Instagramming ALA 2024 (Part II)

Continuing my ALA Annual 2024 journey . . . (click here if you missed Part I)

Sunday morning rolled around and the Yarn interviews continued. First up was Gayle Forman. We had a great time talking about her new book Not Nothing, which came with a tongue-in-cheek Guide to Understanding Your Youngs/Olds.

Next was Dare Coulter, winner of the Coretta Scott King illustrator award for An American Story.

From there I rushed over to the Penguin booth to sign copies of The Ship in the Window for the first time. The book is illustrated by the incredible Matthew Cordell and comes out on August 20th (you can preorder a copy here).

Penguin did something really cool for the book – they had it displayed along with a screen showing Matthew Cordell making the artwork (see below). I’ve never seen something like that before.

After signing some books, I got back over to Yarn HQ to talk with Candace Fleming about her book The Enigma Girls. It’s always fun learning about how nonfiction books get made.

The last Yarn interview of the conference was with comics creator Jerzy Drozd. His new graphic novel The Inscrutable Doctor Baer and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue comes out in September. It was great to talk with him.

Heading out of the convention center I spotted Optimus Prime:

After that it was time to take a nap and then attend the annual Newbery/Caldecott/Legacy Banquet. I headed over there with pal John Schu:

One of the coolest parts of the event is the program, which is always designed by the Caldecott winner. This year Vashti Harrison created a beautiful Big-themed booklet:

Things got started. After the Caldecott Honor winners picked up their awards, Harrison accepted her medal and gave a moving speech. Truly one of the best Caldecott speeches I’ve heard.

Followed by the Newbery Honor winners and then Medal winner Dave Eggers (remember when he was on The Yarn?), who also knocked it out of the park.

The night ended with Pam Muñoz Ryan accepting her Children’s Literature Legacy Award. It was a good night.

And that does it for my 2024 ALA Annual experience! See you in Philly next year!

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