ALA Midwinter 2017

Wow, it's finally here! The American Library Association is coming to my town for their Midwinter meeting. It's a great opportunity to meet with other librarians and get all the latest ideas for innovative, inspiring programs and hottest upcoming books. I'm looking forward to hearing the Youth Media Awards announced.

ALA recaps 2015

I didn't go to the American Library Association's Annual Conference in San Francisco this year, much as I might have liked to. I lived in San Francisco for a brief while (and worked in the TransAmerica Pyramid!) and have always enjoyed going back for visits. But, I've done the next best thing, and read up on other conference-goers experiences there.

Travis Jonker at 100 Scope Notes gives a three-part wrap-up. One, two and three.

The ALSC blog is a treasure trove of conference related posts.

Abby Johnson at Abby the Librarian shares her experiences, especially the Newbery Caldecott banquet.

Paul Signorelli at Building Creative Bridges talks about the warmly supportive and hug-worthy excitement being in San Francisco during Pride Week, as the historic Supreme Court decision on gay marriages was released and has more resources for those who are #alaleftbehind.

Youth Media Awards 2015

The ALA Youth Media Awards have been announced!

Here are some of the winners, and I've highlighted everything that I had a prediction about or was on my radar as a potential winner in red. Too bad I wasn't in a betting pool this year! I could have cleaned up.

Newbery

The Crossover - Kwame Alexander

Newbery Honor:

El Deafo - Cece Bell

Brown Girl Dreaming - Jacqueline Woodson

Caldecott:

The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend - Dan Santat

Caldecott Honor:

Nana in the City - Lauren Castillo

The Noisy Paint Box: The  Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art - Barb Rosenstock,  illustrated by Mary GrandPré

Sam & Dave Dig a Hole - Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen

Viva Frida - Yuyi Morales

The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus - illustrated by Melissa Sweet, written by Jen Bryant

This One Summer - illustrated by Jillian Tamaki, written by Mariko Tamaki

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award:

Brown Girl Dreaming - Jacqueline Woodson

King Author Honor:

The Crossover - Kwame Alexander

How I Discovered Poetry - Marilyn Nelson, illustrated by Hadley Hooper

How It Went Down - Kekla Magoon

Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award:

Firebird - Misty Copeland, illustrated by Christopher Myers

King Illustrator Honor:

Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker - Patricia Hruby Powell, illustrated by Christian Robinson

Little Melba and Her Big Trombone - Katheryn Russell-Brown, illustrated by Frank Morrison

Printz:

I’ll Give You the Sun - Jandy Nelson

Printz Honor:

And We Stay - Jenny Hubbard

The Carnival at Bray - Jessie Ann Foley

Grasshopper Jungle - Andrew Smith

This One Summer - Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Jillian Tamaki

Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Award:

Viva Frida - Yuyi Morales

Belpré Illustrator Honor:

Little Roja Riding Hood - Susan Middleton Elya, illustrated by Susan Guevara

Green Is a Chile Pepper - Roseanne Greenfield Thong, illustrated by John Parra

Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation - Duncan Tonatiuh

Sibert:

The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus - Jen Bryant

Sibert Honor:

Brown Girl Dreaming - Jacqueline Woodson

The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, & the Fall of Imperial Russia - Candace Fleming

Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker - Patricia Hruby Powell, illustrated by Christian Robinson

Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California’s Farallon Islands -  Katherine Roy

Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation - Duncan Tonatiuh

Stonewall Award:

This Day in June - Gayle E. Pitman, Ph.D., illustrated by Kristyna Litten

Stonewall Honor:

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out - Susan Kuklin.

I’ll Give You the Sun - Jandy Nelson

Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress - Christine Baldacchio, illustrated by Isabelle Malenfant

ALA Annual Conference 2014 report

I had a great time at the American Library Association Annual meeting in Las Vegas. As always, I'm refreshed and invigorated with new ideas! There were a number of poster sessions and panels that gave me a lot to think about. For me, at least, I felt that a lot of my currently held beliefs were confirmed. It's good to hear that my thoughts and leanings are very much in line with what the best professionals in my field are currently practicing.

Here are a few of the highlights:

Two of my storytime heroes, Betsy Diamont-Cohen (the inventor of Mother Goose on the Loose) and Saroj Ghoting talked about how repetition and music work well in storytimes. It's true! I know babies and toddlers love the familiar routine of some of my repeating songs and felt boards. I may start adding more conversational asides, as needed, for parents and caregivers in my storytimes.

There seemed to be a general feeling that Summer Reading programs should not be about prizes, prizes, prizes. I couldn't agree more. I've said it before, "Reading is the prize!" (at least it should be) In large part, the trend away from giving away useless plastic tchotchkes is being driven because of shrinking budgets, but another thing to consider is that limited funds should be spent on programs, so that Summer Reading is an experience that you'll remember for a lifetime, not a cheap toy that breaks at the end of the summer.

I think I showed some pretty incredible restraint on the Exhibit floor. I picked up a nice pile of ARCs, but not so many that I had to resort to shipping them back home. Everything fit in my carry-on! If I'd gone hog-wild, I could have gotten four times as much... but I didn't want to be plagued with guilt for picking up advance copies and then not really reading them.

I loved meeting Laini Taylor! Her supernaturally pink hair is even more striking in person. When she signed Gods and Monsters, she commented, "Madigan McGillicuddy! That sounds like a character in a book!" I laughed and said "Authors always tell me that!" Yikes! I hope I didn't sound conceited! It's true, though.

I'm really glad I made it to the YALSA mixer - I met some really cool ladies who all turned out to be fellow nerds, Whovians and Walking Dead fans like myself. I felt inspired by all the program ideas they mentioned!

Most of all, I really appreciated everyone who tweeted during the convention, as it's the next best thing to being able to attend 2 or 3 different events at once.

Heading to ALA!

I'm heading out to the American Library Association Annual meeting in Las Vegas this week. I'm anticipating returning to work refreshed and invigorated with new ideas!

Youth Media Awards 2013

Well, all the dust has settled, and the award winners announced. What do we think of the award winners this year?

The Newbery award went to The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. I wasn't surprised by this pick! I'd heard a lot of positive buzz about it. There's a lot of excitement in Atlanta for this book, since the gorilla in the story spends part of his life at the Atlanta Zoo.

The Caldecott went to This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen. The only thing that surprised me about this one is that such a popular book was chosen! I think it's a lot of fun, and kind of off the beaten track.

I love all of the Caldecott honor books as well:
Creepy Carrots! illustrated by Peter Brown, written by Aaron Reynolds
Extra Yarn illustrated by Jon Klassen, written by Mac Barnett
Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
One Cool Friend illustrated by David Small, written by Toni Buzzeo
Sleep Like a Tiger illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski, written by Mary Logue was the only one that I hadn't heard of.

The Coretta Scott King Award went to Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America by Andrea Davis and Brian Pinkney. I really expected that Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by E. B. Lewis would win, but at least it got an honor.

The Printz Award for young adult fiction went to In Darkness by Nick Lake. All right, I'll just come out and say it. I feel like the Printz award is running away with itself. In Darkness seems like a dark horse. I certainly hadn't heard any buzz about it. It doesn't sound like the kind of book I'd normally pick up, but most reviewers had rated it highly, as a beautifully written, challenging work. I've heard a lot more positive things about Code Name Verity, one of the honor picks in this category.

I hadn't given much thought to the Schneider Award for books that address characters with disabilities until last year's debacle when the committee opted not to give any awards, stating they didn't feel there was anything worth recognizing that year. This year was totally different. Back to Front and Upside Down by Claire Alexander was the winner for the category for books for children under 10. It's a sweet little encouraging book about a student who may be dyslexic.

The Batchelder winner was My Family for the War by Anne C. Voorhoeve, translated by Tammi Reichel. I hadn't heard of this one, but it was translated from German, and I do think German books generally translate very successfully into English.

The Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Award went to Martín de Porres: The Rose in the Desert illustrated by David Diaz and written by Gary D. Schmidt. No surprise there. David Diaz is a real favorite of mine.

The Geisel Award is for the most distinguished beginning reader book. I'm sad to say, I hadn't heard of the winner, Up, Tall and High! by Ethan Long, but it sounds charming. Sometimes I think the award could be renamed, "The Mo Willems Award" since the man seems to sweep it nearly every year with his wonderful Elephant and Piggie series. Let’s Go for a Drive! did get an honor. I was very surprised that Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin, illustrated by James Dean won an honor. I look at that book and think, "picture book" or even, "great storytime pick" but I don't think "beginning reader" even though it technically qualifies with it's simple and repeating vocabulary and fun to sing-along-to rhymes.

I was thrilled that Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, won the William Morris Award for a first-time author writing for teens. It's no secret that I have a special soft spot for dragons and this book was one of the best reinventions of dragonlore I've seen in a while.

This isn't a complete or comprehensive list, by any means. For a complete listing of award winners, check out the American Library Association website's official press release.

In My Mailbox 19

Last month I went to the ALA Midwinter Conference in Dallas. I had most of my ARCs shipped back to me, so here they are now.


Here are what we call, "F&G's" - meaning, folded and gathered, picture book ARCs.

Here are books that are currently already out.

Books being published in February and March.

Books being published in April.

Books being published in May.

Books being published in June and July.

I'm not sure of the pub dates on these:

And here's a last minute bonus package of items... These are on the tip-top of my TBR pile.

NOT PICTURED: Bitterblue, by Kristin Cashore, due out in May. I've already read it, but won't post my review until much closer to the release date. And I've already handed it off to another eager reader, who couldn't wait to get their hands on it.

ALA Midwinter 2012 Recap

ALA Midwinter, hosted this year in Dallas, Texas, is always a quieter, tamer conference than ALA Annual, held in the summer. I had a great time - I did my graduate work at UT Austin, so returning to Texas was a great opportunity for me to reconnect with a lot of my friends and former colleagues in Texas. I've already talked about my reactions to the Newbery, Caldecott and Printz wins.

I took fairly detailed notes on the whole trip - but rather than giving a blow-by-blow account, I decided to try to boil things down to the bare essence. 

I had a Texas breakfast!

Saw a bluegrass band, playing for the opening of the Exhibit Hall.

Here's a quick overview of books that caught my attention last weekend. Unless otherwise noted, they are available now.

PICTURE BOOK BIOGRAPHIES:
I liked the looks of these.

Charles Dickens: Scenes from an Extraordinary Life - Mick Manning, Brita Granstrom
Levi Strauss Gets a Bright Idea - Tony Johnston, Stacy Innerst
Martin de Porres: The Rose in the Desert - Gary D. Schmidt, David Diaz (due out in June 2012)
First Girl Scout: The Life of Juliette Gordon Low - Ginger Wadsworth  (due out in February 2012)

MORE NON-FICTION:

Beetle Book - Steve Jenkins (due out in April 2012)
Gifts from the Gods - Lise Lunge-Larsen, Gareth Hinds
Don't Sit On the Baby!: The Ultimate Guide to Sane, Skilled, and Safe Babysitting - Hally Bondy (due out in June 2012)
Knitted Dinosaurs: Tina Barrett

INTERESTING PICTURE BOOKS:

Over and Under the Snow - Kate Messner
Extra Yarn - Mac Barnett, Jon Klassen
The Woods - Paul Hoppe
And Then It's Spring - Julie Fogliano, Erin Stead (due out in February 2012)
Otter and Odder - James Howe, Chris Raschka (due out in October 2012)
Virginia Wolf - Kyo Maclear, Isabelle Arsenault (due out in March 2012)


NEW MOUSE SERIES FROM KEVIN HENKES:
It looks to be at a beginning reader level. It's due out in February. The first one is called Penny and Her Song.



NEW FANCY NANCY SPIN-OFF:
It's a chapter book!

Nancy Clancy, Super Sleuth - Jane O'Connor, Robin Preiss Glasser (due out in April 2012)

FLANAGAN FRENZY:

This was to promote a summer reading program tie-in for the Ranger's Apprentice series.

The best part of this conference was, of course, all the wonderful people I met. As always, I feel refreshed, rejuvenated and recharged after the conference - ready to tackle whatever comes next.


Next week, I'll post pics of all the swag I picked up!

ALA Youth Media Awards 2012

ALA Midwinter in Dallas was a wonderful long weekend celebrating the core of what being a librarian is all about - books, books, books and more books!

Here are my thoughts and reflections on this year's big award winners.

The Newbery Award went to Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos, with Newbery Honors going to Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai and Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin.

Once again, I failed to call it - I'd heard so much buzz about Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt, I assumed that it would win. And I must shamefacedly admit, that I haven't read Dead End in Norvelt, either! I did read Inside Out & Back Again, and felt in my heart that it was a Newbery contender. Hurrah! I'm so happy to see it honored. I've never even heard of Breaking Stalin's Nose.

Even though I haven't read Dead End in Norvelt, I can tell it's the "right sort" of book. Heartrending stories about kids in tough situations are to the Newbery Committee what heroic, drawn-out movie death scenes are to the Oscar Committee, right? I feel like there's a balance between winning books with a girl protagonist vs. a boy protagonist and we were "about due" for a "boy book" so I wasn't surprised to hear it had won.

This quote concerns me: "Who knew obituaries and old lady death could be this funny and this tender?” said Newbery Medal Committee Chair Viki Ash." Wow - that sentence does not have me rushing out to read this book. That sounds like a downer, quite frankly. But, I have read Hole in My Life, Gantos' autobiography for kids, which I found riveting. It's a cautionary tale about how he got caught up in drug trafficking, got caught and how serving time in prison gave him a big wake-up call and a second-chance just when he needed it. He wisely left out a lot of details about the political scene in the '60's, making it a much more accessible book for teens today. Knowing that Dead End in Norvelt is also a highly autobiographical work leaves me more interested. Shockingly, my library's reserve lists have not filled up on this title. Are people just slow to hear about the Newbery this year? Or is this book failing to draw them in?

The Printz award went to Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley. I hadn't even heard of this one. I hadn't heard of two of the Honor books in this category either: The Returning by Christine Hinwood and the somewhat critically reviewed Australian import, Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey. I had heard good things about the other two Printz Honor books: Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman and Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater.

A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka is the Caldecott winner this year. I vaguely remember seeing it around, but I hadn't expected it to win big. Honors were given to Blackout by John Rocco, Grandpa Green by Lane Smith and Me... Jane by Patrick McDonnell. I've been a fan of John Rocco for years. I met him at a book talk he gave right after he wrote his first book, Wolf, Wolf! and have been rooting for him to win since then. Hoorah! I'm so happy he got the honor for this one. I think any book that celebrates less computer time and more face-to-face interactions is sure to hit a sentimental note for a lot of older readers who don't see their digital and their "real" lives as seamlessly interwoven as the younger generation does. Grandpa Green and Me... Jane are two picture books that I've been dying to get at my library, but as our budgets have dwindled, sadly, picture books are some of the "easiest" to cut, since not having them doesn't provoke as much outcry as not having ample copies of adult New York Times bestsellers titles, for example. Now that they've both won Honors, hopefully, I'll find it easier to lobby for their purchase!

Heading out to ALA

I'm heading out to Dallas today for the American Library Association MidWinter Conference. Hurrah! It's always great to convene with the diaspora of librarians -- I'm looking forward to reconnecting with plenty of former classmates and colleagues, and to checking out all the great publisher and author events promoting new books, of course!

ALA Midwinter 2012

I purchased my tickets for ALA Midwinter -- just in time to still get the early discount. I always enjoy going to American Library Association conventions. It's a great way to see authors, preview upcoming book releases, and connect with other librarian friends and colleagues around the country.

John Green is one of the featured speakers this year. I must admit, I haven't read many of his books, but I do really enjoy the Vlog Brothers videos that he and his brother Hank Green create.

This is going to be the closest ALA conference to me for a while, for the next several years they're being hosted in various West Coast cities, or up north in the middle of winter. The conference returns to Florida in 2016, and comes to Atlanta in 2017.

Banned Book Week 2011

It's Banned Books Week! Are you celebrating your freedom by reading banned or challenged books this week? It's been an interesting past few years for me, as I've had the opportunity to see in action everything from very laissez-faire communities where challenges are so rare as to be truly remarkable, to communities where book reconsideration forms fly thick and fast - usually at least 2 or 3 a week. Check out this amazing document of challenged books this past year.

ALA Swag 2011

Here it is, the bounteous swag that I obtained at the ALA Annual Convention in New Orleans this past week. Breathtaking, right? I am so amazed that I snagged so many books that I've been dying to read... items from my To Be Read list, as well as books that I hadn't heard about but look wonderful. I got the last copy of The Girl of Fire and Thorns at the booth! I got a copy of the long-awaited Super Diaper Baby sequel (already given away as a Summer Reading prize to a much delighted kid at my library), Maggie Stiefvater's The Scorpio Races, The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell, Lauren Oliver's Liesl and Po. Yeah, I made out like a bandit. Not pictured: about 30 or 40 posters I picked up to decorate the children's area of my library with. And several dozen bookmarks. There were a few things that I had hoped to pick up, that I didn't get my hands on. I wanted a copy of Allie Condie's Crossed! But, there was a huge line for it, and I didn't have time to wait. I really wanted to get a peek at Brian Selznick's Wonderstruck, and someone tweeted when they were doing the Wonderstruck giveaway, but by the time I got to that part of the convention floor, they were all gone. Not as many tote bags this year, either. I love this READ bag which I think I got from Demco, a library supply company, but there was a TinTin bag that I absolutely lusted for and couldn't find. Rats.

The feeling on the convention floor was surprisingly negative! Lots of librarians grousing that they wanted MOAR FREE STUFF. Lots of publishers charging for books that they once might have given away for free. There was even one publisher (I won't say who, but it was a small press) who was selling ARCs. They said they believed in charging for content. ARCs have come a long way. These days they look like glossy paperback editions. I remember when ARCs had no cover art, plain blue or tan covers, tons of typos and cryptic messages like "Art TK" instead of illustrations. Publishers definitely spend a lot more time and money creating ARCs nowadays. Still, I feel if a book has the words Advance Readers Copy, Not For Resale printed on it, I shouldn't have to pay money if I'm not supposed to resell the book. Although, shamefully, some people do just that, as any trip to ebay will tell you. Most publishers were having author signings with finished hardcovers selling for $5... still an amazing bargain.

Weirdly, there were a lot of books there that I could have gotten, but didn't because I already had the ARC at home. I had several publishers try to push books into my hands, mostly romance novels and adult crime fiction.  I politely explained that I wasn't picking up anything I couldn't use for work or my blog and they all exclaimed with astonishment how "honest" I was. Gosh! I don't know about that... but I can tell you, I do try to keep the size of my book collection to a (somewhat) reasonable level. And with my TBR list as long as it is, I certainly didn't need a copy of everything on the convention floor. I'm just grateful that I get any advance copies of books at all!

What I did appreciate was that there seemed to be more authors than ever on the convention floor. It was awesome meeting so many famous writers. Authors are totally my rock stars! I liked that there were so many stages in the back of the Expo hall, with graphic novel panels and new fiction readings, and even cooking demos from cookbook authors. Overall, it was a great time.

ALA 2011 Wrap-up

I had a grand time at the American Library Association Annual Conference, held this year in New Orleans. I took the train down from Atlanta which was a truly wonderful way to travel. So relaxing and so much less stressful than taking a plane. I got a lot of reading done on the train! How can I possibly explain the whole conference in one post? It's not possible! This is more of a light recap, rather than a true report of everything. I know it probably sounds like a lot, but there's so much that I know I'm leaving out!

Saturday morning, I went to see Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. He was a mild-mannered yet funny speaker and talked about how he always wanted to be a newspaper cartoonist. He admitted that librarians scared him and joked that "reluctant reader" must be an educational term for "boys." Kinney said he liked keeping busy with his "day job" at poptropica, helping to create children's online video games. When asked how many Diary of a Wimpy Kid books he had planned he said that book six is coming out in the fall (obviously) and he's currently working on book seven. He said that he might want to do as many as ten books and he half-joked about running out of ideas. Kinney did say that he wanted to avoid the syndrome of adding more and more younger and cuter characters to keep things going (he cited Cousin Oliver from The Brady Bunch and new kids in later seasons of The Cosby Show as examples) which is why he decided to take things back to basics and have the Heffley family snowed-in for book six.

Saturday night I went to a YA Book Bloggers meet-up and was finally able to put faces to names for Parajunkee, Green Bean Teen Queen, Gone with the Words, Kate from YA Highway, Abby (the) Librarian, and The Elliot Review, among others. The highlight of the evening (for me at least) was seeing some 60 and 70 year-old couples tear up the dance floor with some smooth salsa moves. I hope I'm half as cool and in love when I get to be that age.

Sunday morning I went to the YA Coffee Klatch. It was so much bigger than I expected! It was held in a huge ballroom. How many people were there? I'm not sure, but it felt like hundreds. Just as everyone had warned me, the whole event went sooo fast. Even though we had nearly an hour, and five minutes with each author, it honestly felt like a blink of an eye and it was all over.

Just a few highlights... I loved meeting Franny Billingsly. She talked about her new book, Chime, and how and why she had such a gap from her last book, the beautiful and lyrical Folk Keeper. What I loved about Billingsly is the way that she jumped between talking about her real life, and talking about stories she'd written... she'd be mentioning some family vignette and a moment later, she'd offhandedly refer to an elf lord. It sort of made your head spin, trying to keep up with her conversation, and what was "real" and what wasn't... she definitely seemed like someone who had one foot firmly in another world.

I have to say, I felt terrible for author Joseph Lunievicz. His debut novel sounds like it's supposed to be a sober, gritty, coming-of-age story about an Errol Flynn obsessed boy in New York in the 1930's. I guess the cover kind of fits, but it just screams, "urban fantasy" to me, and I picture many readers throwing the book down in disgust once they learn there's no wizards, time-travel or enchanted swords to be had.

Jamie Kennedy came by and gave us an spirited recap of his book The Order of Odd-Fish and his latest project The 90-second Newbery Festival.

So many authors seem like natural-born storytellers, ready to spin a yarn, but others seem very shy... they write because they value their alone time. Brian Katcher, author of Almost Perfect seemed to be in the latter category. He told us that he wanted to write about a transgendered girl because he hadn't seen anything like it. He talked about how helpful being able to research this on the Internet was.

Just like I've been told, the whole event ends so quickly, and of course, there's always an author or two that you wished you could have seen, but just missed. Just as the final bell rang, Cassandra Clare was one table over, and Cheryl Rainfield was another table over... we would have had the chance to hear either of them if there'd only been one more session. Aargh!

I also went to the Newbery/Caldecott dinner, which was wonderful. School Library Journal was kind enough to offer me a spot at their table, and I had a great view of Erin Stead, the Caldecott winner, who gave a tearful and very humble speech, as well as Clare Vanderpool, author of the dark horse Newbery winner, Moon Over Manifest. Stead talked about e-books, and how a paper book will appear worn and loved after being read many times. She quoted The Velveteen Rabbit, about how being worn out will make something "real" ...maybe you had to be there, but it was a real tearjerker moment. Tomie dePaola won the Wilder Lifetime Achievement award and he gave a great speech, telling us at length how he got his first book published, and joked that he wouldn't describe the path to publication for each of his 200+ books in such detail. It was a really delightful evening, made all the better by hobnobbing with my former colleagues in California and Texas.

This was a great conference: I'm inspired by all the new ideas that I picked up. I feel energized, invigorated and recharged!

ALA'ing 2011

I'm going to be at the American Library Association's Annual Conference this whole weekend. I'm looking forward to hearing Dan Savage speak about the "It Gets Better" project and going to the YA Coffee Klatch where I'll get the chance to have coffee with over 25 YA authors including Cassandra Clare, Sarah Dessen, Claudia Gray, John Green, Maureen Johnson, Cheryl Rainfield and Maggie Stiefvater (I promise myself I will not oversleep and miss it like I did last year!) I'm also attending the Caldecott and Newbery banquet, and of course, I'm looking forward to hitting the Expo room, meeting publishers and seeing all the great things that are about to be published.

Just like last year, I'll be livetweeting @madiganreads which is an awesome way to meet up with folks, keep up with events and panels that I can't make it to (since I can't be everywhere at once) and record my own thoughts and impressions throughout the weekend.

Not a moment too soon...

Ah, arrived in the nick of time. I'm going to ALA Annual in New Orleans at the end of this week. Can't wait! Hurrah for last minute plans coming together! I'm really looking forward to taking the train down. I'm anticipating a wonderful stretch of uninterrupted reading during the trip and unabashed geeking out with my fellow librarians for the duration of the conference.

ALA Youth Media Awards 2011

Color me surprised! What an interesting selection of winners.

The winner of the 2011 Printz award was Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi.  I was glad to see a science-fiction title win.  It sounds quite steampunkish. I haven't read it yet, but am glad to see that I am number one in line for it at the library. Even though it's a grim, dystopian tale, I'm hoping that it isn't as cheerless as Philip Reeve's Hungry City Chronicles.

I was so happy that the Theodore Seuss Geisel award went to Bink and Gollie by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee. What a rare gem this book is. So well deserved.

For the Caldecott award, I was surprised to see Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein pick up an Honor.  I'd heard lots of buzz about A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip Christian Stead and Erin Stead. If I'm totally honest, I hadn't been rooting for it, especially.  I was disappointed that Flora's Very Windy Day by Jeanne Birdsall and Matt Phelan didn't at least pick up an Honor.

For the Newbery award, talk about a dark horse! I'm amazed. I haven't even heard of this book, Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool.  I was so ready for One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams Garcia to sweep the awards and pick up everything.  Still, One Crazy Summer did get the Scott O'Dell historical fiction award, the Coretta Scott King award, plus a Newbery Honor.  That's not too shabby!


Waiting to hear the awards felt so very odd to me this year.  When I'm not at the ALA conference in person, I'm used to being on the West Coast, and getting up at ridiculous hours of the early morning in order to hear who's won.  This year, I'm on the East Coast, and the awards were announced on the West Coast... meaning I had to wait all morning and into the afternoon to find out who the winners were.


My kudos to the award committee members, who give so much of their year to make these awards happen. I'm already looking forward to another year of reading, speculating and betting on next year's winners.

Swag, beautiful swag

I have to admit, I was getting pretty worried. I shipped all the Advance Reader Copies I'd obtained at ALA this year, but when my package failed to arrive I started to get impatient. And then, nervous. What if it'd been lost in the mail? Or sent to the wrong address? What if I never saw all those lovely, lovely ARCs ever again? Happily, after some double-checking, it turns out it did get here all right. Here it is! My sweet, sweet haul from ALA Annual 2010. I promised myself I wouldn't go to hog-wild... but then, the box the shipping company provided still had so much room in it, I ended up going back for more. The books are (very roughly) arranged in order of publishing date.

I picked up a few book bags as well. Everyone was jealous of my Judy Moody bag. I never did manage to track down the much-coveted Vladimir Tod bag, or the cute Hello Kitty book bag.  I'm psyched to dig in and start reading all of these!

Exhibits Hall ALA: Chapter Books Edition

Moving on from picture books, here's some middle-grade and young adult fiction that caught my eye at ALA Annual.

Gigged
by Heath Gibson
Flux
2010

Lately, I've got my eye out for fiction that will appeal to guys. I think this might fill the bill. J.T. is struggling with his parents death, ROTC training and his violent new foster father.

The Wager
by Donna Jo Napoli
Henry Holt & Co.
2010

I was drawn to this mesmerizing cover. Closing in, I noticed Napoli's name. I love her creative retellings of fairy tales. The book is set in the Middle Ages, and I wondered if this would have Faustian theme. Turns out it's a retelling of the story of the man who makes a deal with the devil to not bathe for three years in exchange for a huge fortune. Hmm... may be a little too much of a gross-out factor for me. Still, I was intrigued.

Dillweed's Revenge: A Deadly Dose of Magic
by Florence Perry Heide, illustrated by Carson Ellis
Harcourt
September 2010

I only had the chance to flip through a few pages of this one, but I was reminded very, very strongly of Edward Gorey. The highest possible praise for this book comes from The Series of Unfortunate Events author Lemony Snicket who says, "The story is unnerving, the characters are unpleasant, and the artwork is unsettling. I am going to read this book again and again."

A Wizard of Mars
by Diane Duane
Harcourt
2010

Hurrah! The newest installment in Duane's Wizard series is available at last. The title alone sounds completely over the top. We're talking about wizards, here people. Wizards on Mars.