Awards, Diversity, and Blizzards, Oh My! My ALA Midwinter Slice(s) of Life

Last night I returned home from the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting. The past few years I have watched the live webcast of the Youth Media Awards, but when I found out that this year's Midwinter would be in Chicago, a mere 4 hour drive from my house, I knew that I had to attend. For a rundown of my reactions to the winners, check out my post on my book blog:

ALA Youth Media Awards 2015: My Heart is So Full


This post is meant to chronicle the slices of life that happened during my four days in Chicago.

On Friday morning I packed my suitcase and as per usual, my pug Frank seemed to think he was going with me:


This was my first time taking the Amtrak train into Chicago, and despite getting in over an hour late, I still enjoyed the 4 hours of extra reading time from not having to drive there.

Once I arrived and checked in, I decided against going to the opening of the exhibit hall because I hadn't eaten anything since 10:00 Michigan time so I walked to my favorite place to eat in Chicago, Xoco. Full and happy from my dinner at Xoco, I walked over to the Fairmont for a cocktail party hosted by Walden Pond Press. It was so wonderful to finally meet Debbie Kovacs and Danielle Smith, along with getting the chance to talk to Jordan Brown and John David Anderson.

Me with Alyson Beecher and Danielle Smith at the WPP cocktail party

Late Friday evening and again on Saturday morning I heard rumblings of a snowstorm coming to Chicago beginning on Saturday night. To the point where many people were changing their travel plans and abandoning non-refundable night stays in their hotel rooms to beat the storm. I, however, was staying until Monday so I was planning on riding it out.

Not to let a blizzard dampen our spirits, I, along with my fellow Nerdy Book Club friends still sucked the marrow out of life and enjoyed every ounce of our ALA Midwinter experience.


I was especially grateful to all of the wonderful publishers who were willing to talk up their books and help me find just the right books for my 8th graders. As a result, this pile is only SOME of the titles I will be bringing home to share with my students:



If Saturday we were in denial of the impending storm, on Sunday we were in hunker down mode. Many people who were planning on leaving on Sunday and hadn't left early to beat the storm got stranded, and for the third year in a row, a snow storm fell upon ALA Midwinter celebrations, which left us wondering why ALA chooses to hold their midwinter meetings in wintery climes.


What do you do when there's a ‪‎blizzard‬ and the city's practically shut down and the only place to eat at the hotel is a steakhouse with $30-60 entrees? Hoof it to Whole Foods a block away, of course.

Blizzard Schmizzard!

And then came Monday, the day of the ALA Youth Media Award announcements. For a more detailed rundown of my reactions to the award winners, visit my book blog. Here instead are some photos to tell the story of yesterday morning.

Check out that insanely long line of children's literature lovers excited to hear the award announcements.


We are so happy to be here. The excitement is palpable.


And then the awards were announced. This was, by far, the best year to be present to hear the announcement of the Youth Media Awards. Screams, shrieks, tears, and standing ovations were the order of the day. 

Dan Santat's The Adventures of Beekle won the Caldecott medal. Here are some members of the Caldecott committee posing with their Beekle crowns, proudly displaying the new winner. 


We are all so happy for Cece Bell, who won a Newbery honor for El Deafo, which is the first ever graphic novel to be recognized as a Newbery honor. And in a twist of fate, both Cece and her husband Tom Angleberger were stranded in Chicago because of the weather and weren't supposed to be there the day of the award announcements. We are so happy she was there and that we were able to share this amazing, historic moment with her.


The outcry for more diversity in children's publishing earlier this year with #WeNeedDiverseBooks felt like a call to action, and I'm happy to see that the award committees this year responded. Let's make sure that diversity CONTINUES to be represented in these awards every year and not just because #WeNeedDiverseBooks brought it to fever pitch in 2014. Let's make sure the 2015 award season doesn't go down in history of the one and only year of diversity in children's literature awards.

So despite the fact that over a foot of snow was dumped on the Midwest this past weekend, it didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the book lovers that descended upon Chicago for such a historic event. I feel privileged to know I was there to be a part of it.

Slice of Life is brought to you by Two Writing Teachers

The Walter Dean Myers Award: Challenge your students to read diverse books

Earlier this spring, a movement began on social media. Frustrated with the lack of diversity in children's literature and the fact that the organizers of the inaugural BookCon in New York City deemed “the world’s biggest children’s authors” to be all white males, authors Melinda Lo and Ellen Oh expressed their frustration via social media and shortly thereafter a hashtag was born: #WeNeedDiverseBooks, which was first tweeted by author Aisha Saeed and began trending on April 29th of this year. It created ripples all over the world of social media.



From this single hashtag, a movement began and now #WeNeedDiverseBooks has transformed beyond simple passive social media activism into something more tangible. Not long after the hashtag went viral, We Need Diverse Books was established as a nonprofit organization, and in October it was announced that they have created a new award: The Walter Dean Myers Award, which "will recognize published authors from diverse backgrounds who celebrate diversity in their writing and '[allow] children to see themselves reflected back' in those works," (Publisher's Weekly).

The award is currently limited to young adult literature and winners will announced in 2015, but there are plans for adding middle grade and picture books to the award in the future.

In the wake of all the racial tension happening in our country right now, reading widely from diverse perspectives is more important than ever. As Matt de la Pena said recently in a panel at NCTE called Reshaping the Landscape of Story: Creating Space for Missing and Marginalized Voices, "The quickest way to create monsters in our inner cities is by never showing them mirrors of themselves in literature." We need to be giving kids positive portrayals of all cultural backgrounds, not just the voices of the privileged. As one contributor to the video above stated, "We need diverse books because they are the vehicles for empathy and empathy is the best weapon against hate."

So just like many teachers and librarians hold mock Newbery and Caldecott awards in their schools, I would encourage you to hold your own mock Walter Awards. Not only will this give your students an opportunity to read from a variety of cultural backgrounds, allowing them to not only look through windows but also into mirrors, it will also give teachers and librarians a chance to add more diverse books to their own classrooms and libraries.

Even though the Walter Award is starting in 2015 with only young adult literature, I would still encourage you to hold mock Walter Awards for middle grade and picture books as well. Encourage your students students to read from a variety of books with diverse characters and authors, and then create a ballot to vote for their favorites. Not sure how to dig in? Here is a list of 2014 titles to get you started. This is by no means an exhaustive list, mainly because my canon of diverse books needs to increase, and also because I don't know what the exact award criteria will be other than "published authors from diverse backgrounds who celebrate diversity in their writing,"  but it's a good place to start so you can seek out further titles. And please let me know what 2014 titles I should add to this list.


Young Adult
How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon
Fake ID by Lamar Giles
Promise of Shadows by Justina Ireland
Love is the Drug by Alaya Dawn Johnson
The Secret Sky by Atia Abawi
How I Discovered Poetry by Marilyn Nelson, illustrated by Hadley Hooper
Silver People: Voices from the Panama Canal by Margarita Engle
When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds
A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman
In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang
Everything Leads to You by Nina Lacour
Knockout Games by G. Neri
Pointe by Brandy Colbert
Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero
Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina by Michaela and Elaine DePrince
Dreaming in Indian: Contemporary Native American Voices, edited by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Leatherdale


Middle Grade
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
The Madman of Piney Woods by Christopher Paul Curtis
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney
The Great Greene Heist by Varian Johnson
El Deafo by Cece Bell
Secrets of the Terra-Cotta Soldier by Ying Chang Compestine and Vinson Compestine
Five, Six, Seven, Nate! by Tim Federle
The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond by Brenda Woods
Unstoppable Octobia May by Sharon G. Flake
The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang
Kinda Like Brothers by Coe Booth
Wrinkles Wallace: Fighters of Foreclosure by Marquin Parks


Picture Books
Firebird by Misty Copeland, illustrated by Christopher Myers
Viva Frida by Yuyi Morales
Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin by Chieri Uegaki, illustrated by Qin Leng
Rules of Summer by Shaun Tan
Green is a Chile Pepper by Roseanne Thong, illustrated by John Parra
The Hula-Hoopin'Queen by Thelma Lynne Godin, illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
I Got the Rhythm by Connie Schofield-Morrison, illustrated by Frank Morrison
Sweetest Kulu by Celina Kalluk,illustrated by Alexandria Neonakis
Little Melba and Her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown, illustrated by Frank Morrison
Ninja! by Aree Chung
Soccer Star by Mina Javaherbin, illustrated Renato Alarcao
Bravo, Chico Canta! Bravo! by Pat Mora and Libby Martinez, illustrated by Amelia Lau Carling
A Dance Like Starlight: One Ballerina's Dream by Kristy Dempsey, illustrated by Floyd Cooper
Twenty-Two Cents: Muhammad Yunus and the Village Bank by Paula Yoo, illustrated by Jamel Akib
All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom by Angela Johnson, illustrated by E.B. Lewis
Sugar Hill: Harlem's Historic Neighborhood by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie


In the interest of full-disclosure, book links take you to my Amazon Affiliate page. If you buy any of these books through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound.  

Cross-posted to my book blog, A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust