ALA Midwinter 2009 – Denver, Day 5–The Youth Media Awards

The Youth Media Awards have been announced … and three Maine authors/illustrators have been named:

Ashley Bryan 

Stephen King

Melissa Sweet 

Here are the awards in alphabetical order:

Alex Awards — “ten best adult books that appeal to teen audiences”

Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow

City of Thieves by David Benioff

The Oxford Project by Stephen G. Bloom

Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

Just After Sunset: Stories by Stephen King

Three Girls and Their Brother by Theresa Rebeck

The Dragons of Babel by Michael Swanwick

The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti

Over and Under by Todd Tucker

Mildred L. Batchelder Award – “for the most outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States”

Batchelder Honor Books

Garmann’s Summer written by Stian Hole, translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett

Tiger Moon written by Antonia Michaelis, translated from the German by Anthea Bell

Batchelder Award

Morbito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi, translated from the Japanese by Cathy Hirano

Pura Belpre Awards — “honoring Latino/Latina authors and illustrators whose work best portrays, affirms and celebrates Latino/Latina cultural experience in children’s books”

Pura Belpre Author Honor Books

Just in Case written and illustrated by Yuyi Morales

Reaching Out written by Francisco Jimenez

The Storyteller’s Candle / La velita de los cuentos written by Lucia Gonzalez, illustrated by Lulu Delacre

Pura Belpre Author Award

The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Greatness by Margarita Engle

Pura Belpre Illustrator Honor Books

Papa and Me written by Arthur Dorros, illustrated by Rudy Guiterrez

The Storyteller’s Candle / La velita de los cuentos written by Lucia Gonzalez, illustrated by Lulu Delacre

What Can You Do with a Rebozo? written by Carmen Tafolla, illustrated by Amy Cordova

Pura Belpre Author Illustrator Award

Just in Case written and illustrated by Yuyi Morales

Andrew Carnegie Medal – “for excellence in children’s video”

March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World

Randolph Caldecott Medal — “for the most distinguished American picture book for children”

Caldecott Honor Books

A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever written and illustrated by Marla Freeze

How I Learned Geography written and illustrated by Uri Shulevitz

A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Caldecott Medal

The House in the Night written by Susan Marie Swanson, illustrated by Beth Krommes

Coretta Scott King Book Awards

Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books

The Blacker the Berry by Joyce Carol Thomas, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Keeping the Night Watch by Hope Anita Smith, illustrated by E.B. Lewis

Becoming Billie Holiday by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Coretta Scott King Author Award

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Books

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Before John was a Jazz Giant written by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Sean Qualls

The Moon Over Star by Dianna Hutts ASton, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award

The Blacker the Berry by Joyce Carol Thomas, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award

Bird written by Zetta Elliott, illustrated by Shadra Strickland

Margaret A. Edwards Award — “for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults” –Laurie Halse Anderson

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award – “for the most distinguished book for beginning readers”

Geisel Honor Books

Chicken said,  ”Cluck!”  written by Judyann Ackerman Grant, illustrated by Sue Truesdell

One Boy written and illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Stinky written and illustrated by Eleanor Davis

Geisel Award

Are You Ready to Play? written and illustrated by Mo Willems

William C. Morris Award — for the best young adult work by a first-time author, selected from five named finalists

A Curse Dark as Gold written by Elizabeth C. Bunce

John Newbery Award – “for the most distinguished contribution to children’s literature”

Newbery Honor Books

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Greatness by Margarita Engle

Savvy by Ingrid Law

After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson

Newbery Medal

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production

Odyssey Honor Audiobooks

Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady narrated by Kathleen Kellgren

Elijah of Buxton narrated by Mirron WIllis

I’m Dirty narrated by Steve Buscemi

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale written andnarrated by Carmen Agra Deedy

Nation narrated by Stephen Briggs

Odyssey Award

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian written and narrated by Sherman Alexie

Michael L. Printz Award — “for excellence in literature written for young adults”

Printz Honor Books

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Natio, Volume II: The Kingdom of the Waves by M.T. Anderson

Tender Morsels by Margaret Lanagan

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Printz Award

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Schneider Family Book Award — “for books that embody the artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences”

… for Young Children – Piano Starts Here: The Young Art Tatum written and illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker

… for Middle School — Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor

… for teens — Jerk, California by Jonathan Friesen

Robert F. Sibert Medal — “for most distinguished informational book for children”

Sibert Honor Books

Bodies from the Ice: Melting Glaciers and Rediscovery of the Past by James M. Deem

What To Do About ALice: How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, CHarmed the World and Drove Her Father Crazy written by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Edwin Fotherington

Sibert Medal

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Laura Ingalls Wilder Award — “honors an author or illustrator whose books are published in the United States and have made a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children” – Ashley Bryan

ALA Midwinter 2009 – Denver, Day 4

What a FABULOUS DAY!!!

Everything that I  ATTENDED today was WONDERFUL …

Rushworth Kidder, founder of the Institute for Global Ethics, was a fascinating and inspiring speaker.  He talked about how there are core values that seem to emerge in all cultures and societies: honesty, responsibility, respect, fairness and compassion. He also explained that although ethics is usually defined as deciding between right and wrong, most ethical dilemmas are a choice between right and right.  He said that “right-right” ethical dilemmas seem to fit into four paradigms: truth vs. loyalty, individual vs. community, short term vs. long term or justice vs. mercy.  In making these choices, we need to decide which is the “higher right”.  He recounted stories from his book How Good People Make Tough Choices.  Then he talked about his book Moral Courage, which he defined as “willing endurance of significant danger for your principles or values.”  ”Imagine a Venn Diagram,” he explained, “where three circles intersect; one circle is willing endurance, another circle is significant danger, and the third circle is principles or values.”  For a choice to be morally courageous, it must have all three parts.  I bought both of the books that he mentioned in his presentation.

Dr. Mohammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, was also a fascinating and inspiring speaker.  Although he has a PhD. in economics and is very intelligent and well educated, he is a very kind, soft-spoken, gentle, personable and very down-to-earth person.  Dr. Yunus told the story of where the idea for micro-financing and how he started the Grameen Bank.  Here are some of the highlights from his presentation …

“All human beings are entrepreneurs. It’s how we’ve gotten where we are today.  It’s in our genes.”

“With a $15 loan, if you could help a beggar get out of begging, why wouldn’t you?”

“If you give to charity, you make one change, but if you create a social business, the money recycles.”

“In a social business, profit is not your objective, you have a social goal rather than a dividend for your investors.”

“All human beings are packed with unlimited potential; all we have to do is help them unleash it.”

This is a picture of me with Dr. Mohammad Yunus, autographing his book for me.

I ended my evening at the Tattered Cover Bookstore at a Freedom to Read Foundation event featuring author Lauren Myracle.  She talked about the censorship of ttyl by the Superintendent of the Round Rock Independent School District in Texas.  She read some angry e-mails that she has received from (mostly) parents, which really seemed to lend credence to Judy Blume’s remark that censorship is fear disguised as moral outrage.  She also read e-mails that she has received from young people and librarians.  She was a fantastic speaker.  I bought copies of ttyl, ttfn and l8r, g8r – which she signed to the students at King Middle School.

Tomorrow morning is the announcement of all the Youth Media Awards …

Signing off,

Ms McDaniel

ALA Midwinter 2009, Denver – Day 3

My morning started out with the Sunrise Speaker series and a presentation by Leigh Rubin, the creator of the comic strip, Rubes.  He told us how he got his start.  He still remembers the first cartoon he drew when he was in kindergarten and how much he loved that he could draw a picture that made people laugh.   The first comics that he published and sold were on greeting cards, then he self-published a collection of music comic strips entitled, Notable Quotes.  It took him six months to convince one newspaper to carry his strip as a daily, and another four years for a syndicate to pick it up.  He read us from some of his rejection letters.  He explained that he finds inspiration in the everyday, especially in parenting his three sons.  Lastly, he showed us an animation that he created for a movie called Moola.  This fall will mark the 25th anniversary of his strip’s syndication.  I bought each of my children one of his collections which I had autographed to them.

I spent most of the afternoon in the exhibit hall; I picked up more than four dozen new galleys, as well as lots and lots of posters.

I missed Ann Brashares — sorry …

I did find some really interesting books …

Pitch Black: a graphic novel that tells the story of a young woman artist who meets a man in the NYC subway and discovers that he lives in the subway tunnels underneath the city and creates his own art there.  It is a true, and incredible, story …

Pop Goes the Library: Using Pop Culture to Connect With Your Whole Community, which is a book inspired by a website.  It is a book for librarians.

I picked up another copy of the new (third) Diary of a Wimpy Kid book: The Last Straw and got a free mini back pack …

Catherine Jinks (Evil Genius and Genius Squad) has a new (forthcoming) vampire novel, The Reformed Vampire Support Group, a vampire parody like  Suck It Up.

Sunday is going to be my busiest day …

Sunday, 1/25/09

8am-12pm – AASL Affiliate Assembly

 1:30-3:30pm – Library Code of Ethics 70^th Anniversary Celebration with Rushworth Kidder, who is the founder of the Institute for Global Ethics (http://www.globalethics.org/) which had its first office on the coast of Maine

 3:30-5:30pm – ALA President’s Program with Dr. Muhammad Yunus (http://muhammadyunus.org/)  who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his work with micro-financing, including founding the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh

Here are a couple of books that we have that tell stories about the impact of micro-financing …

RICKSHAW GIRL by Mitali Perkins, illustrated by Jamie Hogan and published by Charlesbridge, 2007 [CNTM Perkins]

 

In her Bangladesh village, ten-year-old Naimi excels at painting designs called alpanas, but to help her impoverished family financially she would have to be a boy–or disguise herself as one.

GIVE A GOAT by Jan West Schrock, illustrated Aileen Darragh and published by Tilbury House, 2008. [PCBK Schrock]

After hearing a story about a girl in Uganda whose life is changed for the better by the gift of a goat, a class of fifth-graders pulls together to raise funds to make a similar donation to someone in need.

 6:30-9pm – Freedom to Read Foundation: Lauren Myracle (http://www.laurenmyracle.com/) at the Tattered Cover Book Store  

- Ms McDaniel

ALA Midwinter 2009 – Denver, Day 2

The school library advocacy institute was a big disappointment … I won’t go into the details.  Evidently, not all school librarians are as fun-loving as I am :>

The exhibit hall opened this afternoon and I picked up a copy of 3 Willows by Ann Brashares, just like I said I would; tomorrow I’ll try to get it autographed.

I also picked up a book that is part memoir, part self-help about a girl who struggled with an eating disorder; it’s called It Started with Pop-Tarts: An Alternative Approach to Winning the Battle of Bulimia.

Then I picked up more than a dozen galleys, including these books by established authors/illustrators…

… Tales from Outer Suburbia, a new book by Shaun Tan, who created the graphic novel The Arrival;

… Heroes of the Valley, a new fantasy by Jonathan Stroud, the writer of the Bartimeous series;

as well as these exciting-sounding new books by first-time authors …

… Escape Under the Forever Sky by Eve Yohalem – Lucy’s mother is the U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia and although her mother keeps her locked inside the ambassadors’ residence, Lucy sneaks out with a friend, but then she gets kidnapped and is faced with a dangerous and exciting adventure;

… The Darkness Under the Water by Beth Kznnell – Molly lives in 1920s Vermont during a time when the state government is trying to get rid of its poor citizens, like French Canadians as well as Abenaki, like her new friend, Henry;

… The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly – During the hot Texas summer of 1899, Calpurnia spends most of her time with her grandfather, who teaches her all about the natural world around her;

… Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev – In the Theatre Illuminata, the characters from every play that has ever been written live behind the curtains and they are bound by powerful magic to play only the parts that were written for them, until …

After the exhibit hall, I went to the YALSA Tech Playground, where I chatted with an expert Tweet-er–who called himself “the head twit”–about Twitter, which is how I would like to do book recommendations …

I picked up FREE copies of the following books…

 Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden

Heart on My Sleeve by Ellen Wittlinger

 Gracie by Suzanne Weyn

My agenda for Saturday, 1/24/09 is …

 8-9am – Sunrise Speaker series with Leigh Rubin, who is the creator of the nationally syndicated comic Rubes 

 

10:30am-12pm – AASL Affiliate Assembly, which is like a congress of two representatives from each state school library association

- Ms McDaniel

ALA Midwinter 2009 – Denver, Colorado

It’s like spring here … I went out for a walk this morning and it was 50 degrees and climbing.  No snow.  I’ve kept my hat, scarf and mittens in my suitcase.

Here are some of today’s highlights (for me) at this ALA Midwinter Meeting …

Friday – 1/23/09

9:30am-4:30pm – American Association of School Librarians Advocacy Institute – where I hope to learn how to promote the value of school libraries

5:30-7:30pm – Exhibit Hall opens and there will be a special reception with Ann Brashares (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series) who will be at the Random House booth.  I will try to gat back there tomorrow when they will be giving away copies of her new book, 3 Williows: The Sisterhood Grows.

8:00-10:00pm – YALSA Mixer and Tech Playground, where I hope to try my hand (again!) at some of the new technologies.

I’ll post again tonight.

- Ms McDaniel

At ALA Annual in Washington D.C. – Ms McDaniel’s Memorable Moments

Meeting Charlene Schiff was a real highlight for me. She is a survivor is the truest sense of the word. Charlene’s courage and strength are a source of inspiration. Thank you for the message of compassion that you spread in the world. I sincerely hope that our paths cross again.

I was GREAT to see Jane Irwin and Paul Sizer again. Paul, congratulations on Moped Army making the Great Graphic Novels for Teens list! We just have to bring you both back to Maine!

Irshad Manji was brilliant!

I had read about her and her book, The Trouble with Islam Today: A Woman Calls for Reform in Her Faith. I have never considered religion and faith as thoughtfully as I did in the days following her presentation. She made me think, really consider, carefully, my own thoughts and ideas about religion and faith and community. It was wonderful! I cannot give higher praise than, “You really made me think!” Thanks, Irshad!

I also really enjoyed my conversation with Jean the night of the Printz Award Reception. On the day that Irshad stretched my mind, you invited me to stretch it even further with your French philosophy.

I loved meeting Alison Bechdel (Fun Home, Houghton Mifflin, 2006) and hearing about how she created her graphic novel memoir.

It was really wonderful to see Betsy Franco (You Hear Me? Poems and Writing by Teenage Boys & Things I Have to Tell You: Poems and Writing by Teenage Girls, Candlewick Press) again; it’s been how many years?! This has been a stressful trip (in some respects) and I didn’t realize how much I really needed to see a friendly face and get an it’s-SO-GOOD-to-see-you hug. Thanks, Betsy!

Meeting Congressman John Lewis was a once in a lifetime experience, but I will try to step back and let it be Otrell’s experience.

But, I must admit, that the thing I loved the very most about this trip was being with my former students, Kayla and Tess.

You are wonderful and I love you both! I hope that our trip lived up to your expectations …

At ALA Annual in Washington D.C. – Day 8

Today was our final day, well half-day, in Washington, D.C. Otrell, for some reason, got up at 6:30 am, but the rest of us slept until 8:00 am.

After breakfast, I decided to go back to the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial to get some pictures and I wanted to see the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial and the Women’s Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial. No one else wanted to go with me.

First I saw the Women’s Memorial, which is a very traditional war memorial: bronze and larger-than-life figures in military garb and poses.

The Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Wall is unique. It is built into the earth, as though there had been a small hill there in the park and the hill was cut down through its middle in and The Wall erected against it to hold back the exposed earth. The Wall ascended gradually up to a high point that reached far above my head, and then gradually descended. The names engraved onto The Wall began just a few steps in. Standing in front of the polished black stone surface, my image was reflected back at me. My reflection, because of the dark gray of the stone, was cast against a shadowed background. I saw a name, Daniel M. Kelley, etched in the shimmering surface of the black stone against my own shadowed reflection. I reached out to touch the name and the reflection of my hand reached back toward me.

There was a narrow moat right underneath The Wall and periodically, personal items had been laid down. I saw a beaded necklace, a bracelet, tattered flags, a letter, a photograph, and a poem.

There were alphabetical guides located at either end of The Wall where you could look up a name and it would tell you on which panel the name could be found. The Wall listed the names in the order in which they were killed.

This is the spot where John Lewis spoke (sixth) and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke (tenth) at the March on Washington for Jobs and Equality on August 28, 1963. It is on the top of the steps leading to the Lincoln Memorial.

This is also the place where Marian Anderson sang after the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) refused her Constitution Hall as a performance venue.

An Aside
Constitution Hall is only a few blocks up from the Memorial Park on 18th Street. Last night we had walked by it. There was some sort of to-do going on and we crossed the street to ask a woman standing outside what was going on. I had seen the name of the building and something in my memory tried to wake up. When I saw the DAR plaque on the building, I remembered about Marian Anderson and Eleanor Roosevelt.

The DAR refused to allow Marian Anderson, a famed African American soprano, from performing at Constitution Hall. Then First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, cancelled her membership in the DAR in quiet protest. Arrangements were made for Marian Anderson to perform on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

I re-read the Gettysburg Address.

It is amazing that in that famous speech, possibly the greatest speech in U.S. History, Lincoln used only unifying, never divisive, language. There was no North and South, no Union and Confederacy, no Us and Them; it was all Us, the UNITED States.

Lincoln’s statue inside the Memorial is much larger than life.

Our trip back to Portland was uneventful. We are on the train as I write this. I expect we’ll arrive in Portland around midnight.

At ALA Annual in Washington D.C. – Day 7

The conference is over; the last day was Tuesday, June 26th. Wednesday was a day that we had all to ourselves. We were finally well rested.

A library colleague we had met at the Coretta Scott King Awards Breakfast had offered to drive our bags back to Maine for us! (Thank you, Leslie!) Otrell and I each packed one suitcase of stuff for Leslie to drive home, but Tess and Kayla had 4 and 3 bags, respectively! That was in addition to our clothes, purses and essentials for the train and bus. Evidently, Leslie was shocked when she saw the 9 bags total that she would be driving back to Maine for us. (Thanks, again, Leslie!)

Otrell and I had an appointment to visit Congressman John Lewis at 10:30 am. Fortunately, after Library Day on the Hill, we were a somewhat familiar with how Capitol Hill worked. (I had made arrangements ahead of time for us to meet John Lewis, because he is one of my son’s heroes.)

Otrell was very nervous about meeting his hero, so in the morning I helped him prepare what he wanted to say. After talking about organization, content, and how to begin and end, he dictated what he wanted to say and I wrote it all down.

Hello. My name is Otrell McDaniel. I am 11 years old and I live in Portland, Maine. I am very honored to meet you. You’re one of my heroes, not only because of how you fought alongside Martin Luther King for Black rights, but because of how much you endured and how you continued to stay brave during Bloody Sunday and the Freedom Rides. How did you endure so much?

Several months ago, my family learned of a mentally handicapped Black man named Billy Ray Johnson and that he had been beaten by a group of young white people several years ago. We also learned that, following his beating, which left him more severely handicapped, mentally, he will have to live in a nursing home for the rest of his life, assisted by staff and unable to read. My sister and I, after reading the article, gathered material to send him a care package and, soon after, learned that it had arrived at the nursing home.

“In that same article, someone said that it was okay to treat a Black man like that, based on the color of his skin. It’s not.” That’s what I wrote in my letter to Billy Ray.

Do you think racism is still present in this country, and, if so, what can we do about it?

Would you mind signing this Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement by John Lewis, Harcourt, 1998] to me?

Thank you for agreeing to meet with me.

We met Congressman Lewis is his Senior Chief Deputy Democratic Whip office (H-330) in the Capitol building. We had special “Official Capitol Business” nametags which turned from white to indigo when we walked out of the Capitol and back into the sun.

Congressman Lewis spent almost an hour (about 45 minutes) with Otrell, listening to him, answering his questions, showing him his personal photographs (framed and sitting on the mantle in his office) and telling him stories. He was patient, extremely kind and very generous with his very valuable time.

Here, Congressman John Lewis showed Otrell a picture of himself and his friend, Jim Zwerg who had just been beaten. “See the spots of blood that had dripped onto my jacket?”

Here, Congressman Lewis showed Otrell his picture of the “Big Six.” He named them right to left: Roy Wilkins; James Farmer; “You know this man.” [Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.]; A. Philip Rudolph; Whitney Young “A famous labor leader for the train porters;” and “a young John Lewis who still had his hair.”

Here, Congressman Lewis showed Otrell one of his photos of the March from Selma to Montgomery.

And here, standing in the window of his office, facing the Mall and the Lincoln Memorial, he recalled the March on Washington for Jobs and Equality, August 28, 1963. “I was the youngest speaker that day,” he reminisced. “I was sixth and Dr. King was tenth. … Of the ten people who spoke that day, I am the only one still alive.”

He described the mass of people gathered on the mall as a giant “sea of humanity.” “The police said that there were 250,000 people but I know it was more. … Children took off their shoes and climbed the trees in order to see. … And on the top step of the Lincoln Memorial, there is an inscription, ‘I Have a Dream:’ it is on the spot where we stood. … If someone had told me, then, that I would have an office here, across the mall, that I would be a Congressman here, I would have said that they didn’t know what they were talking about.”

Here, he showed Otrell another book about the Civil Rights Movement. He was looking for a picture of the “Sea of Humanity” he had described.

And there it was on the back of the book.

Congressman Lewis said that he was most proud of the first time that he was arrested [for civil disobedience] on February 20, 1960. “I was inspired.” Congressman Lewis told Otrell. “Dr. King inspired me to make trouble. It was the right kind of trouble. It was necessary trouble.”

What an inspiring experience!

Tess and Kayla took a well-deserved break. They read. They walked around our neighborhood, Georgetown. And they went out for coffee and tea.

Otrell and I spent the afternoon at the National Gallery, which Otrell didn’t want to leave after our hour and half visit.

We all went out to an Indian restaurant for dinner, the Taj Mahal. Then we took an evening walk to the Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool. We saw the World War II Monument, an awesome stone structure and then, we walked through clouds of mosquitoes and black flies along the Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln Memorial.

We returned to our hotel at a reasonable hour and went to bed, again, at a reasonable hour.

At ALA Annual in Washington D.C. – Day 6

Hi, me again. I’m writing this as of 10:33 PM, Wednesday, 6/27/07. In the morning we went to the Coretta Scott King Awards. Among the winners were such books as Copper Sun, Jazz, and Moses: How Harriet Tubman Led her People to Freedom. Afterwards we visited the exhibit hall one last time, managing a final few souvenirs and left for Library Day On The Hill, the final event for ALA in 100+ degree temperature. We took a bus to Capitol Hill to visit our state representatives about libraries. Our group visited Tom Allen and Mike Michaud and then got ice cream and set off to the others.

Kayla had the idea to make posters to protest the Supreme Court’s decision to suspend students’ rights to free speech, and march along the outside of the Court Building.

We then set off to visit Susan Collins, and Olympia Snowe. And then in the heat decided to take a taxi back to our hotel. Most of us (except me!) were so tired they slept from 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM. After they woke up, we ordered pizza, and I conked out on my and Kelley’s shared bed.

At ALA Annual in Washington D.C. – Day 5

Today we started out fairly early in my own opinion. We went down stairs to have some very good breakfast that thuroughly filled us up. After that we had to lug what seemed like thousands of pounds of books to the post office just to have to wait in line for 15 min. and have to pay a ton to get them sent home. then we started our day at the confrence.

While me and kayla went off to the exhibit hall to look around for some more good books and some authors to sign our books Kelly and Otrell went to here some people make speeches and then stood in line to get there books signed by the amazing Judy Blume!

Tess and Kayla were very excited to meet one their favorite authors of all time!
Holly Black!!! She was very nice and sign all of our books of which there were many. Tess and Kayla got a picture of them being with Holly but were unable to post it do to technical problems.

While they were doing that Otrel and Kelly tried to see Julie Andrews speak but even after waitting they were to late and the show was completely full so they were not able to see her preform. They then went off to see other shows for most of the rest of the day.

Tess and Kayla went to a near by café for lunch, but they had some difficulties: Tess’s frozen sandwhich that she had given to them to warm up had taken around 15 min. because they had forgotten about it. But that was nothing compared to what happened to Kayla. She had to wait for up to 45 min. until they finaly gave her her sandwhich. They then found a spot on the stairs leading to the confrence to read all of their new books

The group met up again at around 3pm to get some books signed and then started of their long trek home. Soon after they got back Kelly dressed up very nicely and went off to meet one of her favorite authors.

In the future Otrel, Tess, and Kayla are planing to go to the printz award (were Tess was very sad to find ou that the singer Prince would not be preforming) at the confrence and meet kelly there and then head home for and simple night of book reading.