Dream Friends

By You Byun (Nancy Paulsen / Penguin Books for Young Readers)

Melody has the best dream friend ever. When she sleeps, she and her enormous white cat-like friend can fly, dance and play hide-and-seek, they can do anything they imagine together. But during the day, Melody has trouble summoning her dream-friend to keep her company in her new school, where she has yet to make a friend.  Using the power of her imagination, she closes her eyes and practices a dance she learned from her dream friend. When a real voice chimes in “Is that a new game?,” she opens her eyes to see another little girl who’d like to learn the dance.  Supporting the idea that dreams are the inspiration for action, “Dream Friends” is a brilliantly illustrated window into the beautiful resource that is a child’s imagination.

Paige's "Page" wins 2009 PPA Gold Award

While I've won writing and editing awards in the past, I'm certainly aware that the "value" of an award, the merit of it, can vary greatly. When my first-rights editor submitted "A Page in a Book" to the Parenting Publications of America (PPA) awards competition for the first time in 2006, I wasn't even aware of its entry until I got a call from the annual conference in Philadelphia. I remember my editor's husband phoning me late at night and saying "I have somthing to tell you...Are you sitting down?". My knees turned to water as I imagined him telling me that my friend had been suddenly stricken with some terrible illness, or worse...was my 'late' friend. Why else should I be sitting down? I sat.

When he revealed I had won the PPA Gold Award for Reviews, I didn't quite know what to say. I had no idea what the PPA was, what a Gold Award entailed or how my column had ended up 'in the running'. He seemed to think the Gold Award was really a big deal, though. What I said was "Wow! That's great!" What I wanted to say was "Thank God! I thought Carol was dead!"

I learned later that the Parenting Publications of America is a professional organization for the nation's best parenting and family magazines. And I also learned that the awards competition between these magazines at the PPA annual conference is a serious. The categories are judged by respected authorities within the field and the criteria is pretty exacting. Since discovering that the PPA award isn't some generic pat-on-the-back, I distinctly appreciate the honor.

I've just learned that "A Page in a Book"(as published in Birmingham Parent magazine) received its third Gold Award for Reviews at the 2009 PPA convention in New Orleans. I'm very excited about the news and so pleased that APB has been recognized and honored again. This development has definitely inspired me to be more diligent about presenting more reviews through my blog this year. If I'm going to meet my mission of helping young readers, teens and their families find the best titles to try on, I must work harder to present the latest great reads (and audio) into this venue.

Consider me renewed and recommitted - and grateful for the opportunity...