The 2020 Newbery Award Committee

I now present to you, the 2020 Newbery Award Committee!

For the past year and a half, I’ve committed myself to serving on the American Library Association’s, Newbery Award Committee. Each year, committee members are charged with selecting the very best in children’s literature.  It was a privilege to be on this committee and I was so proud to have served with such a distinguished, insightful, experienced and a professional group of librarians. Together we debated, listened, drew on our expertise and laughed. 

Our combined expertise in children’s and young adult literature was mighty powerful. Together we named the top books in children’s literature for 2020 (see the pictures). This hard work will go down in history impacting children for years to come. That alone makes me shed tears of joy!  I’ve learned SO much from Krishna, Karen, Mary, Jenna, Julia, Soraya, Dr. Alpha, Dr. Petros (I will be Dr. one day!) Beatriz, Deanna, Christopher, Sandy, Eileen and my cool dude Dennis (we had some good laughs)! It was a wonderful experience working with these professionals and a moment in my life I will never forget.

Easy Like Sunday Morning...Twitter Threads

Sharing some very early morning musings I shared on Twitter recently.  The following is a collection of frustrations school librarians often experience.  While some reflect first hand experiences, others are those from some of my peers within the field.  School librarians are still logging onto Twitter, viewing the thread and have been in 'amen corner.'  It's amazing how simple musings can spark discussion. 

School librarians often take these frustrations on the chin and work around these challenges.  It is when we convene together in meetings or private forums online do we share some of our inner most feelings.  Keep in mind, we are the only people within our buildings that have this unique experience and do not have a co-teacher who would totally understand what we are experiencing.  No one's challenges supersedes another within K-12 education,  ALL OF US STRUGGLE!   The goal of my tweets and this post is to provide a little window into the life of a school librarian.  #SchoolLibrarianStruggleBus