#alaac18 – Day 4 in New Orleans

I fairly flew to the Convention Center Monday morning. Apparently my happiness was evident because, After replying “Good morning” to the same greeting from I woman I passed on the street, she added, You are awfully jolly this morning.”

Of course I was: this was the day we handed out our awards, them met the honorees for lunch! This was the final event in a process that began over a year ago.

 

 

Sorry about that last photo – maybe I was a little excited and I couldn’t keep my hands from shaking!

It was amazing to get to finally meet everyone and we got to have some deeper conversations over lunch.

And then the good byes started. Most people left that afternoon, but a friend and I were not among them so we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening together.

Our first stop was the Odyssey Awards presentation for the best audio recordings. The most emotional moment of the event happened before the ceremony started.  A buzz spread in the room as Angie Thomas, author of The Hate You Give, arrived. As she walked up to Bahni Turpin, the narrator of the audiobook, she burst into tears and hugged her. This was the first time they’d ever met!

From there we visited the Hotel Monteleone which featured a revolving, carousel  bar, at which writers such as Ernest Hemingway, Truman Capote and William Faulkner passed some time. We walked on for a seafood dinner at Trenasse, where I had a delicious Crawfish pie.

While in New Orleans, I managed to eat jambalaya, crawfish pie and gumbo. As you read this, I will probably be flying home. These two thoughts bring to mind that great Hank Williams song:

 

 

Of course I said yes

When the email came asking me to present at the Spring mini conference for local school librarians, of course I said yes. I’d once been the person coordinating that conference and knew how hard it could be to find someone to present on a Saturday.

When I saw the schedule I balked.

Who would want to see my presentation when they can see a Newbery honor author? I wondered. I was half hoping and half fearing everyone would want to see her.

Regardless, I spent the week getting my presentation together. I put a link to our Sibert phone calls into my Powerpoint and then wondered about embedding the video right in the presentation. I was surprised to see there was no “download this video” button on YouTube. A quick Google search informed me I didn’t need to download an app, there was an easy way to do so. I was glad because I wanted the clip, just in case I ran out of things to say. By Friday night, I felt ready for whatever Saturday was going to throw at me.

I could have just arrived in time for my presentation, but, presenters attend the mini conference for free. As a morning person, it just made sense to show up early. I drank coffee and reconnected with some former colleagues. I attend a Makey Makey workshop for the first session to keep my nerves at bay. In the break between sessions, I set up my computer and books in the lab.

And then Saturday threw all it had at me.

“Adrienne, our author is running late. Is it OK if we start the second session later than planned?” one of the conference organizers asked me.

Of course I said yes.

And when she came to me again to explain that a communications snafu  had sent Ingrid Law to the wrong school, I was asked to present to the whole group. Of course I said yes.

Like most teachers, I am totally comfortable in front of a room full of kids. Not so for adults. I moved everything into the library and presented to the large group. I was a little nervous starting out, but was okay by the end, I think. I was maybe a little sweaty. I managed to fill the hour, and it was a good thing because although the video ran fine, the speakers didn’t work. In case you’d like to see the video, here it is.

 

One week down, one week to go

One week of vacation is over. I have one week to go. The first was full of Christmas and ice that saw me stuck at home for a few days.

I am doing a massive reread and note-taking of the Sibert award nominees that we will discuss in Denver in February, when we will make our final decision. You can watch that live HERE, on February 12, 2018 – 8:00 AM MT.

Although I have been busy with Sibert reading, I have become obsessed with the Great British Baking Show and  managed a few other books. I was iced in for a few days, after all.

I finished Last Christmas in Paris by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb

Publisher’s Summary: August 1914. England is at war. As Evie Elliott watches her brother, Will, and his best friend, Thomas Harding, depart for the front, she believes—as everyone does—that it will be over by Christmas, when the trio plan to celebrate the holiday among the romantic cafes of Paris.

But as history tells us, it all happened so differently…

Evie and Thomas experience a very different war. Frustrated by life as a privileged young lady, Evie longs to play a greater part in the conflict—but how?—and as Thomas struggles with the unimaginable realities of war he also faces personal battles back home where War Office regulations on press reporting cause trouble at his father’s newspaper business. Through their letters, Evie and Thomas share their greatest hopes and fears—and grow ever fonder from afar. Can love flourish amid the horror of the First World War, or will fate intervene?

Christmas 1968. With failing health, Thomas returns to Paris—a cherished packet of letters in hand—determined to lay to rest the ghosts of his past. But one final letter is waiting for him…

I had a good laugh at It’s Shoe Time by Bryan Collier.

Publisher’s Summary: 

Today is the day.
It’s time choose.
Which shoes will be right?
Which shoes will be left?!
It’s Shoe Time!

This hilarious beginning-reader by multi award-winning artist Bryan Collier turns the closet on its heel and redefines what it means to be a pair.

 

 

 

Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut is written by Derrick Barnes and illustrated by Gordon C. James.

Publisher’s Summary: The barbershop is where the magic happens. Boys go in as lumps of clay and, with princely robes draped around their shoulders, a dab of cool shaving cream on their foreheads, and a slow, steady cut, they become royalty. That crisp yet subtle line makes boys sharper, more visible, more aware of every great thing that could happen to them when they look good: lesser grades turn into As; girls take notice; even a mother’s hug gets a little tighter. Everyone notices.

A fresh cut

makes boys fly.

And, for young adults, I highly recommend A Short History of the Girl Next Door  by Jared Reck.

Publisher’s Summary: Matt Wainwright is constantly sabotaged by the overdramatic movie director in his head. He can’t tell his best friend, Tabby, how he really feels about her, he implodes on the JV basketball team, and the only place he feels normal is in Mr. Ellis’s English class, discussing the greatest fart scenes in literature and writing poems about pissed-off candy-cane lumberjacks.

If this were a movie, everything would work out perfectly. Tabby would discover that Matt’s madly in love with her, be overcome with emotion, and would fall into his arms. Maybe in the rain.

But that’s not how it works. Matt watches Tabby get swept away by senior basketball star and all-around great guy Liam Branson. Losing Tabby to Branson is bad enough, but screwing up and losing her as a friend is even worse.

After a tragic accident, Matt finds himself left on the sidelines, on the verge of spiraling out of control and losing everything that matters to him. From debut author Jared Reck comes a fiercely funny and heart-wrenching novel about love, longing, and what happens when life as you know it changes in an instant.

What have you been reading that you’d recommend?