Library of Congress – Mom Read It

The Library of Congress’s National Book Festival starts in two days! Are you ready? This year, the LOC invited blog subscribers to be Festival Ambassadors, so here I am, talking to you, about attending.

What’s good this year, you ask? SO MUCH, I answer. The expanded Festival has videos on demand, author conversations in real time, and live Q&A sessions. There’s a new NPR podcast series, live virtual events with the Washington Post, and a PBS special hosted by LeVar Burton (with Librarian of Congress rock star Carla Hayden)! Featured authors this year? How do Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Angie Thomas, Michael J. Fox, Jason Reynolds, Martha Wells sound for a start?

I can’t wait for the Spider-Man Origin Story in Art and Comic Books, happening online on 9/23 and the live Q&A with The Magic Fish author and illustrator, Trung Le Nguyen on the 25th. Derrick Barnes is going to be talking about I Am Every Good Thing, and Dan Gutman will be chatting about Houdini and Me on the 26th. There’s something for everyone over the next 10 days!

Check out the Schedule At A Glance right here, and print out a copy of this little game to play online with the LOC and your friends.

Handy-dandy links to bookmark and follow:

National Book Festival Website: loc.gov/bookfest

National Book Festival blog: https://blogs.loc.gov/national-book-festival/

Library of Congress Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/librarycongress/

Library of Congress Twitter: https://twitter.com/librarycongress

Events at the Library of Congress Twitter: https://twitter.com/events_loc

Carla Hayden’s Librarian of Congress Twitter: https://twitter.com/libnofcongress

Library of Congress Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/libraryofcongress

Library of Congress on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/loc

Start planning!

Exciting news in the book and graphic novel world today: Gene Luen Yang has been named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature! If you haven’t had a chance to read any of Yang’s work, now would be a great time. I’m a huge fan of American-Born Chinese, and his newest series, Secret Coders – I’m using it to get the kids in my library psyched about coding, with great success. Boxers and Saints was the first graphic novel to be a National Book Award Finalist, and American Born Chinese was the first graphic novel to win a Printz Award, so this is a perfect appointment. Mr. Yang is the first graphic novelist to be representing the whole children’s and young adult industry as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature!

I’m always excited to see graphic novels get more attention – okay, more positive attention – in the media. They’ve taken their knocks over the years, and it’s exciting to see parents and educators alike getting on board with comics and graphic novels as a great storytelling and literacy medium.

The inauguration ceremony, presided by acting Librarian of Congress David S. Mao and featuring both Ms. Yang and National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Emeritus, author Kate DiCamillo, will take place on Thursday, January 7 at 11 a.m. in room LJ-119 of the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington D.C. The event is open to the public; no tickets are required. I’d love to be there, but there’s no way I can make it. If anyone is able to go, take picture! Send links!

Congrats again to Mr. Yang – and check out the Secret Coders website for awesome coding printables and activities for the kids (and you know you want to learn, too)!

Tag: Library of Congress

The Library of Congress National Book Festival starts THIS FRIDAY!

Huge Congrats to Gene Luen Yang!