Children’s Book Winners were announced this morning in a Press Conference at Denver.  (I am sitting in the Convention Center and reporting this post-Press Conference.)  For a step-by-step, at the moment report of my reactions to the announcements, go to: http://www.fairrosa.info/rj

Follow this link to see part the titles.

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/2009medawardwin.cfm

A more complete list will be here soon.

We looked at How A Book Is Made slideshow and made up a story and published it on the Web in December, 2008.  We made some observations and comments:

Similar:

1. Both have to go through editing.
2. They both have text.
3. Both books and web pages can be written by multiple people.
4. Both books and web pages can have different levels of qualities: good books/good web pages; bad books/bad web pages.

Different:

1. Web site did not get edited as much.  Actually, some web sites do not have to go through any editing process at all.
2. It was faster to publish a web page.  It’s instantaneous.
3. Books are printed on paper but web sites do not need paper. (Saving trees?)
4. Web sites have built-in spell checks.
5. You don’t have to PRINT things from the web to read them.
6. You don’t have to buy or sell the web stories.
7. The Book on the slide show came from one author but our story was made by the whole class.
8. Things on the web are very easy to find and access.

In December, 2008, we did two things in Library Classes: one, we looked at a slide show on how books are made; two, we made our own silly story that was published on this blog, on the Web.

We now are discussing the differences and similarities between these two media and two processes:

Similar:

1. You can read books AND web pages/ebook.
2. You can open a book and open a web page.
3. Publishing books and web pages in the 21st century takes TYPING/USING computers.

Different:

1. You can carry a book around easily but not always a computer, unless you have a laptop, internet connection, and electricity.
2. Publishing a web page does not take that many people and steps or as long as publishing a book.
3. Sometimes, it is easier to find your places (links, search, etc.) when you read a web page.
4. There is actually printing involved in making books (paper, printer, ink, etc.)  It takes longer to produce.
5. Publishing on the web saves paper.
6. Usually, you have to pay to buy books and their content, but there is a lot of free stuff on the Web, including stories, news, games, etc.
7. Almost anyone can put up web pages, but it still is not that common for everyone to publish books.
8. Web Publishing doesn’t always have to cost money, but book publishing ALWAYS costs money.
9. Web publishing does not always make money for the web authors.

After we examined the slide show of How A Book Is Made and made up a story as a class in December, 2008, we had a discussion of the differences and similarities between book publishing and Web Page publishing.  Also, some differences and similarities between a book and a web page.

1. Book publishing: you need a printer and illustrator, but you don’t really need it on the web.  You don’t HAVE to illustrate for the web pages.

2. The web page we made, we didn’t have to worry about whether it would sell.  For a book, you had to go through all the steps.  (This is true only for free web sites.)

3. Book Publishing can take longer.

4. When you publish on the Web/Net, you can make stuff up without worrying about it being true.  But when you make a book, you need to be more truthful.

5. As readers, we actually trust books a little more.  (Some people.)  Others trust web sites more.  Some people trust both.  Some people distrust both.

6. People can easily change and update a web page, but in a book, once it’s printed and published, it’s very hard (almost impossible) for these changes.

This is a concluding discussion after we looked at How a Book Is Made slide show and made up a story and published it on the Web in December.  Noble House students observed the following:

1. A book usually starts with an author’s idea.
2. A book has to be printed on paper, by a professional printer (printing company.)
3. A lot of people have to agree on making the book.
4. Someone has to edit it.
5. It takes at least a year to actually produce a book.
6. If illustrations are needed, an illustrator (professional) needs to work on it.
7. It did not take a year to make and publish our Web page.  It took about 20 minutes.
8. We did not need an illustrator or a professional printer.
9. It did not take so many steps to make the story and publish it.
10. We could not quite agree on a title so we compromised (or we didn’t!)
11. We did not need to discuss whether the “book” (story) will sell or worthy of publication.
12. We made the “story” on the computer via the internet, not printed on giant pieces of paper.
13. We did not really design the “book” in the traditional sense.
14. There is no front or back cover of the “book.”
15. It’s only one page long.
16. We did not have to figure whether to publish it as a HC or PB.
17. We did not have a big conference about it.