Part II: Walter Dean Myers, Ibtisam Barakat, and Jeanette Winter Discuss War and Peace in Books for Young People

Walter Dean Myers has published more than 70 books for children and teens. He has received many awards for his work in this field including the Coretta Scott King Award, five times. Two of his books were awarded Newbery Honors. He has been awarded the Margaret A. Edwards Award and the Virginia Hamilton Award. For one of his books, Monster, he has received the first Michael Printz Award for Young Adult literature awarded by the American Library Association. Monster and Autobiography of My Dead Brother were selected as National Book Award Finalists. His latest title is Sunrise Over Fallujah.

Growing up with war and occupation is the focus of Ibtisam Barakat’s memoir, Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood. In 2007, Booklist named it one of the top 10 biographies for youth, and it was listed as an American Library Association Notable. In 2008 the memoir won the International Reading Association’s Best Non-Fiction Book Award for Children and Young Adults.

Jeanette Winter has written and illustrated many books for children based on true-life stories, including the highly acclaimed MAMA, The Librarian of Basra, and My Name is Georgia. The Librarian of Basra received a starred review in School Library Journal, was an ALA Notable Children’s Book, a CCBC Choice and was the winner of the Bank Street College of Education Flora Stieglitz Straus Award for Nonfiction. Her most recent title is Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa.

Margaret Tice, assistant director for NYPL Children’s Programs, introduced the panelists.

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