{"id":35067,"date":"2018-07-02T23:19:54","date_gmt":"2018-07-03T03:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=35067"},"modified":"2023-08-14T22:30:28","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T02:30:28","slug":"ala-annual-conference-2018-caldecott-newbery-legacy-banquet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=35067","title":{"rendered":"ALA Annual Conference 2018 – Caldecott\/Newbery\/Legacy Banquet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This year, I only attended the speeches at the Banquet. The day before, the Wilder Award got renamed the Children\u2019s Literature Legacy Award (effective immediately). The description of the award (and previous winners, including Laura Ingalls Wilder) stayed the same. (More on that later.) Here are my notes on the speeches.<\/p>\n

Caldecott Medal Winner, Matthew Cordell, for Wolf in the Snow<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Matthew Cordell began by saying that New Orleans is a personally significant city for him and represents our people and our country at its very best.<\/p>\n

He grew up and went to school wanting to do graphic design. It was meeting and marrying a children\u2019s librarian that got him started on children\u2019s books. He started noticing picture books, including William Steig and Quentin Blake.<\/p>\n

Adults are judgey and annoying, pretentious, jaded\u2026.
\nKids are scary but accepting, odd and funny.<\/p>\n

After illustrating his wife\u2019s book, he started writing and illustrating his own work. \u201cI subtly rip off the unbridled brilliance of my children daily.\u201d<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re feeling blue, it\u2019s effective to make pathetic passive-aggressive art. That\u2019s how the first image of a wolf came about.<\/p>\n

Then he read about wolves \u2013 they\u2019re not creepy, dark, or vicious. And they want nothing to do with people.<\/p>\n

He saw the story between wolves and people played out between people and other people.<\/p>\n

If we can bridge fear with kindness, we can change the world.<\/p>\n

Children need heroes \u2013 they need look no farther than schools and libraries.<\/p>\n

To his wife \u2013 \u201cThank you for leading our wolf pack to greatness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newbery Medal Winner, Erin Entrada Kelly, for Hello, Universe<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

First she told a story about her mother, who came to America to marry an American sailor. Erin didn\u2019t look like the other kids at school. \u201cWhat are you?\u201d they asked her. She didn\u2019t know how to answer.<\/p>\n

She learned to escape through books.<\/p>\n

The other thing that set her apart was her big dream: To get published. She wrapped it around her shoulders and it kept her warm.<\/p>\n

She writes books for her characters \u2013 and other kids like them.<\/p>\n

Her greatest wish is that her readers will feel less alone.<\/p>\n

Books are incredible \u2013 and Librarians help them find their way.<\/p>\n

We make dreams come true by putting books in the hands of kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce upon a time there was a little girl, and all her dreams came true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Children\u2019s Literature Legacy Award winner, Jacqueline Woodson<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Note: The name of this award was changed the day before from the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award. The description is still the same \u2013 for a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the ALSC page about the award.<\/a><\/p>\n

This sentence is significant: \u201cWhile we are committed to preserving access to Wilder\u2019s work for readers, we must also consider if her legacy today does justice to this particular award for lifetime achievement, given by an organization committed to all children.\u201d]<\/p>\n

On to the speech! Jacqueline Woodson did say that in view of the name change and the events of this week (news reports of children in cages), the speech we heard was significantly different than the one she wrote in advance, which got posted.<\/p>\n

She began with a poem from Rainer Maria Rillke. He was a writer of his time.<\/p>\n

What does it mean to be a writer of your time?<\/p>\n

We\u2019re showing who we truly are in this time. Writing shows our essence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a tough year. If we think not, we\u2019re in deep denial or on a hell of good medication.\u201d<\/p>\n

Art is what helps her get through. To escape, to laugh, to think.<\/p>\n

Every one of us has a right to safely move through this world. That\u2019s why she was asking, \u201cIsn\u2019t there a less controversial award they can give a sister?\u201d<\/p>\n

She wants to do the work that shines a light on the beauty of all people.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of us are writers. We\u2019re all re-writers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Writing has a complicated journey.<\/p>\n

May it remind us all of the work ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year, I only attended the speeches at the Banquet. The day before, the Wilder Award got renamed the Children\u2019s Literature Legacy Award (effective immediately). The description of the award (and previous winners, including Laura Ingalls Wilder) stayed the same. (More on that later.) Here are my notes on the speeches. Caldecott Medal Winner, Matthew […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,207,419],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-award-winners","category-conference-corner","category-conf-corner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42747,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35067\/revisions\/42747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}