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

'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.

#CarleArtInPlace

Like everything else, my son's 8th grade field trip to Philadelphia was canceled. Today is the virtual visit.

If it is a fraction as good as the #CarleArtInPlace exhibit, then it will be a worthwhile day.

I just sat and soaked in all the art in this virtual exhibit. Elisha Cooper shared the link on his Instagram so I initially went to view his page only. I couldn't figure out how to click on the "chapters" or "rooms" until the end and am very grateful for that.  Every time I turned the page I wondered if it would be him.  

Surprise. 

But ahhhhhh....

Not yet. 

My eyes widened.

It was just another fabulous artist, sharing beautiful art and thoughtful messages in an enviable space . Take my advice and don't skip.

Grab a drink (almond milk for me) and a treat (bookbirthday chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting), a cushy-comfortable spot and enjoy. 

#CarleArtInPlace

I loved Sandra Boynton and YoYo Ma's collaboration.

It was wonderful to see Ashley Bryan. I hold a special place in my heart for him.

When I walk through my neighborhood and observe the only children playing alone or with parents, I can't help but feel for all of them. I want to share Carson Ellis's Only Children Hang Tight to these kids.

Like Dan Santat, I, too want to learn how to play the ukulele but I promise I will not be building my own.

Elisha and I are both planning to send our daughters off to college this fall. Spending all this extra time with her is going to make the separation even harder. Back home, I will look up from my desk and see us in Dublin, NYC, Spain, the beach...the many, many places we traveled together.  I might cry but ultimately, I know these memories, like those around me, will save me from falling deep into my sorrow.

Melissa Sweet.  Ryan T. Higgins.  Peter Sis.  Fellow Cincinnatian with Loren Long, Will Hillenbrand. LeUyen Pham. And more... 

Which artist or art spoke to you the most?

PS-Be sure and visit the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art for ideas on how to do art at home, virtual storytimes, and more!

ALA Post Blog #2--There's a 6 minute video involved! #alaac15

It has been on my list now for a week to blog about my experiences at ALA.  I'm not sure why I keep putting it off.  Maybe because if I actually reflect upon the experience, it means that it is actually a thing of the past and yet I want to hold on to the memories and feelings for a long time.

So far, I am.  I look at things differently ("Those glasses remind me of Jenni Holm's!").  I notice things from an ALA perspective.  Like when I should be glancing through 100's of pictures of kids at sleep away camp searching for the ones of my own children, I see other things, too ("See that random girl in that camp picture?  See what book she's reading? No?  Well, look more closely because I am noticing that she is reading El Deafo!") and I'm still thinking all about the magic of Kwame.  How lucky we were to connect last summer over Twitter when I first read The Crossover.  How even luckier I was to share the book with students in the fall.  How even luckier we were to Skype with him in January and luckiest to be at ALA to cheer him on and watch him gain 20,000 more followers.

And it all began at the airport:

I should have left that pillow at home.  Yes, I packed a lot.  See my previous blog post. 

Note that I think those of us from NY were the ONLY ones there who actually worked and went to school the day we left for San Francisco.  People couldn't believe it when I said, "My student gave me this lovely bag YESTERDAY!"

I decided to create an Animoto on my experience.  I was there to celebrate Kwame, so there are a lot of pictures of him.  It looks like all I did was pose with authors and illustrators.  I learned a lot.  I networked.  Just being there, I soaked it all in.  And I know as these weeks go by this summer, I will remember more and just think how lucky I was to be there.  Thanks to Kwame for giving me the nudge--He even THANKED all of us (Susan, Mary Ann, his friends at the table I was at) in his speech! We are the leaders of the KAFC*!

Here's the Animoto...



*Kwame Alexander Fan Club

Ok...This is now finished...I can move on and think about 2016.  I can review books (Sunny Side Up, Crenshaw, George, Circus Mirandus...I've read them all believe it or not.)  I am moving on but not forgetting...