YMA 2021 version

Mrs. Warland was featured prominently in my dream last night. I'm sure it was because I was missing her being by my side this week. Monday wasn't the same without her keeping me sane cutting cake, leaping, screaming, crying and just sharing in the pure joy and excitement of Youth Media Awards.

But alas this was, and continues to be, a different year. There was a little applause, some shrieks but nothing like the past and no cake. The only Newbery book Mrs. Warland read was Rita Williams-Garcia's One Crazy Summer and that was this summer when she had to call me to tell me that it is SO good and deserves the Newbery. "Ummm...Doe? Do you see the stickers on the cover?" It did win! IN 2011! But honestly if it wasn’t for her reminding me how great that book was I wouldn’t have reached out to Rita to appear on Author Fan Face-off, so really nothing is lost. (Her filming is in a couple of weeks. I should probably reach out to Doe for some questions...)

I’m exhausted from my week long YMA parties and celebrations. I watched the Caldecott awards 10x; Sibert 14x (we had Honeybee on our Caldecott list), CSK 10x (hooray for Magnificent Homespun Brown).  And unbelievably Newbery only twice: once live in the 5th grade class I had while it was going on and then later that afternoon with the Newbery Navigators. Coincidentally, though, a 5th grader in that class was reading The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez and pulled it out of his backpack just after the Pura Belpre announcement. Woohoo!

I also read the Geisel winner (thank you JLG) multiple times to K and 1, when I had time. It is perfect and well deserving of the award says kinder Lilly. 

These kids didn’t miss the cake they never knew existed but I did. Instead they enjoyed a little treat of a gold medal (aka gelt in my world) or a gold kiss (yes, they actually make them gold without almonds). Cupcake love in the form of cupcake holder medals (which surprisingly went over very well!) and a gold photo booth! One group of second graders loved the photo booth so much they came back again and again for silly shots.

 

So happy for all the winners but especially two time Newbery and Sibert honor Christina Soontornvat, (ICYMI we posted a special AFF on Tuesday in her honor), HONEYBEE, Mr. Cc’s We Dream of Space, my second graders Outside In (which we celebrated a book birthday for) and the gorgeous We are Water Protectors (which we also celebrated a book birthday). Oh and Sunday night I downloaded Welcome to the Pity Party after attending a Jewish Libraries midwinter event (I kind of want to join as a librarian who is Jewish but doesn't work in a Jewish library. Is that kosher?) and was literally late for work this week because I had to finish it. Speaking of Sydney Taylor, A Place at the Table got a notable. Woohoo! Check out their AFF, too.

Yay, Christina!

Yay, Saadia!  Yay, Laura!

All in all a good week. The kids seemed genuinely sad when I said it was the last meeting of our Caldecott Committee. Hmmm...maybe it doesn’t have to be? We’re already a month into book releases eligible for 2022...

A slide from our Sibert voting day last week. Both of these won stickers!

Definitely going to be a future blog post if I can get my act together! 💓

'Twas the Night Before YMA 2021 version

I still have all the feels of the night before the Youth Media Awards and so many other ones, too.  

Newbery

The closest I came to my typical quarter long Newbery project was my after school Newbery Navigators club.  A handful of dedicated readers read a bunch of books.  One loves Echo Mountain.  Another Mananaland. Every single one of them When Stars Are Scattered.  We read Clean Getaway aloud so of course we'd be thrilled to see Scoob and G'ma get some love. Over the summer, 4th grade teacher Mr. C swore that he didn't have to read another 2021 book because he already read the winner, We Dream of Space. Maybe this is the year for nonfiction and we'll be placing a sticker on All Thirteen or The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh (too old?). 

Caldecott

My 2nd and 3rd graders were on the "Caldecott Committee." What a year for picture books!  We read and scored as many as we could but I'm afraid that I still missed a bunch.  The third graders LOVED A New Green Day and the second graders couldn't get enough of Lift.

I force the kids to make one choice, but not me. This is a good thing. There's no way I could pick my favorite. I love We are Water Protectors, Outside In, Hike, In a Jar, The Old Truck....honestly, I love them all.

  

And because this year I have a fixed schedule, I'll be celebrating all week long.  I bought gelt (gold coins) and gold Hershey's kisses (without almonds) as my treat and hope that is festive enough for our "party day." I also found a gold backdrop for photo ops and some gold balloons.  Happy Youth Media Day.

Sibert

I was fortunate enough to run into 4th grade ELA teacher, Mrs. Roe, in the stairwell in November.  We chatted for about five minutes and came up with a Sibert Smackdown plan.  She would read books aloud and I would read others over Flipgrid.  4th graders read over a dozen Sibert Smackdown contenders. Considering that I didn't think they would read any, this is amazing!

With all but one class voting, the top two winners are Crossings and Your Place in the Universe.

If you can't sleep tonight or woke up early and want to watch a little preview before the announcements, feel free to check out their flipgrids: https://flipgrid.com/ff7c379e

Geisel

Ugh. I love Geisel.  I've met some amazing people through the Geisel project including Stephen Savage, Anna Kang and Chris Weyant, Jonathan Fenske (who always makes me lol).  Even though I have only read a few of the Geisel contenders, Egg or Eyeball is my favorite with Baloney and Friends and Mo and his squished jelly doughnut as close seconds.

And that's my wrap.  Tomorrow will be nothing like any other year but I'm hopeful it will still be exciting. I'll be celebrating all week and really putting my acting skills to test.  Find me on Friday afternoon to see if I'm as surprised at the announcements as I am tomorrow.  But now it's time for me to hit my pillow.  See you on the other side.

Ice Cream, Black Eyed Peas and Collards

Hello January! Hello 2021! I welcome you into my life with arms so open that it hurts.

Flashback to ALA 2018. I was waiting in line to grab coffee, a muffin, some hard unripe melon for a seat for the Geisel/Sibert/Batchelder award ceremony when I met Jacquelyn from Alabama. We chatted a bit, sat together, exchanged cards and that was it.  I had no idea that we would keep in touch as strongly as we have and that she would be one of a few colleagues to get me through the past spring and beyond. The random personal connections gained from attending in person national conferences are so powerful and long lasting. Will we be able to meet again IRL in 2021? 

Flashback even farther to ALA 2015. Carole, from LA, had an empty seat at her table during a reception for Ashley Bryan. I sat down and the rest is really history. It was lovely to wish her a happy new year last night (and I won't complain that I got to admire a cloudless, blue sky behind her when we FaceTimed). It's Carole's Sabrina who will be competing against Trenton Lee Stewart on Monday in our Face-Off.

Today: Jacquelyn was wondering about our New Year's food traditions. Uhhh, ice cream? She eats black eyed peas for good luck, collards for money and cornbread for gold.  Since I can't resist luck, money and gold, I stopped at Hannaford on our way home from getting our annual sweet cream treat and I made the soup and corn muffins.  Because of our exchange today, my phone actually thought I was having dinner with Jacquelyn.  It was sort of right?

I chose The Lion of Mars as my first book of 2021. Perfect. Chocolate cake. Carrot cake. Ping Pong. Friendship. Family. First love. Grief. Toilet paper. A virus. Scrambled eggs. Mascara. Board games. Ahhh...Jenni Holm has yet to disappoint me.* Happy almost book birthday!

Took my first leap of the year at Schodack Island State Park on the banks of our beloved Hudson River. The sky doesn't look like Carole's did last night and the sun really wasn't shining, but that didn't stop us (and a whole lot of other people) from getting outside and taking our #ForestFriday #FirstDayHikes #AdventureNY of the year.  So with fresh air in my lungs and good luck in my belly, I'm ready for ya, 2021. Bring. it. on!

 

 

*ICYMI: Here's our Author Fan Face-Off with Jenni