It’s National Library Week! (Hooray… I love libraries. And I find librarians HOT!! But I’ll save the “book people are sexy people” blog for another time.)

Yet hey, best of all, April 15 (tomorrow) is SUPPORT TEEN LITERATURE DAY. The purpose of this, according to the American Library Association, is to “…raise awareness among the general public that young adult literature is a vibrant, growing genre with much to offer today’s teens. Support Teen Literature Day also seeks to showcase some award-winning authors and books in the genre as well as highlight librarians’ expertise in connecting teens with books and other reading materials.”

So really, if you are reading this right now, I’d like to try and convince you to plan to do something. Run a teen book talk, hold an Academy Awards style young adult literature book vote, send a tweet about YA lit… just do something to show a little love for young adult literacy.

In a way it feels as if books are in the news a heckuva a lot these days. From the iPad to the Kindle to the buzz about a forthcoming Google Android Tablet, the e-book market is on everyone’s lips. Plus, Kitty Kelly has just taken Oprah out for a little walk on the scandal side, Stephanie Meyer has a new Twilight novella coming out and me, well, I’ve got a shelf of books by my bed that is tilting over waiting for me to get to them.

If you need some ideas from YALSA about how you can celebrate, click here.
If you don’t know who YALSA is click here.
If you want to see sexy librarians, click here.

(How come I have a feeling a lot of people clicked the last link? Do I know my blog readers or what?)

Let’s hear it for the libraries, huh?

BTW, if you want to see a slideshow of some amazing libraries, click here.

Libraries: an institution I genuinely love filled with people I genuinely like.

I am immensely proud of this picture. The people you see include 1) Jacqueline Woodson, an author who has won the Caldecott Medal, the Coretta Scott King Award, the Newberry Honor Medal, and the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement as given by the American Library Association 2) Ann Martin, President of the American Association of School Librarians 3) me, and 4) Laurie Halse Anderson, the author of Speak among other books (and if I listed all her accomplishements and awards, you’d be reading for a hell of a long time — what hasn’t she won is really the question?)

And why do I post it? Because we just got together in Chicago this past Saturday to go to bat for librarians and go to bat for students.

It rocked the house!

It also packed the house. Check out this photo I took from the stage just moments before I took the microphone.

Cool, huh?

But the big point I want to make is that librarians and English teachers are joined at the hips. We are simpatico. Peeps. Homies. Personally, I adore librarians and I have a feeling if I took a poll, there are a heck of a lot of people out there in the world of the Language Arts and public schooling that would have a heck of a lot of good things to say about librarians.

But our brothers and sisters in these of-so-hallowed halls are under assault.

Don’t pretend it’s not happening. Don’t think to yourself, “Well I got my problems,” or “We, in the world of English Language Arts and school are under assault as well,” and don’t throw up your hands and think, “Get in line, Buddy… who ain’t having their screws turned right now?”

Our libraries are being massacred and it’s a freakin’ tragedy!

Let’s be simple. American libraries are a core pillar of democracy. (I truly believe that but if I go off right now to explain what I mean, well… ultimately, I think the statement is self-evident in a way so I am not gonna waste the words right now.)

And as I have said many-a-time, if you want to really judge a school, go check out their school library facilities — and the extent to which the students on campus use the library. Of course you are going to see an over-worked, underpaid, under-appreciated library staff… that’s par for the course. But a school with a run down, out of date, woeful library is almost always going to be a school that is under-performing. There is a direct link.

And it’s not the librarian’s fault. It’s the lack of recognition for the value of a school library being evidenced by the school board, the administration and the parents in the community. Those folks need to own up!

For our own part, Lynwood High School lost their librarian quite a while ago… and we are now a school expected to function without a school librarian. For some reason, the powers-that-be think that a few well-meaning aides can do the job. (NOTE: Our aides are pretty outstanding — I will say that. They have saved my butt more times than I can count. Just rock stars!) But it seems as if the school plan is to let core content teachers direct student learning and cover the gap that a person with an advanced degree in Library Sciences/Media Specialties would typically be expected to provide. And what we can’t cover (huge chasm that it is) is apparently expendable.

And the thing is, this mentality is happening across more and more locations across the nation.

Public libraries are reducing their hours. Or closing their doors. And the notion of “library as a luxury” is starting to permeate in public policy making.

It’s BULLSHIT!!!

Support our libraries. Check out the ALA website to see how you can do more. (Even being aware is a step in the right direction). And they have so much valuable “stuff” available, it’s just incredible!

Truly, the library’s contribution to America is incredible. And it’s under assault from short-term thinking bean counting ignoramuses!

Maybe Bradbury was wrong. Perhaps it will not be book burning that gets us. Perhaps it’s library closures.

I was a featured speaker on the President’s Panel of AASL this Saturday for the American Library Association’s annual conference. (Took place in Chicago this year… what a town!)

So much great info, so many great people and so many great, mind-blowing ideas came at me from so many different directions that it’s virtually impossible to keep up.

Yet, through the speaking, the book signings, the chatting, the schmoozing and the eating I did in Chi-town (did I mention what a great town Chicago is?) I was FLOORED by a few things. For example, I heard that…

Google handles more questions in a second than a reference librarian will answer in a career.

That stat alone is enough to make me stop blogging at this very moment because I think I need to digest the implications of what this signifies. I mean everytime I think I realize that things in the world of books and education and learning and information have changed I am confronted by something new that makes me say, “Goodness, do I really understand how much things have changed?”

Do any of us?

So today I am back (at least at half speed) after burying my grandmother. It was a remarkable experience, a time filled with more smiles than tears, more laughs than anger and more warmth in my family than almost any other time I can recall in the past decade. Nothing like a funeral to remove a few shoulder chips — including my own — huh?

Crazy how a trip to a cemetery can put a few things into perspective.

And then I get a phone call that says this…

The American Library Association has named The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers 2009. (Homeboyz was a top ten ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers for 2008 so I just went back-to-back with my last two books of young adult fiction. Incredible, huh?)

And then they said, please make sure your publisher puts it on the cover. I have a feeling they won’t forget to mention this small little detail. Just a hunch. Too funny and too cool. Librarians are the BEST!!!

And then I get an invitation that says this…

The Convention Director of SPEAQ (SPEAQ is the Society for the Promotion of Teaching of English of a Second Language in Quebec) has formally invited me to be the keynote speaker at their annual conference in Montreal, Canada this November and is really hoping I’ll be able to say yes. (For really good pay, too including all travel meals and lodging.)

Not bad, I think. Not bad at all.

And then I check my email and get this…

Hi Alan,

I will do my best to keep this email brief. I have seen you speak several times and am always inspired by your passion and your drive. As a very new teacher, I need all of the inspiration to stick with it that I can get. I bought your book “Teaching Teens & Reaping Results” and started reading it tonight. I head back to my Master’s program Wed, and therefore, there goes my own reading time. Anyway, I saw the quote “Fall down seven times, stand up eight”and it really resonated with me.

I was lying in bed and I just kept thinking about that quote and how cool it would be to turn that into a poem – to write about 7 times we have fallen and the 8 times we get up. I am going to copy/paste my poem at the bottom of the email (I’m always wary of attachments from strangers). It was a profound writing experience for me. I wanted to share my idea with you since you inspired it!

Thanks for your wisdom and your genius!

Emily

P.S. The numbers were just for me to keep count. It’s too late for editing that before I send it! Cheers!

7 falls – 8 stands

1. I once fell when I stepped on a neighbor’s remote control because I let my anger get the best of me.

I stood up because I still wanted to be friends.

2. I once fell when my father died because I wanted him to help me figure out just who I was supposed to be and how.

I stood up because I know that’s what he wants me to do.

3. I once fell when we moved from Ohio to Wyoming because the boys who had finally reciprocated my crushes were going to be left behind.

I stood up because I figured there would be more romance ahead.

I once fell when Nick died that day in August because he was my best friend, we loved each other, and 18 year old boys are not supposed to have their heads’ crushed in car accidents.

I stood up because if I didn’t, the pain would crush me forever.

I once fell in Texas because I was so painfully lonely; two years and not a single friend to show for it.

I stood up because I knew that that was not how I wanted to live my life, and I knew I had the power to change it.

I once fell when my Mom was a suicidal pain medication addict for years because of the intolerable back pain the surgeries caused; she thought I did not love her because I told her she should not drive under the influence of the drugs.

I stood up because I loved her and wanted my strength to overwhelm her and become her strength.

I once fell when I was terrified of committing myself to my husband for the fear that he would also die, and I would be left with the grief.

I stood up because fear will not rule my life, and I will never stop believing in the powers that be.

The Book Jam ning is jamming, I can’t wait to get back to school and start rockin’ again with my kids and my literary agent just came to terms with Disney on a children’s book I submitted to them — my first children’s picture book (something I have always wanted to do). Plus, my real goal for the next, oh, rest of my years on this planet, is to bring authentic books back into our classrooms, get rid of the ridiculous scripted curriculums and let our kids read some awesome YA literature so that educators can simultaneouesly cover the standards, engage the students and build a bridge to 21rst learning projects so that America doesn’t get left behind much in the way England got smoked by folks like us due to their hubris about 150 years ago.

It’s our time, people. We MUST revolutionize our nation’s schools. And who better than us?

Remember when I said I was back at half speed? Screw it — full steam ahead. After all, one day we’re all gonna be gone anyway. What seems to me the matter the most is the way in which we spend our days while we’re here.

I am back on the roller coaster… and thrilled that you are coming along for the ride.