{"id":45380,"date":"2025-07-03T23:10:31","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T03:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=45380"},"modified":"2025-07-03T23:12:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T03:12:04","slug":"day-1-ala-annual-conference-2025-in-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=45380","title":{"rendered":"Day 1 – ALA Annual Conference 2025 in Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The American Library Association Annual Conference this year was in Philadelphia, not too far away, so my library system paid for some of us to attend.<\/p>\n

I drove up the day before. It took longer than Google maps said it would, so I didn’t have time to register, but there was plenty of time on Friday. My hotel was right near Independence Hall, so first I visited Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. I hadn’t visited either one since 1991, when my family lived across the river in Burlington County, New Jersey.<\/p>\n

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Then I walked to the Convention Center (about a mile) and got registered. There was one session happening for a general library audience without needing a ticket or invitation – but the room was packed by the time I got there, so I made my way a little early to the Bloomsbury Tea at the Marriott.<\/p>\n

At the tea, I was delighted to find Kim, who’d been the chair of the Morris Award Committee I was on last year. Sandy, our administrative assistant, was also there, but she was seated at a different table. It makes me happy to see Library Friends at conferences and that I’ve made many such friends over the years.<\/p>\n

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Besides elegant food and tea, three stellar authors spoke at the tea. First up was Debbie Levy, author of A Dangerous Idea: The Scopes Trial, the Original Fight over Science in Schools.<\/em><\/p>\n

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She said that the story of that trial was an irresistible story because of how badly adults will behave when they want to keep teens in the dark.<\/p>\n

She found that the characters involved were full of nuance, all trying to do what is right from their perspective. But the world is rarely black and white.<\/p>\n

They used the same techniques as book banners use today, telling false narratives about those who were presenting Darwin’s work.<\/p>\n

It was about the rejection of facts because they make people uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

It has reverberations today. Those who are misinformed mean well. You *can* reach people with words.<\/p>\n

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Next up was Kate Messner, whose new book is The Trouble with Heroes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The book is about an angry middle school student grieving his father. And the day it came out, her own father went into the ICU.<\/p>\n

Parts of the book are sad, and parts are funny, because grief is like that.<\/p>\n

Written for readers who aren’t sure they’re readers. In verse to have that comforting white space.<\/p>\n

When her Dad died, she leaned on the words.<\/p>\n

Sometimes people seem like sort of a mess, when really they’re doing their best. Books are lifelines.<\/p>\n

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Then came Ren\u00e9e Watson, whose new book is All the Blues in the Sky<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We all bring our stories with us – our joys and our sorrows.<\/p>\n

She’s not writing books to escape, but books to help cope. Her books are the hug a child needs.<\/p>\n

Her character wants to be a pilot and is dealing with loss. The sky has layers.<\/p>\n

Grief is like hunger – we eat today, but we’ll still have hunger we need to satisfy. That’s the story of living – living with wounds and living to be healed.<\/p>\n

Our young people are experiencing sadness. I hope we do right by them and give them books that help them feel it all.<\/p>\n

After they spoke, attendees had a chance to have all three authors sign our copies of their books we’d been given. And after hearing the speeches, I’m super eager to read them!<\/p>\n

After the Bloomsbury Tea, I went back to the hotel to get my wheeled bag. (I have a doctor’s note. 14 years ago, I had a vertebral artery dissection that caused a stroke, and it’s not good for me to carry heavy things. My neck was hurting by the end of the day – so I’m glad I decided to go with wheels.)<\/p>\n

I was back in time for the opening session with Governor Whitmer. I honestly didn’t realize her interviewer was Emma McNamara from Capitol Choices – a local group of librarians I’m part of – until I saw the pictures later! (I was sitting way in back.)<\/p>\n

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Honestly, Governor Whitmer’s talk was on the fluffy side. She said that she read To Kill a Mockingbird<\/em> many times as a kid and it helped her find her passion in life for public service.<\/p>\n

Her book – which now has a YA edition with resources added – is about how she got through hard things. She was assaulted in college, and that gave her a mission to give survivors tools and encouragement – though it took her 25 years to find her voice.<\/p>\n

Be curious, not judgmental. Learn one another’s stories.<\/p>\n

She keeps a gratitude journal, even on the hardest days. Violence is the antithesis of what democracy is supposed to be. Humor is a good way to deal with a bully – take their weapon and make it your shield.<\/p>\n

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After the Opening Session, I spent time in the exhibits – first making sure to get a signed Advance Reader Copy of Sara Pennypacker’s new book, The Lions’ Run<\/em>. Other than that, I showed a lot of restraint! Now that advance reader copies get mailed to my office, it’s easier to resist free books.<\/p>\n

After the exhibits, I headed to the Philadelphia Free Library for the Printz Awards. That will get a post of its own, but here’s a picture of my goodies from the first day. Again, I feel I showed great restraint!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The American Library Association Annual Conference this year was in Philadelphia, not too far away, so my library system paid for some of us to attend. I drove up the day before. It took longer than Google maps said it would, so I didn’t have time to register, but there was plenty of time on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[419],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conf-corner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45380","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=45380"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45414,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45380\/revisions\/45414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}