Volume 1, Issue 8

April 2012 U n i v e r s i t y o f K e n t u c k y S c h o o l o f L i b r a r y a n d I n f o r m a ti o n S c i e n c e

The McConnell Center for the Study of Youth Literature

2012 McConnell Conference—A Success! Table of Contents

McConnell Conference Recap

Events Reminder

Connecting with Characters Contest Winners!

Welcome Mercedes!

A Special Thanks

April Is…

National Poetry Month

Roses are Red…

Congrats to Our Conference Contest Winners!

On the Blog/In the Center

About the Center

This year’s McConnell Conference

began with several breakout sessions we

hope you enjoyed, including a

presentation by Ellen

Jenay Hall on “Bringing

Youth Literature to

Life,” another by Becky

Nelson and Erin Conness

on “School & Public

Library Collaboration,”

and the Caldecott/

Newbery and Printz

presentations by UK-

SLIS graduate students..

Following the breakout

sessions, M.T. Anderson

gave the Joy Terhune

Lecture, which had the entire banquet

hall laughing!

On Saturday, we began

the morning with

author/illustrator Lisa

Desimini, which was

standing room only

before the event began!

Afterwards, we

separated for breakout

sessions with the

Caldecott/Newbery

presentation, a Meet-the

-Author session with

M.T. Anderson, and two

more sessions presented

by local librarians: “Literature and Early

Literacy” presented by Mary Landrum

and Lowena Latiff, and “Autism in

Print” presented by Becky Nelson,

Melinda Caldwell, and Jill Barrows.

At Saturday’s luncheon, Jennifer Holm

shared the inspirations for all of her

novels with us—including a picture of

her brother that inspired the Squish the

Amoeba series, and afterwards, we

finished up our breakout sessions with

the Printz presentation, Meet-the-Author

with Jennifer Holm, Meet-the-Illustrator

with Lisa Desimini, and “But Then I’d

Have to Kill You: What I Can and

Cannot Tell You About Serving on the

Newbery Committee” presented by

Peter Howard.

We had several signing sessions, and

joining us for two of them, in addition to

M.T. Anderson, Jennifer Holm, and

Lisa Desimini, were local children’s

authors Patsi Trollinger with her new

book Thrill in the ‘Ville and Martha

Bennett Stiles with galley copies of

her newest novel Sailing to Freedom

which will be available in July.

This year was another wonderful

Conference for us, and if you

couldn’t join us this time, we hope

you will be able to in 2013! We’ll

have our Save-the-Date flyer out

soon!

Back Row, left to right: Patsi

Trollinger, Dr. Stephanie Reynolds, and

Martha Bennett Stiles

Front Row, left to right: Lisa Desimini,

M.T. Anderson, and Jennifer Holm

M.T. Anderson delivering his

hilarious lecture.

Upcoming McConnell Center Events April 14th, 2012, 6pm–7:30pm

A Monster Calls Book Discussion

This is our rescheduled date for a

discussion of A Monster Calls by

Patrick Ness.*

http://on.fb.me/MonsterCalls

April 21st, 2012, 11am–12pm

Spring Stories for the Kids of CIS

Join us for a Baby & Toddler Story

Time for the Kids of CIS! Check out

our Facebook page for the most up

to date information*:

http://on.fb.me/SprStories

April 1st–April 17th

Book Spine Poetry Competition

Create poetry with book spines and

enter photos of your creations for a

chance to win books! See page four

for more information.

Congratulations to the 2012 Connecting with Contest Winners!

We had many fantastic entries this

year. It was so hard to choose

winners for all three of the

categories! Congratulations to you

all, and thank you for sharing

your letters and art with us.

Jonah Graham Gabriel

Vittitow, Age 6, 1st Grade,

Gallatin County Lower

Elementary School Library,

Donna Kannady, Librarian,

Warsaw, KY (Dot the Firedog by

Lisa Desimini)

Ava Mylor, Age 6, 1st Grade,

Gallatin County Lower

Elementary School Library,

Donna Kannady, Librarian,

Warsaw, KY (Lulu’s Piano

Lesson by Arlene Alda/Illustrated

by Lisa Desimini)

Brennen Scudder, Age 7, 2nd

Grade, Gallatin County Lower

Elementary School Library, Donna

Kannady, Librarian, Warsaw, KY (Iris

Has a Virus by Arlene Alda/Illustrated

by Lisa Desimini)

Cesar Aranda, Age 9, 3rd Grade,

Booker T Washington Academy,

Tracie Dreyer-Hanes, Librarian,

Lexington, KY (Whales on Stilts! by

M.T. Anderson)

Adeline Caitlyn Barnes, Age 10,

Hearn Elementary School, Becky B.

Nelson, Librarian, Frankfort, KY

(Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm)

Vincenzo Bianco, Age 13, 8th

Grade, East Oldham Middle School,

Candy Thomas & Cheryl McCall,

Teacher & Librarian, Crestwood, KY

(Feed by M.T. Anderson)

Thank you to all of the teachers,

librarians, and students who

participated. We’ll be sending

out information for the 2013

Conference later in the year.

April 1st–May 1st Summer Reading Discussion Survey

Help us what to read and discuss this

summer by taking the following survey!

http://bit.ly/SRPoll2012

*If possible, we would appreciate

your RSVP on our

Facebook pages or the

new form found here for

these events so we know

approximately how many

are coming or if we need

to reschedule. ~Thanks!

A Special Thanks to Blue

Marble Books for supplying the

Conference with wonderful

books and excellent service!

Our three winning picture

entries. From left to right,

pictures are based on the

books: Iris Has a Virus, Lulu’s

Piano Lesson, and Dot the Fire

Dog.

A Special Thanks

We would like to give a special

thanks to all of our wonderful

volunteers and presenters, who

worked with us before, during, and

after the conference. Your help is

greatly appreciated, and we hope

you all had a great time!

Jill Barrows

Julia Basil

Will Buntin

Melinda Caldwell

Lousetta Carlson

Sara Cavitt

Erinn Conness

Ellen Jenay Hall

Patricia Hartman

Peter Howard

Dr. Jeff Huber

Ashley Izzo

David Jenkins

Meredith Kerrick

Krista King

Mary Landrum

Lowena Latiff

Kayla Meadows

Stacie Musser

Becky B. Nelson

Emily Pike

Ellen Stevens

Randy-Lynne Wach

Kathy Watson

Jackie White

Bookie Wilson

Candlewick Press

McClelland & Stewart

Random House

Simon & Schuster

Blue Marble Bookstore

LIS611 Students

Where are you from and what

previous education do you have?

I’m from Lexington, KY. I went to

the University of Kentucky for my

undergraduate degree and received

my Bachelor of Arts in classics

with a minor in anthropology.

Why are you studying to be a

librarian/what are your career

goals?

I have not thought of any other

career path besides being a

librarian, since Mrs. Railing gave

me my first book in grade school.

My career goal is to become a

children’s librarian someday and

give many other children their first

book.

What are your top three favorite

youth lit books?

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson

Levine

The Book Thief by Markus

Zusak

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

by Elizabeth George Speare

Who is your favorite youth lit

author?

John Green is my favorite youth lit

author at the moment because I’m

obsessed with his entire collection

of novels.

Name one thing that makes you

unique as a librarian.

I really love talking to people. I’m

the kind of person that needs to be

involved in activities and

socializing. I really want to break

the stereotype that librarians are

quiet and antisocial people.

Do you have a library/youth lit-

related topic you're passionate

about?

I am very passionate about diversity

in youth literature. I believe that the

collection of novels in a library

should reflect the community in

which it is in. America is changing

and becoming a more diverse

society and our collections should

reflect this sentiment.

What are a few of your non-

reading hobbies?

I am a complete nerd when it

comes to board games. I play

Dungeons and Dragons and have a

closet filled with every board game

imaginable.

Anything else you'd like to tell

us?

I am very excited to start this new

position. Hopefully, I can learn

enough from Rachel, who is

amazing, to do the best job

possible.

Welcome Mercedes! The 2012–2013 GA

http://cis.uky.edu/lis/

April is...

National Poetry Month—Book Spine Poetry Contest

It’s National Poetry Month, and

the McConnell Center is

celebrating with a contest!

Send your photos as

jpeg formatted 4"x6" attachments

to stephanie.reynolds@uky.edu

by April 17, 2012.

Please include the entrant's name

in the photo file name (e.g.,

JessicaJones.jpg). One entry per

person, please.

Entries will be posted for online

judging from April 18th through

April 25th.

By emailing an entry, the

submitter is authorizing The

McConnell Center (of the School

of Library & Information Science,

University of Kentucky) use of

the photo, and is affirming his or

her ownership of the photo. If the

owner of the photo is under age

18, the entry must be submitted by an

adult. Please indicate the minor

entrant's name and age in the body of

the email.

The winner will be announced on

April 26th. The prize will be a

selection of book chosen by The

McConnell Center staff.

You can find some ideas and tips here:

http://bit.ly/BookSpinePoetry2012

This contest is inspired by the work of

artist, Nina Katchadourian and the

ALSC blog.

Here are some of our own works!

April is a busy month of celebrations

for libraries! In addition to our events,

here are a few youth-related national

events. You’ll find more events at:

http://www.ala.org/conferencesevents/

celebrationweeks

School Library Month

http://www.ala.org/aasl/slm

National Poetry Month

http://bit.ly/PoetryMonth2012

National Library Week—

April 8th–14th

http://www.ala.org/nlw

National Bookmobile Day—

April 11th

http://www.ala.org/bookmobiles

National Drop Everything and Read

Day—April 12th

http://bit.ly/DEARDay

Support Teen Literature Day - April 12th

http://bit.ly/TeenLit

El Día de los niños/El Dia de los libros—

April 30th

http://dia.ala.org/

Congrats to Our Conference Contest Winners!

In December we held the “12 Days

of Youth Literature” Trivia

Contest to give away seats at the

author/illustrator table for the 2012

McConnell Conference.

Congratulations to our winners!

We hope you enjoyed the evening!

Emily Northcutt

Julie Ledford

Karen Allen

Meredith Kerrick

Becky Nelson

We also held a contest drawing for

our wonderful Conference

volunteers. All volunteers received

a galley of Jennifer Holm’s Squish

#3: The Power of the Parasite.

Thanks again to all of our

wonderful volunteers! The

winners of the drawing for a bag

of books each were:

Julia Basil

Kayla Meadows

Congratulations everyone!

It’s National Poetry Month! Here

are some books of poetry you can

share with your students and

patrons.

Cullinan, B. (2009). Another jar of

tiny stars. Honesdale, PA: Boyds

Mills Press.

Frost, H. (2009). Crossing stones.

New York: Farrar, Straus, and

Giroux.

Greenberg, J. (2001). Heart to

heart. New York: Abrams.

Hines, A. (2011). Peaceful pieces:

Poems and quilts about peace.

New York: Henry Holt and

Company.

Hughes, L. (1994). The dream

keeper and other poems. New

York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Lai, T. (2011). Inside out & back

again. New York: HarperCollins.

Levine, G. (2012). Forgive me, I

meant to do it. New York:

HarperCollins.

Mora, P. (2000). My own true

name. Houston, TX: Pinata Books.

Nelson, M. (2001). Carver: A life in

poems. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills

Press.

Prelutsky, J. (2012). I've lost my

hippopotamus. New York:

HarperCollins.

Sidman, J. (2010). Dark emperor

& other poems of the night. New

York: Houghton Mifflin Books

for Children.

Silverstein, S. (2011). Everything

on it. New York: HarperCollins.

Smith, H. (2008). Keeping the

night watch. New York: Henry

Holt Books for Young Readers.

Roses are Red...

http://cis.uky.edu/lis/

ALSC has announced its

2012 Notable Children’s

Books—What are some

of your favorites? Tell us

on the blog!

http://

bit.ly/2012ALSCNotable

On the Blog and In the Center

On the Blog:

ARC Read & Review 2012! We

have the following titles available

for anyone who wants to read and

review them for the McConnell

Center blog at http://

youthlitmatters.wordpress.com/

Our available titles are:

Juvenile Fiction Fake Mustache by Tom

Angleberger

13 Hangmen by Art

Corriveau

A Greyhound of a Girl

by Roddy Doyle

The Five Lives of Our

Cat Zook by Joanne

Rocklin

Jinxed by Kurtis Scaletta,

illustrated by Eric Wight

Young Adult Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

by Jesse Andrews

Dying to Know You by Aidan

Chambers

Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe

by Shelli Coriell

The Storyteller by Antonia

Michaelis

Graphic Novel Explorer: The Mystery

Boxes edited by Kazu Kibuishi

In the Center:

Join us for the McConnell Center

Reading Club!

Our next discussion will be a dinner

discussion of A Monster Calls by

Patrick Ness on April 14th, 2012,

6pm–7:30pm in the Center.

http://on.fb.me/MonsterCalls

What should we discuss this

summer? Help us decide here:

http://bit.ly/SRPoll2012

The Youthlitmatters Group

Facebook Page is here: https://

www.facebook.com/

groups/249490781731022/

*New! You can now RSVP for

Center Events via the following form:

http://bit.ly/McConnellRSVP

About the Center A vital gathering place for books and

ideas, the McConnell

Center is committed

to identifying

excellent literature

for children and

adolescents and to

bringing this

literature to the

attention of those

adults who have an

academic, professional, career, or

personal interest in connecting young

readers with books.

We maintain two main, non-

circulating collections:

Our Current Collection includes all

books sent to us for review by

publishers during the current year. The Permanent Collection is

several collections of books

maintained in the Center as a resource

for students and librarians. It

includes the Basic

Collection, the Award-

winning Collection

(Caldecott, Newbery, Printz,

Morris, Pura Belpré, Sibert,

and Orbis Pictus Awards),

the Kentucky Collection

(notable Kentucky authors

and books about Kentucky),

the Reference Collection, and the

Periodical Collection.

Our Spring 2012 hours are Tuesday/

Thursday 12–5pm and Monday/

Wednesday 9–2pm.

Please visit our website for more

information: http://cis.uky.edu/lis/

mcconnellcenter

Contact us!

Dr. Stephanie Reynolds stephanie.reynolds@uky.edu Rachel McGuire, GA remcguire@uky.edu

Visit us! Lucille Little Library, 3rd Floor, Room 310 N Spring 2012 Hours:

Tuesday/Thursday 12–5pm &

Monday/Wednesday 9–2pm

http://cis.uky.edu/lis/