Pursuing excellence for library service to children and teens
This morning at the Real Page-Turner Stage, author Julie Wright presented Reinventing Fairytales for Today’s YA Readers. I was instantly hooked by her pronouncement that “Fairytale retellings are the oldest form of fanfiction.”
In between my poster sessions this afternoon, I made a mad dash to room 175 to see my new friend Courtney Walker present her session on Affirming Inclusive Library Services. While I have seen Courtney share about her Libraries For All initiative previously, her session at #alaac26 dove deeper into how to equitably serve patrons with significant disabilities in school libraries.
After almost six months of planning, the time was finally here. Today, I got to present not one but two posters at #alaac26! While the process has been long and, at times, tiring, it was extremely rewarding.
Over the past year or so, I have noticed an increased interest in anime and manga at my library. After starting an Anime Club, I knew that #alaac26 would be a great opportunity to expand my own knowledge and come back to my home branch with new ideas for programing nd collections development. I started my hunt today with GNCRT’s President’s Program: Social-Emotional Growth and Resilience Through Manga.
My first day of #alaac26 started bright and early, with a scenic drive from Pittsburgh, PA to Chicago, IL! After roughly 7 hours in the car, we arrived to slightly overcast skies and a beautiful lakeside breeze. Everyone was friendly from the get-go, brainstorming exactly which doors to enter the Convention Center from. We checked in and decked out our badges, per tradition, before heading off to the Exhibits Hall.
In October 2025, ALSC and AASL announced a partnership with The Pokémon Company International to help kickstart Pokémon Clubs at libraries across the country. This launch kickstarted a Poké-craze with librarians, myself included, with many folks interested in starting their very own club. With many librarians asking “how,” ALSC Blogger Ariel Barreras shared some of her preparations for Pokémon Club earlier this year. Now that we are in the throes of summer, and many of our patrons have more time on their hands, I thought it would be a great time to share some additional resources for those who are looking to change up their regular sessions, or for those who are interested in having a summer club!
In the fall of last year, ALSC blogger Eleanor Howell-Shryock highlighted ways that she models consent in her story time at the library. As she mentioned in her post, this practice comes from the desire to help children learn bodily autonomy and to foster a culture that prevents sexual violence. After reading her article, I also thought about additional ways that the library might support caregivers in having these conversations outside of the library. This is when a local partnership began to take root.
This May, Soman Chainani returns to the scene with his first original novel in over ten years. Young World, published by Penguin Random House, is a political thriller set in the not too distant future where countries around the globe are on the brink of collapse. Chainani blurs the lines between fact and fiction on and off the page to make us all think: Wait, is this really happening?