LITERATURE + LECTURES

Cool Brains! Inprint Readings for Young People presents Christopher Paul Curtis, Sunday, January 15, 2012 at 3pm (doors open at 2:30pm),  at Johnston Middle School, 10410 Manhattan Drive. Free! Christopher Paul Curtis will talk about his new book, The Mighty Miss Malone, followed by an audience Q&A, and a book sale and signing, where audience members can meet the author in person.

Christopher Paul Curtis is the acclaimed author of the beloved middle grade books Bud, Not Buddy; Elijah of Buxton; and The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, among others. In 2000, Curtis became the first African-American man to win the Newbery Medal for his second book Bud, Not Buddy. It was the first book to be awarded both the Newbery and the Coretta Scott King Book Award. A starred review in Publishers Weekly says of Bud, Not Buddy, “Bud’s journey, punctuated by Dickensian twists in plot and enlivened by a host of memorable personalities, will keep readers engrossed from the first page to the last.” School Library Journal says, “Curtis has given a fresh, new look to a traditional orphan-finds-a-home story that would be a crackerjack read aloud.”

Curtis has won almost every literary award given for children’s literature, including a second King Award for Elijah of Buxton and two Newbery Honors for The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 and Elijah of Buxton. Of Elijah of Buxton, Booklist says, “Curtis relates the difficulty of tackling the subject of slavery realistically through a child's first-person perspective. . . . an emotional range and a subtlety unusual in children's fiction. Many readers drawn to the book by humor will find themselves at times on the edges of their seats in suspense and, at other moments, moved to tears. A fine, original novel from a gifted storyteller.”

He will be reading from his new book, The Mighty Miss Malone (to be released January 10, 2012) which tells the story of 12-year-old Deza Malone, a character from Bud, Not Buddy, who lives through the Great Depression, and proves why she is called mighty. The new book—his seventh—promises to be just as engaging.