The Printz Award committee flanks honoree (front row, from left to right) Beverly Brenna, winner Nick Lake, honoree Benjamin Alire Sáenz and honoree Elizabeth Wein. Photo courtesy of YALSA.

The event is a chance for honorees to celebrate and speak about their books, then mingle with fans over drinks and dessert. This year’s author speeches, like the books recognized, ranged in topic from the personal to the intellectual—but one central theme emerged: the power of storytelling and its ability to connect kids to larger truths about the world.

The Young Adult Library Services Association gives the Michael L. Printz Award each year to the “best book written for teens,” and the award committee can also name up to four honor titles. In January 2013, five books published in 2012 were recognized: winner In Darkness, by Nick Lake; and honor books Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz; Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein; Dodger by Terry Pratchett; and The White Bicycle by Beverly Brenna.

Sáenz opened the evening, and he could have closed it as well. His incredibly touching speech left the audience sobbing. His book is a coming-of-age tale about two Latino boys in Texas. He shared with the audience his own painful journey to coming out at age 54, “a wounded man—but what are wounds to a writer?” He spoke about how he nearly abandoned Aristotle and Dante because it was “too close to home,” and explained that he ultimately, accidentally, came back to the novel. “There should be roadmaps for boys who were born to play by different rules…born gay. I suppose I became a cartographer.” His speech was personal, painful, and passionate, much like Ari and Dante’s journeys, and in the end, he thanked the committee and the audience, saying “today I feel like a boy again.”

He was greeted by a spontaneous standing ovation, prompting Elizabeth Wein to start her own speech with a good-natured grumble about the agony of following him. Fortunately for her—and for audience, still sobbing—she moved away from deeply personal topics (which she had previously covered in her USBBY speech the day before) and started with history. Her own history, yes—but even Wein’s journal, which she read from, is a crafted, precise piece of accomplished writing, laced with literary references, sly humor, and an astounding wealth of detail.

In the reading, it became clear just how deeply Wein poured her own self into the creation of Julie, the narrator of Code Name Verity. “Like me,” Wein said, “she’s writing because it transports her.” As she spoke, it became clear that in fact this speech was just as personal and Sáenz’s, but focused on the act of writing. Code Name Verity is “about voices being silenced and found,” Wein said, and while it’s easy to see that it’s a story of friendship and World War II, it’s also about “the power of words.”

The theme of words as power—and literature as a means to a deeper truth—echoed throughout the evening; Sáenz brought it to life and Wein made it explicit. Terry Pratchett’s speech (given by his US editor Anne Hoppe) touched on the same ideas, in different form.

Dodger was written as a testament to the real Henry Mayhew, a man whose words, in the form of a comprehensive study of the poor of Victorian London, changed the world. But because it was written by Terry Pratchett, who admits that his “mind packs more rats than Hamelin,” the testament to Mayhew might have morphed a bit; Victorian London, after all, “is cut in the mold of fantasy.” Pratchett’s speech was laced with his customary wry humor, clear even when voiced by someone else, and, while he was missed, appreciative chuckles sounded throughout the audience, along with a murmur of agreement at a piece of truth: “you don’t have to invent that much if you have a good grasp of social history.”

Next up was Beverly Brenna, who started by thanking the audience for being there—because she’s actually shown up a night early, only to be greeted by empty chairs! Following up on the thematic scope of the evening (leading a few listeners to speculate that there might be a secret online forum for Printz winners and honorees where they had planned this perfectly aligned set of remarks), Brenna said “stories are important. Stories can change the world.”

And as she recounted a story her own mother told her, it became clear that Brenna is a consummate storyteller; she had the rhythm down perfectly, changing inflections and intonations for different moments. It’s no surprise that the aspect of The White Bicycle the committee and readers always reference is the voice. And indeed, Brenna admitted that she wrote her book with purpose: to give voice to those on the Autism spectrum, whose voices are still too rarely heard.

Speaking of the voiceless, Brenna was followed by Nick Lake, whose In Darkness gives voice to the poor of Haiti in the immediate aftermath of the terrible earthquake of 2010. Lake’s speech was laced with philosophy—Nietzsche, Campbell’s hero’s journey, and the idea of magical truths: “the shaman and the geneticist both would say, ‘My ancestors live inside me.’”

Above all, Lake spoke about circles and connections, within his book and within the world. “Something small can contain eternity,” and a book can contain a universal truth, he said. He spoke about how hard it is to grow up, and—winning the hearts of every listener, said “reading is an incredibly important part of young adults becoming functional adults.” He also managed, remarkably, to work in references to The Hunger Games, Daniel Kraus, John Green, and—of all things—“poo.” Because nothing puts life in perspective like winning an award and immediately having to deal with a 2-year-old’s diaper: the circle of life made all too real and much less intellectual in one fell swoop.

The speeches should be available on YALSA’s website in the near future.

Youth services division presidents Gail Dickinson (AASL), Shannon Peterson (YALSA), and Starr LaTronica (ALSC) pose with the ALA’s new Declaration for the Right to Libraries.

Right out of the gate, Barbara Stripling, ALA’s incoming president, drew upon the theme “Libraries Change Lives” in kicking off the organization’s “America’s Right to Libraries” campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the variety of services that libraries provide throughout the country. As part of her presentation, Stripling unveiled the Declaration for the Right to Libraries and reminded attendees that ALA is hoping librarians from all types of libraries will gather hundreds of thousands of patron signatures in the coming months. ALA plans to structure a one- or two-week window later this year when school libraries in particular across the country can host signing ceremonies, creating opportunities for ALA to leverage strong national media coverage and public support for the cause.

In the meantime, the initial promotion of the declaration is proceeding as planned. “At Board III, I signed [the declaration] flanked by immediate past-president Susan Ballard and President-elect Terri Grief,” AASL President Gail Dickinson tells School LibraryJournal.  “It was also  presented at Affiliate Assembly, so that our state affiliates are also aware. I am sure that both the legislation and the advocacy committees are working to publicize it.”

As promised by ALA last month, a new implementation task force has already been formed to continue the work of the School Library Task Force. The new committee will be co-chaired by Gina J. Millsap, CEO of Topeka Shawnee County Public Library (KS) and Terry Kirk Grief, AASL president-elect.

“The increased emphasis on preparing all students to be college and career ready and the widespread adoption of the Common Core State Standards and integration of technology have opened an unprecedented door to school library leadership,” the ALA leadership says.

Adds Margaux DelGuidice, a 2013 Movers & Shaker, “Meeting with fellow members of the AASL/YALSA/ALSC Joint Task Force on the Common Core in person and making out the work we will do together,” was one of the key moments in her conference experience this year.

Technology was also front-and-center, with recommended lists for apps and websites creating lots of buzz, attendees say. For the first time ever, AASL announced its list of Best Apps for Teaching and Learning; the committee’s selections were made using the AASL’s Standard’s for 21^st Century Learning as a guide. And for the fifth year, the organization announced its Best Websites for Teaching and Learning in six categories, including media sharing, curriculum collaboration, and social networking.

Additional AASL business included updates from Dickerson on the search for a new AASL executive director. “Conducting a search for this position, which is so important to school libraries, is a thoughtful and reflective process, with a lot of discussion to ensure that the person selected is our best candidate from a pool of highly qualified applicants,” she tells SLJ.

In addition, ALSC announced three Summer Reading Lists for kindergarten through eighth grade. Each of the lists has 25 titles selected by the organization’s Quicklists Consulting Committee and its School-Age Programs and Services Committee.

Generating a stir during the conference was Chris Harris, coordinator of the school library system for the Genesee Valley (NY) Educational Partnership, who introduced the new “Here Be Fiction” program during the “Maintaining Teen E-Collections” presentation. The program makes fiction available in ebook format to school librarians. August House, Bancroft Press, Picture Window Books, Lerner, and Stone Arch Books are the first publishers to be involved. With the program, librarians will be able to download such titles as Kate McMullan’s Nice Shot Cupid (Stone Arch, 2011) to a mobile device or reader. The program will go live on July 15, when selected school librarians around the country will have free access during their summer vacations to read and review ebook fiction.

ALA also spotlighted a number of authors are helping libraries have access to digital media through its new “Authors for Library Ebooks” campaign, which aims to assist ALA in its negotiations with publishers on reaching a sustainable solution for library ebook lending. Cory Doctorow, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Jodi Picoult are just some of the participating authors who have sign on in support of great access to ebooks through libraries.

Says Le Guin, “So, dear reader, if your library doesn’t have the e-book you’d like to read, please don’t complain to your librarian. Complain to your publisher. Tell him to wake up and get real.”

Adds Picoult, “Whether it’s a digital file or a paper copy, I want readers to find my books—and all books—in their libraries. I stand with libraries—and I invite other authors to join me in the campaign for library e-books for all.”

Inaugural brunch attendees build with blocks to illustrate Stripling’s collaboration theme.

A highlight of the conference, youth librarians tell SLJ, was the programming centered around STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education, which was presented by the ALA Public Programming Office in conjunction with NASA and the Space Science Institute. Two sessions introduced new resources now available to libraries to introduce students and patrons to STEM topics: a traveling exhibit, Discover Tech: Engineering Make a World of Difference, and a new STEM online community, STARnetLibraries. The exhibit will be traveling around the country for the next year, while the site’s goal is connect libraries with STEM professionals.

Some conference attendees also enjoyed last Tuesday’s inaugural brunch to welcome Stripling and the new division presidents, with tables were decorated with Legos and building blocks to illustrate Stripling’s call for collaboration and building connections.

The close of the conference also marked the retirement of Julie Walker, AASL executive director.  The association is in the process of selecting her successor.

10. Artist Alley

Graphic novelists Dave Roman and Raina Telegemeier in ALA’s Artist Alley.

In ALA’s artist alley, attendees had the opportunity to hear and meet such graphic artists as Gene Luen Yang—where he spoke about Boxers & Saints (First Second, 2013), his two–volume graphic novel about the Boxer Rebellion—and Dave Roman and Raina Telegemeier, graphic artists and spouses.

9.  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Arthur Levine on the exhibit floor unveils the new cover.

On Saturday, June 29, publisher Arthur Levine unveiled the new cover for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by award-winning illustrator Kazu Kibuishi, the fourth of seven trade paperback editions with new covers illustrated by New York Times bestselling author and illustrator Kazu Kibuishi. The covers are being reissued in celebration of the 15^th anniversary of the U.S. publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the first book in J.K. Rowling’s bestselling series.

8. Paws to Read

The Illinois Library Association was on hand during the conference to share details of its planned 2014 Summer Reading Program, “Paws to Read,” which features Tad Hills as its sponsored illustrator and his character of Rocket as the program’s mascot. The campaign is part of the children’s outreach efforts of the Illinois Reading Enrichment and Development (iREAD) program.

7. StarWalk Kids Media

Amy Kellman, retired head of children’s services at the Carnegie Library, Seymour Simon of StarWalk Kids, and Scholastic’s Lori Benton share a few moments on ALA’s exhibit floor.

Another fascinating exhibit was that of StarWalk Kids Media, an eBook company founded by award-winning children’s science author Seymour Simon. The company showcases the work of award-winning authors and illustrators such as David Adler, Stephanie Calmenson, and Doreen Rappaport.

6. Newbery Superstars!

Newbery Medalists Katherine Paterson, Katherine Applegate, and Patricia MacLachlan.

HarperCollins hosted three of its Newbery winners at the same time at its booth on the exhibit floor: Katherine Paterson (Bridge to Terabithia, 1978 and Jacob Have I Loved, 1981); Katherine Applegate (The One and Only Ivan, 2013); and Patricia MacLachlan (Sarah, Plain and Tall, 1986).

5. Gareth Jones Sings

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Gareth Jones, British children’s author of Constable and Toop (Abrams, 2013) and the “Ninja Meerkats” series (MacMillan), brought his ukulele to serenade librarians in the exhibits.

4. Movers & Shakers

2013 Movers & Shakers Margaux DelGuidice, Matthew Winner, and Rose Luna.

I ran into many terrific librarians throughout the conference, but it was a special treat to spend time with some of the school and children’s services librarians who have been named Movers and Shakers by Library Journal over the years. The opportunity to mingle and meet with many of the Movers & Shakers was also a highlight for one of the 2013 honorees, Margaux DelGuidice, she says.

3. Live @ Your Library

Ellen Hopkins presented 26 authors on the exhibit floor to promote the work of  Live @ Your Library.

Live @ Your Library, a national initiative from ALA’s Public Programs Office, provides grant opportunities for libraries looking to present cultural programming for adults and families to explore important issues. The group’s offerings at ALA this year were quite rich, with 26 critically-acclaimed and best-selling authors being brought to the exhibit floor to read from their books and answer questions.

2. Scholastic Readers Theater

Authors Gordon Korman, Brandon Mull, Kirby Larson, Kat Fall, Kathryn Erskine and Jeffrey Brown

Not content to simply announce its new titles, Scholastic hosted a star-studded Sunday brunch event with authors Gordon Korman, Brandon Mull, Kirby Larson, Kat Fall, Kathryn Erskine and Jeffrey Brown each performing excerpts of their newest kids’ titles in a version of Readers Theater. The award for best performer goes to Brandon Mull for his versatility.

1. Giada De Laurentiis

Rocco Staino, SLJ contributing editor, and Giada De Laurentiis.

It is always wonderful to meet a celebrity at ALA, and this year it was the chef Giada De Laurentiis, who was there to promote Recipe for Adventure: Naples (Grosset & Dunlop).  It is the first in a series that will bring her characters around the world on adventures centered around food.

Send your pictures of the week to sdiaz@mediasourceinc.com

In celebration of its 25th Anniversary of children’s publishing, Chronicle Books hosted a cocktail reception at the American Library Association Annual conference that included a raffle of original artwork inspired by the company’s spectacles logo. The pieces were created by many award-winning and bestselling illustrators, including Tom Lichtenheld, Sophie Blackall, Taro Gomi, and more. The artists presented the prizes to the raffle winners.

Illustrator Tom Lichtenheld and children’s literature professor Susannah Richards. Photos courtesy of Chronicle Books.

Illustrator Vladimir Radunsky presented original art  to Susan Faust, librarian at San Francisco’s Katherine Delmar Burke School.

By Lisa G. Kropp

Do you know STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics)?  From hosting “parties” with traditional building blocks to using science kits with young children, ideas for STEAM programming in libraries were discussed at a recent panel at the ALA (American Library Association) annual conference.

The panel, “What’s Hot in STEAM Education: How Using ECRR2 Supports Literacy, Common Core, and School Success,” also honed in on using hands-on activities to build skills outlined in the updated Every Child Ready to Read initiative.

At the packed, standing-room-only event, moderator Christy Estrovitz, early literacy coordinator of the San Francisco Public Library, hosted panelists including Dr. Judy Cheatham, vice president of literacy services at the organization Reading is Fundamental (RIF), along with Eva Mitnick, coordinator of children’s services at the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) and Susan Anderson-Newham, early learning supervising librarian at the Pierce County (WA) Library System, and a 2013 Library Journal  Mover and Shaker.

Judy Cheatham of Reading is Fundamental: Resources for teaching STEAM and ECRR

What does STEAM programming mean to public libraries and early literacy services? According to Cheatham, STEAM has the potential to help position public libraries at the forefront of language and literacy development, particularly when working with parents, young children, and teachers.

Founded in 1966, RIF is the oldest, and largest, children and family literacy non-profit in the US. Its mission is to motivate young children to read by working with them, their parents, and  community members to make reading a part of everyday life.

Cheatham noted that the RIF site offers a multitude of resources to use when planning library STEAM programs. RIF’s 2012-2013 Multicultural Book Collection focuses on books that enhance STEAM education, and related four-page resource guides feature a wealth of information and suggested activities for parents, librarians, educators, and community coordinators.

The resource guides suggest simple ways to add STEAM activities to literature-based projects. “Teachers don’t have to be Albert Einstein’s offspring to do STEAM activities,” Cheatham noted, challenging the audience to infuse more STEAM into their programming.

Why focus on STEAM education at such an early age? Cheatham explained that in order for U.S. students to compete in a global economy and job market, we needs to improve their math and science skills. Middle School is the wrong time—too late—to introduce complex science and math terms and vocabulary, she said. Research shows that young children’s brains are like sponges, she noted: eager to absorb information on a wide variety of topics.

Cheatham cited statistics showing that 75 percent of students who are poor readers in third  grade remain so in high school. After third grade, cognitive demands increase yearly, as does the pressure to master  the new Common Core State Standards. If we don’t start introducing scientific vocabulary to kids at a younger age, she argued, we are going to lose the war on literacy and set students up for failure down the line.

Children’s librarians can serve their communities by creating STEAM programs for parents with young children, and by offering educators access to STEAM-rich materials and activities, Cheatham noted.

RIF recommends using Z is for Moose with STEAM activities.

She also stressed the need to target learners earlier through workshops incorporating ECRR best practices: talking, singing, writing, reading, and playing. One book that RIF recommends for STEAM activities is Z is for Moose by Kelly Bingham, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinksy (HarperCollins, 2012). RIF’s suggested related activities for the book listed included all five STEAM subjects.

Books that encourage STEAM allow librarians to teach complex vocabulary to parents, teachers, and young children in a fun way, Cheatham reiterated. Ending her inspiring talk, she reminded the audience that vocabulary needs to be heard, used, and practiced.

STEAM at the Los Angeles Public Library: Partnering with the California Science Center

During Mitnick’s presentation, she described a new STEAM program hosted by LAPL in partnership with the California Science Center. LAPL has 72 branches and a central library, all of which follow ECRR practices. Their recent collaboration with the California Science Center introduces preschool children to science concepts using the ECRR principles.

“Preschoolers are natural scientists” because they question everything, Mitnick noted. The goal of the  project was to create a program promoting STEM activities across the curriculum and referring to the California Preschool Curriculum framework. Also, she said, parents were provided with resources to support their child’s STEM experiences.

In January, four LAPL branches began working with preschoolers and their parents, using science kits created by California Science Center. Librarians received training during workshops at the Science Center, whose staff created six kits around the following topics:

• Rocks and Minerals
• Insects
• Habitats
• Seeds to Plants
• Balls, Ramps, and Rollercoasters
• Build It!

Each kit contained plenty of manipulatives and tech devices including iPads, digital scales,  microscopes, and a mini projector.

Mitnick created a Preschool Science Program Form for library staff to fill out  when utilizing the kits. This way, they could keep track of materials and equipment used, including books. The form features a description of the program and its learning activities along with examples of ECRR activities and skills. Finally, Mitnick asked staff to include anecdotal information and comments on the program by children and parents, feedback to keep in mind while the pilot prepares to expand to three more LAPL branches in the fall.

Mitnick said that reading the RIF-recommended STEAM books prompted LAPL librarians create additional booklists. The preschool science series involved a lot of dialogue among parents, librarians, and preschoolers: “What is an inclined plane? Can you find one at the library?” Librarians introduced science topics in other fun ways, like singing songs related to the kit’s theme. Library staff used the downloadable site Freegal Music to search key science words in children’s songs.

The young learners “wrote” their hypotheses by drawing their thoughts and ideas out on large pieces of paper. There was also lots of playing with the kits’ manipulative devices. Preschoolers created art using scientific principles, such as gravity painting. “The paint always goes down!” Mitnick deadpanned.

Librarians and parents used vocabulary terms such as observe, predict, and check, knowing that the kids, modeling adult behavior, would start using them too. Wrapping up, Mitnick said that LAPL hopes to expand their science programming with another grant next year for elementary age kids.

Block Play at the Pierce County Library System

Anderson-Newham started her talk by exclaiming, “Block parties are completely addictive!” She was referring to once-a-month events in which reps from the local Head Start center came to co-lead play sessions, using traditional maple blocks, with trained librarians.

Like Cheatham, Anderson-Newham emphasized that STEM activities should start in early childhood settings, when children are at their most inquisitive. During the block parties, librarians announce two simple rules: participants cannot throw blocks or knock down anyone’s structure.

She went onto explain the seven stages of block play:

• Carrying blocks
• Stacking–both horizontal and vertical
• Bridging
• Enclosures
• Patterns and Symmetry
• Early Representational
• Later Representational

Anderson-Newham noted that once each stage is mastered, youngsters move backward and forward through them during play. The different block units feature labels—arches, columns, squares, rectangles, triangles, cylinders, and circles, as well as the basic, half, and double unit blocks—to teach children this vocabulary.

Each block party starts with a brief story time with picture books such as Christy Hale’s Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building (Lee & Low, 2012) or Shape Capers by Cathryn Falwell (HarperCollins, 2007). There are also pictures of famous structures from around the world to inspire the kids.

After some time, librarians add more elements to the block play–transportation vehicles, farm and zoo animals, scarves, and clothespins. “Library meeting rooms are perfect for blocks,” noted  Anderson–Newham, because they are large spaces easily emptied of furniture, offering ample room for big structures.

Participating Head Start teachers said that the sessions enriched block play back in the classroom as well. Students began looking around the room wondering, “‘What else can we use with our blocks?’” said Anderson-Newham.

Some Head Start sites invited parents along, many of whom were not previously library users. Spanish-speaking staff gave library tours. Many parents applied for library cards and are now coming to the library on their own, Anderson-Newham said.

Every participating child receives a free set of 100 wooden blocks to take home, along with information sheets explaining what children learn while playing with blocks. Participating libraries have added blocks into their existing Lego building programs for older students.

Anderson-Newham ended her talk by quoting Frank Lloyd Wright, whose mother once gave him a set of wooden blocks for his birthday. “‘The feeling of those simple maple blocks is in my fingers to this day,’” he said.

The event was sponsored by PLA (the Public Library Association) and ALSC (the Association for Library Service to Children) ECRR Oversight Committee.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Margaret A. Edwards Award, given annually by the Young Adult Library Services Association to an author in honor of work that makes a “significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.” The award, which is sponsored by SLJ, was presented Saturday during the American Library Association’s annual conference in Chicago to Tamora Pierce for her “Song of the Lioness” and “The Protector of the Small” series.

As is tradition, the winning author is the featured speaker at the event―and this year, the feisty and mischievous Pierce did not disappoint. After introductory remarks from Jack Martin, YALSA president, and Jamie Watson, chair of the 2013 Edwards committee, Pierce took to the microphone. She spoke in a soft monotone about how honored she was, mentioned her experience of attending conferences and listening to librarians and readers, and paused frequently to cough.

The audience was initially confused; where was the feminist personality they had come to see? Where was the warm, outsized writer whose online persona so many knew? There was a hush in the room, an almost palpable sense of disappointment. This was Tamora Pierce? This was the woman whose books had, for many attendees, been transformative reading in their own teen years?

And then Pierce dropped her punchline: she’s not that dull, robot-voiced speaker―but she likes to see the discomfort. “The thought of your pain and suffering makes me happy,” she said gleefully. The audience laughed appreciatively, thoroughly warmed up, and Pierce’s real speech began.

Readers familiar with Pierce’s work will know that she focuses on strong, spunky female heroes in well-realized fantasy worlds, a theme she discussed at length. Pierce spoke passionately about her own childhood reading of heroic tales and a few bright, bold girl books, and the tensions at home that tore her in two directions and at one point almost made her give up writing.She described discovering fantasy novels, where “women could be warriors. Except, well…”

In the fantasy of Pierce’s childhood, women were sword fodder or “over-sexed trollops.” So Pierce set out to write real fantasy: books in which chainmail bikinis would never make an appearance, featuring women “who would not surrender who they had fought to become. Even if they fell in love.”

Heads nodded. This was the speech people had come to hear!

Tamora Pierce addresses librarians at the Edwards Award luncheon. Photo by Jean-Marc Giboux.

Pierce wrote realistic fantasy―with bathrooms, contraception, and consequences―because she wanted to live in it. Her books reflect her whole self: Alanna comes from Pierce’s adolescence, but Kel comes from a deeper, adult understanding of the complications and challenges that face women in the military and other typically male-dominated, physically challenging jobs. The verisimilitude of Kel’s experiences reflects research and dedication: martial arts, interviews and conversations with women in the military, and a reflection on 9/11 which occurred as the final book in the Kel quartet was being written―all played a part in making the series ring true.

It’s this dedication to reality that makes Pierce’s books so enduring, and guarantees that she has “the coolest fans of anybody,” a statement in evidence at the end of the luncheon when several librarians who had come of age on Pierce’s books approached her, crying, to finally meet in person the hero who had taught them all about female heroes.

For those who missed the Edwards luncheon, there is another opportunity to hear from Pierce coming up: she will be keynoting SLJ’s free SummerTeen online event.

The Caldecott Medal was awarded to 32-year-old Jon Klassen for This is Not My Hat (Candlewick). In accepting the award, Klassen fondly referred to his book—about a sneaky fish and the stolen hat he adores—as his “little guy,” and said he was happy that its subtle humor and message had resonated with readers. Klassen is also a Caldecott Honoree this year for Mac Burnett’s Extra Yarn (HarperCollins); he is only the second illustrator with this achievement in the award’s history.

Katherine Applegate, winner of the John Newbery Medal for The One and Only Ivan (HarperCollins), spoke about her long road to the Medal after a varied writing career, commenting that she was not ‘a late-blooming” success. The 56-year-old winner read from a Harlequin Romance novel that she once wrote. “A woman’s body is like a piano,” she said. “You are definitely a Steinway, baby.”

Unlike her early work, Applegate’s Newbery-winning turn is a poignant YA story of a long-captive gorilla. In her remarks, Applegate recalled her youth and specifically the time that she was introduced to Doctor Doolittle and Charlotte’s Web, books in which, like the Ivan of her book, the principal protagonists were talking animals. “You have to write the book that has to be written,” she quoted Madeleine L’Engle. “And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”

Applegate went on to praise the optimism of children and to thank the members of the Nerdy Book Club, whose online enthusiasm brought recognition to Ivan.

In accepting the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, Katherine Paterson thanked “all the librarians and teachers,” noting, “many children would never know my books if it was for you.” The award is given to an author whose books have made a substantial and lasting contribution to literature. The 80-year-old Paterson is a two-time Newbery and National Book Award winner, and has served as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. The Wilder award comes forty years after the publication of her first book, The Sign of the Chrysanthemum. In closing, Paterson praised the audience and the event, which she said was for “celebrating all of you who nourish the lives of the young.”

Librarian Suzanne Walker donned pins representing the 75 Caldecott Medalists.

The evening’s entertainment was not only found on the stage. The audience was filled with many librarians dressed in their Caldecott-themed fashions and accessories, such as Starr LaTronica, youth services/outreach manager at the Four County Library System (NY) and president-elect of ALSC, who sported earrings and shoes adorned with Caldecott Medals. Elizabeth Bird of the New York Public Library, picture book author and SLJ blogger, wore an outfit that featured all of this year’s Caldecott books. And all 75 Caldecott winners were present on the dress of Suzanne Walker from the Indiana State Library in the form of individual pins that she created for each winning book.

Katrina Taylor and Charlene Mckenzie, librarians from St. Paul, MN, are annual attendees of the dinner; both enjoy the event for different reasons, they told School Library Journal. While McKenzie appreciates getting to see the authors and illustrators who “create the magic of the book,” Taylor says, “it is so inspiring to have a celebration of children’s literature.”

Photo courtesy Choose Chicago/© César Russ Photography.

By Leah L. White

Unique eateries, bars, and sights to see

There are two things I love very much in this world: Food and Chicago. Here are some of my favorite places to eat around the city, at varying price levels, locations, and ambiances. Also included are a few recommended bookstores, bars, landmarks, and concert venues. When you aren’t stuffing your librarian brain with knowledge at McCormick Place, see what this amazing city has to offer.

Price key: Approximate cost per person for a meal, not including drinks.
$=under $10; $$=$11-30; $$$=$31-60

Food

Wow Bao With several downtown locations, this fast-food Asian bun shop is a tasty option for lunch or a quick dinner. A combo meal comes with two bao buns, a salad, and a drink for under seven dollars. Most locations close early, but the Water Tower plaza restaurant stays open later. Vegetarian friendly. Try the whole wheat edamame bao and homemade ginger ale. $

Protein Bar This low-priced, healthy option has multiple downtown locations. Wraps, salads, and smoothies dominate the menu. A great option for vegans and vegetarians. $

The Doughnut Vault There’s almost always a line for these gourmet doughnuts. Line up and cross your fingers they don’t run out. Weekdays, they open in the morning and stay open as long as they have doughnuts. Follow on Twitter (@doughnutvault) for line length and availability. $

Café Iberico Always busy, this huge, family-style space is a good option for groups. Generous portions, and the tasty sangria comes in pitchers. Plenty of vegetarian choices. $

Hot Dogs and Italian Beef An official Chicago-style hot dog is an all-beef frank with lettuce, tomato, onion, a pickle spear, peppers, mustard, and emerald-green relish with celery salt on a poppy-seed bun. Our famous Italian Beef sandwiches consist of sliced roast beef on a French bread roll, covered in beef stock and topped with peppers. The sandwich should be a dripping mess. For both, try Portillo’s. $

The Gage With an impeccable beer list and excellent upscale bar food, this gastropub is located in the heart of the Loop, across from Millenium Park. Highlights: The Gage’s famous Scotch Egg and Guinness-battered fish and chips. Lunch is served every day, and brunch on weekends, with vegetarian options always on offer. Vegans may want to avoid. Reservations suggested on weekends. $$

The Purple Pig The motto here is cheese, wine, and swine. Once you’ve waited for your table (no reservations), you choose from a variety of meats, smears, paninis, cheeses, and more. Local favorite: pigs’ tails—that’s right, pigs’ tails. Not for vegetarians, vegans, or people in a hurry. $$

Fox & Obel Technically, this is a boutique grocery, but in the back, you’ll find two amazing dining spots: The cafe, a great option for breakfast or lunch, and the more upscale Bistro, which takes reservations. Both delicious menus appeal to vegetarians and omnivores alike. Try the tuna melt or the grilled cheese. $$

Park Grill Slightly touristy, but the location makes it worthwhile. Perched in Millennium Park, all seating here is outdoors. Take in city views while sipping Three Floyds beer or noshing a burger. Park Grill can get busy, but there’s usually room at the bar or a seat after a short wait. $$

Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria

Pizza Let me tell you about Chicago pizza. It’s huge, cheese-filled, sauce- topped goodness. I recommend Lou Malnati’s, though Gino’s East and Giordano’s get more attention. The pizza takes 30 minutes. $$

The Publican  When The Publican hit the scene in the late aughts, it changed Chicago’s food scene. Now there are little Publican-ish places throughout the city, trying their best to serve gourmet pork rinds and charcuterie. Skip those and head to the Fulton Market area to check out the OG in smoked meats. Chic and laid back, with stripped-down, Mission-style decor and community-style seating. Make reservations or head over early and plan to sit at the bar. $$$

Girl & the Goat Chicago is the lucky home of Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard. The menu is separated into three sections—vegetables, fish, and meats—and there’s something for most eaters. Servers ask about food restrictions. Reserve now and consider setting up a Rezhound (www.rezhound.com) to get a table. $$$

Frontera Grill It’s easy to love Rick Bayless’s upscale Mexican cuisine, and his Frontera Grill won the 2007 James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant. Try the ceviche trio and the Topolo Margarita. Vegetarian friendly. Reservations required. $$$

Perennial Virant  Paul Virant can pickle that—It’s his specialty. He even wrote the book on the process, The Preservation Kitchen. With a focus on seasonal Midwestern foods and preservation, this menu is diverse, delicious, and pescatarian-friendly. The menu also evolves frequently and is on the small side, making each dish a real winner. Another highlight: gracious service and a welcoming atmosphere. $$$

The Aviary Since you won’t get into Grant Achatz’s restaurants Next or Alinea, come here. There are food “bites” on the menu, but it’s really all about the cocktail. To reserve, send an email and follow instructions. The Aviary “randomly selects” reservations. Drinks, $15-$30, live up to the hype. $$$

Bars

Clark Street Ale House A little dive with a great beer menu and an outdoor beer garden. No kitchen, but patrons can order pizza or bring food in. Look for the big neon sign: “STOP & DRINK.” $

Buddy Guy’s Legends  A great place for Chicago blues, Buddy Guy’s Legends, in the South Loop, is casual, fun, and loud, with a nightly band. An alternative to the overrated House of Blues. $$

Blue Frog This unassuming dive bar has some of the best karaoke in the city. Most nights are karaoke night, with board games and great drink specials also happening. Of the two locations, the one on LaSalle is the place to be. The sign is tricky to locate, so look for the white building in a parking lot at the corner of LaSalle and Huron. $

Rooftop bars

Plymouth is easy to get into, with decent bar food. The view of the Harold Washington Library Center of the Chicago Public Library will make any librarian drool. $$

The Signature Room  This bar sits atop the very famous—and very tall—Hancock Building. Touristy? Yes. Worth it for the view? Absolutely. Skip dinner and order a cocktail while enjoying Chicago’s famous skyline from the 95th floor. Those who fear heights should take a pass. $$$

Worth the Cab Fare/Train Ride

Ask any local what makes Chicago so great and you will hear, “the neighborhoods!” Here are a few excursion options.

Longman & Eagle  Located in Logan Square, this inn provides both shelter and a wide variety of whiskeys. Winner of a Michelin star rating two years in a row and counting, it’s also one of the hippest and most delicious places to eat in the Chicago area. For omnivores, but there’s always one vegetarian item. $$

Hot Doug’s  Situated in the Avondale neighborhood, this tiny hot dog shop is one of Chicagoans’ favorite places to wait in line. Why? Duck fat fries, along with homemade sausages and franks with tasty toppings. Cash only. $

Hopleaf Bar This Belgian beer bar in Andersonville is considered one of America’s best by Food & Wine magazine. The beer menu is epic and the food delicious. No reservations. Consider heading to the “new bar” area in lieu of waiting for a table.$$

Pequod’s Three words: caramelized cheese crust. Add that to a Chicago-style pizza and you have a match made in heaven. In the heart of Lincoln Park, Pequod’s isn’t too far from the downtown hotels. Get there via public transit by taking the Brown line to the Armitage stop, or else take a quick cab ride. $$

Bridgeport This little south-side neighborhood is on its way up with cool coffee shops, galleries, and bars. It’s worth the cab fare to check out the hip bar Maria’s Packaged Goods ($$) and the neighboring Pleasant House Bakery ($$), which specializes in savory pies. Grab a kale and mushroom pie then head into Maria’s for some of the best beers on tap in the city and a great outdoor seating area.

Entertainment

Check out some of my favorite spots to hang out, catch a show, or buy a book.

The Chicago Cultural Center This free—yes, free—institution is one of my favorites. It generally has great art shows on view and is home to the largest stained-glass Tiffany domes in the world. A visit to this downtown establishment is fun way to spend some free time, even if your time is limited.

Harold Washington Library  The main branch of the Chicago Public Library is stunning. Make sure to ride the elevator up to the Winter Garden Room to take in one of the best views of the Chicago skyline.

Buckingham Fountain Yes, it is the one at the beginning of the Married with Children credits. Though a bit touristy, it’s worth seeing. The location is excellent, and a nearby crosswalk over Lake Shore Drive lets you view the lake and explore the Museum Campus, where the aquarium, planetarium, and Field Museum are located.

Photo courtesy of Unabridged Bookstore.

Bookstores Chicago has a few wonderful independent bookstores. For new books, check out Unabridged Bookstore in the East Lakeview neighborhood. This bookstore is in a fun location, has a great staff, a wonderful array of children’s books, discount books, and a strong LGBTQ section.

Concerts Get your hands on a copy of the Chicago Reader for a breakdown of what’s on. A favorite is the Metro, north of Wrigley Field. Just the right size, and even when the show is sold out, you can hear and see what’s happening onstage.

Also worth checking out is the smaller but delightful Schubas Tavern. If you are headed there, go early and eat first. Their food is impressive for a venue.

Millennium Park The crown jewel of downtown Chicago. Take your mandatory Cloud Gate picture and play in the Crown Fountain. If you’re lucky, there’ll be a concert and you can listen while wandering the Lurie Garden.

It would be easy for me to say Chicago has it all. But doesn’t it? Conferences can be intense. Take time to enjoy the city, too.

See also: Choices, Choices…For the Tech-Minded, ISTE May Be More Useful Than ALA

Leah L. White (@leahlibrarian) is reader services librarian at
Northbrook Public Library.

Illustration by John Corbitt.

This month, librarians across the country are building their lists of can’t-miss panels, lunches, unconferences (participant-driven meetings), and exhibits as they gear up for the American Library Association (ALA) annual conference in Chicago from June 27 to July 2.

Other librarians are questioning how much ALA annual really serves their professional development needs. In a time of contracting budgets, layoffs, and demands for tech expertise in the library, is ALA still the must-attend event for all? Or is the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference in San Antonio from June 23 to 26 a better choice?

For the ALA faithful, the panoply of offerings—not to mention the essential social component—makes ALA annual a necessity. “There’s definitely a lot of friends who connect at ALA,” says Gretchen Caserotti, director of the Meridian (ID) Library District, chair of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Children and Technology Committee, and a PLA (Public Library Association) and LITA (Library and Information Technology Association) member.

What else are ALA attendees looking forward to? For Caserotti, it’s the Newbery-Caldecott-Wilder Banquet along with tech programs like “Apps, Apps, and More Apps,” “Top Technology Trends & LITA Awards Presentation,” and the LITA President’s Program speech by Cory Doctorow.

Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) executive director Beth Yoke expects to be holed up in meetings for much of the conference, but she’s eager to see the 25 featured winners of the Excellence in Library Service to Young Adults awards, with programs ranging from one involving iPads and incarcerated youth to another called “Teen Fashion Apprentice.” What’s on Wendy Stephens’s ALA list? Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple, who’s delivering a keynote. The unconferences. And, “it’s a huge thrill to go to the Printz reception and the awards banquet,” says Stephens, a librarian at Cullman (AL) High School, ALA councilor-at-large, and the YALSA blog member manager.

Starr LaTronica, ALSC vice president and president-elect and youth services/outreach manager at the Four County Library System in Vestal, NY, will try not to miss “Think with Your Eyes!” a panel focusing on visual literacy. “In this heavily visual world, so much relies on being able to interpret visual cues,” says LaTronica, who praises the “serendipity” of the ALA conference experience, where the vast and varied offerings can lead to unexpected inspirations.

ISTE appeal

Serendipity, schmoozing, and star power aside, how critical is ALA to librarians’ needs? Not very, some librarians say. “Although I’ve gotten some great ideas at ALA, they’re still struggling to step up their game technology-wise,” says Gwyneth Jones, otherwise known as the “Daring Librarian” and a teacher librarian and technology specialist at the Murray Hill Middle School in Laurel, MD.

Particularly among tech-savvy school librarians like Jones, ISTE is now more of a draw. It’s not just that ISTE’s ed-tech focus provides more bang for their conference buck. School librarians—while often active in AASL activities within ALA—don’t always feel they’re taken seriously at ALA annual and prefer the vibe among ISTE’s mix of educators.

“I sometimes have problems with the way school librarians are treated at ALA,” says Jones. “When I went to ALA early on, I felt like people were thinking, ‘oh, you’re a school librarian, how cute!’”

By contrast, “when I went to ISTE, I felt embraced by everyone,” she says. “They didn’t care what kind of librarian I was.” Jones, now the PK–12 schools representative for ISTE and an ISTE board member, says it’s “a great way to represent my people.”

At ISTE, Jones found “inspiration to start my school library blog.” And, she points out, “there’s not just one blogger’s cafe but four” at ISTE, as well as an entire category of sessions on BYOD.

“I always make the choice to go to ISTE,” says Tiffany Whitehead, a teacher librarian at Central Middle School in Baton Rouge, LA, who blogs as the “Mighty Little Librarian.” “As a school librarian, I’m an educator first. The chance to network with other educators, classroom teachers, administrators, tech coordinators, and others is the most important thing I can do for myself.”

At ISTE, Whitehead will be hosting a tech playground where teachers and school librarians will informally present and share tips on tools and resources. Whitehead’s principal first suggested she attend ISTE, she says. “I would love to go to ALA for the atmosphere and the emphasis on books, but I feel that for my teachers and my students, ISTE is the best choice for me. I really am the technology person on campus.”

Whitehead is also president-elect of SIGMS, an ISTE special interest group (SIG) for media specialists. The many special interest groups within ISTE “play a large and meaningful role in what’s being put forward” during the conferences, according to ISTE CEO Brian Lewis. This year’s conference, for instance, offers more than a dozen sessions about educational video conferencing. The opening keynote speaker is gamification expert Jane McGonigal. “We’re trying to connect folks with what they say they want,” says Lewis.

Stephens, who is attending both conferences and presenting at ALA, points out that “there is a more eclectic crowd of people at ISTE” than at ALA. For instance, as a friend of hers said: “There are men there.”

Gender statistics aside, Stephens—whose school district has never paid for her to attend a library conference but did sponsor an ISTE trip—says, “more people at ISTE work in the educational enterprise. Maybe you feel a little more kinship with those people than a state librarian from another part of the country or an academic library director.”

However, she adds, ISTE inspirations can sometimes be frustrating. “You may go and see this wonderful app and find that it’s blocked” back at your school.

On the other hand, in Stephens’s view, ALA is sometimes out of touch with the daily challenges of school librarians. While useful to people “in rarified situations, there’s not much trickle-down to people who are in a more typical situation.” That would be librarians “trying to tread water and keep programs running on a basic level,” and those working on “nuts and bolts advocacy to keep your job.” However, Stephens believes, “You can bring back more tangibles from ALA—advanced reader’s copies; posters; pictures of you with the Caldecott and Newbery winners. That can be very good for morale.”

AASL and ISTE

AASL president Susan Ballard acknowledges that some school librarians “don’t feel the love” at ALA and points out that ALA has taken steps to remedy this. “ALA is getting better and better at recognizing that we don’t exist in silos and we’re all interconnected,” she says.

How? Ballard refers to an ALA special presidential task force devoted to the current state of school libraries, as well as a focus on the Common Core curriculum. “I know when I go to AASL it’s not just your father’s Oldsmobile,” she says. “It’s as edgy as anything out there.”

AASL still holds appeal for Jones. “If I had to choose one, it would be AASL over ALA,” she says. And Whitehead will be presenting at AASL’s national conference in November.

In Ballard’s view, if librarians think that ISTE is more valuable to librarians than ALA, “we have a perception problem. People hear the word ‘librarian’ and they have a dated concept.” She adds, “I had a colleague in another state who said to his school librarian, ‘I have to think of another name for you, because when I say “school librarian,” I’m not getting any [financial] support.’ He understood what she did, but he couldn’t call her a librarian.”

However, YALSA’s Yoke points to ALA’s focus on “dynamic collaborations between school and public libraries,” the Common Core, and sessions on maintaining teen collections and new media, as huge selling points.

“A lot of the time we get this anecdotal information from school library members that the Association is more public focused,” Yoke says. However, she notes, a survey among 13,000 current, former, and potential ALA members showed evidence to the contrary. “There’s a perception that school librarians have different wishes and needs, but the survey did not bear that out,” says Yoke.

According to Lewis, “The library media specialist’s role is changing in terms of its interconnectivity across the school system.” He adds, “folks in school districts are looking for help, no matter where they are in the process of technology. They’re looking for clarity and support in how to effectively do what it is they’re expected to do.”

Among upcoming ISTE sessions, Lewis singles out “The Empowered Executive Team,” led by Steve Clemons of the San Diego Office of Education. The gist here is that better understanding and communication about what institutions are spending their tech-slated money on will ensure buy-in, communication, and shared decision making.

Caserotti, a technophile who’s gotten involved with ALA committees, says that ALA’s “support structure has been really empowering to me.” Broadly speaking, though, she worries that librarians are not keeping up with technology, despite high-visibility techies like Jones and Whitehead. Technology in the library is “like a car,” she says. “Some people will lift up the hood and take the initiative to learn how the car works.” But most people “take the car to the shop.” At ALA, she wonders, “how many people are stuffing their bags with posters,” and how many are saying, “yeah, I’m comfortable with tablets in the library?”

“Part of the beauty in ISTE is the connectivity to others,” says Lewis, who became CEO of ISTE last summer. “ALA’s conference is great and ISTE is great,” he adds. “Everybody who puts on an event like this works so hard to make sure that through whatever measures, we’re delivering terrific content.”

The audience erupted in cheers Monday morning after “Animorphs” (Scholastic) author Katherine Applegate was named the winner of the Newbery Medal for her heartfelt and unforgettable story The One and Only Ivan (HarperCollins), and Jon Klassen was awarded the Caldecott Medal for This Is Not My Hat (Candlewick) at the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards for 2012, which were announced during ALA‘s annual Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, WA. Another Klassen project, Mac Barnett’s picture book Extra Yarn (HarperCollins), was named a Caldecott Honor book.

Katherine Applegate

The Newbery for The One and Only Ivan, Applegate’s uniquely creative, fictional take on the true story of a silverback gorilla who once lived in glass enclosure in a shopping mall, surprised many attendees who had not shortlisted it for the win. Nevertheless, the book had many enthusiastic fans among the crowd in Seattle, who agreed that it was—and would continue to be—a hugely popular choice with kids.

California resident Applegate was visiting relatives in Virginia when she was surprised by the call from the Newbery committee this morning, only an hour and a half before the YMAs presentation began, she tells SLJ. ”I was stunned, totally delighted but speechless,” she says. “The speechlessness went on for a while, then I screamed, and my family marched in at that, and there were a lot of screams! Then we watched the webcast and it was great. It was fun to watch with no anxiety, because they had called me already.”

Applegate credits her win in part to a large community of online fans, especially on Twitter, who have been championing the book and who have conducted huge amounts of outreach to middle readers, including John Schumacher and The Nerdy Book Club. “I have gotten so much support from different communities,” she says. “They have helped tremendously in how visible the book was to readers.”

Adds Applegate, “It’s just surreal! I know what a lottery it is because there were so many good books this year. It’s a huge honor but it could have been any one of them.”

Jon Klassen

And although This Is Not My Hat was a Caldecott favorite going into the awards, “I was actually very, very surprised,” Klassen tells SLJ. “I had done a pretty good job of convincing myself not to think about it, so it came out of the blue. It’s such a big thing to think that you were going to get mentioned at all, (the dual win) didn’t register. I’m still getting used to the idea that people are looking at these books, much less giving them the distinction.”

The crowd was also ecstatic to learn that the Margaret A. Edwards Award, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, will be presented to Tamora Pierce for her significant and lasting contributions to YA literature via her “Song of the Lioness” series. The award is sponsored by SLJ.

Other big winners of the day were Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon (Roaring Brook Press) by Steve Sheinkin, which scored the YALSA nonfiction award, the Sibert Informational Book Medal, and a Newbery Honor; and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Simon & Schuster) by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, which also was selected three times: for the Stonewall Award, the Belpré Author Award, and a Printz Honor.

Although Sheinkin knew Bomb was a strong contender for the YALSA nonfiction award, he was “really surprised by the other awards—happily so,” he tells SLJ.

In fact, after the YALSA committee informed him of his win for the nonfiction award on Saturday night, he turned off his phone before the Sibert committee was able to reach him. ”They tried to call me many times last night,” he says, “but then they left a message. But that was cool, too.” (Now he has the message saved, he says.)

Sheinkin hopes his cross-category wins might signal a trend of growing popularity for exciting young adult nonfiction overall among kids.

“It’s really cool to break out of just the nonfiction category,” he says. “That’s my biggest thing—I’m a big proponent of history for kids, of nonfiction, but also trying to win over people who just want to read a good book. To prove to young readers that this kind of book can be fun also is a really big thing. A lot of kids know it (some kids are into history) but some kids are scared of it.”

Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Meanwhile, Sáenz, after hearing of his three wins across categories “had a frantic and beautiful morning, was in class all afternoon and then quietly celebrated by taking a walk in the desert,” he tells SLJ, adding that the Stonewall award was a “complete surprise” and the Printz honor left him “stunned.”

He notes, “the Belpré people called me the night before and I was absolutely thrilled. They were all on speakerphone and I could hear them screaming. They were very sweet and I didn’t know what to say. I don’t know that we as authors should expect awards; they are gifts to us. I get really choked up. I’m just grateful for the gifts. I would hope my mother raised a gracious man, who knows how to say thank you.”

He also notes that the book’s cross-category recognition is a testament to how well it was marketed by Simon & Schuster as well as the word of mouth of reviewers and librarians who recommended it. “They felt that everybody should read this book, they put it into everybody’s hands,” he says. “It takes a village to take the book out into the world. We had a great village.”

The prolific author—who writes poetry, children’s books, and adult novels in addition to YA literature—somehow found the time to write Aristotle and Dante while teaching bilingual creative writing and acting as MFA department chair at the University of Texas at El Paso. He is already deep into his next project, another dramatic YA novel. “I’m always writing,” he says.

* * *

Here is the list of winners of the ALA’s Youth Media Awards:

(John) Newbery Medal
The One and Only Ivan. Katherine Applegate. HarperCollins.

Honors:
Splendors and Glooms. Laura Amy Schlitz. Candlewick.

Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon. Steve Sheinkin. Flash Point/Roaring Brook.

Three Times Lucky. Sheila Turnage. Dial/Penguin Young Readers.

(Randolph) Caldecott Medal
This Is Not My Hat. Jon Klassen. Candlewick Press.

Honors:
Creepy Carrots! Aaron Reynolds. Illus. by Peter Brown.
Simon & Schuster.

Extra Yarn. Mac Barnett. Illus. by Jon Klassen.
HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray.

Green. Laura Vaccaro Seeger. Neal Porter Books/Roaring Brook.

One Cool Friend. Toni Buzzeo. Illus. by David Small. Dial/Penguin Young Readers.

Sleep Like a Tiger. Mary Logue. Illus. by Pamela Zagarenski. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Theodore Seuss Geisel Award
Up, Tall and High. Ethan Long. G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

Honors:
Let’s Go for a Drive! Mo Willems. Hyperion/Disney.

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons. Eric Litwin. Illus. by James Dean. HarperCollins.

Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover. Cece Bell. Candlewick.

(Laura Ingalls) Wilder Award
Katherine Paterson

Andrew Carnegie Medal
Anna, Emma and the Condors. Produced by Katja Torneman.

Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal
Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon. Steve Sheinkin. Flash Point/Roaring Brook

Honors:
Electric Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin. Robert Byrd. Dial/Penguin Young Readers.

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95. Phillip M. Hoose. Farrar.

Titanic: Voices from the Disaster. Deborah Hopkinson. Scholastic.

Mildred L. Batchelder Award
My Family for the War. Anne C. Voorhoeve. Dial/Penguin Young Readers.

Honors:
A Game for Swallows: To Die, to Leave, to Return. Zeina Abirached.
Tr. by Edward Gauvin. Graphic Universe/Lerner.

Son of a Gun. Anne de Graaf. Eerdmans.

May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award
Andrea Davis Pinkney

Pura Belpré Awards
Author: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Benjamin Alire Sáenz.
Simon & Schuster.

Honor: The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano. Sonia Manzano. Scholastic.

Illustrator: Martín de Porres: The Rose in the Desert. Gary D. Schmidt. Illus. by David Diaz. Clarion.

Michael L. Printz Award
In Darkness. Nick Lake. Bloomsbury. 

Honors:
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Simon & Schuster.

Code Name Verity. Elizabeth Wein. Hyperion/Disney.

Dodger. Terry Pratchett. HarperCollins Children’s Books

The White Bicycle. Beverley Brenna. Red Deer Press.

Odyssey Award
The Fault in Our Stars. John Green. Narrated by Kate Rudd. Brilliance Audio.

Honors:
Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian. Eoin Colfer. Narrated by Nathaniel Parker. Listening Library.

Ghost Knight. Cornelia Funke. Narrated by Elliot Hill. Listening Library.

Monstrous Beauty. Elizabeth Fama. Narrated by Katherine Kellgren. Macmillian Audio.

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults
Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon. Steve Sheinkin
Flash Point/Roaring Brook

Finalists:
Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different. Karen Blumenthal. Feiwel & Friends.

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95. Phillip Hoose. Farrar

Titanic: Voices from the Disaster. Deborah Hopkinson. Scholastic.

We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March. Cynthia Levinson. Peachtree Publishers.

William C. Morris Award
Seraphina. Rachel Hartman. Random House.

Finalists:
Wonder Show. Hannah Barnaby. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books.

Love and Other Perishable Items. Laura Buzo. Knopf/Random House.

After the Snow. S. D. Crockett. Feiwel and Friends.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post. emily m. danforth. Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins

Margaret A. Edwards Award
Tamora Pierce for her “Song of the Lioness” series

Coretta Scott King Book Awards
Author: Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America. Andrea Davis Pinkney. Illus. by Brian Pinkney. Hyperion/Disney.

Honors: Each Kindness. Jacqueline Woodson. Illus. by E. B. Lewis.
Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin Young Readers.

No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller 
Vaunda Micheaux Nelson. Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. Carolrhoda Lab/Lerner.

Illustrator: I, Too, Am America. Langston Hughes. Illus. by Bryan Collier. Simon & Schuster.

Honors: H. O. R. S. E.. Christopher Myers. Egmont USA.

Ellen’s Broom. Kelly Starling Lyons. Illus. by Daniel Minter. Putnam/Penguin Young Readers.

I Have a Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr. Ilus. by Kadir Nelson. Schwartz & Wade/Random House.

Virginia Hamilton: Demetria Tucker
Practitioner Award for Lifetime achievement

Stonewall Book Award
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Simon & Schuster.

Honors:
Drama. Raina Telgemeier. Graphix/Scholastic Inc.

Gone, Gone, Gone. Hannah Moskowitz. Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster.

October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard. Lesléa Newman. Candlewick.

Sparks: The Epic, Completely True Blue, (Almost) Holy Quest of Debbie. S. J. Adams. Flux.

Schneider Family Book Award
Teen: Somebody, Please Tell Me Who I Am. Harry Mazer and Peter Lerangis. Simon & Schuster.

Middle Grade: A Dog Called Homeless. Sarah Lean. HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Book.

Children: Back to Front and Upside Down! Claire Alexander. Eerdmans.

ALA Council on Monday unanimously adopted a resolution during its annual meeting in Anaheim, CA, that reiterates the importance of certified media specialists to academic achievement and calls on all ALA divisions to support our nation’s beleaguered school librarians.

Drafted by the Special Presidential Task Force on School Libraries, the resolution was “formed out of necessity” in response to the ongoing budget cuts and school librarian layoffs, says Sara Kelly Johns (right), the American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) Division Councilor and a media specialist at New York’s Lake Placid Middle/High School, who last Friday proposed the resolution at an ALA membership meeting, where it also passed unanimously.

The Task Force was created at last year’s annual conference in New Orleans by ALA President Molly Raphael to “combat increased reports of threats to school library instructional programs.” Once Council passed the resolution, it became policy.

Although the resolution doesn’t offer specifics, it does form the framework for actions that should be taken to support the profession-and for the first time, it’s endorsed by all ALA divisions, not just AASL.

“The strength of this resolution is that it marshals the expertise and resources of all of ALA to work in support of school librarians and libraries as critical to educational success,” says Johns.

The resolution emphasizes the importance of school librarians, who teach “information and technology skills essential for students in the 21st century,” and calls on the Presidential Task Force on School Librarians to lead the association in its “continued mission to address the urgent need for advocacy for school libraries and school librarians; to address the impact of the de-professionalization and curtailment of school library instructional programs on students and student achievement, and to continue to engage librarians of all types from across the association to advocate for school libraries, which are imperative to the survival and success of all libraries.”

The resolution also states that ALA places a “high priority” on making sure that the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Act—our nation’s most important K-12 education law- includes language that “supports the necessity for effective school library programs and credentialed school librarians” so that they can receive crucial federal dollars.

The resolution encourages state associations and affiliates to help influence legislation so there’s “adequate funding and appropriate staffing of libraries in schools at all levels,” and it calls for seeking out “partnerships with national organizations to reach mutual goals of sustaining school libraries.”

Johns says the resolution is so comprehensive that any librarian can use it as an advocacy tool because it “says the entire ALA understands the importance of school librarians.”

Johns emphasized that cuts to school librarians have a direct impact on all types of librarians.

“It has an effect on public librarians who have to pick up the teaching functions of school librarians,” she says. “And academic librarians say they know when their students have had a high school librarian by their ability to do in-depth research with critical thinking skills.”

Johns points to a recent post on her Facebook wall, which illustrates the crucial role of school librarians to everyone.

“A grandmother read about [the resolution] on my Facebook wall and says she’s going to use it to advocate for her grandchildren’s school librarian,” Johns says.

What’s next? “There’ll be a great deal of follow-up,” explains Johns, adding that ALA’s Washington office, along with various divisions and chapters, must now draft a plan for increasing advocacy for school librarians. Maureen Sullivan, ALA President for 2012-2013, and Barbara Stripling, ALA President-Elect for 2013-2014 and a former school librarian, will join as Task Force members.

The two spoke at an awards banquet during the American Library Association’s Annual Conference in Anaheim, CA, with Raschka saying he “never dreamed” he would win the prize awarded to the most distinguished picture book for children. But, he explained, he always dreamed of being an artist.

“Or maybe what I dreamed of was seeing like an artist,” said Raschka. “I have never known a time when I didn’t want to look at things, wanted to see things and draw them.”

Raschka went on to explain what being an artist felt much like traveling to a foreign country, especially on the first days of a trip. “You look about you, and nothing registers properly. You walk around in a kind of daze, and then some hand grabs you from behind.”

He best described it as an “almost an out-of-body experience.”

Making picture books, Raschka said, is to “remember a particular emotion, heighten it, and then capture it in some painted vocabulary, so that the same emotion is evoked in the child, in the reader. I must make you feel what I feel, and maybe even more.”

Raschka said he’d been working on A Ball for Daisy, a nearly wordless picture book that deals with the anguish a dog named Daisy goes through when her favorite ball is destroyed by a bigger dog, for so long that he could hardly remember its beginnings. The ball in the book was based on one that belonged to his son, Ingo, who was very small at the time. Daisy, the big black dog who lived on the tenth floor of their building, bit down a little too hard on Ingo’s beloved yellow ball and popped it. “That I remember well,” Raschka says.

“So this is how I see making my picture books today,” he said. “First I’ll draw what I see. Then I’ll draw what I remember. And finally I’ll draw what I feel.”

Gantos (right) said that he hadn’t felt more earnest winning the Newbery, given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children, since he surprisingly won the first-place medal for religious studies in second grade.

He went on to recount several important events that took place in history on January 23. For instance, it was the day in 1737 that John Hancock was born, the day in 1849 that Elizabeth Blackwell became the first medical doctor in the United States, and in 1912, it was the day that the International Opium Convention was signed.

And on the morning of January 23, 2012, Gantos was in his kitchen feeding his cat, Scootch, some treats and glancing at his cell phone. The week before, Dead End in Norvelt, a novel about an incredible two months for a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is “grounded for life” by his feuding parents, had won the Scott O’Dell Award for historical fiction.

“And so the Newbery was toying with me like the fruit that Tantalus could never reach or the water he could never drink,” Gantos said.

When his phone rang, he stared at it and thought, “If this is my mother calling me to tell me again where she hid her life insurance policy, I’m going to put that policy to work.”

When Gantos picked up the phone, it was Viki Ash and a chorus of excited voices in the background, and she told him that Dead End in Norvelt had been chosen as the John Newbery Award book for 2012.

Gantos said he had wanted to ask if the book won the gold or silver medal because he wasn’t sure about what he had heard—but then stopped himself because he thought it was rude.

“So I just said, ‘Why, thank you. I’m very thrilled that I wrote a book about history that made history,’” Gantos recalled, adding that the call was over in a flash.

It wasn’t until Gantos and his wife went back to bed and turned on their laptops that they found out what had really happened.

“In about two hours we watched the live feed and there it was: Dead End in Norvelt had won,” he says, thinking that the book had just squeaked in because it was the last one announced.

“No,” his wife told him. “They saved the best for last, you moron.”

From the left (left image): Rocco Staino; Barbara Genco, Library Journal's manager of special projects; and Christopher Harris. From the left (right image):Jon Gregory, Matt Andros, Roger Rosen, Diana McDermott, and Geraldine Curran. Photographs by Sean McGinty.

The world of reference is moving at warp speed these days. Public library patrons are used to Wikipedia and expect the same convenience when it comes to library resources. And in many school libraries, budget crunches, technology issues, and Common Core standards have made librarians’ jobs even more, shall we say, exciting. Wouldn’t you love to sit down with some of the world’s leading reference publishers and say, “Hey, wait a second! This is what we need you to do to make our libraries better”?

Well, here’s the next best thing. The following conversation offers an abridged, fly-on-the-wall view of SLJ’s gathering of publishers, aggregators, and, yes, librarians at the American Library Association’s January midwinter meeting in Dallas. Our goal? To talk about the latest trends and issues in reference materials for school and public libraries. A broad mandate, to be sure, but one that was ably corralled by our quick-thinking moderators, Christopher Harris, of New York’s Genesee Valley Educational Partnership, and Wendy Stephens, of New Market, Alabama’s Buckhorn High School. The duo, both librarians and SLJ contributors, led a spirited discussion of the merits of print vs. digital learning, the impact of those Common Core guidelines on publishers’ plans, and other timely and vexing topics.

Christopher Harris: What are schools looking for these days?

Wendy Stephens: One of our databases had a lovely area where all of these social issues, topics, were broken down. It was the best interface for selling databases to my students and teachers because in one moment they could see what was most applicable to the topic that they were working on. They didn’t even have to type anything.

Rocco Staino (SLJ contributing editor): Schools that have AP courses need quality information that’s very expensive to subscribe to for the entire year. But let’s say we only need access for the month of April. I think temporary or periodic access to expensive resources is something that libraries are open to.

Harris: Let’s be honest, that’s what they’re doing with trials anyway. Here’s a chance to monetize that. All the studies show that people pirate music because there’s no easy, cost-effective way to access it. If you make it easy and cost effective, they buy it instead because pirating it is a pain. But now there are new pricing models, or maybe we could go back to old-school consortia pricing. One library needs the database in March and another one in April, and one of them’s doing it at 8:30 in the morning, one of them’s doing it at 2:30 in the afternoon. Can we buy seats, and spread some of the cost out?

Jon Gregory (vice president of regional sales, World Book): But one of the first questions that we’re asked by our new subscribers is, “This isn’t seats, is it?”

Rick Lumsden (executive director of institutional sales, Britannica Digital Learning): We’re very flexible. If somebody says, “I’ve got money for two months,” I can switch them on and off for two months. Going the other direction, when money runs out, digital content goes away. We have a lot of people who say, “I’ve got the money now. I’m going to subscribe for five years, so that I know it’s there.” There are always creative solutions.

Staino: But in some states, you can’t do that.

Lumsden: Still, there’s a lot of flexibility with digital content. I’m not really sure our customers know that, but they shouldn’t be shy about asking.

Harris: There might be opportunities if you build modular things around the large curricular areas.

Gregory: That’s absolutely where we’re headed, and I know you all are doing the same thing.

Staino: AP courses are standard throughout the country, so everyone who has an American history AP course is doing the same thing and needs that material.

Gregory: So we create a database that should cover nine or 12 months’ worth of curriculum and price it knowing how much things will be used. But the problem is that it has to be there the whole time so the teachers can be trained. And you have students who are trying to catch up on the remedial side or who come in late to the game, and if access has just been turned off, it’s a problem.

Diana McDermott (director of marketing and sales, M. E. Sharpe): I also work on the academic side and the push is even more urgent there in terms of libraries wanting to pay only for what is used. But it’s difficult for a small publisher to invest in new products without having a firmer grasp on what the revenue might be.

Because we were late in the game and wanted to provide as much flexibility as possible, we set up a one-time purchase for digital. We thought that might be an incentive for libraries, as well, because they could budget it when it worked best. So many libraries—I would guess most of them—have access through statewide consortia to these larger databases and encyclopedias. We had to explain how ours could be looked at as a one-time book purchase. And we’ve been successful with that.

Stephens: Is that sustainable in the long term? I worry about the infrastructure required to maintain that, whether materials sold that way will continue to be available to us.

McDermott: Our costs are not as huge as some other databases, and we still publish print. We’re not sure how long we can financially sustain that, though we like to make print available and have librarians who still want it.

Roger Rosen (CEO of Rosen Publishing): With an outright purchase, does a library have access to all your updates?

Stephens: I think if [publishers are] not updating, they just have to make that new print edition so dynamic and so different that libraries will want to buy it to get the electronic, or get the electronic only.

From the left: Diana McDermott and Geraldine Curran; Henrietta Thornton-Verma and Rocco Staino; Rick Lumsden.

Harris: We need a mathematician and an economist to help us, because we do these things by gut. Maybe I buy one copy of the ebook, and I get to use it with one student—or five-to-one, or 10-to-one, or X-to-one. What’s the value of X that ceases to be statistically different from unlimited, simultaneous access?

Stephens: In the school environment, I would say it’s a class, or in a district it may be a class per school.

Stephens: Will there be a greater emphasis on embedding images and video?

Rosen: Yes, so long as it truly advances the content and is substantively useful in terms of access that goes way beyond the book, and provides a wealth of primary-source documents, historic coverage of an event, or audio recordings of speeches or of poets reading their own work. That’s amazing fire power.

One of the things we’re looking at is how copyright-friendly material is embedded within what we’re creating so that they can use it, do their mash-ups, use 21st-century transliteracy modes to be ever more capable producers, and have a sense of ownership about their learning.

Geraldine Curran (marketing specialist, Scholastic): We feel that our TrueFlix online material has enhanced a longstanding product that many librarians enjoyed in print. It’s been called not just an ebook, but a digital learning tool. It was nice to hear people like yourselves call it that.

Stephens: How do you create an interface that works on a mobile device and has the features of a full-fledged database?

Gregory: That’s a real challenge, and not just on the publishers’ and aggregators’ side. It’s because of different formats. Apple doesn’t work with Flash, for example. And by the time you feel like you have it all together, the rules change on how to make material robust and include the videos, the pictures, and all that textual content. We get caught up in the idea that if it’s digital, it’s better, but we still have students who learn better using print. If we’re going to look out for learners, not just try to be 21st century, we have to understand that online is just a delivery method.

Stephens: As many lovely things that you can do within the databases—send the articles to yourself, formulate the citation, download—a lot of kids in my school don’t have access to home computing. It’s not necessarily even a financial issue. Part of the area that I work in is very rural, and they’re using dial-up or satellite.

Gregory: And the more robust we make something, the harder it is for those in rural areas to access.

Stephens: Exactly, and all the different options are so confusing sometimes. If you try to look at a full-fledged database on a mobile device, it’s one of the most frustrating experiences.

Lumsden: A real challenge right now for publishers is that when people ask for access on mobile devices, they may mean a multitude of things—access to a standard interface on a mobile device, a site that’s optimized for mobile devices, or an app. Right now, we’re doing all three because we don’t know where things will go. One of the things that publishers need from librarians is clarity about what they mean when they’re talking about mobile devices.

Harris: How are database publishers helping librarians curate the best resources for students?

Rosen: We serve initially as curators of what we deem to be the most appropriate material—primary-source documents that are age appropriate, correlated to the curriculum, and potentially at the right reading level. We want to move students from being passive consumers of information to more active creators of it and thereby fulfill many of the mandates of the Common Core state standards.

McDermott: I agree with Roger in terms of the publisher functioning as a curator. When the publisher gears material to exactly that level, we hope that students will become more engaged more quickly because the material is accessible, it’s what they need, and it’s interesting to them.

Harris: Matt, as a larger database vendor, do you foresee more of that?

Matt Andros (vice president of field sales, EBSCO): Definitely. The difficult position we’re put in as an aggregator is getting content that’s written at the right level—especially when you’re looking at K–3 or K–5, there’s not much for that audience. We use a Lexile indicator so we can see exactly the level material is written at, and that helps.

Stephens: How do you encourage kids to use your digital resources before they turn to Google or Wikipedia? Is there a way to highlight quality content within the search results or on your home pages?

Gregory: One of the good things about search is that we don’t have to wonder. We can look at curriculums and Common Core standards to find out what they’re going to be looking up and work toward that. Also we can see what they type into the search box and move information relevant to that “above the fold,” as we used to say with newspapers, and find out where we need to develop more content. Looking at queries also helps us realize when we’re putting resources toward something that we thought they were spending a lot of time on, and they’re not.

Stephens: I use the same method for collection building. I look at what people have entered as search terms in our OPACs. I like the idea that you’re building off those queries.

Harris: I would really encourage you to deeply investigate the analytics. You can see that a student spent only 30 seconds on an article because it wasn’t what they thought it was going to be.

Gregory: What if they only spent a little time because they found all they needed quickly? They could spend five minutes on an article but not find what they’re looking for, but there the statistics are saying, “Great resource!” Whereas in an article they looked at for 30 seconds or a minute, they found all they needed in the first two paragraphs because we did our ranking properly and moved it to the top.

Lumsden: The search results can really drive your content development and the way that you display results. But the issue of how to get them to actually do the search to begin with is still a huge challenge. The question is, can resources be in all the different places that librarians or other educators are searching for content? Are they completely integrated with the district’s learning management system or the school’s library catalogue, so that you have as many potential touch points as possible for a search to occur?

Rosen: The school administration needs to empower librarians to have time with students for deep education about what being a good digital citizen and being cyberliterate mean. Kids should understand that any random hit is not necessarily as good as a vetted, authoritative resource.

Stephens: My biggest challenge in pushing students to better content is the teachers. I have so many teachers who are not the best types of searchers, who don’t have the best skills at identifying quality information. The most success I’ve had is when they return to graduate school and their work is scrutinized, and that feedback trickles down to the classrooms and they raise the bar.

From left (left image): Christopher Harris; Wendy Stephens; Jennifer Pfau, ABC-CLIO’s marketing manager of print and electronic products; and Rick Lumsden. From left (right image):Matt Andros, Roger Rosen, and Diana McDermott.

Gregory: Let’s look at primary-source documents. How were teachers taught to use primary-source documents 20 years ago? Now, they’re all digitized but teachers didn’t get any instruction back then on how to use them. So one thing we do, and I know the other publishers and aggregators do, is provide guidance on teaching with documents.

Harris: Improvement also means moving away from textbooks as regurgitators of tertiary analysis. It’s going to be increasingly important to have direct explanations from experts who are able to offer true descriptions, definitions, and reviews of topics, overviews that don’t attempt to analyze, because we expect students to do that.

Lumsden: You just defined an encyclopedia article. For those of us in more traditional areas of publishing, the challenge is to make sure people understand where articles come from, that they’re written by experts.

Staino: We’re very tech savvy and we probably think everyone is moving toward electronic access. But I know some people who still buy print encyclopedias because they don’t have the hardware. What’s your feeling about that?

Gregory: If everybody had unlimited budgets, they’d probably buy both because of the different types of learners we were talking about. When some administrators and librarians have decided to back off print reference and buy online products, four or five years later, budgets are cut and they can no longer buy the online resource. If they had bought print, they’d have some shelf life. You have zero shelf life with 100 percent digital; when it’s cut off, you’ve got 100 percent of nothing. I heard from one of the largest library systems on the West Coast that they put their print encyclopedias out for circulation when they’re a year old.

Stephens: I do exactly the same thing. Print is excellent for equity of access, but also because if a student who’s using it looks up Paul Revere, it says, “See also American Revolution,” and so on. Then I can show them the related topics and controlled vocabulary they need to know. Also, sometimes the databases are just overwhelming and a circulating encyclopedia is much more digestible.

Gregory: You lose something going to digital, in my opinion. Years ago, when we had to write about Rhode Island, we got the “R” volume off the shelf, and on the way to “Rhode Island” saw “Revolutionary War.” A week later, I remember the Revolutionary War, and I don’t know a thing about Rhode Island. You miss that casual learning completely with digital.

Harris: I disagree. For me serendipity means that somebody failed to develop a proper search interface. Serendipity is an excuse that means, “We don’t know how to do fuzzy logic.” I can code serendipity that’s better than serendipitous. We have the ability to start using rich document format and semantic metadata so things will pop up that say, “You’re looking for Rhode Island? Rhode Island was in the Revolutionary War. Find out more about the Revolutionary War.”

Gregory: But with casual learning, you could find something beginning with “R” that’s nothing to do with Rhode Island.

Harris: We coded that. On our library portal is a little button that says, “Go fish.” Kids click on the button and it takes them to a random book. I see on Rosen’s PowerKids site, they have little things on the front page that rotate quite often, and I know World Book and the other encyclopedias do that too. You can digitally craft things to replace serendipity.

Staino: One thing I’ve observed is that with digital, kids become individual casual learners rather than group casual learners, whereas with print, they share more.

Lumsden: The problem isn’t format, it’s user attitude. There are far more opportunities for finding things serendipitously in a digital format than in a book because things that are related are linked.

Planning to catch this year’s American Library Association (ALA) annual conference in Anaheim, CA? If you’re anything like us, you’ll want to make every second count. That’s why we’ve asked seven savvy librarians to give us the skinny on the top five sessions they plan to attend during the June 21–26 event. As you’ll see, they came up with an eclectic mix that’s bound to make nearby Disneyland’s power couple, Mickey and Minnie, a mere distraction.

But ALA isn’t the only meeting that has a lot to offer. Librarians can also take advantage of the International Society for Technology in Education’s (ISTE) conference, which takes place June 24–27 in San Diego, just a hop, skip, and a tank of gas away. According to ISTE’s organizers, the forward-thinking gathering will feature “nearly 20,000 enthusiastic ed-tech professionals and corporate representatives from around the globe.” Sound tempting? Then you’ll want to read why librarian Tiffany Whitehead (“ISTE or Bust”) is skipping ALA in favor of ISTE.

SLJ’s editors will be at both shows. At ALA, look for us at booth #2234, where we’ll offer special discounts to Book Verdict, our new online collection development tool that provides access to more than 300,000 reviews of books and media from SLJ, Library Journal, and The Horn Book. You can also find out more about our August 9 virtual event, “SummerTeen: A Celebration of Young Adult Books,” and our October 17 ebook summit, now called “The Digital Shift: Libraries, Ebooks, and Beyond.” And don’t miss our popular Spa Day raffle, where three lucky winners each receive a $150 certificate to help ease their weary conference-going bones.

Wherever you land, we hope the following recommendations deliver some exciting new ideas that you can put into action.—SLJ staff

Carl A. Harvey II

School librarian,
North Elementary School,
Noblesville, IN

AASL President’s Program

Saturday, June 23, 10:30 a.m.–noon, Anaheim Convention Center (ACC) 213AB

As the American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) current president, I’m probably a little biased, but this session tops my list. Lori Takeuchi, director of research at Sesame Workshop’s Joan Ganz Cooney Center, will share the results of a nationwide survey of more than 800 parents of kids ages three through 10, which reveal how parents feel about raising children in a digital age. Takeuchi will answer audience questions and share in-depth case studies on how parents’ attitudes toward technology, as well as their family values and routines, help shape the experiences of today’s kids. This is powerful information to take back and use in your schools.

Best Websites for Teaching and Learning

Saturday, June 23, 8–10 a.m., ACC 213D

Here’s a great opportunity to find out about some excellent online tools to use with students as AASL unveils its 2011 Top 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning.

AASL 101

Saturday, June 23, 4–5:30 p.m., ACC 203B

This program is highly recommended especially for those new to ALA’s conference scene. I remember going to my first ALA annual and leaving unsure about the experience. Luckily, I tried it again and was hooked. A chance to attend an AASL 101 back then would have taught me a lot about ALA and AASL—and I would’ve caught the fever even sooner!

Closing General Session and Inaugural Event, Featuring J. R. Martinez

Tuesday, June 26, 9:30–11 a.m., ACC Ballroom DE

While serving in Iraq, Martinez, the author of the upcoming biography Full of Heart: My Story of Survival, Strength, and Spirit, suffered severe burns when his vehicle struck a landmine. During the next three years, he underwent 33 operations and worked tirelessly to recover. Come listen to his inspiring message of perseverance and resilience. We librarians need to embrace Martinez’s attitude—in order to achieve anything we set our minds to.

AASL Awards Luncheon

Monday, June 25, 12–2 p.m., Hilton Anaheim Huntington

Come grab a bite, listen to keynote speaker Carmen Agra Deedy, and celebrate the amazing accomplishments of school librarians as they’re lavished with the recognition they so richly deserve. In these tough economic times, we need to relish the positive rather than focus on the negative.

Melissa Jacobs Israel

Coordinator of library
services, New York City
Department of Education

Libraries in the Cloud

Friday, June 22, 8:30 a.m.–noon, ACC 201B

As more and more libraries move beyond brick-and-mortar spaces and drift into the cloud, librarians need to understand their new roles. This session will give us a greater perspective on the best emerging practices and the pros and cons of cloud computing, and help us learn about productivity tools that we can implement in our schools.

YALSA Teen Advisory Boards—Keeping Teens Interested

Monday, June 25, 10:30 a.m.–noon, ACC 209B

School and public libraries are longtime partners when it comes to reaching teens—and we should continue to keep this diverse audience engaged. I’m curious to find out if there are any lessons that school librarians can learn from our public libraries and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), especially when it comes to keeping teens interested in what we have to offer. Perhaps it will lead to a conversation between New York City’s public library system and our school libraries.

AASL When Worlds Collide: An AASL and Common Core Mash Up

Saturday, June 23, 8–10 a.m., Hilton Anaheim Laguna A

School librarians nationwide need to start building lessons based on the Common Core Learning Standards. In New York City, we’ve aligned our school library Information Fluency Standards with the Common Core Learning Standards and now offer four-day professional development workshops on unpacking Common Core standards, developing lesson plans, and understanding text complexity. It’s imperative to understand the work that’s being done by AASL and school librarians across the country. The Common Core Learning Standards offer opportunities for all school librarians to step up and lead students through critical thinking, informational text, and text complexity.

Critical Thinking in a Digital Age: The Positive Influence of Web 2.0 Tools

Saturday, June 23, 1:30–3:30 p.m., ACC 205B

Social learning and Web 2.0 are powerful tools for student learning. As educators and librarians, we need to embrace them to help students navigate in a digital age.

ALSC Nonfiction Book Blast: Booktalks and Activities for Your Library

Saturday, June 23, 10:30 a.m.–noon, ACC 304AB

The Common Core Learning Standards’s and NYC’s Citywide Instructional Expectations are built on understanding, analysis, and responses to informational texts, which are nonfiction books and factual articles from vetted sources. Use this opportunity to engage students and teachers with booktalks and activities in your library while using the Common Core Learning Standard’s focus on text complexity and informational text. By drawing more users into the library, you’ll instill lifelong learning and reading skills.

Chantell L. McDowell

Teen services librarian,
Charlotte Mecklenburg
(NC) Library

Books We’ll Still Talk About 45 Years from Now

Friday, June 22, 12:30–4:30 p.m., ACC 204A

As a YALSA member and YA librarian, I’ve always wanted to be a part of its book-selection committee. The aspiring writer in me would also like to know what it takes to create quality young adult literature, especially classics that’ll endure for years to come.

Leaders Wanted/LIS Doctoral Program Options Fair: Cultivating Diversity in LIS Education

Saturday, June 23, 10:30 a.m.–noon, Anaheim Marriot Marquis South

Once I’ve completed my doctoral program in leadership studies at New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce University, I’m seriously considering pursuing a second doctorate in library science. Sounds like this is a good place to learn more.

Leading Professional Development That Matters… and Works

Friday, June 22, 12:30–4 p.m., ACC 201B

This preconference seminar takes advantage of the growing library field—and will hopefully offer different professional development models that can enhance my career.

Auditorium Speaker: Teens Making a Difference Featuring William Kamkwamba, Talia Leman, and Gaby Rodriguez

Saturday, June 23, 1:30–2:30 p.m., ACC Ballroom DE

As a teen advocate, I enjoy interacting with kids who want to make a difference or who’ve already made one. I’m looking forward to hearing about the wonderful journeys and choices that have inspired these three young people to stand up and take charge.

Auditorium Speaker: Sapphire

Sunday, June 24, 10:30–11:30 a.m. ACC Ballroom DE

Sapphire is the author of the best-selling novel Push, which was made into the Oscar-winning 2009 movie Precious about an illiterate teen who’s raped by her father and rescued by a determined teacher. It would really be a pleasure to hear Sapphire speak. She’s an inspiration, and I’ve always admired her work.

John Peters

Children’s literature
consultant,
New York City

Science in the Stacks

Saturday, June 23, 10:30 a.m.–noon, ACC 209A

According to ALA’s program guide, this session is “centered around 36 Discovery Exhibits, which provide experiential science learning that’s integrated with traditional library resources.” Intriguing!

Publish or Bust!: An ePublishing Odyssey

Saturday, June 23, 4–5:30 p.m., ACC 207B

In an apparent case of one library providing a new service by catching a cultural wave while it’s on the rise, this session will report on a library-based experiment in the growing area of self-publishing. Though the resulting book was apparently not for children, I imagine the process would be similar no matter the intended audience.

The New Nonfiction: What Is It, and Does It Matter?

Sunday, June 24, 1:30–3:30 p.m., ACC 202B

I review a ton of nonfiction every year, and so I’m always on the lookout for new trends and perspectives on the stuff.

When Miss Rumphius Meets Hugo Cabret: Scaffolding Using Picture Books

Sunday, June 24, 1:30–3:30 p.m., ACC 210C

Unfortunately, this program on making reading more active through evaluating picture-book themes and concepts takes place at the same time as the program listed immediately above it, but if I lace on my sneakers, maybe I can slip back and forth between the two presentations. That sort of thing has never happened to me, but hey, there’s always a first time.

I Want a Truck Book! Reorganizing Your Picture Book Collection to Meet the Needs of Young Patrons and Their Caregivers

Sunday, June 24, 4–5:30 p.m., ACC 210D

Becuase I’ve spent most of my library career working with mammoth picture-book collections and struggling to find ways to make them accessible—to librarians as well as patrons—this program addresses an enduring interest.

ALSC and YALSA Joint Presidents’ Program: The Digital Lives of Tweens and Young Teens

Monday, June 25, 8–10 a.m., ACC 304AB

As a member of the Great Web Sites for Kids committee and a freelance reviewer of apps and ebooks, I expect this program to be chock-full of relevant and valuable new insights into the digital experiences of young users.

John Schumacher

Teacher-librarian,
Brook Forest Elementary
School, Oak Brook, IL

When Worlds Collide: An AASL and Common Core Mashup

Saturday, June 23, 8–10 a.m., Hilton Anaheim Laguna A

Schools around the country are working on implementing the Common Core standards. This session will inspire school librarians to take a leadership role that will help teachers implement the new guidelines.

Think, Create, Share, Grow: Setting the Stage for Collaborative Inquiry

Saturday, June 23, 1:30–3:30 p.m., Anaheim Marriott Orange County Salon 1–2

Michael Stephens was one of my library school professors, and he stressed the importance of “library as place.” Thanks to Michael and my partnership with Iowa’s Van Meter School, I’m drawn to sessions and discussions about library spaces, collaboration, and inquiry-based learning.

When Miss Rumphius Meets Hugo Cabret: Scaffolding Using Picture Books

Sunday, June 24, 1:30–3:30 p.m., ACC 210C

I’m pumped about any session that mentions two of my favorite books. I hope it’ll remind attendees of the importance of using picture books with kids of all ages.

Share the Wealth: Contribute to the AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner Lesson Plan Database

Sunday, June 24, 8–10 a.m., ACC 205B

I’ve used the AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner Lesson Plan Database, and now it’s time to contribute to this valuable resource. I am excited to learn more about the process of submitting a lesson.

The New Nonfiction: What Is It, and Does It Matter?

Sunday, June 24, 1:30–3:30 p.m., ACC 202B

I’m looking forward to this session almost as much as the Newbery/Caldecott banquet. A new framework for evaluating nonfiction intrigues me.

Allison Tran

Teen services librarian,
Mission Viejo (CA)
Library

Not Another Boring Vampire Romance: Going Beyond the Norm in Young Adult Paranormal Literature

Saturday, June 23, 8–10 a.m., ACC 209AB

I’m ready to hear something new about the ever-popular genres of paranormal and fantasy YA literature, and this librarian-moderated panel featuring authors Kendare Blake, Ken Oppel, Jackson Pearce, and Cindy Pon sounds fascinating. According to the panel’s official description, it will “give particular insight in how approaching this best-selling genre from a unique perspective as both a reader and a writer makes it even more relevant and interesting to a more diverse audience of teen readers.”

Being a Social Teen Advocate

Saturday, June 23, 4–5:30 p.m., ACC 204C

As an active social media user, I’m always eager to learn new ways to use these technologies to reach my library community. This session, presented by technology expert Linda W. Braun, will discuss how to use Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Google+ to attract library teens. I’m looking forward to the brainstorming part of the session when we all exchange ideas.

Best Fiction for Young Adults

Sunday, June 24, 1:30–3:30 p.m., Hilton Anaheim California D

This is always one of the most talked about ALA sessions, and I always use YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults (BFYA) list as a selection tool for my library’s collection. I look forward to hearing local teens talk candidly about their experiences with the books nominated for the 2013 BFYA list.

Passive Programming That’s Anything But: Reaching Young Adults Subversively

Sunday, June 24, 4–5:30 p.m., ACC 207A

As a budget-conscious librarian who plans a lot of passive programming for teens, I’m always scouting for new ideas. According to this session’s description, “Participants in this program will learn why passive programming is an important aspect of YA service and how to inexpensively implement and maintain these programs.” It’s exactly what I need to spice up my passive programs.

Odyssey Award Presentation and Program

Monday, June 25, 4–5:30 p.m., ACC 213D

Each year the Odyssey Award goes to the producer of the best English-language
audiobook for children and young adults in the United States. I’m absolutely addicted to audiobooks—I love the way a talented narrator can make a good story even more vibrant. I’m looking forward to celebrating the 2012 Odyssey winners, chosen by a committee of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) and YALSA members.

Paula Willey

Librarian,
Baltimore (MD) County
Public Library

ALSC and YALSA Joint Presidents’ Program: The Digital Lives of Tweens and Young Teens

Monday, June 25, 8-10 a.m., ACC 304AB

When I talk to kids about their online lives, they ask me, “How come our parents think everyone online is a rapist?” And when I talk to parents, they tell me, “Kids don’t realize how dangerous it is to be online!” I need authoritative information about the way kids use the Internet in order to make good recommendations to them and their caregivers.

The New Nonfiction: What Is It, and Does It Matter?

Sunday, June 24, 1:30–3:30 p.m., ACC 202B

I’ve been reviewing nonfiction for SLJ for four years, and sometimes the life of a reviewer can feel like a lonely one—this upcoming panel sounds like my kind of people! If nonfiction and the criteria for evaluating it are changing, I better brush up on it.

Leaders Wanted/LIS Doctoral Program Options Fair: Cultivating Diversity in LIS Education

Saturday, June 23, 10:30 a.m.–noon, Anaheim Marriott Marquis South

Why not consider getting a Ph.D.? I’ve been a librarian for more than a decade, helping people research what they find interesting… maybe it’s time to turn those skills back on the profession that means so much to me.

Teen Advisory Boards—Keeping Teens Interested

Monday, June 25, 10:30 a.m.–noon, ACC 209B

After reading in a recent issue of SLJ about zombie survival training as a teen program, I realized there are some seriously clever and creative YA services librarians out there. I intend to steal all of their ideas!

Get Them Talking About Books!: Using Protocols to Assist Students with Making Book Choices and Developing a Reading Plan

Monday, June 25, 1:30–3:30 p.m., Hilton Anaheim Palos Verdes B

Kids turn to one another for reliable book recommendations, but booktalking is a learned skill. For example, kids can often be too vague (“Um, I just really liked the book”) or way too specific, reciting whole runs of dialogue without any context. I want to walk away mastering how to teach that to kids.