It's a Beautiful Day, Brethren

Quick. What did your last two podcasts discuss? Mine? Comedian Kevin Hart talking with Jerry Seinfeld and the other? An interview with Bono and the Edge. Kevin and Jerry spent some time talking about the brotherhood/sisterhood of the comedian world. Reminded me of my book people. Lifelong friendships gained almost instantly. Hence the brethren. And well, today, was just a "beautiful day" connecting with my book people family.

My Sibert honor winning co-host, Steve. I knew Fallout would get a sticker today. My good friend, Alicia, chair of the Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults committee. Proud to call you my friend and co-presenter extraordinaire. My Sibert Smackdown mentor and now honor winner, Melissa. Former fifth grade now retired teacher, Mr. Reischer, who texted me at 4 in the morning sending me positive #ALAyma vibes. Jayce from Fort Worth who texted when Too Bright to See won Newbery honor reminding me that I called that early on. Jacquelyn from Alabama who was thrilled for Watercress and extra excited for Starfish because she knew it could be YA. Val, the stranger I met 15 years ago who suggested I get my school library degree, and texted tonight asking if I liked the Newbery winner. Newbery honor Rajani who has been on Author Fan Face-off, had a virtual visit with our Red, White and Whole book group and just has the most infectious smile and laugh (I imagine she has a beautiful permagrin happening now). My teachers and colleagues who know today is "my day." From getting excited themselves (and making posters and t-shirts) to helping me sticker the ice cream sandwiches to being photographers and videographers, they may not all be book people but they my brethren. My mom, who read and adored Fallout and watched the awards live this morning. And the latest member of my sisterhood, 4th grade teacher Galiah from Queens, who I met over Twitter and now are classes are meeting virtually tomorrow to debrief the Sibert awards. 

Now that the sun has set over this beautiful day I need to make a reading decision for the after. A 2022 book I missed or a January 2023 contender?

yes & no

I have always been a crier. 

So it's no surprise that when a good day comes to an end, my tissues are close by. The sun sets and it's hard for me to imagine that another one is in the wings. And yet, there always is. Elisha Cooper's new book, yes & no brings up all these kind of feels and I have to say after several reads, I still get choked up at the ending.  

Paired with the good feels, this book also brings in a bit of that frustration I've definitely expressed many times early in my parental career. "Grrrr...Get outside and play. Now." 

In the end, this book of few words and even fewer varied text, is a true winner.  It's gorgeous. Fun. Funny. Sad. Gets your heart rate going. Offers a breath of fresh air and scenery. Wraps up so perfectly and honestly. Because I agree with the playful dog. "The day was good but now it's done." Sigh. yes...

So skip or run or leap to hilltop and scream, "YES. YES. YES. YES. yes. YES!" because this one is definitely a winner.

By the way, my kindergartners love it. They're riveted. And bonus, now they know what an ampersand is.

Two recent must read essays by Elisha:

From the Nerdy Book Club blog: https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2021/04/11/how-to-write-a-great-childrens-book-by-elisha-cooper/

Publishers Weekly "Paper Chase": https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/86026-paper-chase.html

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.

I am Every Good Thing

This week students and I will be reviewing books not yet published. Pre-book birthdays, so to speak.  Our first one was this morning for the beautiful and "calming" (their word), I am Every Good Thing by the fabulous team that brought us Crown: An Ode to a Fresh Cut, Derrick Barnes and Gordon C. James.

Ten kids in grades K-6, attended this preview party and all agreed that if five stars was the best, the book deserved way more.

Derrick's strong and powerful, metaphored and similed filled text about a young black boy and all the wonderful things that make up who he is, highlighted by Gordon's paintings, make for another award winning book. "I am good to the core, like the center of a cinnamon roll. Yeah, that good." 💜 My students thought the text promoted mindful thinking and loved all the vibrant colors throughout.

A boy with many interests was relatable.  One kindergartner's favorite page was the baseball and basketball page. Another one liked the space page.  One second grader connected to the music spread.  Any adult who watches a child on stage will relate and chuckle.You know that time when children are performing and every phone comes out to film the moment?  Gordon got that.

When I asked the kids to complete this sentence, "I think you should buy this book for the library because..." one girl said, "it can make people feel better if they are sad or had a bad day at school." The book is so positive that it should be able to lift up anyone's day.  Another kindergarten said that the message is to be "kind and caring." 

We have been huge fans of Crown since the early days. I had a farmer's son love it so much that he read it aloud to every class he could during National Picture Book Month. When I met Derrick and Gordon at ALA that summer I bought Zach a copy of the book, had them each sign it and then delivered it to the farm when I got home. (Sadly, I didn't even get one for myself.  Well, this one for sure.) Zach will be in 8th grade when this book comes out.  I just might have to surprise him with a copy.

Oh boy...here come the tears.  I was scrolling around Derrick's website and just read his message to his oldest boy, Ezra, when he turned 16. Ahhh...relatable. If you didn't already, make sure and check him out on the #KidLit4BlackLives rally. Yeah, he made me cry there, too.

But this book. It will make you smile.  And look, my students picked up on that, too.  I swear I didn't say anything to prompt them.  They came to their own conclusions and here it is. So, don't delay. Put I am Every Good Thing on your "2020-21 Order List" today.  

"What should we serve at the book birthday party on September 1?" I asked. 

"Something colorful and happy," they all agreed. Hmmm....Skittles?

2019 Youth Media Awards Recap

Third grade Everett with his teacher Mrs. DeMassio and their golden medal cookies.

HELLO 2019 YOUTH MEDIA AWARDS!

I must believe that if I put off writing about our Youth Media Experience, that it didn't actually happen and therefore, it's not technically over.

HOWEVER, it has been nearly two weeks. Lives have changed. Kids have declared "my book won" and we must now emotionally be ready to move on.  I read my first 2020 contender in 2019 and am now working on my second. Wake up, Stacey (slaps face).  The 2019 award season is over and it is time to. move. on.

Here's a small recap:

Merci's #1 Fan!

The WHOLE day of January 28 was dedicated to the love of literature. We celebrated, cheered, leapt, held our breath, drum rolled, screamed, smiled, bit our nails...all in anticipation of the award announcements. We wore t-shirts expressing our favorite books and authors. Our friends hugged us when our books won and theirs didn't.  And we all ate golden medal cookies.

We watched performances from Newbery contending books (AND the Newbery medal book and honor book). We viewed sculptures and read reasons why books should win the Sibert medal and were thrilled when our books were announced for both the Sibert and the YALSA Nonfiction award.

SO many of the books we were championing won awards. Check out this bulletin board I made outside the library with EVERY book we read in one grade or another BEFORE the awards. Every book posted had at least one fan, most had more.

Last April we threw book birthday parties (with Skypes) for Alma and How She Got Her Name and Hello Lighthouse. I was informally observed in November while sharing one of the books that won a Caldecott Honor (A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin--gorgeous!). It was a win-win-win year all around!

January 28, 2019. It was a day to remember. I'm sure Meg, Sophie, Juana and many others will agree.

Look at Holden! "My book won! YEAH!"

Just a few of the 100+ photos from the day

 

Can it get much better than this--watching with ALL these kids?! I honestly don't think so!

When The Girl Who Drew Butterflies won the Sibert medal, Ari's friends attacked her!

Arianna's Sibert sculpture

Tyler was also a fan!

Another Sibert winner!

A taste of some other Sibert projects

Clearly, we had a lot of Out of Left Field love in Castleton.

HELLO!  This happened in September...

And seriously, now on to 2020. Happy Reading! Happy Leaping!