SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE POST
Ch-ch-ch-changes
I spent an inordinate amount of time pondering titles for this post. Which pop culture reference to use? Changes? Or the infamous “We’re ba-ack“?
Both are appropriate, but in the end, change seemed the bigger theme.
And both are part of our excuse for the past two weeks of radio silence, although there was also the catching up on everything we’d let slide in those heady days leading up to the YMA announcements.
Also, for me, there was the prolonged period of mourning, what with the massive lack of love for Chime. Tempered, it must be noted, with victory dances over The Returning and occasional staring contests with my still-unfinished copy of Jasper Jones, which is getting a bit cheeky now that it has a sticker.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
But I digress.
The point, dear readers, is that changes are afoot. Exciting changes. Changes we hope will make you rejoice much as they have made us rejoice.
So let’s look at these changes.
First: That two-week silence? That was our hiatus. We were going to go dark for seven months, and then emerge phoenix-like in September with a list of 25-40 titles on the 2013 contender list.
Only we noticed something this year. To whit: it’s freakin’ hard to read a list that long in only five months. And we want reader feedback. Sure, I love getting to play it all smart and tell you why I think a book deserves some shine (or not), but what we really want is discussion and debate and thoughtful challenges. Which are hard when none of us are reading the same piles.
Also? Phoenixes hatch in flames. And flames are not really the friend of books.
So we’re going to dial it back a bit, but we’re sticking around. We won’t be doing in-depth analysis a la the last few months until September, when we can have some sense of the year as a whole, but in the meantime we’ll let you know what we’re reading and what we’re hearing buzz about. We’ll try to attend as many publisher previews as possible (New York City is such a wonderful place to be a librarian! I feel blessed every time I get to attend a publisher preview or event), and share highlights and potential contenders and amusing anecdotes and low-quality pictures snapped with our phones.
We’ll probably post about once a week during the slow season, but comments will be open and we’re looking forward to hearing what you all are reading, hearing about, loving, hating, and so on, and then in September it will be back to business more or less as it has been, except that we’re hoping to be a bit more formal in our Mock Printzing as well.
Second: this one is even more exciting! Sarah and I are thrilled to announce that we are being joined by Sophie Brookover, fresh off the 2012 Printz Committee! Sophie will post a longer introduction in the next few weeks, but we are delighted to have her on board and very pleased to have someone with a greater appetite for certain genres (cough-realistic fiction-cough).
So that’s the news, and we hope you are as happy as we are. Let us know if there’s anything else we should add to our off-season topics, and please take a moment to welcome Sophie!
Filed under: Housekeeping
About Karyn Silverman
Karyn Silverman is the High School Librarian and Educational Technology Department Chair at LREI, Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School (say that ten times fast!). Karyn has served on YALSA’s Quick Picks and Best Books committees and was a member of the 2009 Printz committee. She has reviewed for Kirkus and School Library Journal. She has a lot of opinions about almost everything, as long as all the things are books. Said opinions do not reflect the attitudes or opinions of SLJ, LREI, YALSA or any other institutions with which she is affiliated. Find her on Twitter @InfoWitch or e-mail her at karynsilverman at gmail dot com.
ADVERTISEMENT
SLJ Blog Network
2024 Books from Pura Belpré Winners
Passover Postings! Chris Baron, Joshua S. Levy, and Naomi Milliner Discuss On All Other Nights
Winnie-The-Pooh | Review
Crafting the Audacity, One Work at a Time, a guest post by author Brittany N. Williams
The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT