This is a picture of the Margaret A. Edwards Committee and our award winning author, Orson Scott Card. The entire committee is dressed in blue, but we didn't talk about this before hand so I guess we are like-minded in color choices as well as award winning YA authors. :) I am going to miss working with Brenna, Kimberly, Erin, and Patty. Three redheads, one brunette and me, the blonde - our personalities are as different as our hair, but we worked well together. Being on this committee was one of the major highlights of my 20 year involvement in YALSA.

I am already busy with my YALSA Board duties. The emails are flying fast and furious and I am busy printing out documents to read and keep in folders. I can see I am going to have more than a few 3 ring binders full of documents and messages to keep me on track. I am going to enjoy every moment of the next 3 years on the Board.

Life is majorly crazy right now. I leave for Greenville in the a.m. for the COLRS workshop. COLRS is an IMLS grant that Drs. Harer and White co-coordinate and it includes a workshop each summer for the scholarship students as well as other students who wish to attend. I am doing booktalk presentations again since all my YA literature students have to present booktalks and this gives them a chance to see me in action. So, I need to get my books together along with all the other packing done for the trip. Will be longer than normal as I am meeting Mary in Greensboro for a couple of days. She is at a training workshop there so I'll go stay with her, work during the day, and we can go out to dinner and catch up in the evening. Michael's 5th birthday was Thursday and I missed his party on Saturday. I miss him and can't wait to see McKinley. Pictures are great, but not the real thing. And Kegan has grown so much and from the sounds of his voice behind Mary on the phone he is a rambunctious one.

My book for the day is Marc Aronson and Patty Campbell's (fellow MAE committee member) compilation of interviews, letters, essays, journal entries, short stories about war - War Is... A Hard Look at Warfare by Soldier, Survivors and Storytellers. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/War-Is/Marc-Aronson/e/9780763636258/?itm=2 - a Candlewick publication that will come out in September. Thanks to Patty, I had the opportunity to read the ARC. What a poignant mix of entries chosen by Patty, who is adamantly anti-war and Marc, who takes the opposite stand on war as being a necessary evil in the world. Their introductory essays would be wonderful read alouds in a secondary World or U.S. History classroom, or any other for that matter. Excellent classroom discussion starters. A great resource for debate teams as well. The entries by the soldiers, men and women, in Iraq brought tears to my eyes. This collection spans entries from letters written by a WWI soldier to a futuristic short story. A must have for every YA collection.

Now to get back to preparing for my trip. Can't wait to see the other LS faculty members. I am so fortunate to work with great colleagues.