Not only did I get to see so many of my beloved fellow librarians and book-ish friends while at the conference, but I also came away with several signed copies of books and totes full of ARCs and gained valuable perspective on topics including Steampunk, Tweens*, and Nonfiction*...and an author reading from a soon-to-be-published work, that just blew.my.mind.
Most of the ARCs have already been distributed amongst students who just could not get over the idea that they would have the opportunity to read books before they were even published. I allowed any student who wished to "check out" one ARC, provided they read it, bring it back and let me know whether it was a good book to purchase for the school's collection. One student almost cried because she was so excited**. I guess that makes up for the student who asked "And how much are you paying us?" The rest of the ARCs are coming with me to Chicago this summer! Though my student population is 11-14, I actually prefer older YA titles for my personal reading, so I scooped up a couple of titles that I was most excited about. And what, you might ask, are my favorite takeaways from BEA?
Splendor
by Anna Godbersen (signed copy)Monsters of Men
by Patrick Ness (ARC, third in the "Chaos Walking" trilogy)Delirium by Lauren Oliver (ARC, author of "Before I Fall")
And what did I really want, but couldn't find?
Mockingjay
by Suzanne Collins (I wish!)Forge
by Laurie Halse Anderson (though I hear some folks got this!)Beautiful Darkness
by Kami Garcia (totally could've gotten this one, but flaked)Reckless
by Cornelia Funke*** (again, I wish, but I was in a session when they handed these out. So foolish!)How about you? Did you go? What did you get? If you were not in on the BEA action, is there an ARC I could send your way that would make it all better? Let me know!
* Interesting, because as noted in sessions on each of these topics: Should we define something by what it is not? Tweens are in-between and thus neither children nor teens (though I'd submit they're children) and Nonfiction is not fiction...But, dare I ask, what are each of these things, then?
** And this is why I love my job and my students.
*** Whose name, contrary to my previous belief, is not pronounced "Funk," but rather, "Funk-ay," which I must admit, I kinda like!
Ooo, I knew the Funke pronunciation! Because....I have friends whose last name is Funke. And I just happen to look quite similar to their youngest sister. And the older sisters' friends were expecting her at school and had seen pictures. So someone walked up to me, an already confused college freshman and said..."Is your name funky?" Hee hee hee.
ReplyDeleteThis is very much off topic, but I'm a college student going to undergrad for English. My current plan is to go to graduate school to get a degree in library science and to become a YA librarian either in a school or in a public library... Do you have any suggestions, regrets, pros & cons, etc? I'm just starting to look at graduate schools and I'm finding the process somewhat baffling because the information online about the degree is either vague or outdated (which is ironic!).
ReplyDeleteThanks!
On a side note, love your blog.