Missing my People

This week brought to the forefront of my mind that I miss my people. 

We taped our 40th (?) #AuthorFanFaceOff episode featuring an 8th grader from Illinois with the sweetest smile ever vs. the amazing and wonderful, Rita Williams-Garcia.  I look forward to seeing "my people" every Monday. Our show gives so much joy to both the young challengers (although sometimes it may be hard to tell), the authors and to us, the hosts. The line up continues to be stellar.  Shameless plug--please subscribe and share if you don't already. 

This week reminded me how much I miss sitting side by side with my people and getting wow-ed by a keynote speaker. We learned about Jacqueline Woodson in third grade.  We watched her read The Day You Begin, illustrated by our Castleton Elementary School friend, Rafael Lopez, and researched her from one of my favorite databases, FactCite.  I love her recitation of the book. It never got old, even on Friday.  Unrelated but related, the fifth grade ELA teacher was looking for a new read aloud.  I met up with her with a pile of amazing books in my hands (many AFF episodes and or authors: One Crazy Summer, The Crossover, 14th Goldfish, The Parker Inheritance) and some not. Coincidentally, she chose Woodson's Harbor Me. Who knows? Maybe someday she will move into the AFF category...

Tuesday I was on a virtual panel through School Library Connection with four AH-MAZING school librarians.  It really made me wonder how I landed there, honestly. But I reminded myself the message from Woodson's reading of The Day You Begin that we are all fabulous. So yeah, great to be with my people on the panel and "see" folks in the chat, too.  Don't worry if you missed it! Check it out here.

It's been a long while since I took my hair down with my fellow librarians.  Slight tangent here--Just on the topic of hair, one third grader told me this week that it is time for me to see my hairdresser. Indeed, my hair needs to be colored and the appointment was rescheduled twice but alas, Wednesday is the day! From the mouths of babes, eh? Thursday night, the New York Library Association sponsored a fundraiser with Big Ditch Brewing Company in Buffalo.  It was fun to see familiar faces, including a guy who was in my very first graduate school class. At the time, I wasn't sure I was ready to take the leap into librarianship.  He and the other cool, smart and kind folks in that class definitely had an impact on my new career path.

I miss book festivals and conferences with my people. About an hour before it was to begin, I registered for the "Anderson's Book Shop Children's Literature Breakfast" yesterday morning and am so glad I did.  I multi tasked and only missed about 15 minutes of the whole event. Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is amazing period. Dan Santat had me laughing out loud in my not-Prius while I was driving to not buy some quinoa. Gary Paulsen had us all in tears. And the conversation between Meena Harris and Andrea Beaty was inspiring. I plan to spend a lot of money on books later today.

Today is Sunday. I am looking forward to this week (and not just because I am planning to get my hair cut and colored with turquoise highlights).  We have two great AFFs scheduled Monday and Tuesday.  My second grade lesson plan is about Teresa Carreno, a Maragita Engle book illustrated by Rafael Lopez. My Newbery Navigators chose to begin reading one of my all time faves, Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead. So even though I may not be seeing my people in person, this week's virtual challenges alongside the written and illustrated pages of friends will definitely do for now.

BONUS:

The 38th Episode with Lisa Graff and three former students of mine:

The Day You Begin:

From Dan Santat's Twitter, a glimpse into A New Day by Brad Meltzer (book birthday Tuesday!):

A NEW DAY by me & @bradmeltzer comes out this Tuesday (March 2)

Sharing an early draft where SATURDAY, who is styled after the Dude from the movie, #TheBigLebowski, was actually drawn as @thejeffbridges in the 1st draft. Publisher came back with notes saying it was too weird 😂 pic.twitter.com/c51Ab1wZWt

— Dan “DANley Tucci” Santat😷 (@dsantat) February 27, 2021

STARFISH

Author Lisa Fipps posted on Twitter the other day a picture of a jar with slips of paper in it.  "Every time someone says something good about STARFISH, I print it off and place it in the jar," she tweeted.  Perhaps this blog post will warrant a print out? 

There are so many things I love about this book in spite of the fact that I had a really hard time reading the bits about Ellie's brother and her mom. But that's what makes the book good, right?  When I fall hard (or don't fall, in this case) for my characters I love it. So many strong feelings one way or the other. Just ask my friend, Alicia. Ellie's mom does everything to get her to lose weight from posting things on the fridge to wanting her, at 12, to get bariatric surgery. And her brother is one of her worst bullies.  It's not that they were unbelievable, just hard for my heart to believe, you know? But, enough about them--Who do I love? Ellie, of course. Her dad. Ahhh...Her old BFF and her new BFF. Yes, the old adage, "make new friends but keep the old" totally fit here, drama free and it worked. Her Doc got a big heart in my notes. I even like her sister, who is trying.

Speaking of hearts, I💜 Julie Murphy and KA Holt and I feel like if you "shipped" (do they still use that term these days?) those two together, you would get Lisa Fipps.  Her verse is so en pointe, like Holt's. And she's got all the fabulous feels of all the Murphy novels I love. Plus all three write in Texas. Period. End of sentence.

Back to mom...there are good mom memories. "I guess I cling to those moments/like a drowning girl to a life preserver/whenever Mom's words/gut me like a fish." Wow. I just wish Ellie didn't have to endure it for so long. Eventually, with the help of Doc she stands up for herself beginning with tossing the family scale. "Untrue, negative thought:/The higher my weight,/the lower my value./True, positive thought:/A scale does not/determine my worth." All I wanted to do was yell, "You got this, Ellie!"

I highlighted a lot more quotes from the book. Trust me they are good.  Take the time you would have read them here to preorder STARFISH now.  I say it's a strong Newbery 2022 contender. Now, the big question: Will my words leap into your jar, Lisa? 😉 🤞

 

Snow Day Book Birthdays

The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S (as told by his brother)

Last weekend everything came to a stop. All I did was read David Levithan's first middle grade novel, The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. (as told by his brother). Nothing else got done.  Don't tell me I didn't warn you. I also could not stop talking about it. I'm glad my 18 year old daughter was still home from college and humored me as I filled her in on Lucas and Aidan's story.  "Did you find out any more details?" "What do you think happened?" She was as much into it as I was. I even told my 5th and 6th grade "Newbery Navigators" about it and they were hooked. I'm happy it is out in the world today.

As you can imagine, the search parties are out in full force when 7th grader Aidan disappears. Day after day, they keep looking.  He reappears on Day 6 with an unbelievable story. Page after page, I wondered. Is it true? Could this happen? I seriously questioned reality. I tried to genrify the book. Is it fantasy? Realistic fiction? I needed to know and therefore could not stop reading.  And to this day, I am still wondering.

It's a story about brothers, believing the impossible (or the possible), family, accepting who you are and what you have. I wish it the happiest of book birthdays and promise me if you read it that you will get in touch with asap so we can talk.

HILO: Gina the Girl Who Broke the World

It is so sad to have a HILO book birthday without a party.  But dear, Judd Winick, know that I was thinking of you and Chase today and cannot wait for your "Author Fan Face-off" next month! YES! The 7th HILO comes out into the world today and as always, we welcome it with big open arms. Hooray! Stay tuned for mid-March when Chase's challenge will be up on our AFF YouTube channel.  I already know it will be a good one. Go Chase! 😉

Ground Zero: A Novel of 9/11

I know little about this book except that because it is by Alan Gratz, it will be gripping and one that kids will devour.  It's hard to find a middle grade reader (and librarian) who doesn't love anything that Alan writes.  While you are waiting for it to arrive in your mailbox or SORA shelf, check out our Author Fan Face-off with Alan vs. 8th grader Evan, a former student of mine.  Evan was a huge fan of Alan's since, I believe 4th grade.  I knew when we got Alan confirmed that Evan had to be his challenger.  You won't see it in the video, but I actually cried during our filming because it was so cool to connect Evan to his favorite author. (See above: I will have Kleenex nearby for Chase's challenge, too).

ICYMI here the Grenade challenge:

And a few more that I am either completely intrigued about from social media (Red, White and Whole by Rajani LaRocca), love the duo (Milo Imagines the World by Matt de la Pena and Christian Robinson), always want to support the author (EngiNerds Strike Back by Jarrett Lerner) and ANOTHER Yasmin book to add to the already fabulous collection (Give it a Try, Yasmin! by Saadia Faruqi and Hatem Aly). Yay! Happy Book Birthday all!