Saturday, June 23, 2007

Day 1 of ALA




Today began with an early (5:45 alarm) Metro ride to the Washington Convention Center to hear the Babies and Books Beyond the Library Presentation. Susan Straub's ideas to encourage teenage moms and underserved families to read to their babies impressed me--I'd like to learn more and apply her strategies. I came away from the session about using Gardner's multiple intelligences in library programs such as Bookopoly and Book Trek totally energized for school-age programming.


The highlight of the day was definitely Mitali Perkins' book launch party for First Daughter. We enjoyed mango lassi, samosas, and another bite-sized item that looked and tasted somewhat like a pizza pocket. Mitali read from her book, played a Presidential quiz game in which the team of Kristin, "anonymous serial blogger," and me won the new book! Then a dancer taught us bhangra!


At Mitali's book launch and at the KidLit Drink Night following, I met some great people:


(links to come at a later edit of this post)
Fuse #8
Mother Reader
A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy
Bibliophile
Zee Says
The Yayaya
2nd Gen Librarian
Wands and Worlds
Sara Holmes
Rebecca Stead
Justina Chen Headley
and a few publishers/editors from Kane/Miller and Little Brown.


I definitely did not drink enough water today, so I'll do better with that tomorrow. And I won't buy another stale sandwich at the lunch kiosk! Looking forward to hearing Nancy Pearl speak and seeing more vendors tomorrow. But now it's time to sleep because that 6 o'clock alarm will ring all too soon...