ShareThisNeil Gaiman surveyed the audience of hundreds of librarians, publishers and other children's literature lovers and confided that winning the 2009 Newbery Medal for his novel "The Graveyard Book" had "made me cool to my children."
"That's as good as it gets," Gaiman said, adding: "It is a glorious, if improbable, thing to be cool to your children."
Gaiman's comments, which sparked laughter and applause, were just one of the highlights of the 2009 Newbery/Caldecott/Wilder banquet, the yearly celebration of the best of children's literature during the summer meeting of the American Library Association (ALA).
The banquet itself is the pinnacle of a series of awards ceremonies during the five-day ALA summer conference. The ceremonies celebrate the authors and illustrators who won one of the various children's literature awards sponsored by the ALA.
In my dual capacity as a children's book reviewer and children's/teen librarian, I attended the Newbery/Caldecott banquet and several children's literature award ceremonies at the recent ALA conference. Here are some vignettes from those ceremonies:
-- Without a doubt, Gaiman was the star of the "kid lit" world at the ALA conference. The 48-year-old Gaiman is a cool character who dresses mostly in black, "tweets" daily on "Twitter" and just exudes charisma.
In his speech, Gaiman addressed the controversy roiling the children's literature world about the Newbery Medal. Some critics contend that recent Newbery Medal winners (i.e. "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!" by Laura Amy Schlitz and "The Higher Power of Lucky" by Susan Patron) weren't good choices because they appealed to few children. Others argue, however, that spotlighting unusual books is an important role for the Newbery Medal.
Gaiman believes that such a debate is unnecessary. As he put it: "I was, and still am, on the side of books you love."
As he concluded, Gaiman won cheers from the librarians in the audience when he noted that, although he was a "feral child raised among the stacks,... libraries are not child-care facilities."
-- Following Gaiman at the banquet was Ashley Bryan, an 86-year-old author/illustrator of folktales who won the prestigious Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for his "substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children."
"My challenge is to find a way to keep the voice of oral traditions alive.... I hope my readers will feel they are hearing the storyteller," said Bryan, whose books include "Beautiful Blackbird" and "Sing To the Sun."
-- Beth Krommes, who won the 2009 Caldecott Medal for her illustrations in "The House In the Night," was the night's first speaker at the Newbery/Caldecott banquet.
The soft-spoken Krommes particularly thanked her children, saying they had opened her eyes to "the spectacular art in children's books" and inspired her to switch her artistic focus from graphic art to picture books.
-- Laurie Halse Anderson, who uses her stellar writing skills to tackle tough teen topics like anorexia and date rape, won this year's Margaret Edwards Award, which honors an author "for significant and lasting contributions to young adult literature."
Best know for her novels "Speak" and "Fever 1793," Anderson said that she writes teen, or young adult, fiction "because my nuclear family went into a nuclear melt-down" when she was a teenager. "One of the ugliest truths about adolescence is this: we have very little control over the bad things," Anderson said. "But there's also grace because you have total control over how you respond. That is the core of my work."
Anderson concluded by urging librarians to continue their work of helping young readers find the stories they need, adding: "If you pledge to do your part, I pledge to do mine."
-- M.T. Anderson won a Michael Printz Honor for the second volume of his work "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing." In accepting the young adult literature award, Anderson lashed out at those who believe teens aren't capable of reading complex books.
"Teenagers are not bland, banal...ciphers," Anderson said "In reality, teens ... are incredibly eccentric and deeply passionate about their interests.... Kids don't believe that thinking isn't fun until we tell them so."
-- Mo Willems' book, "Are You Ready To Play Outside?" won the top Theodor (cq) Seuss Geisel Award, given annually to the "most distinguished American book for beginning readers." Willems' book is part of his "Elephant and Piggy" series for beginning readers.
In accepting the award at a morning event crowded with cheering children's librarians, the ever-humorous Willems quipped: "It is seriously an honor to be honored with this honor."
(Karen MacPherson, the children's/teen librarian at the Takoma Park, Md., Library, can be reached at Kam.Macpherson(at)gmail.co
CHILDREN'S CORNER
