ALA MidWinter/Youth Media Awards 2016

ALA MidWinter was a time for celebration and learning.

The 2016 Newbery and Caldecott Award winners were announced, and I was a part of many wonderful conversations about children's literature. I met up with colleagues, talked to authors, and heard about the upcoming books for 2016. And my discussions about these books were the best book discussions I could have had. Plots, characters, theme -- all covered.

In fact, several times during the conference, I would think of a book and talk to a friend about it. Or someone would ask me if I'd read a particular book. And with that, came my learning.

I'll share some of the conference here in pictures:

Candlewick hosted a fun event at Fenway in Boston. Here, I met author/illustrator Matt Tavares. His latest book  is GROWING UP PEDRO, a picture book about famous baseball player brothers Pedro and Ramon Martinez. 

Can't wait to see a final copy of FLORA AND PEACOCKS by Molly Idle! Love the green cover of this one! 

Thank you, Boyds Mills Press, for this galley of THE KNOWING BOOK (written by Rebecca Kai Doltich and illustrated by Matthew Cordell.)

THE WILD ROBOT is Peter Brown's next book and it's a middle grade novel! Thankful to Little Brown for the ARC of this one!

Hearing that the next Elephant & Piggie book will be the last = sad. :-( 

FINDING WINNIE wins the 2016 Caldecott Medal. I read this one aloud to 4th grade when I came back. (But that's another blog post). 

Attending my ALSC All-Committee meeting and reuniting with colleagues. Great discussions here. If you are an ALSC member, volunteer for a committee and join us! 

LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET wins the 2016 Newbery Medal, a 2016 Caldecott Honor, and a 2016 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award. So very happy for Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson! 

My great seat for the Youth Media Awards. Pretty perfect. I sat with my friend Lisa Morris-Wilkey. 

Lynda Mullaly Hunt's FISH IN A TREE wins the Schneider Award for Middle Grade. So. Happy. For. Her. And Nancy Paulsen. 

ECHO by Pam Muńoz Ryan wins a 2016 Newbery Honor Medal. I still remember the joy I felt when I read the ARC. Thank you, Lizette Serrano, for sharing a copy with me at the ALSC Institute!

And I also met author Lauren Wolk at a Penguin lunch. Lauren is the author of WOLF HOLLOW, an upcoming book from Penguin that I have read and can't stop thinking about. She was lovely and I enjoyed listening as she shared this book with us.

Annual comes next in Orlando! See you then!