Kid Lit Shines in NY The Port Washington (NY) Public Library will present an all-star panel discussion led by author and artist Jane Breskin Zalben, “Past, Present and Future: Insiders Look at Children’s Literature in the 21st Century,” on Sunday, November 10 at 1:30 p.m. The event will celebrate the launch of the library’s Children’s Illustrator Exhibition, which features original works from such artists as Brian Floca, Roxie Munro, Jerry Pinkney, Sergio Ruzzier, Amy Schwartz, Laura Vaccaro Seeger, Paulis Waber, and the late Bernard Waber. The exhibition, which was postponed from 2012 due to Hurricane Sandy, will be open in the library’s main gallery from November 1 to December 1, 2013. The panel discussion will address, among other hot topics, the influence of multimedia and electronic publishing on children’s literature, and ways in which librarians can inspire in children a lifelong love of reading. Mora Award for Arizona U REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking, has selected Arizona State University in Tempe as recipient of its 2013 Estela and Raúl Mora Award for “the most exemplary culminating celebration of El día de los niños, El día de los libros /Children’s Day, Book Day.” The application was submitted by the English Education Program. The award was established by author/poet Pat Mora. The university will receive $1,000 and a plaque commemorating its Día efforts. In addition, the Joliet Public Library, Salt Lake County Library Services, and Waukegan Public Library will each receive $500. The award will be presented at the midwinter meeting of the American Library Association (ALA) in next January in Philadelphia. YALSA Teens’ Top Ten The Young Adult Library Services Association has announced its official 2013 Teens’ Top Ten list, a “teen choice” selection of favorite books—published the previous year—chosen by teens for teens. Voting for the list took place from August 15 through Teen Read Week (October 13–19). There were 28 nominees for the list, chosen by kids in 16 different teen book groups in school libraries and public libraries around the country. The winners are Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (Disney/Hyperion); The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen (Scholastic/Scholastic Press); Insurgent by Veronica Roth (Harper Collins/Katherine Tegen Books);     Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry (Harlequin Teen); Poison Princess by Kresley Cole (Simon & Schuster); The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic/Scholastic Press); Crewel by Gennifer Albin (Macmillan/Farrar Straus Giroux); Every Day by David Levithan (Random House/Alfred A. Knopf); Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross (Egmont); and Butter by Erin Jade Lange (Bloomsbury). Gale adds Encyclopedia Britannica Gale, part of Cengage Learning, has announced that it will add nearly 200 new children’s reference titles from Encyclopedia Britannica to the Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL), Gale’s ebook platform for the library space. The addition of these new titles, which are geared toward students PreK–6, brings the total number of ebooks available on GVRL to more than 8,000, the company says in its announcement, noting that the titles “support Gale’s efforts to provide additional educational content for early literacy in the public and school library markets.” The titles offered in the GVRL include multiple series and topics for children, aimed to enhance in community or school programing. Several titles are also available in English/Spanish and Spanish-only. ALSC grant proposals due The Association of Library Service to Children and Candlewick Press are now accepting applications for the "Light the Way: Outreach to the Underserved" Grant, formed in honor of Newbery Medalist and Geisel Honoree author Kate DiCamillo, and the themes represented in her books. The $3000 award, ALSC says in its announcement is meant “to assist a library in conducting exemplary outreach to underserved populations through a new program or an expansion of work already being done.” Special population children may include those who have learning or physical differences, those who speak English as a second language, those who are in a non-traditional school environment, those who live in foster care settings, those who are in the juvenile justice system, those who live in gay and lesbian families, those who have teen parents, and those who need accommodation service to meet their needs, ALSC says. Online applications are due by December 1, 2013. Research fellowship available A research fellowship program is jointly available from the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, the Janina Domanska Literary Estate, and the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, to scholars engaged in projects based substantially on the holdings of the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection. The purpose of the program is “to encourage imaginative and productive research in children's literature,” the sponsors say. The collection focuses on American and British children's literature, historical as well as contemporary, and offers ioriginal manuscripts and illustrations of more than 1,300 authors and illustrators. The collection includes more than 160,000 published volumes, dating from 1530 to the present, more than 250 magazine titles, original illustrations, manuscripts, typescripts, proofs, dummies, preliminary sketches, photographs, and correspondence of award-winning author/illustrators Ezra Jack Keats and Janina Domanska. The program will award grants up to $1450 to help defray costs of research projects through May 21, 2014. Applications, available online, must be completed and mailed by November 15.