It's the American Library Association's award for a book that "embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences."
What's that mean for a winning author?
You get honored at ALA with banners and plaques and get to meet some truly outstanding committee members.
It also means that your publisher is happy with you and hosts you as a guest of honor at parties and such.
And what does being a guest of honor at a Random House function held at a Downtown Disneyland restaurant mean to the author?:
Mouse ears!
Yup, the president / publisher presented ALA award winners with Mickey Mouse hats embroidered with our names during one such party, and since I've never owned Ears before I thought it was ubercool and wore mine all night.
I was busy the whole conference with book business so Mark and I didn't visit Disneyland Park for rides, etc., but the boys did. We paid their entry with the proviso that they return with pictures of themselves in front of the White Rabbit's door. Here's why:
That's them together 15 years ago.
And again last weekend.
(No room for togetherness! [And no parent to take the picture])
Maybe it's just a mom thing, but something about this group of pictures makes me really happy.
But back to the conference:
Brian Selznick (the wonderful author of Hugo Cabret) also won a (younger category) Schneider for Wonderstruck, so we were at all the Schneider functions together and I am happy to report that a) he wears awesome cool shoes, and b) he is a fun, seemingly humble and very kind guy. I should also report that c) somewhere out there are pictures of him with my bunny ears messin' up his stylish look. (There's only so much picture-taking I can handle before I spaz out--something he totally got.)
There's more, but this is probably plenty for now.
Thanks for checking in. Thanks for caring.
See you next week!
