ALA Annual 2013

Celebrating Rock Star YA Authors at #ala2013

Pinch me!! Last night I was sitting next to Marie Lu, the author of the amazing Legend series, gushing about how much I love her books. I had spent the last two weeks inhaling Legend and Prodigy, hanging on every word. And now I had the opportunity to visit with her over dinner. Wow-oh -wow. The opportunity to meet and visit with authors is always a real highlight of ALA Annual conferences. I feel so tremendously lucky to be able to connect with authors I admire, and I know that I am able to bring this enthusiasm and passion to my local communities. Last night, Penguin Young Readers Group hosted an amazing dinner with – hold onto your seats for the awesomeness of this group of Rock Star YA authors: Sarah Dessen Laurie Halse Anderson Marie Lu D.J. MacHale I could gush on and on about each of these amazing, inspiring,…

ALA Annual 2013

Excited for #ALA13: Using the ALA scheduler app to find out what’s on

I’ve been anticipating this year’s ALA Annual Conference for some time, but it’s finally zooming up on us. My bags are packed, I’m ready to go — but how will I juggle all the things I want to see and do in Chicago? How do I even figure out what’s on, between the great presentations, opportunities to meet authors I adore, and award celebrations? The ALA Scheduler has been a huge help to me. It’s even a great tool to use if you’re just curious to see what’s happening and are an arm-chair visitor, peeking in at #ALA13 from afar and thinking about maybe going next year. Visit the ALA Annual Conference web site and check out the Scheduler page. If you log in using your ALA login, you can build your own personalized schedule of sessions you’re interested in attending. You can download an app for either iOS devices…

ALA Annual 2012

#ala12: I Want a Truck Book! Reorganizing Your Picture Book Collection

Once in a while, a conference session will light a spark that stays with you beyond the time spent listening to the speakers. I Want a Truck Book! has stayed with me, as I think about this fascinating presentation time and time again. Gretchen Caserotti, Deborah Cooper and Tali Balas Kaplan shared their experiences reorganizing their children’s collections to meet the needs of young patrons. Each approached the challenge of reorganizing their collections to help children find books intuitively and easily. They shared their experiences working with public and school libraries. As Tali Balas Kaplan wrote here in the ALSC Blog, “Successful systems have clear logic and the different pieces are connected in ways that make sense to people who’re using the system.” But the Dewey organization of books by an intricate subject matter system and author’s last name does not make intuitive sense to our young children or their…

ALA Annual 2011

Inspired by international books for children

I was inspired by the #ALA11 panel discussion presented by the United States Board on Book for Young People (USBBY) entitled, “Independent Publishers-International Children’s Books.” Representatives from four US independent publishers shared their thoughts on international books. Groundwood Books, Kane Miller Books, NorthSouth Books, and Chronicle Books each shared about their particular vision, story, and favorite titles. I was particularly moved by Kira Lynn, of Kane Miller, as she talked about the quieter, subtler sensibility that foreign children books can bring to our children. “And that can be as simple as what people are having for dinner, what their apartment looks like, or how they dress.” Ms. Lynn continued on by drawing comparisons between going to foreign films and reading foreign books, that there’s a moment when you become so engrossed in the story – because it is truly about story, after all – that you forget that you are…

ALA Annual 2011

The pure pleasure of poetry

A shining moment in my memory of #ALA11 was the pure pleasure of the ALSC Poetry Blast. Although I was tired and spent after a long weekend, listening to these poets renewed me with energy and enthusiasm for sharing poetry with children of all ages. As Joyce Sidman says, we all need time to ponder, “Time alone, without noise and distraction.  This is when ideas come–when things sort themselves out, when you see visions and solutions.  Not just for writing, but for life.” The ALSC Poetry Blast brought a bit of this pondering time to me on Monday afternoon. I was able to listen and be transported to place within myself that has room for just this sort of pondering. Stephanie Calmenson started the afternoon by sharing poems for the very young. She captures the voice and thoughts of youngsters perfectly, reading with enthusiasm and pure joy. Her poems for…

ALA Annual 2011

Amelia Bloomer Project: conceived in an elevator, born in a bar

This morning’s #ALA11 celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Amelia Bloomer Project annual list of feminist books for young readers was an inspiring, joyful affair. I found particularly inspiring the introduction written by Nel Ward, co-founder of the project, describing the roots and inspiration for this wonderful list, and shared by this year’s co-chair Beth Olshewsky. Ten and a half years ago, four ALA members started talking in an elevator about how a book selection committee “might help young people become better adults,” as Nel described it. Jenny Baltes, Debbie Carton, Peter Holland and Nel Ward were all fresh off of major book award committees, and over lunch that day they developed the idea for the Amelia Bloomer Project annual list of books for youth that embody feminist ideals, principles and stories. That year, they brought together nine members for the selection committee and started reviewing books with these…

ALA Annual 2010

Whirling and twirling, with books in hand

In my household, #ALA11 is known as “Librarians Gone Wild” and I think the name does really fit! It’s hard to put into words how wonderful this experience has been so far, but I think the greatest part of it has been making connections with people whose work I’ve read – authors, bloggers, friends on GoodReads, librarians on list-serves, reviewers. On the first day, I walked into the exhibit hall’s graphic novel artist’s lane because I knew my students adore graphic novels. I’m quite a shy person, not very good at asserting myself into conversations, so I was waiting patiently to say hi to Raina Telgemeier, the author of our most popular graphic novel Smile, when she saw me and shouted, “Mary Ann! Hello!!!” and gave me a huge hug. I’ve never met Raina or her husband Dave Roman before, but I’ve shared my enthusiasm for their stories on my…

ALA Annual 2011

Criss Cross Applesauce: Multi-age story time

My morning #ALA11 session left me brimming with ideas for building multi-age story time programs. Kathy Klatt, of the Mamie Doud Eisenhower Public Library, and Saroj Ghoting, an early childhood literacy consultant, presented a fun and informative session on different ways to build a story time bringing in many different age groups, from babies to toddlers and preschoolers. They were well organized as they both presented sample story times (not easy to a room full of adults!), leading us in songs and activities, and sharing some of their intentions and planning process. Saroj and Kathy shared two possible models for multi-age story times: continuous story time and sequential story time. When you plan a continuous story time, you intentionally build into each activity ways for different aged children to connect or engage. With a sequential story time, you create a program that includes all children, but specifically directs activities first…