It's been a few weeks since #txla16, and I have my pictures and memories to remind me of how amazing it was. Many of those lovely memories came from the "Notably Newbery" panel I moderated. Joining me were authors Katherine Applegate (The One and Only Ivan), Kathi Appelt (The Underneath), Joan Bauer, (Hope Was Here), Linda Sue Park (A Single Shard), and Kirby Larson (Hattie Big Sky).
 |
| Seated, left to right: Kathi Appelt, Katherine Applegate, Joan Bauer Back, left to right: Me, Kirby Larson, and Linda Sue Park |
In this post, I wanted to share the latest works by these authors:
Linda Sue Park begins a middle grade series entitled Wing & Claw. The first installment is Forest of Wonders (HarperCollins).
Kathi Appelt (along with Allison McGhee) has give us Maybe a Fox (Simon & Schuster):
Katherine Applegate's Crenshaw (Macmillan Kids), is now a nominee for the Texas Bluebonnet Award:
And Joan Bauer's Soar (Penguin) was released in January:
Kirby Larson's Audacity Jones to the Rescue was also published in January:
And I also wanted to reflect a bit:
It was an incredible honor to introduce these authors at TLA --- I cannot thank them enough for coming to Houston, TX and sharing their process with us. They were a delight individually and even more so together. Afterwards, I'm sure just about everyone in the audience (including me) wanted to go home and reread their award-winning books. In fact, I've already reread Hope Was Here.
I truly wish I could remember every wonderful part of that panel. What I do remember is that several times I stood there and said to myself: "Look where books have brought you."
Books and reading have afforded me amazing opportunities. And this is what I hope it continues to do for the readers in my library.
Read on, friends! See where books will take YOU!