Chicago 2005 - and the ALA convention was an intense four days. Jeni Reeves and I drove into Chicago on Saturday morning. We arrived just in time for me to attend the Margaret A. Edwards Award Luncheon. The recipient of this year's award was Francesca Lia Block. For more information about Block and her work visit the award page on the ALA site.
Later that night Boyds Mills Press hosted a dinner in honor of the wonderfully talented Marilyn Nelson. Her poetic Fortune's Bones is unsurpassed in brillance. She also produced A Wreath for Emmett Till another marvelous title that she developed at the suggestion of the talented editor, Andrea Davis Pinkney. As usual the Newbery/Caldecott Dinner was superb not only for the food but for the stars that were honored and others that attended. My friend E.B. Lewis was honored with a Caldecott honor award for Jacqueline Woodson's Coming on Home Soon-- Kevin Henkes was given the 2005 Caldecott Award for his Kitten's First Full Moon. Locate all about the awards on the ALA site. The Newbery Award went to Cynthia Kadohata for Kira-Kira. I can never figure out why anyone would give an award to an author who has the chief protagonists LEAVING Iowa. The family might have been better off IN Iowa. Can't say that I am not prejudiced. I'm on a personal mission to promote Iowa and really am rallying for a positive image of Iowa in all books but recently authors have turned their backs on Iowa -- figuratively at least. If authors want some fun facts about Iowa they might visit our Iowa Facts page on our Blue Button Gifts site -- gifts with an Iowa connection (if only by a thread).
Learn more about the Newbery Award here.
On Monday morning a few of us literary friends got together for breakfast at the Sheraton Hotel. Click here and you can see our picture.
More from ALA in a day or two.
Sharron
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