ALA Recap: BFYA, YMA, and Morris - Oh My!

In between Emerging Leaders duties and hearing about all the great books coming out this spring, I did manage to attend a few "session-y" events and these may actually have been my favorite parts of the conference.

Teens coming in

On Sunday, I attended a Best Fiction for Young Adults Teen Input Session.  The BFYA (formerly Best Books for Young Adults or BBYA) Committee pared down the titles published this year to a list of 191 nominated titles.  One nice thing about BFYA is that they solicit teen input and consider the teens' comments when creating their list and top ten.  And let me tell you, hearing those teens' comments was one of the highlights of my conference.

The teens came from local libraries and schools and in order to participate, each teen had to read at least 5 books off the list and agree to stand up and talk about at least 2 of them.  Their comments, for the most part, were really smart and insightful.  And I also love that the teens did NOT hold back about books they didn't like. I live-Tweeted the session, so check out the Twitter hashtag #bfya to see what the teens were saying (scroll down for my live-tweets).

This session epitomized why I do what I do and why I love working with kids and teens.  Some of them are so passionate about books and the rest of them have the potential to be passionate about books if they're matched with the right ones.  Teens have something to say and they want someone to listen to them!

On Monday, bright and early, I got up with some of my librarian besties and we headed to the Youth Media Awards (YMAs).  We got there around 7 to ensure our pick of seats and we ended up sitting towards the front on the left side of the room.  Although I'd watched the YMAs on the live webcast before, it was a totally different experience actually being there when they were announced.  Librarians cheered when their favorites won awards (especially unexpected awards) and everyone got quiet when the clear Newbery favorite (One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia) was awarded an honor.  (I tried my darndest to purchase the Newbery winner before it was announced, but I FAILED.  I will rectify that ASAP!)

Besides the Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz, there are a lot of awards that people tend to forget about.  I was giddy with glee when Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John and After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick were honored with Schneider Family Awards.  And I was giddy again when Love Drugged by James Klise earned a Stonewall Honor (I'm so glad they're presenting the Stonewalls with the YMAs now!).

And Monday evening, I was back at the convention center for the presentation of the Morris Award and the Excellence in Nonfiction Award.  All the honorees and winners who were able to be there gave acceptance speeches and they were marvelous.  And although it was nice to be part of a fairly intimate crowd listening to the speeches, those speeches were so moving and heartfelt that it is really a shame that they're done at Midwinter (and on Monday night, to boot!) instead of having a reception at ALA Annual like other awards.  They deserve a larger audience and I hope that someday that will happen!!

Emerging Leaders, sessions, and more books than you can shake a stick at... the ALA Midwinter meeting, my first ALA Conference, was simply an amazing experience.  And a big part of that was the wonderful people I met and hung out with at the conference.  When I was thinking back over my conference experience, I tweeted this:

Best thing about #alamw11? Just moved a bunch of blogs in my reader from the "librarian" folder to the "friends" folder. Awwwww. :)

And it is totally true.  Practically everywhere I turned at the conference, there were people who are just as passionate about books and kids and libraries as I am.  I spent a lot of time last weekend with some really excellent teen librarians and they've got me fired up about teen programs and services.  It's really a punch in the arm that I needed, since my department is in the process of taking over teen programming at our library.   These same awesome librarians got me thinking about reading YA more deeply and critically.  I look up to each and every one of them and they challenge me to be a better librarian in the best ways possible.  (Thank you, ILOAs!)

And that wraps up my ALA Midwinter recaps.  I have to tell you that being at the conference was like a breath of fresh air.  I was surrounded by MY PEOPLE and I came home exhausted, but exhilarated and raring to go.  THIS is why we attend conference.  THIS is why we volunteer for committees.  THIS is why our organization is worth the $200+ membership fees.

And that's all I have to say about that.
(Oh, it's not *quite* all!  Tune in on Sunday for a very special "In My Mailbox" to see my favorite favorite books I scored at the conference!)

ALA Recap: Books, Books, and More Books

After my Thursday and Friday Emerging Leader events, my committee obligations for the weekend were over and I was free to do as I pleased for the rest of the Midwinter meeting.  You know what that means?  Multiple trips to the exhibit halls and publisher previews (in addition to some very fun session-y type stuff, which will be in my next post...).

Waiting for exhibits to open Friday night

Friday night, I hit up the exhibits with several other wonderful bloggers and we became whirling dervish-type book collecting machines.  Truly, the exhibits were a little crazy Friday night.  It's awesome to be there with so many people passionate about books. 

And for the first time at a conference, I felt comfortable talking to publishers, asking what their favorites are, sharing my blog, etc.  I have to credit Michelle of Galleysmith for that!  I witnessed her talking to publishers at BEA and I definitely channeled her this weekend. :) 

Lesson learned: publicists and editors are people, too!  They like to talk to you, gush about books, and get the word out.  Everyone was super nice and I got a ton of books (my favorite-favorites will be featured on Sunday!).  I was grabbing stuff for myself, for our kids and teens, and for our adult services department.  

This is what a booth looks like!

We visited the exhibits several times over the course of the weekend, which is nice to be able to do because they put out different books at different times. 

In addition to the exhibits, I also attended several publisher previews!  Saturday morning, I went to the HarperCollins Book Buzz (which was actually in a meeting room, not in their exhibits booth).  A panel of Harper people talked about some of the books on their adult list for the spring.  Even though I don't review adult books on my blog, I knew my librarians back home would appreciate knowing about the books coming out!  All the Harper people were extremely friendly and personable and I highly recommend attending the book buzz if you can make it.  They wanted everyone's input on their titles and even gave out their email addresses so we could contact them with our thoughts. 

S&S Preview Lunch

From there, I went straight to Simon & Schuster's preview lunch, which I was lucky enough to be invited to.  Not only was it a great spread of food, but it was a great opportunity to hear editors share some of their favorite titles AND Lisa McMann was there!!  Kelly's already done a great recap post about the lunch, so I'll point you to STACKED for that.  I'll just say that two of the books that they got me super pumped about were Blood Red Road by Moira Young and This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel.  Keep your eyes peeled for those, folks!

Delicious treats at the Disney/Hyperion preview!

Saturday afternoon, I attended a preview from Disney/Hyperion.  Not only did they have some seriously delicious food, but they took a slightly different take on the typical preview.  Instead of booktalking each book to us, they let the titles speak for themselves and read to us from each book.  It was a great way to get a sense of the voice and style of the book.  Honestly, one book that they showcased - Aliens on Vacation by Clete Barrett Smith - I had skipped over in the booth, but I was laughing out loud as they read from it, so I had to track it down.  I also spotted Betsy Diamant-Cohen at this session, so I had to go over and gush about how much we love Mother Goose on the Loose at my library.  Thanks, Betsy!!

On Sunday, I attended the Random House Children's Books preview and I am so glad I did because they had goody bags with COPIES OF SQUISH: SUPER AMOEBA, the newest graphic novel venture from Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm.  I read it in the hotel room and a review's coming.  It's very cute, just like Babymouse for boys (and it's a little bit gross, too, which is nice). They talked about many great books and I'm going to point you to Kelly's recap at The Cazzy Files for more on the preview. 

A book-filled weekend is a wonderful thing for a librarian and this was a great one!  Tune in on Sunday for a special "In My Mailbox" (called "In My Suitcase") for a look at the books I picked up that were too precious even to mail, so I jammed them into my carryon luggage.  And I have one more ALA recap coming.  Tune in tomorrow for a post about the BFYA teen input session, YMAs, and Morris/Nonfiction Award reception! 

ALA Recap: Emerging Leaders

Photo by David Paul Ohmer

We will emerge and lead you!

The whole reason I got to go to ALA Midwinter was because I was accepted into the 2011 Class of Emerging Leaders, a program designed to give young and new librarians a leg up into committee work and getting involved with ALA.  I was more than a little intimidated to join this group of talented, passionate people, but to my huge relief everyone was incredibly nice and genuine.

The fantastic Dre organized a massive dinner Thursday night, which was a really great chance to meet people in the group and talk.  We went to Rama, a Thai restaurant located near the convention center.  Not only was the food fabulous, but the restaurant employees were very friendly and super accommodating!  For future Emerging Leaders, if you can con someone into organizing a pre-conference get-together, I highly recommend it.  It definitely took the edge off meeting so many new people at once!

Friday, we were up early for a day of leadership training and networking. We heard from Peter Bromberg, the Assistant Director of the program, about what we'd be doing and then Leslie Burger, chair of the ALA's Public Awareness Committee, talked about the organization of ALA, its mission, etc.

One thing Leslie talked about was that ALA is an organization in which you get out of it what you put into it.  It's up to each person to create the ALA experience that he or she wants to have.  She also emphasized that ALA is a democratic, member-driven organization.  They want to listen to what their members want, but it's up to us to make sure our voices are heard!

Divisions exist to narrow the focus of "big ALA" and make the organization more relevant to your work (but it would be impossible for those divisions to exist without the umbrella of "big ALA" supporting them).  Leslie said that part of the work of ALA is to "continually reinvent itself", so it's up to us to change it and make it support the work we do.

This is part of why the Emerging Leaders program exists - to get new voices in the organization!

We also heard from Maureen Sullivan on leadership, Molly Raphael (ALA's president-elect), and Jenny Levine on ALA Connect (which seems like it might become a wonderful way to make your voice heard in the organization.  They are open to feedback and constantly trying to improve it!).

In addition to hearing from great speakers, I got a chance to meet and work with my project group.  I am working on Project G and we're working on a model collection development policy for video games.  I will definitely be soliciting some information from any readers who have video game collections at your library, but that'll come in a separate post...

My group is awesome!  There are five of us working on the project and we have wonderful mentors: JP and Justin of 8bit Library and Buffy of The Unquiet Librarian.  Before going to the meeting, I was a little concerned about working on a group project, thinking back to group projects in undergrad and graduate school where quite often I was the one stuck putting everything together because no one else would do any work.  And then it occurred to me that Emerging Leaders is made up of all those people who always put together their group projects.  I think this is going to be a great project to work on and a great group of people to work with.

So, here I am: excited and eager, standing on the threshold of this project.  So far, Emerging Leaders has been an awesome experience.

Now, ask me again in a couple of months and we'll see where we are. ;)

Coming soon: more recaps of ALA!  Stay tuned!!

Oh, Hello Blog

I realized while I was in San Diego that I hadn't scheduled anything to post while I was gone.  No free internet at the hotel (and also being booked pretty much every minute of every day) = no blog posts from sunny CA.

I'm just checking in to say that I'm alive (and home safe - no flight delays for me!), I had a wonderful time at ALA Midwinter, and you can expect several posts over the next week or so telling you all about it.  This was my first ALA and I came away from it absolutely inspired and brimming with enthusiasm and excitement for what I do.

I also came home exhausted, but as soon as I get some rest, I promise my fingers will be clickety-clacking on the keys and I'll be writing it all up for ya.

The Great Wall of Lucy Wu

The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Wan-Long Shang.  Grades 4-6.  January 2010.  312 pages.  Reviewed from ARC provided by publisher.

Eleven-year-old Lucy Wu knows that sixth grade is going to be her best year ever.  Not only will she be at the top of the pecking order in her school and going out for captain of the sixth-grade basketball team, but her older sister is going to college, leaving Lucy to enjoy a bedroom all to herself for the first time.  But when Lucy finds out her great-aunt Yi Po is coming from China and will be sharing her room, everything is ruined.  To make matters worse, a Chinese school is started up in their neighborhood and Lucy is expected to give up basketball to study Chinese.  Isn't anything going to go right this year?

This is a fresh, funny debut from an author I'm definitely going to watch!

Lucy's a relatable, realistic sixth-grader figuring out where she fits in within her family.  Her older sister calls her a banana - yellow (Asian) on the outside, white on the inside - because Lucy doesn't speak Chinese well and thinks some Chinese delicacies are gross.  But as we see Lucy grow throughout the course of the novel, she figures out where her place is and begins to embrace parts of her Chinese heritage.

Don't think that this book is all about Lucy's culture, though.  It's also about sports and crushes, dealing with bullies, being embarrassed by your family...  I love that it's a story about an Asian-American girl that's not solely about racial or cultural issues.

The style and realistic protagonist reminded me of the Judy Blume books I so loved when I was a kid (think Blubber or Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, not Forever...).  I think it would make a great readalike to Millicent Min, Girl Genius and Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time, both by Lisa Yee and I'd also try it on fans of Andrew Clements' realistic fiction.

Of note: Wendy Shang blogs at From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle-Grade Authors.

The Great Wall of Lucy Wu is on shelves now!

Nominate Debuts for the Morris Award!

Do you know about the William C. Morris YA Debut Author Award?  This is a relatively new award (started 2009) given by the American Library Association each year to a debut author writing for young adults.

I know many of my bloggity friends are participating in the 2011 Debut Author Challenge, hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.  As you're reading those debuts, consider nominating the best of the best for the Morris Award.   Field nominations are accepted through December 1 each year.

A few things to keep in mind before nominating:

1.  Check out the criteria for the award first.  

2.  Books must be published between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011 to be eligible for this year's award (which will be announced at the ALA Midwinter Conference in January 2012).

3.  To be eligible for the award, the book must be the author's first published book for any audience.

4.  Only books written/published for a YA audience (defined as ages 12-18) will be considered.

Since publishers/authors/editors may not nominate their own titles, field nominations are important to ensure that the best books are being brought to the attention of the committee!  So, check out the criteria and, as you're reading these fabulous 2011 debuts, don't forget to nominate the best for the Morris Award!

In which I am quoted

Does this make me a rebel?  Or The Man? 

Hey, all I'm saying is that since I joined a conference planning committee for the Indiana Library Federation, I have come to realize that conferences don't plan themselves.  That may sound ridiculous, but truly, when was the last time you thought about who chose the food [the most expensive part of the conference we plan*!], who booked the rooms, who painstakingly made the schedule?  It wasn't Santa Claus.  Planning a conference takes actual work.

And so does running a professional organization.  And that work is not done by perfect, all-knowing geniuses [ahem - unless you're an ALA employee or committee member reading this. *sweet smile*].  It's done by people like you.  And me.  We make up ALA.

So if you want, say, free training opportunities for librarians in your state**, someone's going to have to figure out a way to pay for it, to arrange it, to plan it all.  Why not you?

And if you're not willing to get involved and do some work to better the organization, then fine, don't belong to it, but I don't want to hear you complain about it either.

That's all I'm saying.

*YES!  THAT IS WHERE MUCH OF YOUR REGISTRATION FEE GOES!  If you want nicer food, guess who's going to pay for it?  YES, YOU.  Still feel like complaining about it??


**Or whatever it is that you actually do want from ALA.  What is it that you want from ALA, anyway?  That might be the first step towards making it an organization that is worth your membership fee.

Come See the Earth Turn

Come See the Earth Turn by Lori Mortensen, illustrated by Raul Allen.  Grades 2-5.  Tricycle Press, 2010.  Unpaged.  Review copy provided by publisher.  This book was nominated for a 2010 Cybils award and this review reflects only my own opinion!


In 1819, a baby boy was born.  He wouldn't be good at school, often falling behind his classmates.  He would never go to college and earn a fancy degree.  But he would change the scientific community forever when he proved for the first time that the world turns.

Leon Foucault was a French scientist who developed the Foucault pendulum, a giant pendulum that shows plainly the motion of the earth.  The pendulum swings independently from the rotation of the earth, so when it moves away from its straight line, you know it's not the pendulum that has shifted, but the earth!

Have you seen a Foucault pendulum?  I have, but I never really realized what it was until I read this book!  Many museums around the country have one, including the Louisville Science Center:



What I like best about this book is that it features a kid who wasn't good at school. Young Leon "was a tortoise among jackrabbits", often turning in homework late because it took him much longer than it took the other children.  You know there are kids who will identify with this, and Leon's eventual triumph shows them that they, too, can succeed.  Leon figured out that he was good at building things and that started him on his path.  And then this man without a degree, who had so much trouble with school, did something no one else in the scientific community could do!

The illustrations pair nicely with the text, dark and rich.  Some spreads have inlaid panels reminiscent of graphic novels, which will grab a kid's attention.

Lori Mortensen completes the book with a nice bit of back matter, including an author's note giving more information about Foucault's later life, a glossary, and a nice bibliography citing print and web resources.


Come See the Earth Turn is a book that will appeal to young scientists.  Share this book with your kids before your trip to the museum so they can really know what they're looking at when they see that giant pendulum!  It's on shelves now.

It's Nonfiction Monday!!!  The roundup is over at Charlotte's Library, so go check it out!

Off to Sunny CA!

Yup, Thursday morning I head west to attend the ALA Midwinter Meeting in sunny San Diego (if it rains or is cold, I'm going to cry).

I've got several things on the agenda - an all-day Emerging Leaders meeting on Friday being the most important.  I'll also be hitting up the exhibits, meeting up with with some awesome bloggers and bookish types Friday evening (come play with us!), attending the Youth Media Awards announcements, and sitting in on a few selection list meetings (I'm so curious as to how those go!).

Will you be at Midwinter?
I would love to meet up with you!
Since I have joined the 21st century with a smart phone, please feel free to tweet me (@abbylibrarian) during the conference or shoot me an email (abbylibrarian @ gmail.com)!

The Cybils Are Here! The Cybils Are Here!

At least the short lists are.
Go check 'em out!