October 28, 2005

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Publication Date: Friday, October 28, 2005

Making their way to the Best Seller list

This past week, Pleasanton Public Library honored young writers and artists at a special awards ceremony to celebrate the 30th year of the library's "Newcott-Caldebery Awards" - a name based on the national Newberry Award for adult writers of children's literature and the Caldecott Award for children's book illustrators.

"During the summer we put out an invitation to children to create and illustrate their own books," explains Sandy Silva, director of children's services for the library. "We then collect those books and have a celebration in the fall." This year, 74 books were submitted by children in grades 1-8. Library staff members select award winners in each grade level - one for writing and one for illustration - but every participant is honored.

One special aspect about the program is that all the submitted books get catalogued and entered into the library system, meaning anyone can come into the library and check out the children's works. There is even a special section set aside in the children's area for these books. Since the program has been around for 30 years, most of the books have to be stored elsewhere, but at least five years' worth are kept out in the library.

Most of the entries are works of fiction. Some are hand-written on binder paper, while others are printed out by computer. The library provides a special folder for each of the original books, with each page in a plastic slipcase to protect the original.

But what inspires young people to devote their summertime to creating books? For the Brown children, it's something of a family tradition by now. Alicia, an eighth grade student at Hart Middle School and her brother Parker, a fifth-grade student at Fairlands Elementary School, each have entered the contest four times, and their younger sister Kamryn, a second grader also at Fairlands, submitted her third entry this past summer.

"I definitely want to be an author," Alicia says. Her book "took about half the summer" to write, because the first plot she began did not work out. Her second try, "Blue Onions," was the recipient of the Caldebery Medal for her grade level.

"I wanted it to be kind of a strange title," says Alicia. "'Blue Onions' is about a boy named Kaleb who lives in a castle. He is threatened with his life and has to run away, crossing a desert area, and then climbs a mountain where he finds blue onions." The book is fully illustrated, including in the side margins of several pages.

Parker's book, "The Many Adventures of Mr. Puffulufagis," received the Author's Award and Kamryn's "Lost in the Rain Forest," received the Caldecott Medal winner for her grade level.

Trying out new forms of writing is an important part of the program. Christopher Wen participated in a summer school writing class that focused on fictional narratives, mysteries and poetry. A fifth-grade student at Donlon Elementary School, Chris chose to combine two forms for his fourth entry in the contest. "'Consequences' starts off telling about two feuding kings," explains Chris. "Later it becomes a mystery about their descendents." Included in the plot are distinctive dragons and an exploding pumpkin. For Chris, fictional narrative is his favorite genre, "because I can just use my imagination and go anyplace I want."

Out of this world was the destination for the book by seventh-grade writer Sahil Aggarwal. "Time of War is about two men forced to go to war against a different planet and how their lives change as a result. They learn not to underestimate their alien attackers, and also the value of honesty. "I think if I work hard enough, I'll be able to make great stories," says Sahil, who attends Harvest Park Middle School. He was the recipient of a Caldebery Medal this year.

Space travel was the theme also for "Journey to the Stars" by Shelby Norendahl, a fourth-grade student at Fairlands who won the Newcott medal for her grade level.

"My book is about people who have to leave to go to another planet," says Shelby. This year's entry is a sequel to her book last year, "Go Green," which focused on the need to protect our environment. Thirty years later, her characters face the consequences of what happened when the environment is depleted. Her book spans the period from 1860, when a family emigrates from Sweden to the United States, to 2223, when 9-year-old twin descendents of the same family are pioneers to a new planet, attempting to transplant ecological practices to a new world.

Shelby is not the only one thinking of sequels. Nicole Tsuno, a second-grade student at Alisal Elementary School, won a Newcott Medal for Savannah's Big Day, about a girl who dreams of becoming a rock star - and already Nicole has begun plotting a follow-up to the story for next year. Nicole named her main character after a friend on her soccer team. In the book, Savannah's mother offers sage advice to the stage fright-stricken 8-year-old: "Picture yourself strong and brave. Believe in yourself, Savannah!"

Eleven-year-old Patricia Mattos was one of the few young authors to submit a work of non-fiction. "Brighton, My Baby Brother" chronicles her experiences from when her mother announces that she is expecting a baby through when she brought home the newborn family member.

"I knew this was changing my life forever," says Patricia. "I have a twin and thought he would be my only brother, but now, suddenly, I have a second brother." Brighton is 6-months-old now, and Patricia is getting used to the new responsibility that comes with being an older sister.

As noted by one contestant's grandmother, all who take the time to create books are winners.
This year's young authors are:

First Grade

Megan Foster, Hearst, "Beavie Beaver"

Ashley Foster, Hearst, "Cats Club"

Kate Goto, Valley View, "The Little Unicorn"

Second Grade

Amanda Boutin, Alisal, "On Hatching Day"

Sabrina D'ambrosio, Donlon, "The Lost Eggs"

Armin Gholami, Lydiksen, "Jonny Thunder: The Case of the Lost Mummy Author Award"

Michael Grozier, Mohr, "Kingdom of Life"

Cade Lau, Valley View, "Hurricane Katrina"

Megan Martin, Walunt Grove, "Vacation to Hawaii"

Joshua McCarthy, Sycamore Valley, "Why Did I Believe Him?"

Varsha Ramakrishnan, Mohr, "My Adventure Story"

Jacob Rochon, Lydiksen, "Coco Escapes"

Caitlin Szikszai, Vintage Hills, "The Magic Pencil"

Nicole Tsuno, Alisal, "Savannah's Big Day"

David Webster, Country Club, "A Kid's Guide to Mount Vernon"

Third Grade

Kamryn Brown, Fairlands, "Lost in the Rain Forest"

Augustine Chemparathy, Hidden Hills, "George the Dolphin"

Katryna DeLuz, Fairlands, "The Mystery of the Missing Bowling Pin!"

Gabriel Fiandeiro, Lydiksen, "Korunga vs. He's Robot"

Sabrina L. Finke, Mohr, "The Most Annoying Little Brother in the World" Katie Grant, Walnut Grove, "The Bigger It Gets"

Sriparna Sen, Lydiksen, "Trouble Twins"

Julia Valadez, Hearst, "The Girl Who Became Competitive"

Gabrielle Widjaja, Walnut Grove, "An Adventure in the Woods"

Fourth Grade

Jamie M. Altman, Walnut Grove, "The Great Adventure"

Jerry Cheng, Donlon, "Mr. I Just Forgot"

Sahar Darian, Hidden Hills, "Doodle Hero"

Tor Heggelund, Valley View, "Wet Willy: The Best Skater in the World"

Daniel Huang, Mohr, "Friendship"

Jerald Kagele, Valley View, "The Dark Side of Me #1 Let Loose"

Tyler Marchi, Valley View, "What Basketballs Do When No One is Looking" Madison Matthies, Valley View, "The Best Book of Children's Poems"

Shelby Nordendahl, Fairlands, "A Journey to the Stars"

Andrew Ochoa, Valley View, "The Poem Book"

Danny O'Lenic, Valley View, "My Creature Feature Essay"

Akshay Ravikumar, Mohr, "My Wonderful Dream!"

Elysa Roman, Valley View, "Snowy Day"

Kristof Szikszai, Vintage Hills, "Kristof's Time Travel"

Taylor Truex, Valley View, "My Book of Poems"

John Webster, Country Club, "The Flying Submarine"

Melissa West, Valley View, "My Poems"

Daniel Wong, Valley View, "Adventure on Planet Ooblek"

Paige Zollars, Valley View, "What Chiuahuas Do When No One is Looking"

Fifth Grade

Vasan Arul, Mohr, "A Different Kind of Hero"

Parker Brown, Fairlands, "The Many Adventures of Mr. Puffulufagis"

Michelle Chang, Lydiksen, "The Life and Times of Reggie Bush"

Savannah Cordova, Lydiksen, "Bewitched"

Kendall D'India, Valley Christian, "The Story I Tell"

Morgan Kavanagh, St. Raymonds, "Golden's Secret"

Emeline Kong, Valley View, Shadowblood

Matthew Martin, Walnut Grove, "The Traveling Calculator"

Sabrina McGraw, Hearst, "The Furball Adventure"

Joshua Prentice, Vintage Hills, "Bone's Revenge"

Omar Sajjad, Mohr, "The War for Freedom"

Sohan Shah, Lydiksen, "El Bandito"

Shrinidhi Thirumalai, Challenger School, "Magic in the Attic" Christopher Wen, Donlon, "Consequences"

Sixth Grade

Patricia Matus, PMS, "Brighton, My Baby Brother"

Carlos Medina, Hart, "The Adventures of Lucky Lucciano"

Clive Veerapal, Hart, "The Adventure of Link"

Seventh Grade

Sahil Aggarwal, Harvest Park, "Time of War"

Ines Kuo, Harvest Park, "Summer Days"

Priyanka Prasad, Harvest Park, "The Girl with Green Eyes"

Krishnapriya Somasekharan, Harvest Park, "The Golden Rattle"

David Valadez, PMS, "The Castle of Camus"

Eighth Grade

Alicia Brown, Hart, "Blue Onions"

Jessie Cheng, Hart, "The Summer of 2005"

Neema Jyothiprakash, Hart, "The Awoken Dragon"

Elizabeth Lopez, Harvest Park, "1999...The Year That Changed My Life"

Nidhi Mastey, Challenger, "A Burning Candle"

Tara Najim, PMS, "A Quick Hike"

Manika Paul, Mendenhall Middle School, "Lyres"

Daniel Zakaria, PMS, "This Book is Really Black"

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