#alamw15

Due to the cold in Boston 34% of #alamw16 attendees are currently trying to decide which cardigans go best over another cardigan

Every year there’s always discussion about the awards- why did THIS win, why didn’t THAT win, how will teen read this? That the awards aren’t reaching their target audience because there’s no appeal for teens, and no one will read them. This year it seems more pointed at the types of books- how they don’t fit the norm that a lot of people have come to expect, or how it’s going to make things harder because the books are too “challenging” for their community, or how there’s not enough variety. Guess what? Things are changing. And it’s for the better- there’s no hidden agenda, there’s no over-sensitivity, there’s no selective targeting of authors. What has happened is that the awards committees are more aware of the diversity available (slim that it is currently), and found that the diverse books were wonderful. Awesome. Brilliant. Worthy of recognition. SO much so that they crossed into various lists, and stretched the social canon of the awards. This is a good thing. Trust me.

ALA response to that ALAMW survey question