Those canny readers amongst you will notice immediately that the date of this post is all wrong.  What am I trying to pull here?  After all, International Migratory Bird Day (as every good schoolchild knows) is always held on the second Saturday in May.  Yet here I am on June 29th, saying unto you that it is nigh.  And, in a way, it is.

Folks, what is the state bird of Illinois?

Me.

Actually, it’s the plucky little Northern cardinal (plucky, because it’s apparently the state bird for seven states), but if we’re talking the state Bird (capital B) then it’s me.

Is it just me, or does this cardinal look seriously displeased with the state of the world today?

On Friday, July 31st I will start my new job as the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system.  Which is to say, I am leaving New York Public Library and I will no longer be your roving reporter in NYC.

For the record, that costume is enormously warm.

This may come as a bit of a shock, but for those of you who know me (or who have brushed against me in the past five years) you’ll know that it’s a long time coming.  Over the last few years I think I’ve mentioned to friends and acquaintances an “imminent” move to L.A., Minneapolis, Vermont, Connecticut, and Amherst (and I know there are a few additional places I’m forgetting as well).  But extricating myself from NYC has been difficult.  The only way I can describe it is to the say that it’s been like a big stone lion has been sitting on my back and I’ve had to pluck out its claws one by one before being able to move on (any artist that wants to bring that image to life, I encourage you to do so).  Which is NOT to say that I don’t still love NYPL with all the beatings of my blackened little heart.  If I could pick up my current job and carry it with me out of NYC I would do so.  This city has given me opportunities I could never have found anywhere, and New York Public Library in particular allowed me to attain what I really do believe was my dream job.  I owe New York City everything.  That said, I am a mother with two small children and I’m a city employee.  I may have a lovely life in Harlem but it’s not the kind of thing one can maintain for a long period of time.  And so, I go.

I assure you that in terms of this blog, nothing much will change.  Thanks to the appearance of Bird #2 my librarian previews pretty much trickled away to nothingness anyway.  Plus, Chicago offers a LOT of good possibilities.  ALA is centered there.  Book Expo is slated to go there next year (which I think is awfully kind of its managers to think of me like that).  I could finally attend ChLA for the first time in my life.  Add in the LOADS of children’s book names centered in that town and I have big plans.  Big big big plans!  Watch out, Windy City.  We’re about to have a whole lotta fun.

And, of course, my departure from NYC can only mean one thing.

Kidlit Drink Night Returns!!

Visual approximation.

Awwwwww, yeah, baby.  You didn’t think I’d bow out of the New York scene without a bash?  A bash to which you and all your kin are invited?  Heck no!  I want to say bye bye to you in style so for one night only I’ll be holding court at the Houndstooth Pub later in the month (details to come).

And you may, in the midst of the move, see a small gap on the blog postings.  Then again, I managed to blog continually when my two kiddos were born, so maybe not.  I really have no idea.  This blog has never known me to live anywhere else.

Windy City, HO!