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?

Broadway Book Birthdays

Donning my Rialto Readers "Chief Bibliophile" hat once again. 

Today we don't have just one singular sensational middle grade book to celebrate, but two.  Crazy.  Thank you libro.fm for bringing the second one to my attention just this weekend. Fearless by Mandy Gonzalez is part of the complimentary audiobooks ALC program for librarians this month. And thank you to Simon & Schuster for answering my desperate call on Edelweiss for a review digital print copy!

CHANCE TO FLY

So...happiest of book birthdays to Chance to Fly by Ali Stroker and Stacy Davidowitz.  Missed my post about it? Click here.  And even though it's been nearly a month, I'm still very much enjoying my Broadway playlist. Side note: I didn't go full out green, but I did get green highlights last month. Paying homage to Elphaba? Maybe...

FEARLESS

Tween Monica from REEDLEY, CA arrives in NYC with her abuelita to join the cast at the Ethel Merman Theatre only weeks away from opening night. Hold ON--REEDLEY! No one has ever heard of it but can you believe I have! My in-laws live in Kingsburg, my father in law was the director of a Department of Agriculture citrus lab IN Reedley and my half sister works at that lab now! Oh, Mandy, I hope you are reading this--our stars are aligned and we are definitely meant to be friends!

Something is fishy at the Ethel Merman.  Monica ends up the lead (after initially cast as the understudy to the understudy) in Our Time a musical "about four friends--Tony, Froggie, Pax, and Crash--trying to figure out how to save their local arcade, the Tilt, from being bulldozed and turned into a luxury hotel." Hmmm...does this sound like a Tony winner?  Well, maybe not the play but the book definitely is. "One misstep can ruin the whole scene," Monica is told. There are no missteps here.

This will make a great read aloud for both thespians and non-thespians. It's about four friends conquering their fears and working together to solve a mystery and save their show. Of course there are lots of Broadway references (the "Old Broadway" ones make me feel old--yes, I still dress up for a show) but it's filled with so much more--friendship, family, detective work, rats, a trip to the performing arts library, ghosts, telegrams, #legacyrobes, the joy you get from doing something you love, hope... 

"Old Broadway, new Broadway. The entirety of it was mesmerizing. 

It embodied irrepressible optimism, joy, hope. 

When darkness comes, hold it, love it, learn to understand it. 

Let the darkness speak; don't shut it out."

This speaks not only to the novel and the play within the novel, 

but also to our current times.

"Time blurs when you're on Broadway." 

I love this quote because Broadway blurs time for all of us, 

actors and audience.

"...the theater is a place where stories are told and released into the world and given life...Sometimes the messages cross and stir up the energy of a place."  You'll have to read the book to see what kind of "energy" is stirred up and how that energy finally gives life back to the Ethel Merman.

This is being called a series so I'm guessing "the squad" returns for another show in another haunted theatre? Whatever it may be, my Rialto Readers and I will be ready! For now I hope you had a happy book birthday, Fearless! 🎂

Merci Suarez Can't Dance

On a side note, happy book birthday also to Merci Suarez Can't Dance. I love, love, love this book. Who knows, it may even end up on a Rialto Reader list some day. It's better than the first one (which happened to win a shiny gold medal lol). It's a year later and Merci has matured into a typical 7th grade girl. She's got a crush (maybe?); her grandfather's dementia is getting worse; her aunt has a romantic interest; she tries to cover up a mistake and solve the problem herself without her family finding out which we all know isn't the best idea; her little cousins are still annoying; and she can't dance (or can she?). Definitely, definitely put this one on your list.

ICYMI: Meg's Author Fan Face-off

 

 

 

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.

'Twas the Night Before...

#ALAYMA20

I am surprised I slept so well last night. 

While dozens of librarians are coming to final decisions this weekend, I am holding my breath that the books my students have read, critiqued, passionately debated and genuinely loved are the same books as those of the committees. Considering the spinning going through my brain right now, I may not be as well rested tomorrow morning.

When I first started my months-long award predicting projects many years ago, I would be disappointed when our favorites would not align with those of the committees. How could they not make the same decisions for Newbery as my fifth graders? After my students booed one year because the winner was not at the top of any of their lists, we had to have a full on lesson on sportsmanship.  These days, I remind myself and my students that each committee is made up of a set number of librarians and those gold and silver decisions are based solely on who is "in the room where it happens." Were different people in the room, the outcome could be entirely different. Some years we may agree wholeheartedly and unanimously (ie 2015 for Newbery, 2018 for Caldecott); some years not so much. As I write this, I wonder what kind of year 2020 will be.

But does it really matter if we agree? For months my students have fallen in love with reading "Newbery books" after checking in and out what I deem to be distinguished literature. They have boisterously entered the library searching for yet another "Newbery" book, perhaps the winner or perhaps not.  They have kindly argued on behalf of their book deserving a gold medal in the classroom, the hallway, and at home. My fourth grade nonfiction fans have hugged their books and designed t-shirts with the hopes that on Monday they will be wearing a winner. First graders and their teachers have consistently given 4-5 stars to the beautiful Caldecott contenders we have read aloud this month of "Caldec-ary." If we were committee members, we might have to award ten or more honors across the board.

If you, like me, may not be able to sleep tonight, and you don't want to start another episode of ____ on Neflix, you can scroll down for some Sibert contender recommendations and 2019 middle grade/Newbery contender book trailers.  Maybe, just maybe, there's a winner or two or three in there.

SIBERT SMACKDOWN

Sibert Smackdown Day 1: November 4, 2020

We read and read, determined our favorites, recorded our persuasive paragraphs via Flipgrid and finally designed t-shirts to wear to the Youth Media Awards.  Flipgrid videos that made me ooze with pride are here 👇

Newbery

Need more distractions? Check out some of these awesome book trailers:

The Year We Fell from Space by Amy Sarig King

Ruby in the Sky by Jeanne Zulick Ferruolo






Born to Fly by Steve Sheinkin (We love this for Newbery and Sibert)




The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman (This book won our Consensus Club.)





My Jasper June by Laurel Snyder



Beverly Right Here by Kate DiCamillo (So awesome that Jess got to meet Kate this fall!)



A Time Traveler's Theory of Relativity by Nicole Valentine


Just a few other books we had lots of love for this season:

Here's the link for the awards: http://ala.unikron.com/ As I hit "publish" there are 11 hours to go.  See you on the upside!

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!