Conferences & Events

KidLitCon2017 was amazing!

Posted on November 15, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

I was thrilled to be a speaker at KidLitCon this year! I’d wanted to go to the conference for the last few years, but this year, I was determined to go because it was pretty local for me: Hershey, PA. Once I received the invitation to be on a panel about bloggers and building relationships with authors and publishers, I was in! The Con is run by an incredible group of bloggers that I’ve admired since I was in library school; I was thrilled at the chance to finally meet people like Pam, The Unconventional Librarian, Sheila Ruth, fellow Tolkien fan and Cybils organizer, and Charlotte, whose speculative fiction reviews and Timeslip Tuesdays are the goods. And that’s just the tip of the blogger iceberg. I’m unpacking my brain, so this will be largely pictorial, with little bits of commentary; it was two fantastic days of learning, making new friends, and discovering new books. Can’t ask for better than that, right?

I was so excited for the keynote speaker: DORK DIARIES and MISADVENTURES OF MAX CRUMBLY author Rachel Renee Russell! She is a wonderful speaker; inspirational and fun. Her daughter is coming out with a picture book next year – you read it here! – and she was so proud because it’s already listed on Amazon. Go, Mom! She said that the bloggers from the KidLitosphere were good to her when Dork Diaries first pubbed, and she’s never forgotten that. She was generous with her time, listening to everyone who had something to talk to her about at her signings. She also had adorable bookplates that she autographed, so I was able to snag a book for my son’s girlfriend’s younger sister. I’m also a rock star in my library, thanks to this picture.

Our panel was up first, so it was a relief and nerve-wracking, all at once. My fellow panelists were April Crews from Calico Kidz – a great blog dedicated to educational reading – and Marisa Nicole, a high school senior who started her blog, Marisa Nicole Reads, because she wants teens to read, and she’s going to be the one to tell them how amazing YA is. We talked about fostering relationships, as book bloggers, with publishers, publicists, and authors. I loved the idea of a KidLit “godfairy” that April put out there: a librarian (whoo hoo!), bookseller, someone who knows and loves books, knows what’s coming up, and can tell you what to look out for. Marisa discussed the power of social media; tagging authors and publishers in Instagram and Twitter posts, and urged bloggers to just contact authors and publishers that you don’t have a relationship with (yet).

So, little did I know that illustrator Floyd Cooper was sitting in on our panel. That’s a doodle he left when the panel was over. A doodle! I’ve just about mastered the 3-D cube as my go-to doodle. This is why he is the illustrator and I’m the lady shoving his books into kids’ hands. During his afternoon keynote, Floyd talked about his “erasing” artwork – he treats a board with paint, gets a stretchy eraser, and goes to work. He created a portrait as he spoke, showing us how he works. I was in the back, so I know it’s not that great a picture, but it should give you a bit of an idea of how genius his work is. He stood up and called this image forth, as he was speaking, with an eraser.

That moment when you meet CD Bell, whose books, Weregirl and Chimera, you’ve been getting emails about, and getting excited for, and all you can do is fangirl over her 2010 book, Little Blog on the Prairie. Thank goodness she was gregarious – and generous! She gave me copies to read, so I’ll be diving into them soon. Promise.

The astounding Pam Tuck, who gave a keynote that blew my mind. When she mentioned that she “only” had EIGHT CHILDREN when she started writing her first book, As Fast As Words Could Fly, I realized that “I’m so tired, my 5 year-old really tuckers me out” is probably something I should never, ever say again. She’s now the proud and lovely Mama of 11 kids, and I can’t wait to read her book, My Mother of Many. It’s out next year, so I’ll have to grumble and wait. She is one of the most genuinely kind people I’ve ever met.

I met so many great, funny, smart people with a passion for KidLit that it fired me up again. It made me excited to get back to my library and get more books in front of my kiddos, it made me excited to curl up with my own little one to read and read and read again, and it fired me up to keep blogging, keep finding books to talk about, and to blog better. By better, I mean to really, really read diversely; to find authors and illustrators that represent everyone in my library, my community, my world.

It wasn’t all KidLit. Being at Hershey was pretty amazing. They really do have chocolate EVERYWHERE, and it really does smell like chocolate when you’re walking around outside! While I was KidLit-ting, my Hubs and my Kiddo were enjoying touristy stuff at Hershey and Amish Country, but they made sure to make time for me when I was done with the conference for the day, and took me back to Hershey World, where we went on the World of Chocolate ride and wandered around the ginormous Hershey store. All in all, it was a fun little getaway for two of my favorite guys, and a fun getaway for me. I’m already looking forward to next year.

Conferences & Events

Book Expo ’17: The Rundown

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The past couple of weeks have been a bit of a blur: I started at my new library (still in the same library system, new community), went to BookExpo, spent four days getting our library, which had been closed for renovations, ready for reopening, and sadly, dealing with the loss of a friend. The next week and a half brings three graduations and the start of Summer Reading. I will be drinking a lot of coffee.

It’s about two weeks in the past, but this year’s BookExpo America deserves some love. Here are some highlights:

The children’s author dinner at the Princeton Club was wonderful. The author lineup was fantastic: Byron Pitts (Be the One: Six True Stories of Teens Overcoming Hardship with Hope); Tochi Onyebuchi (Beasts Made of Night); Mitali Perkins (You Bring the Distant Near); author and illustrator husband and wife powerhouse Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome (Before She Was Harriet), Dusti Bowling (Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus), and Mo Willems (Welcome). Each author (and illustrator) spoke about their books, and the publishers were kind enough to provide tote bags and copies of each book, which the authors graciously signed after their panel.

Every author and illustrator spoke with such passion about their book; I wanted to go home and read them all in one night. They’re currently waiting for me to get to them – more to come. Mo Willems taught us how to draw Piggie, from Elephant and Piggie, and I even found the power of speech to speak with him about the power of using the Pigeon when running a storytime workshop for parents a couple of years ago. What an evening.

Getting to sit in on Holly Black and Ryan Graudin’s talk about their upcoming books, The Cruel Prince (Holly Black) and Invictus (Ryan Graudin). Ryan Graudin talked about the influence of her Doctor Who fandom in writing this new novel, which shot it immediately up on my TBR. Holly Black could write the ingredients on a box of toothpaste, and I’d wait in line to read it. Both ladies were funny – Holly Black discussing her deadlines was laugh-out-loud hilarious – and engaging, and I’m thrilled that I got to see them.

The signings! So many book signings! I tried to make as many as I could. There were tons of in-booth signings as well as the ticketed signings, making authors really accessible to everyone.
Discovering new books by smaller presses. I love to discover what the smaller and indie presses are putting out there.
Getting a shout-out from Gabrielle Union when she made an obscure DC Comics character reference and I whooped. Come on, when someone makes a Mr. Mxyzptlk reference, you acknowledge that. She appeared on a grown-up book panel (I know! I even got big girl books!) along with Kate Moore (Radium Girls), Zoe Quinn, who tackles GamerGate and cyberstalking and cyberbullying in Crash Override, librarian extraordinaire Nancy Pearl, who’s written her first novel, George and Lizzie, Gabrielle Zevin (Young Jane Young), and Robin Sloan (Sourdough).

All in all, it was a good Expo.

My first ALA Midwinter!

Posted on January 25, 2017January 25, 2017 by Rosemary Kiladitis

I attended my first ALA Midwinter this past weekend, and weather be damned, I had a great time. I wasn’t on any committees this time, but I was one of ALSC’s live bloggers, attended some great events, sent home an insane amount of ARCs, and, the most exciting event for me, attended the Youth Media Awards.

First things first: ALA is HUGE. The Georgia World Congress Center is tremendous. I’m a New Yorker, I’ve been to BookExpo and New York ComicCon at the Javits Center, but the Georgia World Congress Center is even bigger. I felt like I was a librarian Dora the Explorer, heading off with my tote bag, rather than my backpack, exploring the terrain. Thankfully, I didn’t have to worry about a snarky fox stealing my swag, and I was surrounded by pretty amazing librarians and their families. There were kids galore at the conference, which made me happy: let’s get the kids excited about what we do! Bring the next generation in!

Contemplating the big questions at the Penguin Random House booth

Let’s talk about the ARCs. Advance Reader Copies. I thought I brought home books from PLA last year, but no. I sent home a LOT of boxes – thanks for having the Post Office on site, ALA and USPS! – and a tube, because there are posters that I have the bulletin board space for (and a really cool Dragonwatch poster from Shadow Mountain) and can’t wait to show off to the kiddos here. I can’t wait to dive into these beauties and start reading and reviewing; some of the books I took home included the sequel to Joshua Khan’s Shadow Magic, Dream Magic; a new Gum Girl adventure, called Gum Luck; an Animal Planet intermediate fiction series, and the Shannon Hale/LeUyen Pham collaboration, Real Friends. There is so much great intermediate series fiction and middle grade fiction coming out!

There were several maker events, and that’s right up my alley. One of my favorites was the DK maker event promoting their new book, Out of the Box. It’s filled with cardboard engineering projects. Projects that you can make using cardboard! I’m a librarian, I’m surrounded by boxes all day long, I got this! We each received a tote bag, and sat at tables with toilet paper rolls, paint pens, scissors, and instructions on making our own cardboard tube owls. My fellow make-brarians and I had a blast, laughing, talking, and trying to make our owls look like… well, owls.

I call this “myth vs. reality”.

A Scholastic literary event spotlighted some upcoming middle grade fiction. In Gordon Korman’s newest book, Restart, we meet a bully who’s lost his memory; Natasha Tarpley’s novel, Harlem Charade, blends mystery and art, starring a protagonist trying to solve the mystery of who attacked his grandfather, and Madelyn Rosenberg and Wendy Wan-Long Shang collaborated on This is Just a Test, which takes an often hilarious look at a Chinese-American Jewish boy in the early 1980s, who’s worried about nuclear war and his two warring grandmothers.

Each author spoke briefly, introducing themselves, their books, and what led him or her to write these stories. In a fun departure from the usual author readings, the authors engaged one another by turning their excerpts into a brief radioplay, where each participant took on a character role to act out the story. Scholastic was also kind enough to give us a tote bag full of books – the books spotlighted at the reading, and new selections from Emma Donohue, Kathryn Lasky, Lamar Giles, and Amy Sarig King.

I wanted so badly to meet John Lewis. I’ve been a fan of his since I read March: Book One several years ago, and was hoping upon hope that I could get to shake his hand. It wasn’t to be, sadly; the line to meet him stretched around the exhibit hall, and I chickened out. There will be another time, I hope.

Finally, the big time: the ALA Youth Media Awards. The biggies. The Caldecott, the Newbery, the Printz, all the big ALA awards for children’s and teen books happen here. It was such an experience, being in the room with other librarians and book lovers, celebrating the authors who have created memorable characters, told incredible stories. When John Lewis’ March: Book Three received an unprecedented FOUR AWARDS, we almost took the roof off of the Center! People were hugging, cheering, crying… it was an unforgettable moment, and I’m so grateful that I was there to enjoy it. You can find the full list of Youth Media Award winners here.

My first ALA was a heck of a great time. I’m not sure I’ll make it to ALA Annual this year, but there’s always next year. Lord knows I’ll be reading ARCs until then!

I’ve Storified my ALA Midwinter pictures here, if you want to see more.