One informative and relaxing way to spend an afternoon at Midwinter is to sit in on the ALSC Notable Children’s Books Committee. I’m writing this from inside the room with the discussion ongoing, and thought I’d share some reflections.
What a conscientious, thoughtful and respectful discussion! The frame of the discussion is that one committee member introduces a book at a time, giving a brief overview of its merits. Then other committee members are given the chance to add their positive thoughts and observations, while others can chime in and agree. The chorus of “agreed!”s after insightful comments gives you a little rush of bookjoy every time you hear it. After everyone has had the chance to share their positive thoughts, the group is asked for “observations or concerns.” The wording of this is appealing in that it gives committee members the opportunity to query the group about a possibly negative opinion they hold as an observation, and follow it up with a conversation about whether this merits a concern. Then they move on to the next book. Each book gets around 3 minutes of discussion time, but the brief discussions are nuanced and effective. It’s clear to me that this committee will give us an excellent final Notables list.
Below is a video that shows some of the discussion books on display in the conference room. You can find the full list of titles up for discussion this year here.