Friday, January 15, 2016

Celebrate all the things

There are so many things to celebrate this week.

The first of which is that a picture book won the Newbery award! And it wasn't just any picture book. It was Matt de la Pena's picture book. Matt is one of the most amiable, generous, likable writers in the children's literature world so the fact that Last Stop on Market Street is a Newbery-winning book now, just makes my heart happy.  Matt co-hosted our Banned Books Week #nctechat back in September with current ALAN president Jennifer Buehler, so I had the opportunity to work with him on planning that chat and I can attest to what a committed and giving person he is despite his busy schedule. To see such a prestigious award granted to such a deserving person, I tip my hat to the Newbery committee. I love that we are changing and evolving in our understanding of what literacy is, what is literary, and what it means to be distinguished.

This is probably my favorite Tweet from the reactions of the day:

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Back in October, I wrote a post about the need for change. That as much as I love that my husband and I have made a beautiful home in our condo, I am ready to move into a house of our own in a town that we love -- Ann Arbor, Michigan. The deal was that I had to finish grad school first.

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. I graduated on December 19th. We were already meeting with a realtor on December 23rd. On January 2nd we went and looked at four houses. We fell in love with the first one we saw. On January 4th we put in an offer. It was accepted. We're closing at the end of February.
I said my One Little Word for 2016 was Do. I wasn't messing around.

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I let my students listen to music when they're writing at the computer because for some it genuinely helps them concentrate (it totally distracts me, but to each his own). One of my students was listening to music Old School style this week. It totally cracked me up. I love when students do things to amuse me.

7 comments:

  1. Beth, congratulations on your move. It is exciting being a first time home owner. You were right choosing Do as your OLW. My daughter is looking to purchase her first home so I am going to tell her about your rapid approach to home buying. Your house looks lovely. Enjoy it. I submitted a roundtable proposal for NCTE 16 so I hope my team is accepted so that I can chat with you F2F again.

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  2. Congrats on your home purchase! Wondering where else DO will take you this year . . .

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  3. Congratulations on your new home! I didn't see that Tweet about Last Stop on Market Street. That's awesome!

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  4. Wow, you really did use "DO" right away. Congratulations on finding a house you love. It looks wonderful, Beth. Exciting times! I too loved that Matt de la Pena won the Newbery for this book, a favorite of mine all year.

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  5. I can't wait to see where you put the piano in the new house :) Thanks for sharing a picture!
    Congrats on getting right to your OLW - Do!

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  6. I love that tweet! Congrats on the house. We just found a walkman as we were cleaning the house and discarding many things. That old school music makes me smile. :)

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  7. Congratulations on your new home!! What a journey!!! And that walkman...I LOVE it!!! Wish I still had mine and some old cassette tapes. Keep celebrating and keep DOing!!!

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