Sturdy for Common Things

ALA Midwinter Madness

I’m back!!!

Tuesday night I returned home from ALA Midwinter to a very sick kiddo. She has that fever, cough, congestion thing that’s going around, and if you’re a parent/work with kids, you know exactly what I’m talking about. While she took a little afternoon snooze today, I thought I’d catch-up and write a quick recap on my Seattle experience, the Youth Media Awards, Vine-ing and more!

To start, I have never been to Seattle and it’s true what they say – it rained every day. Regardless, it was so much fun. Between meetings, discussions, walking through the exhibits, and events, it was a busy and sleepless trip. To keep this brief, I’m sticking to the highlights. There was the book previewing and chit-chat in the exhibits with Danielle from There’s a Book!, who is lovely and wonderful in every way. Nerds united at the Nerdy Book Club (#nerdybookclub) dinner meetup organized by Ms. Shannon Houghton which was a blast, and might I add delicious. Great people with big book hearts.

And not to forget the Random House Newbery Discussion at the Seattle Public Library (futuristic building pictured above) featuring seven Newbery Winner and Honor authors including Christopher Paul Curtis, Jennifer L. Holm, Kirby Larson, Louis Sachar, Jerry Spinelli, Rebecca Stead, Claire Vanderpool, and moderated by none-other than Nancy Pearl.

Talk about a great lineup, right? The authors were charming and the discussion was lively and funny. The aftermath effects are that I now have a crush on Christopher Paul Curtis.

Last but not least I had the privilege of attending the Youth Media Awards! The energy is that ballroom in the Seattle Convention Center at 8am in the morning was palpable. Rumbling chatter before, cheers and clapping during (with the occasional gasp of  shock). I’ve never been in a place where there were so much excitement all for the love of children’s and YA literature. If you’re interested in watching an encore of the awards presentation, you can watch them in their entirety here. A selection of this year’s winning books include:

Newbery Medal Winner: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Newbery Honors:

• Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz
• Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin
• Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

Caldecott Medal Winner: This is Not My Hat illustrated and written by Jon Klassen

Caldecott Honors:

• Green illustrated and written by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
• One Cool Friend illustrated by David Small, written by Toni Buzzeo
• Sleep Like a Tiger illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski,
• Extra Yarn illustrated by Jon Klassen, written by Mac Barnett
• Creepy Carrots! illustrated by Peter Brown, written by Aaron Reynolds

Geisel Award Winner: Up, Tall and High! written and illustrated by Ethan Long is the Seuss Award winner.

Geisel Honors:

• Let’s Go for a Drive! written and illustrated by Mo Willems
• Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin, created and illustrated by James Dean
• Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover written and illustrated by Cece Bell

Coretta Scott King Author Book Award Winner:  Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America written by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Brian Pinkney

Corretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner: I, Too, Am America poem by Langston Hughs, illustrated by Bryan Collier

Belpre Illustrator Award Winner: Martín de Porres: The Rose in the Desert illustrated by David Diaz written by Gary D. Schmidt

Belpre Author Award Winner: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Sibert Award Winner: Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

Bomb swept the house with two wins and one honor, Jon Klassan won both a Caldecott medal and honor (a very rare occurrence), and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe also cleaned up nicely with a Belpre win, a Stonewall win, and a Printz honor. Wowza. Just a reminder that this list is only a sampling of the 2013 winners. The full list, in it’s entirety, can be found here. Also, School Library Journal conveniently organized all their reviews of the top winners into one post here.

On the last day after the awards, I did make a point to go to Pike Place Market with a couple coworkers to have a bowl of clam chowder at Ivar’s. I also bought a bag so I could bring back the enormous stash of ARCs, posters, and goodies I picked up specifically for my coworkers and my daughter.

As for the books I’m most looking forward to reading after my trip? Here’s my post ALA Midwinter reading list…

My very first Vine production!  Have you tested out Vine yet? It’s an app that allows you to make short videos and loops in the same fashion as a GIF would. Kinda fun. I linked my first Vine clip to Vimeo and added a background track to it.

So, what’s on your reading upcoming list?

Here’s a text version of mine:

Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool

The Boy in the Oak by Jessica Albarn

The Runaway King (sequel to The False Prince) by Jennifer A. Neilsen

Hokey Pokey by Jerry Spinelli

Loki’s Wolves by K.L. Armstrong & M.A. Marr

The Water Castle by Megan Frazer Blakemore

The Center of Everything by Linda Urban

 

Post ALA Midwinter Reading List from Rebecca Dunn on Vimeo