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Another year, another successful ALA annual! We were so excited to be in San Francisco this year, especially in light of the recent SCOTUS ruling on gay marriage! What better city to be in than the one that elected Harvey Milk to public office and issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2004, kickstarting a fight for LGBTQ marriage rights in California?

We started off the conference with some great news: Foreword Reviews named us Indie Publisher of the Year 2014! We were thrilled and humbled by this honor. You can see what they said about us here.

We had a full signing schedule, including award-winning authors and illustrators, and a couple of debut authors. Another highlight was getting to meet many of our Children’s Book Press authors and illustrators who are based in California. We’ve often only emailed back and forth with them, so it was nice to finally meet in person!

We were also excited to see Frank Morrison honored at the Coretta Scott King breakfast for his illustrations in Little Melba and Her Big Trombone! He wrote a moving speech about breaking out of the mold, as Melba did:

I was dazzled by this six year old [Melba] hearing the rhythm and beats in her head. I believe this is true for all artists. First you have to have the love, then passion, next discipline, tenacity, and bravery. I truly believe this is what took Melba from performing on the steps with her grandfather in front of a dog at seven years old to performing in front of thousands on stages around the world. Let’s all encourage our youth to recognized their gifts and if they don’t fit the cookie cutter,

Break! The! Mold!

Publisher Jason Low participated in an Ignite Session with a presentation called “Diversity’s Action Plan,” a five minute talk packed with big ideas about how to create change in the publishing industry. If you missed it, you can watch all 5 minutes right here:

One key takeaway: we’re asking people to sign a petition for publishers to participate in our Diversity Baseline Survey, which will measure staff diversity in the publishing industry and give us a benchmark for improvement. If you haven’t signed yet, please take a minute to do so. We’ve now surpassed 1,500 signatures!

Valynne E. Maetani, debut author and winner of Tu Book‘s New Visions Award, was at the Pop Top stage to talk about her new YA mystery novel, Ink and Ashes. Afterwards, she signed books at our booth, and completely sold out!

It was a lot of fun to meet everyone and enjoy San Francisco, and we’re looking forward to Orlando next year!

What were your ALA highlights? Let us know in the comments!

ALA is just around the corner and we would love to meet you! We’ll be in the North Exhibit Hall at Booth #1020!

See below for our signing schedule as well as a few other events we’ll be participating in:

Join LEE & LOW BOOKS publisher Jason Low for a quick-as-lightning Ignite Session: “Diversity’s Action Plan.” This will be a short talk packed with big ideas about how to create change in the publishing industry. Join us on Saturday, June 27^th at the Moscone Convention Center from 11: 30 AM – 12:00 PM in room 130N.

SIGNINGS AT BOOTH #1020

You can also download a printable PDF of our schedule here.

PANELS

Join LEE & LOW authors at the following panels:

Hope to see you there!

Today we’re bringing you our monthly roundup of cool youth media and marketing events you or colleagues from your company may want to attend. If your company hosts an event relevant to the youth media or marketing space that you’d... Read the rest of this post

The Overlook Press was excited to be a first-time exhibitor at this year's ALA Annual Conference in Washington, DC. 13,000 librarians in a huge conference center in our nation's capital--what's not to love?

We were excited to have Robert L. Forbes, author of Let's Have a Bite! A Banquet of Beastly Rhymes there with us, signing copies of his new book for the show's resident rock stars--children's librarians.

If you follow us on Twitter (@overlookpress!) you've already seen lots of our pictures from ALA, but here are a few for you to enjoy that are slightly higher quality than those taken on a BlackBerry.

Thanks again, ALA, for a fantastic event!

The publicity team is off to Washington, D.C. starting tomorrow for the ALA Annual Conference. It's our first time at this event, but it sounds like 13,000 librarians can't be wrong!

We'll also have Robert Forbes with us signing a few advance copies of his upcoming book, Let's Have a Bite! A Banquet of Beastly Rhymes.

Look for us at Booth #3965 starting tomorrow! And to get you even more excited for all things library related, check out the Dewey Decimators Drill Team. Times like this are when we're so grateful that YouTube exists! (via The Book Lady's Blog)



Tips? Advice? Comments? Leave them below!

Well, it's been an exciting couple of days at the American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting. What have I done? Only rubbed shoulders with librarians, writers, publishers, and bloggers. Only collected  about 3 dozen ARCS by the likes of Mitali Perkins, Karen Cushman, Neil Shusterman, Jarrett Krosoczka, Melissa Marr, Kathryn Laskey, Alice Hoffman, and M.T. Anderson. Oh, and did I mention

The Americas Regional Council is in full swing here in Boston. Roy just posted a photo of the session, and you can follow his tweets (@rtennant) for bite-size snippets of the discussion. There will be video of the session available after ALA MW for everyone on the OCLC Web site.

Simultaneously gearing up for the Symposium this afternoon at the Westin Boston Waterfront, Grand Ballroom A/B. The discussion this time is about building influence. Here's the description:

OCLC Symposium: On the Radar: How Libraries and Other Nonprofits Can Increase Their Influence
Gaining attention and funding among nonprofit and community entities has never been more critical. Join OCLC and Michael Brown, CEO & Co-Founder of City Year, for a discussion of this vital topic. How can libraries build influence in their communities to improve sustainability? What groups see your library as a vital and essential resource for their success and survival? Building effective partnerships is essential to instilling a sense of urgency when questions of support arise. Michael’s experience in developing and growing an entrepreneurial nonprofit will bring a valuable perspective to this discussion. Loretta Parham, CEO/Director of the Robert W. Woodruff Library at the Atlanta University Center, will moderate the session and provide her thoughts on building influence from within the academic library setting.

For more than 20 years, I have read and promoted winners of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards, and after reading the last word of each extraordinary title, I close the book, look at the cover, and think to myself, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be on the Coretta Scott King (CSK) jury and choose the winning titles?” My opportunity of a lifetime came in January 2008 when I was notified by the chair of the CSK Book Awards Committee that I had been elected to serve on the 2009 jury. I was floored, but the feeling was amazing.

Amazement turned into excitement as the first titles to be considered for awards arrived in February. Weekly, one or more titles would arrive, and I was simply awed by the quality and array of works being published thanks to such talented writers and illustrators. As months passed and more and more books arrived (one week, I received twelve YA novels within three days) excitement morphed into concern. When am I going to find time to evaluate and review all of these books? How will the jury ever choose winners from this wide range of titles? The more I read, the more I realized how easy exceptional works of literature are distinguishable from “good reads.” By December, more than 100 titles had been reviewed and evaluated, and at the close of the nomination period, 40 titles remained on the jury’s consideration list for 2009 CSK Book Awards.

Closed jury deliberations began at 1 pm on Friday, January 23, 2009. As we introduced ourselves and shared our passions for children’s literature, feelings of amazement, excitement, and concern were joined by anxiety. Seven jurors with varied literary backgrounds from across the United States have fifteen hours to select three awards from forty titles – is it possible? Combine a well-organized and experienced jury chair, six knowledgeable jurors with a unified purpose, and a clear set of selection criteria, and the answer is yes! As each of the forty titles was brought to the table for discussion, we kept several essential questions in mind: Is the work outstanding? Does it inspire and educate readers? Will it honor the legacy of Mrs. Coretta Scott King? Titles receiving positive responses to all three of these questions remained on the table. Late Saturday night, when all discussions had ceased, final votes were cast and tabulated, and winning seals were affixed to book jackets, I went back to my hotel room exhausted, but confident that the best books nominated for the 2009 CSK awards had been selected.

The Youth Media Awards Press Conference was held on Monday, January 26th – what a rousing way to celebrate a year’s worth of comprehensive reading and fifteen hours of intense deliberations. The jury members called the award winning authors and illustrators to congratulate them prior to the international announcement. Each jury member was given the opportunity to call an award winner. Most were successful, but unfortunately, I was unable to reach my assigned winner – the telephone numbers listed on the contact sheet were either disconnected or temporarily out of service. Unbeknown to me, my moment of disbelief was caught on film.

The official press conference began at 7:45 am. As the procession, representing jury members of all the children’s award committees, was led down a staircase into the grand ballroom, the moment was reminiscent of Oscar night. The media, librarians, publishers, and others lined both sides of the staircase waving, applauding, taking pictures, and shaking hands, when possible. Many whispered, “Congratulations,” in my ear while others murmured, “Come on, tell me who won the award.”

Without a doubt, serving on the jury of the 2009 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee was the highlight of my professional career, and it was hard to believe there were more thrills ahead. Award winning authors and illustrators were honored today, July 14, 2009, at the annual CSK Awards Breakfast during ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. In addition to recognizing the 2009 award recipients, CSK celebrates its 40th anniversary, a monumental milestone sure to be treasured by all attendees. To learn more about the awards breakfast or view highlights from the press conference, visit the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee website.

--Alan R. Bailey


Editor's note: Alan R. Bailey, Assistant Professor & Education Curriculum Librarian at J.Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, can be reached at [email protected]. We are grateful to him for sharing his experiences with us.

Meet the Authors
Capstone Author Signings at ALA 2009!
Booth 2040

Meet graphic novelist and bestselling author Donald Lemke! He will be signing copies of his popular Stone Arch Books titles Zinc Alloy vs. Frankenstein and the 2008 Junior Library Guild Premier Selection Captured off Guard: The Attack on Pearl Harbor, in addition to Investigating the Scientific Method with Max Axiom from Captone Press. See him at the booth during the following signing sessions:
Saturday: 3:00 p.m.—4:00 p.m
Sunday: 11:00 a.m.—12:00 p.m.

Interested in engaging your reluctant readers? Meet Anastasia Suen, prolific blogger and author of more than 100 books for children. She will be signing Picture Window Books' The US Supreme Court (featured in the conference session Nonfiction Book Blast: Booktalks for Reluctant Readers) and the brand new Stone Arch Readers series Robot and Rico. Anastasia's available at the following times:
Sunday: 1:00 p.m.—2:00 p.m.
Monday: 11:00 a.m.—12:00 p.m.

(Click on event name for more information)

Exhibition of Prize-Winning Works of 16th Noma Concours (2008) “Palette of Dream Colours IV”~ ongoing until Jul 5, Tokyo, Japan

The Nye Memorial Children’s Literature Tour of the Ukraine~ ongoing until Jul 10, Ukraine

READ!Singapore 2009 - Dreaming A Good Read~ ongoing until Aug 31, Singapore

Enchanted Worlds - Art of Fairy Stories & Mermaid Tales exhibition~ ongoing until Sep 5, Lancashire, United Kingdom

Picture Perfect: Art from Caldecott Award Books, 2006-2009~ ongoing until Nov 8, 2010, Chicago, IL, USA

Exhibition - Drawings from the Heart: Tomie de Paola Turns 75 ~ Jul 3 - Nov 1, Amherst, MA, USA

Kids and Young Adult Literature Festival~ Jul 4 - 5, Rozelle, Australia

West Cork Literary Festival~ Jul 5 - 11, Bantry, Ireland

NAIDOC Week~ Jul 5 - 12, Australia

Asterisks and Obelisks: Classical Receptions in Children’s Literature~ Jul 6 - 10, Lampeter, United Kingdom

Worlds in Dialogue Conference~ Jul 8 - 11, Potchefstroom, South Africa

Storytellers of Canada Annual Conference~ Jul 8 - 12, Victoria, BC, Canada

SCBWI British Isles Hosts an Evening with Tamarind Books Founder Verna Wilkins~ Jul 9, London, United Kingdom

Tokyo International Book Fair~ Jul 9 - 12, Tokyo, Japan

American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference~ Jul 9 - 15, Chicago, IL, USA

Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Program and Meeting Schedule at the ALA Annual Conference~ Jul 9 - 15, Chicago, IL, USA

Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Program and Meeting Schedule at the ALA Annual Conference~ July 9 - 15, Chicago, IL, USA

National Conference for Teachers of English and Literacy~ Jul 9 - 12, Hobart, Australia

SHCY Biennial Conference: Children and Youth at Risk and Taking Risks: Historical Inquiries in International Perspective~ Jul 10-12, Berkeley, CA, USA

The 45th UKLA International Conference Making Connections: Building Literate Communities in and Beyond Classrooms~ Jul 10 - 12, London, United Kingdom

USBBY/YALSA Present Mixing it Up: The Process of Bringing International Children’s Books to the US~ Jul 11, Chicago, IL, USA

Creative Exchange: The Bologna Experience with Ayano Imai, Kiyo Tanaka and Shimako Okamura~ Jul 11, Tokyo, Japan

2009 Bologna Illustrators Exhibition of Children’s Books~ Jul 11 - Aug 16, Tokyo, Japan

Children’s Books Ireland Wild About Books Day~ Jul 12, Dublin, Ireland

10th Annual Pacific Northwest Children’s Book Conference~ Jul 13 - 17, Portland, OR, USA

20th Annual Children’s Book Fair~ Jul 13 - Aug 1, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Voices on the Coast, A Youth Literature Festival~ Jul 14 - 18, Sunshine Coast, Australia

2nd National Conference on Children’s Literature~ Jul 16 - 17, Diliman, Philippines

Harlem Book Fair~ Jul 17 - 19, Harlem, NY, USA

18th Storytelling Festival at the Edge~ Jul 17 - 19, Stokes Barn, United Kingdom

16th European Conference on Reading and 1st Ibero-American Forum on Literacies: Discovering Worlds of Literacy~ Jul 19 - 22, Braga, Portugal

Racial Harmony Day~ Jul 21, Singapore

20th Annual Hong Kong Book Fair~ Jul 22 - 28, Hong Kong

Lima International Book Fair~ Jul 23 - Aug 5, Lima, Peru

Montana Poetry Day~ Jul 24, New Zealand

Their Magical Years: a National Workshop on Early Childhood Learning and Development~ Jul 27 - 31, New Delhi, India

Latin American Regional Conference/Congreso Latinoamericano~ Jul 30 - Aug 1, Lima, Peru

Lee & Low Books, an independent children’s book publisher focused on diversity, will be taking part in the upcoming American Library Association Annual Conference, July 9 - 15 in Chicago, IL. Attendees are invited to Lee & Low’s Booth 2260 for book signings by authors Christine Taylor-Butler, Lulu Delacre, W. Nikola-Lisa, Janet Halfmann, Eloise Greenfield, R. Gregory Christie, and Shadra Strickland. Lee & Low will also be giving away bookmarks, posters, and more! See the complete signing schedule here.

So I had a fun-filled Saturday today. It was a WorldCat-filled day, seems like.
I started out at the WorldCat Local meeting at 9 this morning. Went to the booth, collected literature. Trucked to the Hyatt for the WorldCat.org meeting. Very good questions and interest, with all the new features coming out.

One thing it seems like we (OCLC) should be more vocal about is the point of WorldCat.org. It's primarily a way to connect end-users on the Web with local libraries and library materials. All too often we get caught up in feature/function and loose the big flick of why we're doing this in the first place: library visibility.

It is so fun to see familiar faces and meet new friends. There was talk yesterday at the Symposium of a future contact lens that could be embedded with metadata...so in theory as someone is walking up to you, their name and how you know them could flash up at you. That would be REALLY helpful at conferences!

But I digress. I did make time for lunch with colleagues at the Corner Bakery, a popular spot with tasty salads and sandwiches. Then back to the convention center for the WorldCat Local meeting. Panic because no catering. Whoops, we didn't order any catering.

It was really heartening during the WorldCat.org session to hear OCLC's view of the usability test outcomes from graduate students, undergraduates and public libraries...and then to hear the same comments echoed from librarians at the WorldCat Local session this afternoon. There were speakers from the University of Washington, University of Delaware, University of California and...(?) memory escapes me. But all very very interesting stuff.

The gentleman from UW who spoke about their installation of WorldCat Local was saying you have to trust your users and prepare for success--their ILL fulfillment traffic went up by 300% or some ridiculously large number. In terms of "trust your users"--he had staff not believing that people needed all this information! (They didn't need it before...) And I think the idea was, they weren't finding it before, so they didn't know it existed.

The theme of the day seems to have been, "People expect a Google-like experience, and we want to figure out by hook or by crook to make it happen." This is a great shift from what I have heard at previous conferences. There is no hand-wringing or drama about if Google is going to take over the world. Now it seems most people are simply taking it as fact and trying to figure out what to do about it. And luckily, WorldCat.org and WorldCat Local seems to be mentioned as part of the solution, anyway.

So then while the meeting is still going on, I have to hop out to meet with a publisher rep about advertising. Print advertising still attracts eyeballs, but there's not a lot of innovation going on there. Online and event advertising seemed to be a hotter topic, based on the conversation we had. What advertising do you notice most? Notice least?

Then it was back to the hotel to prepare with other groups of people for sessions tomorrow. And I left my scarf in the hotel lobby bar. Shoot. Then a quick hop up to the OCLC Green Suite for the next-to final meeting of the day. A large-group discussion, with food and snacks.

Tomorrow is the OCLC Update Breakfast. There have been so many news releases this week--it will be a wonder if we can cover them all in an hour.

See you at the Blog Salon tomorrow night! 5:30 to 8 pm, Hyatt Regency Centennial I, F/G.

We are about 20 minutes from getting underway with the OCLC Symposium. The room is filling up nicely, and our speakers are getting ready. I forgot I had moved my photo download pointer to the new 500 Gig hard drive...so I will have to post photos up after that fact. Make your way over, if you're in Denver... Read the rest of this post

What a fun and exhausting weekend we had in Anaheim, meeting up with old and new friends to discuss future plans for Stone Arch Books. As busy as it was, the real buzz was in our booth! Of course the fact that we have safe graphic novels continues to draw attention. A well-known graphic novel illustrator told us that his son searches for our “Safe Graphic Novel” symbol to find graphic novels that are as cool as the books Dad creates and wholly accessible for younger readers. Maybe someday Dad will illustrate a graphic novel for SAB!

Another hot topic in our booth was our new We Are Heroes series. Everyone wants to show kids how to be active in their communities and be good citizens. These books show how kids can get involved. Several librarians were especially happy to see that all the proceeds from our book Kids Against Hunger are going to the Kids Against Hunger organization. We’re excited that educators can use our books to show kids that they can influence their communities and at the same time, the proceeds will directly benefit an admirable community activity.

Watch for photos of our Newbery Dinner table, coming next week!


--Maryellen Gregoire
Director of Product Planning and Public Relations, Stone Arch Books

ALA is this week in Anaheim, CA. This is one of the biggest library events of the year, and we can’t wait to attend. We’ll be in booth 2478—please stop by, pick up one of our popular Jake Maddox or Library of Doom posters, preview our brand new books for Fall 2008 (hot off the presses!), and grab a new catalog so you can browse our complete list of contemporary fiction once you’re back at home. We’re featuring our new We Are Heroes set—come by and take a look. And we love to hear from and talk to librarians. If you have thoughts about our books or books you’d like to see, come on by and let us know.

Maryellen will have a recap of events next week—hope to see you in Anaheim!

In case you missed this but the second annual CYBILS Award shortlists were announces on January 1, 2008.  I missed it.  I was one, out of town, and two, still too sick to care much.

So what better time to catch up on my sorely neglected library blog?  I am one the judging panel for the CYBILS Poetry shortlist.  It is my second year and I am thrilled to be a part of it again.  We have seven books to consider this year and that is great.  A couple books on the list have been recognized by the American Library Association.  Will our choice for best poetry match?  You will have to find out on February, 14, 2008.

The books are arriving at my house and it is like Christmas all over. Even better, because I am well and back to my usual self.

I am catching a few minutes to read and drink a little tea.  I might even get to my childhood story written in haibun style for One Deep Breath.  It is a good thing to have a late start.

Happy Reading.

MsMac