This afternoon, while in Atlanta for the Midwinter Meetings, I had the lovely opportunity to be interviewed via FaceTime by a group of 5th grade students from Imagine Clay Avenue Middle School in Toledo, Ohio. The reason they wanted the interview while I was here in Atlanta was because they have been reading, discussing, evaluating, and voting on Mock Newbery titles — they selected The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill as their Mock Winner in their classroom vote — and they wanted to know more about the upcoming Youth Media Award announcements which will occur on Monday here at the midwinter meetings. They had excellent (and wide-ranging) questions like:
- What does a librarian do?
- What is ALSC?
- What are the ALA Midwinter Meetings like?
- What should they expect when they watch the live stream of the YMAs on Monday?
- What is it like being at the Youth Media Award presentations in person?
- How does someone get on the Newbery committee?
- How many people are on the Newbery committee?
- How many books does the Newbery committee read?
The highlight of the FaceTime interview? Showing them the closed door of the “Room Where It Happens!” Obviously, I could not enter the room, but just seeing the door to the ACTUAL ROOM where the Newbery Committee was meeting was more than enough for these enthusiastic readers.
There were shrieks of excitement from the kids!
Sondra Eklund
That’s so cool! I love that you’re getting the kids so excited about this! So many adults have no idea how it all works.
Mary Voors Post author
Thanks, Sondra. (And it was really fun, too!)
Nadine Poper
My students here in PA are psyched for Monday’s announcements. I am so thankful for the replay ability since I am a school librarian and can’t have all my students watch it with me at the exact same time.