Sunday night – February 1
I write with the Super Bowl in the background, paying slight attention to what has turned out to be a good game. Though I’m a football nut, my teams bit the dust several games back and my enthusiasm has waned. Instead, a much more important contest looms tomorrow morning shortly after this blog is posted.
The American Library Association announces about twenty awards for children and young adult books at 8 AM on February 2, stealing the show even from the groundhog. These awards will put shiny stickers on books that many children will use for clues as they seek a good read when they go to the library. The awards will also keep these books in print and open opportunities for the authors to make school visits and presentations about their work.
I’ve been attending the meeting vicariously for the last few days through friends who are there posting pictures on Facebook of book people they’ve met and the snow they have seen. My computer is set to catch the live-streaming from snowbound Chicago.
To be prepared, I’ve reviewed my reading inventory for 2014. I recorded 74 books which leaves out a few that I forgot to list and a number of picture books I read to grandchildren or while standing at the library stacks making choices. They break down to 68% fiction, 26 % nonfiction; 61% with a white protagonist and 31% from a diverse population; 50% adult, 12% young adult, and 30% middle grade. I realize none of these add up to 100%, but some defy classification. Is this inventory important? Probably only to me!
In this mix, I have a few whose names I expect to be called for one of those ALA awards. I’m listening to see if those fine librarians agree with any of my choices. One of my choices is already scheduled for my Friday blog. I’ll let you know if I get it right.