Even if you’re not going to ALA Midwinter in Atlanta, LJ‘s “Galley Guide,” available now, is useful as a preview of upcoming titles.

If you are headed to Atlanta, use it to plot out which galleys you want to try to grab (exhibits open Friday evening). If you’re not, use it to search Edelweiss or NetGally for digital ARC’s.

Sign up for your free digital copy here.

Now that the holidays are over, you may be faced with a mountainous to-do list.

We feel your pain. If you’re going to Midwinter, you’ll feel even worse if you forget to sign up for the AAP/LibraryReads author events. Hurry, the deadline is just ten days away. RSVP with your interest in attending by Friday, January 13 and you’ll hear back from the AAP on whether they can accommodate your request:

AAP LibraryReads Best In Debut Authors, Saturday, January 21, 2017 3 pm – 4 pm. RSVP here. See the list of the authors here.

AAP LibraryReads BookTalk Breakfast, Monday, January 23rd, 2017 8:30 am – 10 am. RSVP here. See the list of the authors here.

And don’t forget to sign up for the publisher buzz sessions. Not only are they great for gaining insight on upcoming books, they are an opportunity to snag hot ARCs. Some of the publishers ask for an RSVP so they’ll have enough snacks and copies to go around (check the ads on our site).

For Midwinter novices, PW offers librarians’ tips on “How to Maximize ALA Midwinter” (subscription required).

It’s the first Monday of the New Year and, like us, you may have woken with the sinking feeling that you are already running behind. Those going to ALA MidWinter face the additional reality that it’s right around the corner.

Here’s a quick tip —  TODAY is the last day to sign up for two important author events (and if you’re not attending MidWinter, you can play along by downloading the DRC’s):

AAP LibraryReads Best In Debut Authors
Sat. Jan 9, 3 to 4 p.m.
Boston Convention Center, Room 102B
Request an invitation here
Authors featured:

Kaitlyn Greenidge,  We Love You, Charlie Freeman (Workman/Algonquin; March; DRC available now)

Shobha Rao, An Unrestored Woman (Macmillan/Flatiron; March)

Trudy Nan Boyce, Out of the Blues (PRH/Putnam; Feb; DRC available now)

Steve Toutonghi, Join (Soho Press; April; DRC available now)

Victoria Kelly, Mrs. Houdini (S&S/Atria; March; DRC available now)

Steven Rowley, Lily & The Octopus (Simon & Schuster, June)

AAP LibraryReads BookTalk Breakfast
Mon. Jan 11, 8:30 a.m.
Seaport Hotel, Lighthouse I
Request an invitation here
Authors featured:

Adam Haslette, Imagine Me Gone (May; Hachette/ Little, Brown & Co.)

Ann Leary, The Children (Macmillan/St. Martin’s)

Simon Van Booy, Father’s Day, (HarperCollins; April; DRC available now)

Helen Simonson, The Summer Before the War,  (PRH/Random House; March; DRC available now)

Lawrence Hill, The Illegal: A Novel (W. W. Norton; Jan; DRC available now)

Chris Cleave,  Everyone Brave is Forgiven (Simon & Schuster; May; DRC available now)

There’s also several book buzz and author signing opportunities — check the ads here on EarlyWord for more.

For more to add to your schedule, check Library Journal’s preview and Brian Kenney’s delightfully contrarian picks in Publishers Weekly.

People often ask me how could I give up working Bank Street College of Education in NYC to live in Minnesota.

The answer is the Kerlan Collection at University of Minnesota Libraries​, one of the largest  repositories of children’s book manuscripts, art and first editions. We hold the papers of all of the Ambassadors for Young Peoples Literature (if you are counting in your head that is Scieszka, Patterson, Myers, and DiCamillo).

Since everyone can’t visit the University of Minnesota, it is my goal to bring the collection out of the cavern and share it with librarians and teachers.

One of those efforts is the just-launched digital exhibit, Balloons Over Broadway, Melissa Sweet, and the Engineering of a Picture, which examines the author/illustrator research and creative process using the materials in the Kerlan Collection.

If you are going to ALA, don’t miss the opportunity to hear Melissa Sweet​ at the ALSC President’s program.

Charlemae Rollins President’s Program
More to the Core: From the Craft of Nonfiction to the Expertise in the Stacks
MCC-2001 (W)
Monday, 6/29 1:00 to 2:30

Awarding-winning author and illustrator Melissa Sweet and literacy advocate Judy Cheatham, VP of Literacy Services at Reading Is Fundamental, share the stage to present an informational and inspirational look at the creation of excellent nonfiction and the matchmaking of great books and kids who need them. Libraries’ role in innovative implementation of programs and services to support the Common Core Standards is a central skill and an important contribution to the communities we serve.  Even if CCS isn’t a part of your educational landscape, great nonfiction books – how they are created and ways to connect them to children and families is central to our craft and critical to our ability to collaborate with our communities. Let’s be inspired together!

If you are going to ALA in San Francisco at the end of the month, the AAP has some great book and author events scheduled.

Fellow procrastinators, don’t delay, these events are free but most require registration and they fill up quickly, (links to registration below):

AAP SAN FRANCISCO BOOK BUZZ 2015
Thursday, June 25^th, 2015 from 8:00am-5:00pm
San Francisco Public Library, Koret Auditorium, Lower Level
100 Larkin Street , San Francisco, CA 94102

Join the AAP Children’s and Adult Library Marketing Committees for an all-day AAP San Francisco Book Buzz. Children’s and Teen titles will be buzzed from 8:30am-12:30pm, and Adult titles will be buzzed from 1:30-5:00pm with a lunch in between, provided by the publishers.

ON THE CHILDREN’S SIDE, HEAR FROM: HarperCollins Children’s Books, Albert Whitman, Macmillan Children’s, Sterling Children’s Books, Starscape & Tor Teen, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, Little Bee Books, Algonquin Young Readers, Perseus Books Group, Penguin Young Readers Group, National Geographic Kids, New York Review Children’s, Harlequin TEEN, Random House Children’s Books, Sourcebooks, Quirk Books, Scholastic, Soho Teen, W.W. Norton & Co., and Simon & Schuster!

ON THE ADULT SIDE, HEAR FROM: Simon & Schuster, Perseus Books Group, New York Review Books, Hachette Book Group, Sterling, W.W. Norton & Co., Quirk Books, Random House, Workman, Sourcebooks, Macmillan, Soho Press, National Geographic, Melville House, HarperCollins, Harlequin, and Penguin!

SIGN UP HERE TO ATTEND.

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AAP/LIBRARYREADS BOOK-A-LICIOUS BREAKFAST
Saturday, June 27^th, 2015 from 8:30am-10:00am
Marriott Marquis San Francisco (Golden Gate B)
780 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

Hear from authors:

• Charles Belfoure, author of House of Thieves (Sourcebooks Landmark)
• Anthony Marra, author of The Tsar of Love and Techno (Hogarth)
• Celeste Ng, author of Everything I Never Told You (Penguin Books)
• Nnedi Okorafor, author of Lagoon (Simon & Schuster/Saga Press)
• Stacy Schiff, author of The Witches (Little, Brown & Co.)
• Brigid Schulte, author of Overwhelmed (Picador/Macmillan)

 AUTHOR SIGNING TO FOLLOW EVENT.

 Space is limited. Please SIGN UP HERE TO REGISTER YOUR INTEREST IN ATTENDING by Friday, June 19^th. We will send you a confirmation if we can accommodate your request.

Formal invitation (with book covers) here: ALA 2015 Book-a-Licious Breakfast invite

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AAP CHILDREN’S & TEEN AUTHOR SPEED DATING EVENT

Saturday, June 27^th from 3:00-4:00pm
Marriott Marquis San Francisco (Golden Gate B)
780 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

• Elana Arnold, The Question of Miracles (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers)
• Kathleen Baldwin, A School for Unusual Girls (Tor/Forge Books/Tor Teen)
• Lizi Boyd, Big Bear little chair (Chronicle Books)
• Martha Brockenbrough, The Game of Love and Death (Arthur A. Levine Books)
• Monica Brown, Lola Levine is Not Mean! (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
•  Soman Chainani, The School for Good and Evil #3: The Last Ever After   (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
• Bruce Covill, Diary of a Mad Brownie (Random House Children’s Books)
• Joshua Davis, Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream (Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Macmillan)
• Tania del Rio, Warren the 13^th (Quirk Books)
• Matt Faulkner, Gaijin: American Prisoner of War (Disney-Hyperion)
• Kim Griswell, Rufus Goes to Sea (Sterling Children’s Books)
• Tamara Ireland Stone, Every Last Word (Disney-Hyperion)
• Stephen T. Johnson, Alphabet School (Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books)
• Estelle Laure, This Raging Light (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• Amy Lukavics, Daughter Unto Devils (Harlequin TEEN)
• Paige McKenzie, The Haunting of Sunshine Girl: Book One (Weinstein Books/The Perseus Books Group)
• Sebastian Meschenmoser, Mr. Squirrel and the Moon (NorthSouth Books)
• Yvonne Prinz, If You’re Lucky (Algonquin Young Readers)
• Debbie Ridpath Ohi, Where Are My Books? (Simon & Schuster/ Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
• Lev Rosen, Woundabout (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
• Barney Saltzberg, Redbird: Friends Come in Different Sizes (Workman)
• Allan Stratton, The Dogs (Sourcebooks Fire)
• Craig Thompson, Space Dumplins (Scholastic)
• Steve “The Dirtmeister” Tomecek, Dirtmeister’s Nitty Gritty Planet Earth: All About Rocks, Minerals, Fossils, Earthquakes, Volcanoes, & Even Dirt! (National Geographic Kids Books)

SPACE IS LIMITED. YOU MUST RSVP HERE TO PARTICIPATE.

You will receive an email with your table number closer to the event.

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BOOKLIST’S READ ‘N RAVE
Monday, June 29^th, 2015 from 9:00-10:00am
Moscone Convention Center, Room 122 (N)

Everyone gets excited by the new ARCs available at conference. Come hear six collection development specialists rave about their favorite titles gathered from the exhibit floor. This lively panel, co-organized by Booklist and the AAP, will feature librarians Stephanie Chase (Hillsboro Public); Naphtali Faris (KCPL); Alene Moroni (King County); Kaite Mediatore Stover (KCPL); Stephen Sposato (Chicago Public); and David Wright (Seattle Public). Moderated by Rebecca Vnuk, Booklist’s editor for Reference and Collection Management.

NO ADVANCE REGISTRATION REQUIRED

INFO HERE.

***

AAP/LIBRARYREADS MYSTERY AUTHORS PANEL
Monday, June 29^th, 2015 from 10:30-11:30am
Moscone Convention Center, Room 122 (N)

Hear from authors:

• Cara Black, author of Murder on the Champ de Mars (Soho Crime)
• Allison Brennan, author of Compulsion (Minotaur Books/Macmillan)
• John Katzenbach, author of The Dead Student (Mysterious Press)
• Keith McCafferty, author of Crazy Mountain Kiss (Viking)
• Kate White, author of The Wrong Man (Harper Paperbacks)

AUTHOR SIGNING TO FOLLOW EVENT.

Space is limited. Please SIGN UP HERE TO REGISTER YOUR INTEREST IN ATTENDING by Friday, June 19^th. We will send you a confirmation if we can accommodate your request.

Formal invitation, with book jackets, here,:ALA 2015 Mystery Authors Panel invite

The RUSA Reading List selections of the year’s best fiction in 8 genres, were announced at ALA Midwinter. Several titles have already received acclaim from librarians, such as the mystery selection, Murder at the Brightwell, by Ashley Weaver, (Minotaur/Macmillan), a LibraryReads pick in October.

The Science Fiction selection is The Martian by Andy Weir (RH/Crown), which also won an Alex this year and was a Feb. 2014 LibraryReads pick. It is currently being adapted as a movie, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon, Jeff Daniels, Kate Mara, Jessica Chasten and Kristen Wiig, scheduled for release this November.

Jo Walton, generally considered a fantasy and science fiction writer (she won both a Nebula and a Hugo in 2011 for her book Among Others) was selected in the Women’s Fiction category for My Real Children, (Macmillan/Tor). About a woman living two parallel lives, Lev Grossman, reviewing it in PW said, “My Real Children has as much in common with an Alice Munro story as it does with, say, Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle. It explores issues of choice and chance and destiny and responsibility with the narrative tools that only science fiction affords, but it’s also a deeply poignant, richly imagined book about women’s lives in 20th- and 21st-century England, and, in a broader sense, about the lives of all those who are pushed to the margins of history.”

For valuable readers advisory hooks, be sure to check the list for the readalikes (and watchalikes) for each pick. In the case of My Real Children, they are:

Life After Life, Kate Atkinson, (Hachette/Little, Brown)

Sliding Doors (Miramax Films, 1998, dir. Peter Howitt)

The Time Travelers Wife,  Audrey Niffenegger (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Also released, the RUSA Notables selection of 26 titles in fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Many have already appeared on the dozens of best books lists for the year, including the one that was on nearly every list, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, (S&S/Scribner). The other top favorite, Marilynne Robinson’s Lila, however, did not make the RUSA cut.

The committee also managed to find some gems that have not appeared on other lists.

Fiction

The Enchanted, Rene Denfield, (Harper) —
“Death row inmates await escape through execution in this weirdly gorgeous tale.”

The Crane Wife, by Patrick Ness, (Penguin) —
“A thoughtful exposition of love, in all its endless varieties.”

Nonfiction

Blood Royal: A True Tale of Crime and Detection in Medieval Paris, Eric Jager (Hachette/Little, Brown)  —
“Political intrigue that starts with a murder and ends with a throne.”

Graphic novelist Raina Telgemeier tweeted her excitement about today’s ALA Youth Media Awards,  “Graphic novels can win the most distinguished American book award, it’s official. The game is ON. I am so happy.”

Graphic novels have won major ALA awards before (Brian Selznick won the 2008 Caldecott Medal for The Invention of Hugo Cabret), this is the first year that  one graphic novel took home both a Caldecott and Printz Honor. This One Summer, by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki, (Macmillan/First Second), is a graphic novel, qualifying it as a “picture book for children” (Caldecott).  Since it is written for children ages 12 to 18, it also qualifies as a young adult title (Printz). In addition, El Deafo, by Cece Bell, (Abrams/Amulet) won a Newbery Honor.

Even more significant, just months after the formation of the We Need Diverse Books campaign, the medalists and honorees represent a wide range of backgrounds.

Below are the winners of the Newbery, Caldecott,  Michael L. Printz and Coretta Scott King Awards. For the winners of the rest of the awards, go to the  official ALA Press Announcement.

Newbery Award

Medal Winner:

The Crossover, Kwame Alexander, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, (also a Coretta Scott King Honor Book)

Honor Books (2):

. 

El Deafo, Cece Bell, Abrams/ Amulet

Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson, Penguin/Nancy Paulsen (also winner of the Coretta Scott King Author Award, a Sibert Honor and of the National Book Award for Young Peoples Literature).

Caldecott Award

Medal Winner:

The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, Dan Sentat, Hachette/Little, Brown

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If you’re feeling discouraged about the future of books and reading, just look at the kids in the following video.

The story, created for NBC Nightly News, features author Kate DiCamillo talking to a very receptive group of kids about her struggle to become an author. It did not appear on Friday night’s broadcast, but is in the Nightly News Web site.

DiCamillo will accept the Newbery Award tomorrow night at ALA in Las Vegas for Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures, (Candlewick Press)

If you’re a procrastinator (and, believe us, we KNOW who you are!), you don’t have time to hunt down dozens of sources to put together your schedule for PLA in Indianapolis.

The major programs are easy; they are on highlighted on PLA’s Daily Schedule, (Ann Patchett! David Sedaris! John Green!) but the session listings can be overwhelming. It helps that you can sort through by keywords and The Readers Advisor offers a handy rundown of R.A. programs.

Below are a our favorites.

Note: We’ve listed the children’s breakfast on Friday first because it REQUIRES advance registration, which you need to do NOW. The rest of our picks are in sequence by day and time.

Friday, March 14, 7:00 am – 8:15 am
Children’s Book And Author Breakfast
Convention Center, Sagamore Ballroom 6-7

Why this belongs on your calendar: For the free breakfast, but more importantly, because it features several children’s and YA superstars, including Rainbow Rowell and William Joyce. Full program listing after the jump. — SEATING IS LIMITED. RSVP HERE NOW. You will receive a confirmation email if there is space.

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Thursday, March 13th 10:45 a.m. – 12 noon
The Best in Debut Authors 
Convention Center, Room #103 – 104

Why this belongs on your calendar: All the authors featured on this panel are being published for the first time this spring, so this is an opportunity to learn about new titles and GET FREE GALLEYS. Several of these authors come with advance buzz. On GalleyChat, we’ve been hearing about  Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler, (St. Martin’s; Macmillan Audio) and we’re particular fans of Natalie Baszile, author of Queen Sugar, one of the authors in our Penguin Debut Authors series (check out the enthusiastic Peer Reviews for it on Edelweiss). Full program listing after the jump. — RSVP HERE (for headcount purposes only; seating is not limited, but don’t be angry if you don’t RSVP and they run out of galleys!).

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Thursday, March 13th, 10:45am-12:00 noon
YA Crossover Panel
JW Marriott Indianapolis, White River Ballroom

Why this belongs on your calendar: Aren’t you dying to meet Gene Luen Yang, author of the graphic novel stunner, Boxers & Saints, (Macmillan/First Second), which was on the majority of the year’s best books lists? If that’s not enough, Laurie Halse Anderson is also on the panel. Full program listing after the jump. —  RSVP HERE. (for headcount purposes only; seating is not limited, but don’t be angry if you don’t RSVP and they run out of galleys!).

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Thursday, March 13th, 2:00 – 3:15 pm
ABC – Always Be Circulating: How Public Libraries Meet Demand and Increase Use
Convention Center, 500 Ballroom

Why this belongs on your calendar: The subject and the speakers promise a smash-up program. You’ll learn how to increase circ. through selection, RA and programming from a group of people who have enviable track records in this area — Robin Nesbitt, Wendy Bartlett, Stephanie Chase and Alene Moroni. Full listing in PLA programs.

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Friday, March 14th, 10:45 – 12 noon
Mystery Authors Revealed
Convention Center, Wabash Ballroom 3

Why this belongs on your calendar:  Features he buzzy debut The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh (RH/Spiegel & Grau, coming out this week, as well as favorite mystery authors Sophie Hannah and Jeff Abbott and FREE GALLEYS. Full program listing after the jump. — RSVP HERE (for headcount purposes only; seating is not limited, but don’t be angry if you don’t RSVP and they run out of galleys!).

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Friday, March 14, 2:00 to 3:15 pm
Doing Time with Sisters in Crime
Convention Center, Wabash Ballroom 3

Why this belongs on your calendar: For that clever title alone, but also to learn about trends in the hottest genre in libraries. This panel includes RA godmother Joyce Saricks and librarian (and GalleyChatter) Lesa Holstine, who writes the influential Lesa’s Book Critiques blog, as well as several Sisters in Crime authors. Full listing in PLA programs.

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Laura Lippman’s latest novel,  After I’m Gone (HarperCollins/ Morrow; HarperAudio; HarperLuxe), gets a strong nod from Janet Maslin in the NYT this week, “The characters … are so well drawn that it’s easy to forget why they happen to be connected. Almost all of them are strong, willful women.”

“Willful” is an odd adjective. It seems to only be used to describe women and children, never men, since it is an expected, even applauded, male characteristic.

Speaking to librarians at the United for Libraries Gala Tea at Midwinter in January, Lippman talked about the “willful women” who have inspired her (including her mother, a librarian) and about another gender-shifting adjective, “ambitious,” encouraging us all to embrace it.

Thanks to Laura for allowing us reprint her talk, below, and to Virginia Stanley, HarperCollins Library Marketing, for helping us get that permission.

Laura Lippman, Photo by Jan Cobb

It’s a happy accident that my next book [After I’m Gone] comes out on Feb. 11 because it is very much a Valentine’s Day to the generations of women, including my mother, who gave birth to the women of the so-called Baby Boom. This was not conscious when I began writing the book, but it was clear to me by the time it was finished. Bernadette “Bambi” Brewer – left, with three days, to fend for herself when her husband Felix decides he cannot serve even a portion of his 15-year sentence for mail fraud – emerges as the closest thing that my book has to a heroine. Bright and beautiful, she has never wanted to be anything but a wife and mother, and I think the book ultimately validates her choice.

Now, I’m a crime writer. I never describe myself as anything else. In fact, I was so appalled at what I saw as another writer’s recent attempt to disavow the genre that I wrote a somewhat, um, spirited defense of my genre roots. The piece that had so offended me included lines such as “my big literary novel” and an announcement that the writer, after writing three crime novels, was now girding himself to stride into “the great arena of art.”

But it also made me realize how uncomfortable our culture is with ambition. Particularly when it comes to women.

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Currently dominating Amazon’s Movers and Shakers, the list of titles that have shown the greatest jumps in sales rank over the past 24 hours, are, of course, the books that were announced as winners of  the most heavily-covered ALA Youth Media Awards at Midwinter yesterday.

In the case of the Printz, however, one of the honor books, Eleanor & Park, rose higher than the Medalist, probably because, having already been a best seller, it has stronger name recognition.

Sales rank: 8 (was 630)
Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures, Kate DiCamilla, K.G. Campbell, Candlewick Press
Newbery Medalist

Sales rank: 14 (was 2,565)
Locomotive, Brian Floca, S&S/Atheneum
Caldecott Medalist

Sales rank: 116 (was 186)
Eleanor & Park, Rainbow Rowell
Printz Honor (the winner Midwinterblood, Marcus Sedgwick, Macmillan/Roaring Brook is at #630)

Sales rank: 210 (was 3,333)
The Year of Billy Miller, Kevin Henkes, HarperCollins/Greenwillow
Newbery Honor

Sales rank: 250 (was 36,725)
Flora and the Flamingo, Milly Idle, Chronicle Books
Caldecott Honor

Sales rank: 290 (was 20,872)
Paperboy, Vince Vawter, RH/Delacorte
Newbery Honor

Sales rank: 355 (was 15,495)
Doll Bones, Holly Black, S&S/ Margaret K. McElderry Books
Newbery Honor

Sales rank: 4 (was 5)
The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
The author won the Margaret A. Edwards Award; this book was already high on the list, both because it’s perennially popular and because of the movie, which is still in theaters.

Below is a video of the awards presentations at ALA Midwinter on Monday:

And the winners are:

Newbery Award

Medal Winner:
Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures, Kate DiCamilla, K.G. Campbell. Candlewick Press

Honor Books:
Doll Bones, Holly Black, S&S/ Margaret K. McElderry Books
The Year of Billy Miller, Kevin Henkes, HarperCollins/Greenwillow
One Came Home, Amy Timberlake, RH/Knopf
Paperboy, Vince Vawter, RH/Delacorte

Caldecott Award

Medal Winner:

Locomotive, Brian Floca, S&S/Atheneum

Honor Books:
Journey, Aaron Becker, Candlewick Press
Flora and the Flamingo, Milly Idle, Chronicle Books
Mr. Wuffles, David Wiesner, HMH/Clarion Books

Printz Award

Medal Winner:

Midwinterblood, Marcus Sedgwick, Macmillan/Roaring Brook

Honor Books:
Eleanor & Park, Rainbow Rowell, Macmillan/St. Martin’s Griffin Kingdom of Little Wounds, Susann Cokal, Candlewick
Maggot Moon,  Sally Gardner, illus. Julian Crouch, Candlewick Press
Navigating Early, Clare Vanderpool, RH/ Delacorte Books

The rest of the awards, after the jump:

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Several videos of authors speaking at Midwinter are available on YouTube, including Wes Moore (The Other Wes Moore, RH/Spiegel & Grau, 2010), Matthew Quick (Silver Linings Playbook; The Good Luck of Right Now, just published, Macmillan);  Kidir Nelson (Nelson Mandela; Baby Bear, HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray; 2013),  and David Baldacci (children’s title, The Finisher, coming March 4, Scholastic).

Below, is one of two videos of Ishmael Beah, (A Long Way Gone; Radiance of Tomorrow, Macmillan, Jan.), giving the Arthur Curley Memorial Lecture on Saturday.