Great Books Celebration

The Great Books Celebration is an excellent opportunity to share books with other children and young adult librarians from all over the state of Maryland. 2008 was the 25th annual conference sponsored by Baltimore County with committee members from a number of other counties.

The morning started with each age group committee-great picture books, great books for kids, and great books for teens-presenting a slide show of their choices for the best books of 2007 in their category. Then 2 sessions of book discussions were followed by a delicious buffet lunch. Bruce Colville delighted us with a funny and engaging speech about himself, writing, and the world of today’s authors. The day ended with a third book discussion session.

Each participant chose the 3 book discussions sessions they wanted to attend. There were 7 different sets of books for each age group to choose from. For pictures books I chose the Home Sweet Home section and Library Mouse by Kirk and Perfect Nest by Friend were my favorites. Actually I liked all 5 of these choices. I chose Opposites Attract for my kid’s session. My favorites of the 4 books read were Owen and Mzee: the Language of Friendship by Hatkoff and A Friendship for Today by McKissack. Secrets and Lies was the teen topic I chose. Of the 4 choices I only liked Leaving Paradise by Elkeles. I can see where A Lifetime of Secrets by Warren would appeal to some readers but it was not my cup of tea. Harmless by Reinhardt and Sara’s Face by Burgess were fairly universally not liked by my discussion group.

Opportunities to expand my reader’s advisory skills are appreciated. Discussing the books with other librarians made me aware of things in the stories that I missed. It was fun to share different ways we could use these books in our work. After a good discussion of what teens like and dislike, I feel I have a better understanding of what teens are looking for in their reading.

Meredith Smith Olney Library