ALA — I was there!

It's like Disneyland for children's book lovers. Nothing can compare to the fun and joy of seeing great children's books recognized and honored! Here's the American Library Association's list. (Not my list, their list. And, this gives me a chance to again say how important NONFICTION books are for kids!)

Newbery Medal

"Moon Over Manifest," written by Clare Vanderpool, published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Newbery Honor Books

"Turtle in Paradise" written by Jennifer L. Holm, published by Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

"Heart of a Samurai" written by Margi Preus, published by Amulet Books, an imprint of Abrams

"Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night" written by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen, published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

"One Crazy Summer" written by Rita Williams-Garcia, published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

Caldecott Medal

"A Sick Day for Amos McGee" illustrated by Erin E. Stead, written by Philip C. Stead, a Neal Porter Book, published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing

Caldecott Honor Books

"Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave" illustrated by Bryan Collier, written by Laban Carrick Hill, published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

"Interrupting Chicken" illustrated and written by David Ezra Stein, published by Candlewick Press

2012 Arbuthnot Honor Lecture

Peter Sis

Batchelder Award

"A Time of Miracles" written by Anne-Laure Bondoux, translated by Y. Maudet, published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Batchelder Honor Books

"Departure Time" written by Truus Matti, translated by Nancy Forest-Flier, published by Namelos

"Nothing" written by Janne Teller, translated by Martin Aitken, published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division

Belpre (Illustrator) Award

"Grandma's Gift" illustrated and written by Eric Velasquez, published by Walker Publishing Company, Inc., a division of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.

Belpre (Illustrator) Honor Books

"Fiesta Babies" illustrated by Amy Córdova, written by Carmen Tafolla, published by Tricycle Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.

"Me, Frida" illustrated by David Diaz, written by Amy Novesky, published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Abrams

"Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin" illustrated and written by Duncan Tonatiuh, published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Abrams

Belpre (Author) Award

"The Dreamer" written by Pam Munoz Ryan, illustrated by Peter Sis, published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.

Belpre (Author) Honor Books

"Ole! Flamenco" written by George Ancona, photographs by George Ancona, published by Lee & Low Books Inc.

"The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette's Journey to Cuba" written by Margarita Engle, published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC

"90 Miles to Havana" written by Enrique Flores-Galbis, published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing

Carnegie Award

"The Curious Garden" produced by Paul R. Gagne and Melissa Reilly Ellard, Weston Woods Studios

Geisel Award

"Bink and Gollie" written by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, illustrated by Tony Fucile, published by Candlewick Press

Geisel Honor Books

"Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same!" written and illustrated by Grace Lin, published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

"We Are in a Book!" written and illustrated by Mo Willems, published by Hyperion Books for Children, an imprint of Disney Book Group

Odyssey Award

"The True Meaning of Smekday" produced by Listening Library, an imprint of Random House Audio Publishing Group

Odyssey Honor Audio Books

"Alchemy and Meggy Swann" produced by Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group

"The Knife of Never Letting Go" produced by Candlewick on Brilliance Audio, an imprint of Brilliance Audio

"Revolution" produced by Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group

"will grayson, will grayson" produced by Brilliance Audio

Sibert Medal

"Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot" written by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Nic Bishop, published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Sibert Honor Books

"Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring" written by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, illustrated by Brian Floca. A Neal Porter Book., published by Flash Point, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing

"Lafayette and the American Revolution, written by Russell Freedman, published by Holiday House

Wilder Medal

Tomie dePaola

Sourpuss? Sweetie PIe?

Are you a sweetie pie? A sour puss? Norton Juster and Chris Raschka have teamed up for SOURPUSS AND SWEETIE PIE, a companion book to their Caldecott-winning THE HELLO, GOODBYE WINDOW.

I had the pleasure of attending Scholastic’s Literary Brunch at ALA and Juster (author of THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH) read his newest picture book. He explained that his young granddaughter was the inspiration for the book as she was capable of moving from a sour puss to a sweetie pie without a moment’s notice—in a blink of an eye. Of course, the librarians at the table I was at giggled and saw themselves in the granddaughter’s seesaw of emotions.

Here are the details:

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Michael di Capua Books (October 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0439929431
ISBN-13: 978-0439929431

Fortunately by Remy Charlip

Brian Selznick mentioned FORTUNATELY by Remy Charlip during his Caldecott speech and the mention of the title swept me away to high school. I had “Teacher Prep” during my senior year. We visited the local school, Briar Patch Elementary, and helped a teacher for our class credits.

One day my teacher asked me to select a book to read aloud to the entire class. This was a big responsibility for this seventeen year old. After much careful consideration, I selected FORTUNATELY. It was the first book I ever read aloud to a group of first grade students. It’s a terrific book so the kids sat spellbound as I read. I was a huge success or at least I felt like one.

Brian’s mention of this book is sure to bring it to the attention of some folks who have never heard of it and others, like me, will enjoy reminiscing about their past encounters with the book.

Roaring Brook Press Bowled Me Over

That’s right: Roaring Brook Press did bowl me over at ALA! It happened on Friday evening. I was invited by Lauren Wohl to attend this lovely event. Lauren is responsible for many literacy memories for me.

I walked into the bowling alley where Roaring Brook had an entire room of lanes reserved for their event. Lauren instructed me to get some bowling shoes and find a lane that could use another bowler. I looked down the lanes and the lane farthest away had only one bowler. Plus it had the added advantage of being against a wall on the left side of the lane (rather than having lanes on either side.) So, I grabbed some bowling shoes and scooted down the lanes finding a just-right, light, red bowling ball along the way.

I trotted up to the bowler and introduced myself. He introduced himself to me. It was David Macaulay. What good luck I have! (He won the Caldecott for BLACK AND WHITE.) I joined him for a few practice frames and then Simon Boughton, publisher of Roaring Brook, joined us. Did I say what good luck I have?

During our practice frames, before starting our game, I released the bowling ball and slid down the alley. I fell, landed on my rear end, and started to slide. You know how when you are in distress you see things in slow motion? I could see the pins getting closer and bigger and I thought I might slide into the pins. Fortunately . . . I guess you could say fortunately . . . I slid into the gutter and that stopped my free-sliding. I thought for a second I was going to slide down the entire lane and end up knocking down the pins!

I bet David and Simon will both remember me . . . okay they might have to be prompted by the event, but I think there is a pretty good chance that they’ll always remember the woman sliding into the gutter.

Now that’s a literacy memory.

Brian Selznick's Caldecott Acceptance Speech

Perhaps you’ve already heard, but Brian Selznick’s Caldecott acceptance speech was award winning. He had all of the 1000+ attendees in the palm of his hand as he shared his journey to THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET and the Caldecott Medal. He presented a sequence of illustrations showing Hugo receiving word that he had won the Caldecott and how Hugo boarded Air France and flew to Anaheim. On the plane, Hugo read the Caldecott Honor winning books. Adorable.

Brian described how he was at a point in his career where he didn’t quite know which direction his work would take him. He shared how he was inspired by Remy Charlip (the book is dedicated to Remy) and Maurice Sendak. He spent six months reading and not writing or illustrating.

He learned a lot about children’s books by working in a children’s bookstore in New York. One day a woman came in to buy a book for her grandchild and he struggled to please her. Finally, he showed her GREEN EGGS AND HAM and she responded, "Do you have it without the ham? They're Jewish." As always—it's about getting the right book in the right hands.

Brian’s illustrations graced the program and it was absolutely the most beautiful dinner program I have ever seen.

Brian wore a black, sparkly shirt and his speech was kind, insightful, delightful and sparkled even more than his shirt.

Each attendee received a CD of the Caldecott and Newbery acceptance speeches, so if you know someone who attended, be sure and give it a listen. The disc also includes “Sous le Toit d’Anaheim” (“Under the Roofs of Anaheim”), the illustrated sequence I tried to describe above that opened Brian’s acceptance speech.

As always, an upcoming issue of “Horn Book” will include Brian’s Caldecott and Laura Amy Shiltz’s Newbery speech.