- The ALSC preconference was a fabulous celebration of the 2019 ALSC Award winning authors and illustrators.
As a member of the 2019 Newbery committee, I was pleasantly surprised by how happy I felt when watching the ALSC Awards and seeing what titles won “other awards.” After reading so many books in 2018, it is a tough decision to choose which one best fits the Newbery criteria. So many other amazing books won other amazing awards and I was happy those were recognized.
This feeling was magnified when we heard from the honor winners at the pre conference and were able to delve deeper into how children perceive their titles and why authors and editorial teams make certain decisions.
One of the topics that resonated with me the most was if or why authors self censored How does one decide what content is important for an age group? How often does content get change? It was discussed that authors do not take these issues lightly and that children can be very tough. It was also discussed that many times pages, illustrations or captions can be heavily debated by editorial teams.
Thanks to the honor winners for offering their time, perspectives and knowledge and to the preconference planning committee for a great program!