The Open Road Blog

We at Open Road Media are pleased to celebrate two important events that impact teen readers. Today is Support Teen Literature day, part of the America Library Association’s National Library Week. Today also kicks off the twenty-eighth Virginia Hamilton Conference for Multicultural Literature for Youth at Kent State University in Ohio.

 

Virginia Hamilton, one of the premier writers of children and teen literature, once said, “children must read to live.” That powerful message lives on in the annual namesake conference at Kent State University, which promotes multicultural themes and issues in literature for children and young adults. This year’s ...

“I grew up thinking of the library as the most magical place,” says Michael Chabon, author of Wonder Boys. “There’s no question that when an economy takes a turn for the worse, libraries become more important than ever.” This week is National Library Week, when the American Library Association invites readers to celebrate and show their appreciation for libraries around the country.

By sharing their rich collections of books and other media, preserving archives, hosting events, and fostering a sense of community, libraries serve a crucial role in society—and they’ve inspired many children to become writers.

We asked ...

“Readers will come to cherish Dreenie’s openheartedness, just as Dreenie comes to cherish
her newfound friend.”

–Starred Review, Publishers Weekly

Open Road Integrated Media is pleased to announce the release of the ebook Bluish by renowned children’s book author Virginia Hamilton. In this story, ten-year-old Natalie is different from the other kids at her New York City magnet school: She is often absent, wears a knit cap, and uses a wheelchair. Her classmates have nicknamed her “Bluish” because her pale skin is tinted blue from chemotherapy. Hamilton delivers a lesson of compassion and demonstrates the power of friendship to ...

Black History Month reflects on, celebrates and honors the African-American experience. Everywhere you look, black culture, talent, and political efforts have played an enormous role in shaping America's past and present.

African Americans have  revered good stories and storytellers. The story-telling history of Africa is rich and varied, and it remains a living tradition that continues to evolve and flourish in the diaspora today. "How many of us really know about the truly great civilizations of Africa, in their days as glorious and resplendent as any on the face of the earth?" asks Henry Louis Gates Jr., educator, author, ...

Our Archival Photo of the Week features award-winning author, Virginia Hamilton performing at a club in New York City in the mid-1950s. Born in 1934, Hamilton grew up among a large extended family in Ohio. She excelled as a student and attended Ohio State University to study literature and creative writing. She later moved to New York City in order to publish her fiction. In between jobs, she took additional writing courses at the New School for Social Research and continued to meet fellow writers, including her husband, poet Arnold Adoff. In 1967, Hamilton published her first novel, Zeely, ...

On Monday, January 23, the newest recipients of the esteemed John Newbery Medal will be announced. This award, which has been presented each year since 1922, is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children from the American Library Association. Sometimes called the “Oscar” of children’s literature, it has changed the lives of its recipients for the last 90 years.

In this video, Newbery Award-Winning authors Virginia Hamilton and Jean Craighead George talk about how those awards (for M.C. Higgins, the Great and Julie of the Wolves, respectively) changed their lives. Hamilton was the first ...

“I couldn’t not be a part of the movement,” says Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple, about her involvement in the civil rights struggle. “The whole South was in an uproar because we were trying to change the very system that my parents and grandparents and great-grandparents had suffered under.” 

To mark the national celebration of the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., we interviewed writers—and their friends, family, and colleagues—about their experiences during the civil rights movement.

Walker speaks about the problems faced by students participating in the movement, while Arnold Adoff, husband of the late ...

“Perhaps no one but Hamilton could invent so thrilling and credible a story about people.” –Publishers Weekly

Open Road Integrated Media is pleased to announce the release of four additional ebook editions of award-winning children’s book author Virginia Hamilton, including The Mystery of Drear House, and the Justice Trilogy: Justice and Her Brothers, Dustland, and The Gathering.

In The Mystery of Drear House, the sequel to the Edgar Allen Poe Award–winning House of Dies Drear, Thomas Small and his best friend Pesty Darrow have been keeping the secret that lies beneath Drear House—hidden rooms, Indian legends, and terrifying ...

Open Road Media recognizes that kids love to get their hands on a good book as much as on any electronic device. For a publisher of digital books, it’s a match made in heaven.

We’ve brought in classic titles and favorite characters to a new audience of ebook readers by partnering with children’s publishers such as Kids Can Press (Franklin the turtle) and Albert Whitman and Co. (The Boxcar Children),

We’ve acquired award-winning literature from authors such as Bette Greene, Jean Craighead George, and Virginia Hamilton.

We continue to expand our young adult ...

It's that time of year again! Whether your child is heading back to school or entering the classroom for the first time, Open Road is pleased to offer a variety of top children's titles from 99 cents and up from September 6 through September 13.

Click on any title to learn more, and come back throughout the week to check out special back to school content!

Picture books: 

Franklin Goes to School by Paulette Bourgeois

Princess K.I.M and the Lie that Grew by Mary Ann Cocca Lefler

Three Little Gators by Helen Ketteman

Early readers:

The Secret at the ...

Today we’ve selected children’s book author Virginia Hamilton (1934-2002) for our Archival Photo of the Week. The photo shows Hamilton as a seventh grader in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where she was born and raised.

Hamilton was one of the most celebrated African-American writers of the twentieth century. Over the course of three decades she won nearly every major award for children and YA literature: the National Book Award, the John Newbery Medal, the Edgar Allan Poe Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award, and the Hans Christian Andersen Medal. Hamilton wrote mainly about African-American history and folklore, ...

We're wrapping up our National Library Week celebration here at Open Road.

We've enjoyed sharing video of Pat Conroy speaking about childhood library visits; Pablo's essay about libraries as portals; Virginia Hamilton's library tribute, "Sentinels in Long Still Rows"; an excerpt featuring the famous library scene from Walker Percy's The Moviegoer; and library memories from Jon Land, Peter Blauner, Joseph Caldwell, and Richelle Mead.

Today, we bring you this video about Virginia Hamilton (M.C. Higgins, The Great), and her debt to an important figure at the Yellow Springs Community Library.

 

As always, ...

A prolific teller of African American tales recalls getting her inspiration from a children’s librarian bearing books of many sizes and hues. 

As part of Open Road's ongoing National Library Week celebration, we're proud to share "Sentinels in Long Still Rows" with readers. This essay by Virginia Hamilton originally appeared in the June/July 1999 issue of American Libraries and is provided below courtesy of Arnold Adoff. 

***

My mother, Etta Belle Hamilton, was a perfectly round, small woman, not five feet tall. As a youngster going on 12, I soon was as tall as she. But ...

Copyright 2008 Arnold Adoff

The Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award is presented annually at the Coretta Scott King Book Awards. The above poem was written by Hamilton's husband to commemorate the forty years of the award's existence. Visit the ALA website for more information. See our Virginia Hamilton page for more information on her new ebook collection.

Open Road Integrated Media, a digital content company, announced today that it will be publishing seven of Newbery Medal– and National Book Award–winner Virginia Hamilton’s ebooks including the Newbery Medal winner M.C. Higgins, the Great, on February 15, 2011. The ebooks will be available worldwide in English. Ms. Hamilton’s books are the first children’s titles in Open Road’s author brand program.

Virginia Hamilton (1934–2002) was a distinguished author of books for children and young adults, and the recipient of every major award in youth literature. ...