ALA Midwinter highlights

It can be officially declared that I don't think I'll ever have time to blog at a conference, and I probably won't have time to tweet either. It's just too crazy. So I hope to make this a feature instead: highlights from the conference. I won't cover everything that happened, of course, but I'll share with you the best bits for me. As a reminder, I did this for NCTE as well.

So here are the particularly special things that happened at Midwinter:

• Meeting so many special authors. Linda Urban wandered into our booth and, being a huge fan of Crooked Kind of Perfect, I was able to gush and slobber all over her. I'm sure it wasn't as good for her as it was for me, but I loved seeing her. Loree Griffin Burns, author of Tracking Trash, was with Linda and they were both incredibly sweet and gracious, given that they were dealing with a crazy fangirl. I also met Stuart Murphy rather spontaneously and, as a librarian, I always found his books invaluable because they filled such a particular niche. Holly Cupala also stopped by the booth, as Harper is publishing her upcoming book Tell Me a Secret. She is a sweetheart with a smile that'll stop traffic (who also turned me on to Sock Dreams).
• Eating at Hamersley's Bistro. They had a crispy duck confit that stopped me dead. Perfect in every way. Kayleigh had the roast chicken and believe me when I assure you that it was in no way ordinary or plain. In fact, I never knew chicken could melt in your mouth. And I mean that in the best way possible.
• Eating (always food, right?) at Taberna de Haro. The food was pretty good, but the dessert...well, I had an intimate experience with the dessert. The server put the plate on the table with three small truffles and some small pieces of grilled bread. He sprinkled a generous amount of sea salt on the truffles, followed by a good shake of cocoa powder, and then poured olive oil over all of it. The olive oil and chocolate became this decadently goopy syrup and we used the bread to mop it up. The truffles were super dark and, combined with the salt, were small pieces of ecstasy. It was a once-in-a-lifetime dessert.
• The ALA Youth Media Awards. Even though it's a bit different now that I'm working for a publisher (I have a team to root for now!), I still experienced the same thrill and excitement as before. And I loved the Printz announcement - the room was in an uproar as there was one surprise after another. They shook it up big time, and thank goodness for that. It was a hoot.
• The ALA Tweet-Up. It was insane, just insane, but it was also a great chance for me to hook up with old friends (Liz, Heather, and Jen) and meet some new ones (Laura and Melissa Rabey).
• The Seaport Hotel. Need a place to stay in Boston that, frankly, is not terribly near convenient stuff? Stay here. The decor in the room wasn't anything spectacular, but the staff was super nice and there were all kinds of cute amenities: terrycloth robes, a "pillow library", an umbrella in the closet, and a black washcloth labeled "makeup" on the toiletries shelf. And the quality of the room service food was very good. And the "tip is already included" policy was awfully nice as well.
• I got a kick out of this: Saturday's top tweets as chosen by Library Journal. And here are Sunday's as well.

I have no complaints about this conference at all, though I do have to ask what the heck is up with Bostonian cabbies - they're infinitely more shady than the NYC variety. Wow.

Eat, drink, and finally get some sleep.

2010 ALA Midwinter Conference

Patty, my boss, warned me that the Midwinter conference would come screaming around the corner after NCTE, and she wasn't lyin'. My second conference since joining Harper is coming up this week, and I'm fired up. For one thing, ALA folks are my peeps, my friends. Second, having one conference under my belt, I have a better idea of what to expect when I get to the convention center (clue: endless boxes...go armed with a box cutter).

Here are some more reasons I'm excited to get up to Boston:

• Three words: Megan. Whalen. Turner. As you may know, her next book, Conspiracy of Kings, is coming out this year (Apr 2010). While we're not having her sign in our booth, she will be doing a signing at Harvard Bookstore on Saturday, January 16th at 12:00 pm. See more details at Megan's website.


• Foodie field trip! I'm going to score some sticky buns from Flour Bakery with Kayleigh (The Roaring 20s) on Friday morning!


• The fab ladies of the HarperCollins Children's school & library marketing team (that would be Patty, Emilie, and yours truly) will be presenting titles for our upcoming 2010 spring and summer season. There will be food, there will be laughs, there will be FREE BOOKS. See our website for the full details. All are welcome, no need to RSVP. Be there or be square.


• I love the Youth Media Awards. Love them. The anticipation, the surprises, the cheering, the crowds. I'll be there in person, but you can watch the live webcast here.


• In addition to Flour Bakery, I'll also be eating at Hamersley's Bistro and, tentatively, Taberna de Haro. Anyone else have any must-eat recommendations in the downtown Boston area?

Again, if you're in the Boston area and/or will be at the conference, make sure to stop by and say hi (just like Monica did at NCTE)! I'll be in booth #1404, waiting for you with a smile and free books!

Eat, drink, and don't be shy!

Queens Library Mock Caldecott Discussion

Recently Queens Library had its first Mock Caldecott discussion for the year. In the past, we've had our first meeting in June. We review what has come out so far, and we eliminate some possibilities to make our discussions in December and January a little smoother. Here are some of the books we discussed a couple weeks ago (in no particular order):

• The Fabulous Feud of Gilbert and Sullivan by Jonah Winter, illus by Richard Egielski (Arthur Levine)
  
• Tsunami by Kimiko Kajikawa, illus by Ed Young (Philomel)
• Redwoods by Jason Chin (Roaring Brook)
• A Book by Mordecai Gerstein (Roaring Brook)
• Birds by Kevin Henkes, illus by Laura Dronzek (Greenwillow)
• You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?! by Jonah Winter, illus by Andre Carrilho (Schwartz & Wade)
• Higher! Higher! by Leslie Patricelli (Candlewick)
• Hook by Ed Young (Roaring Brook)
• Mermaid Queen by Shana Corey, illus by Edwin Fotheringham (Scholastic)
• Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Genadii Spirin (Marshall Cavendish)
• Cuckoo's Haiku: and Other Birding Poems by Michael Rosen, illus by Stan Fellows (Candlewick)
• All in a Day by Cynthia Rylant, illus by Nikki McClure (Abrams)
• Chicken Little by Rebecca and Ed Emberley (Roaring Brook)
  
• Sparrow Girl by Sara Pennypacker, illus by Yoko Tanaka (Hyperion)
• The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau by Dan Yaccarino (Knopf)
• A Chair for Always by Vera B. Williams (Greenwillow)
  
• Dinothesaurus by Douglas Florian (Beach Lane)
• Curious Garden by Peter Brown (Little, Brown)
• Bird, Butterfly, Eel by James Prosek (S&S)
• One Red Apple by Harriet Ziefert, illus by Karla Gudeon (Blue Apple)
• Down, Down, Down: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea by Steve Jenkins (Houghton Mifflin)

We had some "easy" ones to get rid of, such as Higher! Higher! and Chicken Little. While we loooooved them for storytime, we agreed that they weren't "Caldecott worthy." Some other books went fairly easy under the category I-Get-What-They-Were-Trying-For-But-It-Wasn't-Entirely-Successful: The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau, You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?!, Down, Down, Down, and The Fabulous Feud of Gilbert and Sullivan. Under the "Whaaa...?!" category, our committee threw in All in a Day and Sparrow Girl.

** At this point, let me remind you that I speak for my whole committee and these "categories" I've made up don't necessarily reflect my own thoughts on these books - I only share our consensus.**

We adored the artwork in Cuckoo's Haiku, but some felt it was better suited to adult Audubon fans than children. Goldilocks was described as inaccessible. And let's just say that A Chair for Always didn't have anyone standing up for it.

There were two books we eliminated but, oh man, was it contentious! One Red Apple and Birds were the most divisive books! One Red Apple is just gorgeous with all kinds of lovely details and textures, but there is a foldout that has all kinds of design problems. Take a look: you'll know

what I'm talking about. And we all agreed that Birds is stunning; however, we got really hung up over the idea that the reader is an active participant throughout the book...and then you get a whammy at the end with the appearance of a girl and suddenly you realize that the story isn't about you and the birds at all but it's about this girl and the birds. The storytelling does a switcheroo and rips the reader right out of the story. It's jarring. Oh, the arguments over all this!

So here is the final group that will move on to our final considerations in

December:

• Tsunami by Kimiko Kajikawa, illus by Ed Young (Philomel)
• Redwoods by Jason Chin (Roaring Brook)
• A Book by Mordecai Gerstein (Roaring Brook)
• Mermaid Queen by Shana Corey, illus by Edwin Fotheringham (Scholastic)
• Curious Garden by Peter Brown (Little, Brown)
• Hook by Ed Young (Roaring Brook)

Is there an illustrator busier than Ed Young these days? I think not...

As many of my readers know, I actually will no longer be working at Queens Library as of July 1st. I have accepted a position with HarperCollins as their School & Library Marketing Manager! So if you're going to ALA in Chicago, be sure to stop by the booth

and say hi. As far as how this changes Pinot and Prose, I really can't say right now. Stay tuned!

Rolling the dice

I have officially thrown my name in the hat for the 2012 Caldecott Committee.

Here's hoping!

Airline Food, Red-Wine Soaked Fried Bread, and Homegrown Stimulus

Once again, I find myself having to apologize for the dearth of blog posting lately. You see, I have a glittering, sparkling day-to-day life that often prevents me from writing as much as I like - I'm terribly busy and important doing any number of fabulous things.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

And as is customary when I've been absent awhile, everyone else has still been blogging. I have found all kinds of fantastic treasures in my Bloglines and email inbox:

• The List Universe has put together the Top 10 Most Overrated Novels. I'm down with Emma being on that list, especially when compared with Austen's other work. The listmakers got the right one; if they had stuck Sense and Sensibility on there I would have had some choice words for them. However...the Lord of the Rings trilogy?! They're out of their minds...or they're just as bad as those trolls that come along and say useless things with the sole purpose of pissing people off.


• I heard from Ellen at Avec Sucre...who heard from Clotilde...about this complaint letter sent to Sir Richard Branson regarding the food on a Virgin flight from Mumbai to London. Funny, funny stuff, my friends. Read it and weep.
  


• ALA has posted the phone calls made to the authors and illustrators for the Youth Media Awards at ALA Midwinter. Fun stuff! My favorites were Laurie Halse Anderson saying over and over, "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!" and when hearing that she would be invited to be on the Today show Beth Krommes said, "I watch that show every morning!" For the record, I found Neil Gaiman's swearing hilarious!
  


• In yet another intersection of food and children's literature, Readers' Books in Sonoma has a fantastic display idea: "homegrown stimulus package." In addition to having child-friendly books like Tillie Lays an Egg and Extraordinary Chickens on display, they also have locally grown eggs and will soon have local produce and preserves. Talk about exemplifying the idea of community! Thanks to my daily Shelf Awareness email for that tidbit.
  


• I can't believe I'm admitting this but...I found a version of milk chocolate that I actually like. Café-Tasse has been my chocolate of choice for awhile (with Dagoba, Vosges, and Scharffenberger making cameo appearances). My favorite Café-Tasse bar has been the Noir-Café (dark chocolate with coffee); however, I unintentionally grabbed the Lait-Café last time I was at the store. Well, you heard it from me first: it's Really Good. Incredibly creamy, equally rich. And it doesn't taste all jacked up on sugar. Granted, I'm not converted - I'll still go for the Noir. But I will thoroughly enjoy the Lait while it lasts. (And this all reminds me of an article in the NY Times a year ago today about milk chocolate making a comeback. I scoffed a year ago but now...)
  


• I'm a geek and here's why: I get the email updates about Spain...On the Road Again. I've been watching the show casually and enjoying it. It would be so wonderful to make some of the food that they eat but I feel that part of the reason it looks and sounds so good is because it is local to Spain. I'm just not going to get the same freshness of produce and seafood here...because, you know, I'm in NYC in February. Nevertheless, I might have to try this recipe. To quote Mario: "Fried bread soaked in wine...dangerous." Indeed. Here's it is:

TORRIJAS

Serves 6

* 3 cups olive oil
* 2 cups dry Spanish wine
* 3 large eggs
* Eighteen half–inch–thick slices crusty Spanish bread (or substitute a baguette)
* 1/4 cup sugar, mixed with 1/4 cup ground cinnamon

* Mosto (recipe for Mosto follows below)

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat until it reaches 365 degrees Farenheit. Meanwhile, pour the wine into a large shallow bowl, add the bread, and let soak for 8 minutes. In another shallow bowl, beat the eggs until well mixed. Working in batches, remove the bread from the wine, draining well, add to the eggs, and let soak for 2 minutes; drain well, add to the hot oil, and cook for until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Drain on paper towels, then sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar, drizzle with mosto, and serve to friends.

Mosto: Boil 3 cups of dry red wine with 1 cup of sugar, a cinnamon stick, and a splash of fresh apple cider until it is reduced by three-quarters (it will be thick and syrupy). Allow it to cool, then store it in a clean wine bottle. Use whenever you need a sweet, grapey punch, in everything from a salad dressing to an ice cream topping.

• I have only very recently discovered the blog of my two new friends, Cindy and Lynn. They reviewed Dear Julia and I loved what they had to say. I hadn't made the parallel between Zemser and Joan Bauer but I think Cindy is right on.

Eat, drink, and beware of that food on Virgin...or any airline really.

Queens Library's 2nd Annual Mock Caldecott Event!

Yesterday Queens Library held its 2nd Annual Mock Caldecott Event! As reported earlier, we discussed 6 books:

Baseball Hour by Bill Thomson

Before John Was a Jazz Giant by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Sean Qualls

Cat and Mouse by Ian Schoenherr

The Dog Who Belonged to No One by Amy Hest, illustrated by Amy Bates
Don't Worry Bear by Greg Foley

Wabi Sabi by Ed Young

And our two Mock Honor books are:

Cat and Mouse by Ian Schoenherr (Greenwillow)

and

Wabi Sabi by Ed Young (Little, Brown)

Our Mock Caldecott Award goes to...

Baseball Hour by Bill Thomson (Marshall Cavendish)

As we all know, this is anybody's year for the award and this was reflected in our voting: it was verrrrrry close. And I am thrilled with the results, as Baseball Hour is action-packed, dramatic, well-executed, and distinguished. It is stunning in its perspectives and it pulses with movement. Lastly, it has wild amounts of kid appeal, which is a nice bonus.

More than 60 librarians came together to discuss the books and vote on them. I was lucky enough to flit and float between the 7 groups and listen to what everyone had to say. The depth of the discussions, as well as the enthusiasm for the event, was thrilling and gave me much-needed inspiration to get through my day-to-day job. We used voting ballots and followed the actual voting criteria of the Caldecott committee (we took it straight from the handbook).

It was a fantastic day, and I look forward to doing it again next year!

2nd Annual Mock Caldecott Event at QL!

It’s that time of year again! Awards Season!

Queens Library is hosting its 2nd Annual Mock Caldecott Event on January 6th for its children’s librarians, and the planning committee has settled on our 6 finalists. Here they are:

-Baseball Hour by Carol Nevius, illus by Bill Thomson (Marshall Cavendish)

-Before John Was a Jazz Giant by Carole Boston Weatherford, illus by Sean Qualls (Holt)

-Cat and Mouse by Ian Schoenherr (Greenwillow)

-The Dog Who Belonged to No One by Amy Hest, illus by Amy Bates (Abrams)

-Don't Worry, Bear by Greg Foley (Viking)

-Wabi Sabi by Mark Reibstein, illus by Ed Young (Little Brown)

And since this isn’t the real thing, we can avoid that tedious veil of secrecy that keeps the actual awards so hush-hush. We discussed about 50 titles altogether during the course of 2008, and I do feel that these were definitely in the Top 10 books.

What I’m surprised about is that neither How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz nor A Kitten Tale by Eric Rohmann made the cut. Personally, I was really hoping that Planting the Trees of Kenya by Claire Nivola would make it – it’s one of my favorites for the year – but it didn’t have a chance against some of the showier titles.

Lastly, for the most part, the committee was in agreement that both House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson, illustrated by Beth Krommes and Wonder Bear by Tao Nyeu left us scratching our heads and saying, “Wha..?” Beautiful, yes. But coherent? Well, that’s debatable. And we did debate it, I assure you.

Stay tuned for the results on Tuesday, January 6th. Let the games begin!

Mock Caldecotts 2009: First Elimination Round

This blog post is a little late…

As the children’s materials specialist, I chair the children’s book selection committee (CBSC). Among many duties, one of the perky fun things we get to do is plan the Mock Caldecott Awards in the winter. In July, we started our first round of reviews. Frankly, there weren’t a lot that stood out tremendously, nothing truly special…in our opinions, anyway. As a result, we were incredibly wishy-washy on a lot of the titles. As of now, here are the books definitely in the running:

- Drive by Nathan Clement
- How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz
- A Kitten Tale by Eric Rohmann
- Before John Was a Jazz Giant by Carole Boston Weatherford, illus by Sean Qualls

And here are the books that we labeled, wishy-washily, as “maybes”:

- Building Manhattan by Laura Vila
- I, Matthew Henson: Polar Explorer by Carole Boston Weatherford, illus by Eric Valasquez
- Lady Liberty by Doreen Rappaport, illus by Matt Tavares
- My Friend, the Starfinder by George Ella Lyon, illus by Stephen Gammell
- Planting the Trees of Kenya by Claire Nivola

Lastily – and I’m sure to hear some cries of surprise and, perhaps, outrage on these ones – here are the definite “no” votes. Which means we won’t consider them for our final Mock Caldecott discussion and voting:

- Big Plans by Bob Shea, illus by Lane Smith
- A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee
- Fartiste by Kathleen Krull, illus by Boris Kulikov
- Grasshopper’s Song by Nikki Giovanni, illus by Chris Raschka
- Grump Groan Growl by Bell Hooks, illus by Chris Raschka
- House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson, illus by Beth Krommes
- Imaginary Menagerie by Julie Larios, illus by Julie Paschkis
- Kids Like Us by Carole Lexa Schaefer, illus by Pierr Morgan
- Market Day by Carol Foskett Cordsen, illus by Douglas Jones
- On the Farm by David Elliott, illus by Holly Meade
- Searcher and the Old Tree by David McPhail
- Singing to the Sun by Vivian French, illus by Jackie Morris
- United Tweets of America by Hudson Talbott
- We Are the Ship: the Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson
- What to Do About Alice? by Barbara Kerley, illus by Edwin Fotheringham
- Wonder Bear by Tao Nyeu

As I’m sure you can see, there are a lot of stellar books we haven’t looked into yet (Wabi Sabi and Steel Town immediately come to mind). Also, all those books listed above certainly weren't unanimous votes - there were lots of dissenters and advocates for certain books. Our next “elimination round” is coming up in October so I’ll keep you posted!

Stay tuned!

We're not a bookstore, but we can act like one!

I was inspired by Allison’s post over at ShelfTalker about handselling and merchandising, mostly because librarians and teachers can use this information and apply it to their own environments. Listen and watch Allison closely, young Padua learners.

I have listened to so many librarians grumble that a library “is not a bookstore” so, therefore, why do I have to listen to this nonsense about marketing and publicizing my books? It doesn’t apply to me. It doesn’t apply to what I do. My kids don’t care. My kids don’t read.

I do not exaggerate – I have heard all these things. And I'm sort of tired of it.

I argue that it means everything to you as a librarian. No, we’re not a bookstore, for obvious reasons, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t market ourselves like one. A commenter on Allison's blog states: booksellers, teachers, and librarians all have the same ultimate goal -- enticing others to read great books. So why wouldn’t you work ridiculously hard to show off what you have on your shelves? Even if you aren’t passionate about the books – and I can’t imagine that you’re not – then you can look at it pragmatically: whereas a bookstore is trying to sell books to stay in business, a library is trying to check books out to do the same. So there’s something wrong with the logic when we aren’t looking at approaches, like those at Changing Hands and Wellesley Booksmith, and opening our minds to that sort of marketing and publicity. It’s common sense, people!

There’s a darling new librarian here in Queens who told me that her manager said to her, “Our customers don’t care about the award winners.” What?!?! Needless to say, I got fired up. There is so much wrong with that statement. First off, maybe it’s not that they don’t care…perhaps they don’t know about the awards! You can’t make assumptions about that, Mr. Manager! Did they actually say they didn’t care?! Sheesh.

I suggested that this librarian make a temporary display – nearly every librarian has this space in their library – with a selection of past award winners. Make a sign advertising that these are award winners, and include a list of the newest winners. Prominently display the 2008 winners that you have in stock. If you’re missing some, then make a movie marquee “Coming Soon…” sign to entice them. Talk it up – Feathers has that gorgeous cover (and it's thin!), Hugo Cabret needs hardly any selling at all, use First the Egg in a storytime and tell your parents that it just won two major awards. Think creatively!

Stop being brought down by your managers (who rarely understand children’s literature, anyway) and read Allison’s post as proof-positive that people do listen to us and you can absolutely affect the circulation of a single book.

Libraries and Food: A Natural Relationship

So you don’t need me to tell you that ALA’s youth media awards came out yesterday. But just in case you didn’t know that, then here’s the link to it.

It was my first ALA Midwinter conference and it was just friggin awesome. I had some of the most interesting and entertaining conversations of my life, and I have come back to Queens invigorated and excited about being a librarian again – which is good because I was really in a place where I wasn’t so sure about working in a library anymore. Now I’m ready to kick some ass…in a good way, of course.

If anyone reading this is a librarian who has had their degree for less than 5 years OR is younger than 35, I highly encourage you to apply for the 2009 ALA Emerging Leaders program. It’s really a fantastic program that made me feel empowered and inspired. If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask me (via comments or email me personally). I definitely think Leslie Burger was on to something when she created this program – it’s a wonderful way to include up-and-coming librarians in the process and to elicit their ideas about the direction of ALA and the profession as a whole.

I even managed to fit in my love of all things food-related: Harcourt invited me to a dinner at Fork, a swoon-worthy restaurant on Market and 3^rd. Fantastic food. For an appetizer I had the flatbread with sautéed calamari, parmesan cheese, and white beans. A little on the dry side, but the calamari was really flavorful. For my entrée, I got the hangar steak with frites and it rocked. I asked for it rare and they actually gave it to me RARE! It’s an anomaly in the restaurant world – you folks who like your meat rare will know what I mean. For dessert, I had the dark chocolate mousse with cognac, which was very light and flavorful…but I don’t know if I made the right choice. Ellen Greene, Harcourt’s library marketing guru, ordered the ricotta cheesecake and I’ve never tasted anything like it in my life. I normally don’t go for cheesecake because it’s so dense but, lordy, that’s because I’ve never tried Fork’s cheesecake. Light as friggin air. Amazing. And of course, there was wine. See, I prove again how books, wine, and food are so completely interrelated. This whole meal – and Harcourt’s generosity in hosting it – will continue to be the major highlight of the conference for me.

But enough of that, let’s talk about the BOOKS! I still can’t believe it was just yesterday morning that I was sitting in that enormous ballroom, listening to the book award winners announced right before my eyes. As the Batchelder and Schneider Family awards were being announced, I felt all tingly and thrilled and excited. Then…as the moment of truth arrived…I felt all tense. Why? I realized that I was nervous because WHAT IF I HADN’T ORDERED THE RIGHT BOOKS ALL YEAR?! What if I had NONE of the major award winners in ANY of the libraries?!?!?! Luckily, though, I was golden. Granted, not every single library had a copy of every single book but at least we had some libraries holding all of some of the books. You know? Phew! I do have to say – and no description will truly capture it unless you were there – but listening to that enormous audible gasp when Hugo Cabret was announced was awesome, and the wild applause afterward was a thrill. And can I even tell you how pleased I am that Let It Shine got the CSK Award? Well-deserved. Overall, I’m enormously pleased with the award recipients, though there are a few question marks: Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County? Jabberwocky? Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian? And I sure was hoping that Jonathan Bean would get some well-deserved love but, alas, it wasn’t his year. Not to worry because I know his time is coming any year now.

All my gushing aside, it’s damn good to be home and make myself a home-cooked meal for the first time in five days. Even if it was as simple as a salad and a melty camembert grilled cheese sandwich. And pinot noir, of course.

My crystal ball says...

Ooooooh, Fuse #8 got me going early this morning with her Awards predictions post! Coffee in hand, I’m ready to put myself out there as well and predict who I think will be (and should be) the big winners come next Monday.

NEWBERY

WHAT WILL WIN:

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
I do predict this one will win, and it’s a lucky thing because it’s my favorite. It is storytelling at its finest and, I believe, when compared to another historical fiction contender, Wednesday Wars, this one really shines and sets itself apart.

WHAT SHOULD WIN:

I don’t have another choice – the book I feel should win is the book I’m predicting will take it.

HONOR BOOKS:

Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson
The committee won’t feel passionately enough about it to give it the Award, but they won’t be able to come up with enough reasons to shut it out completely.

Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt
This is a tough call because it’s difficult to gauge how much hype this book has really lost. But it really is a fantastic book, and I think they’ll give Gary an Honor – he’ll need to step it up to score himself the gold (which, incidentally, I believe Curtis did with Elijah of Buxton).

WHAT WON’T WIN:

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz
I’m going to have to deal with Betsy’s wrath on this one, but I don’t predict it’ll get anything. It’s a phenomenal book – I’m not in any way saying that I don’t love it dearly – but there are just a lot of other books that will be bigger and brighter in the committee’s eyes. Obviously, I will be glad to be proven wrong on this one.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Oh, but wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if it could win? Clever, smart, and funny – not to mention that it actually has lots of kid appeal, which definitely can’t be said for all the books we’re chatting about here.

Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
No way, not happening. Notables list is the only place you’ll see this one.

CALDECOTT

WHAT WILL WIN:

The Wall by Peter Sis
I do not predict this one with confidence. On the one hand, it’s innovative, creative, and stunning – who can deny that? And it’ll be in the back of the committee’s collective mind that Sis should finally be given the gold. On the other hand, it really is for older children, and I can see some committee members getting hung up on the “persons of ages up to and including fourteen.” It’s tough to say…

WHAT SHOULD WIN:

Let It Shine by Ashley Bryan
Why oh why does no one else seem to love this book as much as I do?! I’d call it “stunning”, but I already used that for The Wall. So I’ll use…come on, Thesaurus… “spectacular.” It’s not just the large-format, colorful nature of the art, but it’s that Bryan also creates texture and movement that just seems to pulsate off the page. I was breathless the first time I read this book…and I find that is still the case after about 10 viewings.

HONOR BOOK(S)

Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice Harrington, illus by Shelley Jackson
I can put this one out there with confidence. There won’t be enough love for the Medal, but I can’t imagine that there won’t be enough support for the Honor.

At Night by Jonathan Bean
Again, in our Mock Caldecott discussions, I was the loudest supporter of this book while everyone else seemed to be lukewarm on it. It’s not big and bright and sexy…which is part of its charm…and dare I say, genius? All the framed, tight illustrations in the middle of the page and then that gooooorgeous spread that opens up to the night sky and city below? Again, I lost my breath.

WHAT WON’T WIN

Jabberwocky by Christopher Myers
For better or for worse, whether it’s in the Caldecott’s collective subconscious or not, this is a dead-lock for the CSK…and it’ll be overlooked by the Caldecott.

Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
This book was a rather large point of contention in QL’s Mock Caldecott discussions – a number of vocal librarians wanted it included in our finalists. But stop the madness, already. Most will argue that it doesn’t even fit the criteria. Away to the Notables with you, Hugo!

Library's 1st Annual Mock Caldecott Event!

Happy holidays to all! I’m at work today after a 4-day vacation and, needless to say, I’m having some focus issues. It’s never easy to be tied to your desk when the rest of your family is playing Uno and making fudge at home on a gray day.

I’ve been ultra-super-duper busy lately planning our library’s 1st Annual Mock Caldecott Event, which took place last Tuesday. Surprisingly, it is the first one our library system has ever had. I was a wee bit nervous, as no one ever seems to be as gushy and enthusiastic over the books as I am, but my fears were completely unfounded. I might go so far to say that some of the discussions were impassioned. No kids at this one – only 70 or so librarians! Based on a series of voting beforehand, the five books we discussed were:

1. The Magic Rabbit by Annette Cate
2. The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice Harrington
3. Old Penn Station by William Low
4. The Wall by Peter Sis
5. Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems

I said to my mentor beforehand: “Mark my words, The Wall won’t be anywhere near the top of the voting.” I was very very wrong. The Wall seemed to be the most polarizing, the most intriguing, the most discussion-inducing book of the group. Lots of opinions about that one. So what were the results?

MOCK CALDECOTT AWARD WINNER:

The Wall by Peter Sis

MOCK CALDECOTT HONOR WINNER:
The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice Harrington, illus by Shelley Jackson

The other three books were very, very close so we only ended up with one Honor book. When the announcement was made, half the room erupted in cheers and the other half gaped because they couldn’t figure out how The Wall came out on top. Go figure. Kind of like the real awards, right?

We’ll absolutely do it again next December – it was some of the best fun I’ve had since starting my job a year ago. In fact, there seems to be a lot of enthusiasm for a Mock Newbery too!