Hi All--
Back from ALA, having caught up on sleep but not e-mail yet. What a
whirlwind, made all the more memorable by being in New Orleans.
Every store and restaurant had posters saying: "Welcome librarians. Thank you
for coming to New Orleans." Everyone we met said the same thing. The cab
driver at the airport took a local route into town so my husband and I could see
the landscape of houses and businesses, most devastated, some rebuilt. Under
the highway underpasses were hundreds of destroyed cars, not yet cleared away.
Canal Street, where we stayed at the JW Marriott, was a combination of stores
and restaurants, some up and running, others shuttered. You could see roof
damage from our hotel room overlooking Canal Street.
People wanted to tell us their stories, too. The most harrowing was the cab
driver who told us he got separated from his wife and kids after the storm and
they didn't find each other again until NOVEMBER. And the store clerk in our
hotel who told me her mother, who has Alzheimer's was airlifted to a hospital
in Florida and didn't know her address. They were finally reunited.
Heartbreaking stories. And still they thanked us for being there and asked us if we
were
having a good time.
We went to the aquarium, just reopened, where thousands of the fish have been
donated by aquariums around the country. On a ride down the Mississippi
River, we encountered that other familiar species--librarians. The town was full of
them. Even without our badges hanging from our necks, we are easy to spot.
It was hot, but not unbearable--thanks to the Starbucks barrista who gave me
a big cup of ice which I carried everywhere and refilled often. We walked
through the French Quarter, which is so beautiful and historic. Lots of places
need work, but it's no less lovely. Wish I had had more time there, though I did
find some good presents in my brief bout of power shopping.
We ate well--at Bayona, the Palace Cafe, GW Finns, and, of course, the Cafe
du Monde (open 24 hours) for beignets (square doughnuts) and cafe au lait. Saw
famous authors and illustrators everywhere. Sharron McElmeel and I stopped for
lunch at the Palace Cafe and sat across from a barefoot Kate Di Camillo, legs
crossed on her chair. Saw Mo Willems, his adorable wife, Cheryl, and his
parents, including his dad who's a famous potter well known in New Orleans ("MUCH
better known around here than I am," said Mo), and, best of all, the
irrepressible and effervescent 5-year-old Trixie, star of Knuffle Bunny.
I had a nice autographing session at the Libraries Unlimited booth for The
Awful Book, my Books Kids Will Sit Still For 3, and some people actually bought
copies to tote home. At 900+ pages and 3 1/2 pounds, this is not a small
thing. (I carried a copy into New York City last month and that baby is dead
weight!) And I collected books, posters, catalogs, and the usual array of pens and
nifty objects which I somehow fit into our suitcases, much to my husband's
horror.
Went to watch the Notable Books committee discuss their list of best books
for 2006. Our own Lisa Von Drasek is on that committee, and she's so much fun to
listen to--so animated and funny and fearless in her defense of the books she
loves.
Went to a reception in the courtyard of Coleen Salley's (author of
Epossumondas and a queen of children's lit. in NO) adorable apartment in the French
Quarter. She has a door to her study which is covered with drawings and messages
from all the famous folks who have visited her--David Wiesner, Janet Stevens,
and my dying brain cells refuse to let me call up any other names, but there
were lots.
Sighed over lots of famous authors & illustrators and gushed like a
star-struck teen over Kevin Hawkes (love his new Library Lion), M. T. Anderson
(Whales
on Stilts was one of my favorite fiction books of 2005), Lane Smith (I wrote
the teacher's guide--not yet on the Hyperion website--for his John, Paul,
George and Ben, and he signed a poster for me. Way cool.), Kevin Henkes, and
Rosemary Wells.
Numbers were down at this conference. It seemed only half full--where was
everyone? But that made it more fun to go into the exhibits and talk with editors
and authors. No huge lines and masses of people. That means the publishers
lost money, so that was not good at all for them. If you've never been to an ALA
before, what are you waiting for? It's SO much fun!
The high point for me is always the Newbery-Caldecott dinner. 1,000
librarians, all dressed up, like the library Prom. I was at the Hyperion table
(because I did the teacher's guide for The Hello, Goodbye Window, which I saw for
the
first time at ALA and which will be on the Hyperion website soon, I
hope--it's just beautifully put together with 4-color illustrations from the book),
and
sat next to Mo Willems and his wife & his editor, which was great. During the
long introductory speech, Mo was fooling around making puppets out of our
nametags, turning them into little monster heads with the help of his brown
Sharpee marker. I'm betting I know what he was like in 3rd grade.
The speeches were terrific--you'll be able to read the texts in Horn Book in
a few months. Chris Raschka illustrated and Hyperion designed the very
striking programs, which opened up with die-cut windows, and there were small,
engraved Hoehner harmonicas as favors, which was great. There were 2 amazing parts
to Chris Raschka's speech. He talked about the lifechanging influence of one
person, and how that person had come to see him at a NYC bookstore where he went
to sign his then-new book, Charlie Parker Played BeBop. He talked about how
this woman asked him how he had written this wonderful book, and that she had
come to the store to see him read it.
So I was sitting there, listening, and I happened to glance over at Mo
Willems and the person sitting to his left, Karen Breen, who is the editor of
Kirkus
Reviews. I noticed her shoulders were shaking. Huh? Why is she crying? I
wondered. I mean, the story Chris was telling was very interesting, but I couldn't
figure out what was wrong with her. And then Chris said, "And the name of
that person is Karen Breen." Everyone gasped. Karen was wiping her eyes and
looking stunned. It was a pretty intense moment.
Afterwards, she said that she had been invited to sit at another publisher's
table, but Angus Killick at Hyperion insisted she sit at the Hyperion table
and she didn't know why. Angus knew, of course--he'd read the speech, as had the
other Hyperion folks. (The speeches are prerecorded and they give everyone at
the dinner a CD of them to keep.) And, of course, the minute he started
talking about that bookstore, she realized that he was talking about her. How
gracious of Raschka to acknowledge a librarian--and to credit her with jumpstarting
his career.
The next thing he did was pretty wonderful, too. At the dinner, it's the
illustrator who gets recognized, not the author. But Raschka called up Norton
Juster (author of my favorite fiction book of all times, The Phantom Tollbooth),
to play Oh, Susannah on the harmonica, just as he does in the book. And a
rousing rendition it was. Then Juster said, "There's an error in the book's text
we'd like to correct. It says, 'Poppy says he can play the song while drinking a
glass of waster at the same time, but I've never seen him do that.' What it
should say is, 'Poppy says he can play the song while THE ILLUSTRATOR drinks a
glass of water at the same time." And he launched into another chorus on the
harmonica while Raschka drank a glass of water. It was hilarious.
The final satisfying bit was flying back to NJ on the same plane as Walter
Dean Myers and his talented author-illustrator son, Chris, who sat in front of
me. Those two gracious and warm Jersey guys are SO tall. That little jet was
way too small for them.
Now I'm back home with deadlines and e-mail and regular life, but I sure am
glad I was able to carve out a little space to rub shoulders with so many of
those leading librarians and authors, editors, illustrators, and then some.
Judy Freeman
Children's Literature Consultant
Author of the forthcoming Books Kids Will Sit Still For 3
(Libraries Unlimited, 2005; www.lu.com/winners)
65 North Sixth Avenue
Highland Park, NJ 08904
732-572-5634 / BKWSSF@aol.com
<A HREF="http://www.judyreadsbooks.com/">www.JudyReadsBooks.com</A>
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