Hanni and I were interviewed on a radio show called “Walking on Air” today. The show’s title turned out to be the theme for the rest of the afternoon.
I checked my email once Hanni and I got home from the radio interview. Dee ding! A message! I opened it. For a moment I thought I was misunderstanding the robotic voice on my talking computer. I hit the keys to listen again, and sure enough:
“The following book has been nominated in the Fiction Picture Books category:
Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound by Beth Finke and illustrated by Anthony Alex Letourneau
Congratulations on your nomination!”
Yes! It’s true! Safe & sound has been nominated for a CYBIL Woo hoo!
What’s a Cybil? You mean, you don’t know?
Okay, I’ll be honest, neither did I.
I know now, though! The Cybils are a series of book awards selected by a panel of children’s and young adult bloggers, “the only literary contest that combines both the spontaneity of the Web with the thoughtful debate of a book club.”
According to the email message, nominated books will go through two rounds of judging, and the winners will be announced on Valentine’s Day 2008. Stay tuned.
But speaking of being tuned in, our interview on Walking on Air was swell. If you have never heard “Walking on Air,” it’s Syndicated on WLBK, DeKalb, IL; KWPC, Muscatine, IA; WLRB, Macomb, IL; WBYS, Canton, IL; and on WRAM in Galesburg, IL.
If you don’t live near any of those cities you can hear “Walking on Air” streamed live, weekdays from noon to 1 pm (central time).
To hear Hanni and me from today’s show, though, you’ll need to link to the podcast.
The “Walking on Air” hosts are Betsy and Sal. They’re sisters, and the show’s title comes from their uncle. Every morning on his drive to work he passes pairs of women walking together. These women walk every day and never seem at a loss for topics. What, he wondered out loud to his nieces, do these women talk about day after day? Since Betsy and Sally walk together all the time, they know what gets discussed. They are tons of fun, and our half-hour together flew by. I’m still walking on air.
Wow! Congratulations!
But can you tell me what part of Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound is fiction? Have you been making this stuff up?
I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED ABOUT THAT “FICTION” THING!! I promise I did not make anything up when I wrote “Safe & Sound”! When the Library of Congress took a look at it, though, they determined the book had to be catagorize as fiction. They said dogs don’t write books.
But know what? They never met Hanni…!
term
CONGRATULATIONS!!! How funny…Just this morning I was looking at the book AGAIN, and AGAIN I got misty at the end. At that moment, I thought to myself that this book deserves an award. Then I look at your blog, and lo and behold, you’ve been nominated for one! I’ll see you shortly.
Your fan,
Laurie
Congragulations on your nomination for a CYBIL- well deserved! I am going to check out your interview- hope my Macomb friends were listening!
You have friends in Macomb?
Of course I have my alumni friends in Macomb! I am sure they would recognize the Finke name!
Not that I think like a teacher or anything, but the fact vs. fiction idea might be a good one to bring up with students at schools, kids and adults at bookstores, and presentations elsewhere. Ask kids (and adults) to decide for themselves whether this book is fact or fiction. They may have to make up another category, though…faction. Of course, they will have to buy a book in order to effectively decide one way or another.
Great idea, Francine! Maybe I’ll try it out at my visit to St. Athanasius School tomorrow —
[…] 11 to 17 Children’s Book Week, and Hanni and I sure celebrated! I already blogged about the radio show we were on Tuesday. What I didn’t tell you, though, was the reason Betsy and Sal decided to have us on Walking on […]
[…] Betsy and Sal Show on WGN-AM Radio on Sunday, December 16. You might remember Betsy and Sal from my “Walking on Air” blog post. Betsy and Sal are sisters and have a syndicated show on a small station in the Chicago suburbs. […]
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