paper investigating some aspect of material discussed during the conference.

Bibliography or papers are due August 26, 2016.

Transcripts will be mailed by October 28, 2016.

HousingCampus Housing: A limited number of residence hall rooms with board included are available. Fees include meal costs (Sunday dinner through Friday lunch in Allen Dining Hall). Rooms are equipped with private baths.

Single Room: will be available at a cost of $300

Double Room: will be available at a cost of $275/pp

Hotels/Motels: Several hotels/motels are within easy walking distance of the University. More information will be provided upon request.

Please contact infoclc@su.edu for a list of local accommodations.

PA Teachers and Librarians: The Children’s Literature Conference is an Act 48 Approved Program

1460 University DriveWinchester, VA 22601

Please share with a colleague!

Non-Profit Org.US Postage

PAIDPermit #19

Winchester, VA

Children’s Literature ConferenceJune 20–24, 2016

www.su.edu/childrenslit540.545.7215

Guest Speakers: Matt de la Peña

Christian Robinson Pam Muñoz Ryan

Peter Sís Pat Mora

Adam Rubin Daniel Salmieri

Eric LitwinSara Pennypacker

Greg Pizzoli Jarrett Krosoczka

Matt TavaresE.B. Lewis

Wendelin Van Draanen

“This is where teachers come to play! Next year I will teach my class about the people behind the books and help them to understand the in-depth process of writing. I want to enrich and inspire my students like I have been inspired this week.”

Cheryl, 8th Grade Teacher

“Students need to think and dream and create and be inspired. The Shenandoah Children’s Literature Conference offers just that.”

Sharon Draper, Author

“Thank you for an energizing week! I came away with more practical and usable lesson ideas than I have from any other class or conference I have attended. Bravo!”

Kathleen, Librarian

Children’s Literature Conference

June 20–24, 2016 su.edu/childrenslit

“ As my Children’s Literature Conference week comes to an end I want to thank you for providing this amazing opportunity to educators. I have enjoyed each day, each presenter and each break-out session. I value the hard work and dedication that went into planning such an amazing week. Thank you. I’ll be back!

Janie, 1st Grade teacher

“The devoted staff of this conference creates a fun, nurturing, invigorating atmosphere in which artists and educators together celebrate the world of children’s literature.”

Mary Pope Osborne, Author

“ I signed up for this conference after being told by several colleagues what a wonderful class it was. Boy, were they right! I was enthralled by the speakers and left with so many wonderful ideas, it made me almost wish summer was over and school was in session again!”

Rebecca, 3rd Grade Teacher