{"id":33512,"date":"2025-06-29T08:00:01","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T12:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=33512"},"modified":"2025-06-28T20:46:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T00:46:31","slug":"mychal-threets-at-alaac25-i-am-still-here-today-because-of-library-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2025\/06\/mychal-threets-at-alaac25-i-am-still-here-today-because-of-library-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Mychal Threets at #alaac25: \u201cI Am Still Here Today Because of Library People\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite being scheduled to speak while Dr. Carla Hayden and Kwame Alexander shared the #alaac25 Main Stage<\/a>, Mychal Threets<\/a> entered the room\u00a0for the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Round Table (CSKBART) Chair\u2019s Program<\/a> to a round of applause. \u201cI\u2019m surprised anyone\u2019s here!\u201d Threets said. He was wearing his signature smile. But PBS\u2019 Resident Librarian<\/a> needed no introduction. (Like I’ve said before<\/a>: Not many librarians have a Wikipedia page<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Threets\u2019 CSKBART talk was titled “Walking in Library Joy in Turbulent Times.\u201d<\/a> Threets spoke of the first book he saw someone like himself in: Bud, Not Buddy<\/em><\/a>, the CSKBART Author Winner in 2000<\/a>. He went on to speak about My Daddy is a Cowboy<\/em><\/a>, the CSKBART Illustrator Winner this year<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t know what I would\u2019ve done if I saw this cover when I was a kid!\u201d Threets said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"The
Image courtesy of Penguin Random House.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Threets also discussed the mental health struggles that nearly led him to take his own life in 2024. Threets assured the audience, \u201cI promise we\u2019ll get to the joy.\u201d And he did: \u201cI\u2019m still here today because of library people,\u201d Threets shared. Threets encouraged all library adults to follow Coretta Scott King\u2019s example. \u201cWe all have the power to be architects of joy,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the conclusion of the program, incoming CSKBART Chair Kacie Armstrong<\/a>\u00a0noted that Threets\u2019 first book will come out in 2026\u2014appropriately titled I’m So Happy You’re Here: A Celebration of Library Joy<\/em><\/a>.<\/em> We\u2019re happy you\u2019re here too, Mychal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can learn more about the CSKBART and how to support their work at ala.org\/cskbart\/join<\/a>. You can witness Mychal be an architect of joy by following him on Instagram<\/a>, TikTok<\/a>, Threads<\/a>, and\/or Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kelley Taksier<\/strong>\u00a0(they\/them\/theirs) is a former classroom teacher pursuing a Ph.D in special education at the University of Florida. Currently their research focuses on students\u2019 access to texts in public schools. As a part of this work, they collaborate with school and public librarians. They are proud to be a part of Diverse BookFinder\u2019s third Community of\u00a0Practice cohort and enjoy reading science fiction outside of the reading they do as a part of their work. As for #alaac25, they are most looking forward to learning about how to be a better advocate for libraries.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite being scheduled to speak while Dr. Carla Hayden and Kwame Alexander shared the #alaac25 Main Stage, Mychal Threets entered the room\u00a0for the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Round Table (CSKBART) Chair\u2019s Program to a round of applause. \u201cI\u2019m surprised anyone\u2019s here!\u201d Threets said. He was wearing his signature smile. But PBS\u2019 Resident Librarian needed no introduction. (Like I’ve said before: Not many librarians have a Wikipedia page.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":397,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[2952,2870,151],"tags":[2807],"class_list":["post-33512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ala-annual-2025","category-blogger-kelley-taksier","category-live-blogging","tag-mychal-threets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/397"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33512\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}