Black Eyed Susan Tapestry

On Sat., Sept. 13, I attended a program in Westminster MD about the 2014 Black Eyed Susan Award books.  We had to read about 15 books in advance in three different age categories and come prepared to discuss them with other children's public library specialists in Maryland.  The books I read were in the categories of picture books, gr. 4-6 books, and gr. 6-9 books. Pat Goff, who is the chairperson for the Black Eyed Susan Award committee gave a brief introduction. We each attended three one hour sessions.  There were about 10 librarians discussing the books in the various categories in each session.  The discussions were led by a moderator who had participants summarize the books and speak to their salient points.  I enjoyed talking about the literature and made notes on a few books that I may need to order for our collection.  Mary Amato, a children's author who lives in the Washington D.C. area was the keynote speaker for the day and talked about the influence of music on her books as well as how her own life is reflected in some of the stories she writes. After Mary's program, there were  presentations on the best middle grade and picture books of 2014.  Over all, I enjoyed the day very much.  I don't get to have discussions about topics in children's literature very much, and it was nice to see some of the other professionals in the field and ask them about their programs and collections.