A website devoted to the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature—a reading-promotion initiative for young people—is now accessible at www.read.gov/cfb/ambassador/. The site is sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, the Children’s Book Council (CBC) and Every Child a Reader, the CBC foundation.
The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature program was created to raise national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education and the development and betterment of the lives of young people.
The program was established in 2008, with the naming of Jon Scieszka for the 2008-2009 term. (See Information Bulletin, March 2008.) On Jan. 5, 2010, Katherine Paterson became the second person to hold the title. (See Information Bulletin, January/February 2010.)
The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature website is part of the Library’s reading-promotion website, Read.gov. The site brings together reading and literacy resources for all ages. It is also the home of the exclusive online story “The Exquisite Corpse Adventure,” an episodic tale that is being written and illustrated by some of the nation’s best writers and artists. Paterson is a contributor to the story, and she will write the final episode (No. 27) and read it during the 2010 National Book Festival in September on the National Mall.
Financial support for the program is provided by Penguin Young Readers Group, Scholastic Inc., HarperCollins Children’s Books, Random House Children’s Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Macmillan Publishers, Holiday House, Charlesbridge, National Geographic Children’s Books, Candlewick Press and Marshall Cavendish Publishers.
