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Jack Gantos
Photo by Anne Lower
ALAN 2013 Keynote Speaker Jack Gantos
ALAN Online News - November 2013
Here's the latest on everything ALAN in Boston, from the Saturday breakfast to the last day of a fantastic workshop. Join us as we celebrate our Assembly's 40th birthday and look forward to the next forty years of YA literature. 

If this is your first workshop, expect to be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of talent and dedication contained in the room. At the end of the Orlando workshop in 2010, I went home knowing ALAN was the professional organization I wanted to be a part of. Teri Lesene had a similar experience at her first ALAN years ago: "I searched the program for anything with the name ALAN attached. I ended up attending my first ever Board Meeting because it was listed in the program. What a wonderful "error" on my part as I had the chance to meet all the leaders of the organization at that first meeting, including the inimitable Ted Hipple, our first Executive Secretary. That was the beginning of my involvement with this incredible organization."

We hope you'll get involved in the work of the Assembly as well, and have a great time with us in Boston.

Anne McLeod
Editor, ALAN Online News
Missing your issue of TAR?
Please email membership secretary Karin Perry.



In This Issue
Getting Real
ALAN Essentials
Election Results
AEW Committee
Real Quick Picks
Moderating a Panel or Breakout Session in Boston?
Please arrive in Ballroom B at 7:15 Monday morning for last-minute instructions and to assist with registration. 


 
Getting  Real: Questions for Chris Crutcher 
Chris Crutcher
Photo by Kelly Milner Halls
 
Author Chris Crutcher is soliciting your questions for his talk at the ALAN Workshop entitled "Can We Be Fucking Real?"  which is a pretty good question itself. 
 
Send questions to Teri Lesesne at ALANExecutiveSecretary@gmail.com and come to Boston November 25 for the answers.  
 
Thrills, romance, mystery, and betrayal make Chris Crutcher's newest book, Period 8 (Greenwillow, 2013)  a must-read for teens and fans of YA literature.  Among his other titles are Angry Management (Greenwillow, 2009), Deadline (Greenwillow, 2007), The Sledding Hill (Greenwillow, 2005), and Ironman (Greenwillow, 1995). 

Walter Dean Myers
Walter Dean Myers Signs Autographs at 2011 ALAN Workshop   
Photo by Don Gallo
 
ALAN 2013: The Latest Info on When and Where
Judy Blume
Judy Blume
Photo by American Library Association, 
            Licensed under Creative Commons
 
 
 
 
Saturday, November 23
ALAN Breakfast
7:00 AM - 9:15 AM
 
Hynes Convention Center, Room 311, Level 3
ALAN Award Presentation  to Judy Blume
Breakfast Speaker: Walter Dean Myers
 
Sunday, November 24
ALAN Reception - Meet the authors!
5:30 - 7:00 PM
Sheraton Boston Grand Ballroom

 
 

 
Monday, November 25
ALAN Workshop
Ballroom B, Level 3
7:15 - 8:00 AM Registration
8:00 Welcome by Jeffrey Kaplan, 2013 ALAN President
8:10 Keynote Address by Jack Gantos
Laurie Halse Anderson
8:30 - 9:40 Panels
9:40 - 9:55 Break
9:55 - 11:05 Panels
11:05 - 12:00 PM Author Breakout Sessions
12:00 - 1:00  Lunch on your own
1:00 - 1:20 Keynote speaker Chris Crutcher
1:20 - 3:00 Panels
3:00 - 3:15 Break
3:15 - 4:30 Panels 
4:30 AEW Award Panel
 
Tuesday, November 26
ALAN Workshop
Ballroom B, Level 3
8:00 - 8:15 Nilsen - Donelson Award 
8:15 - 8:35 Laurie Halse Anderson
8:35 - 9:50 Break
9:50 - 11:00 Panels
11:00 - 11:50 Educator Breakouts
11:50 - 12:50 Lunch on your own
12:50 - 4:20 Panels
4:20: 4:30 Handing over the Gavel - Jeffrey Kaplan, 2013 President; Walter Mayes, 2014 President 
Election Results
Congratulations to ALAN's newly elected President-Elect, Pam Cole and to new members of the Board of Directors: Marshall George, Lisa Muller, and Susan Groenke. Look for more information in next month's newsletter. 
2014 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committe

ALAN is pleased to announce the award committee for the 2014 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee. Many thanks to these individuals who have graciously offered of their time to serve on this committee.

Kellee Moye, Committee Chair; Teacher/Reading Coach, Hunter's Creek Middle School, Orlando, FL

 

Lois Buckman, Past Committee Chair; Assistant Librarian, Anderson County Public Library, Anderson, SC

 

Jonatha Basye, Teacher/Librarian, Bryan Elementary, Hampton, VA

 

Ernest Cox, Librarian, Prairie Creek Intermediate School, Cedar Rapids, IA

 

Paul Hankins, English Language & Composition, Silver Creek High School, Sellersburg, IN

 

Nancy Johnson, Professor, Children's/Young Adult Literature & English/Language Arts Education, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA

 

Sara Kajder, English Teacher, Shady Side Academy, Pittsburgh, PA

 

Mark Letcher, Assistant Professor English Education, Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, IN

 

Suzanne Metcalfe, Librarian, Dimond High School, Anchorage, Alaska

 

Mindi Rench, Reading Coach/Literacy Coach, Northbrook Junior High School, Northbrook, IL

 

Lois Stover, Dean - School of Education and Human Services, Marymount University, Arlington, VA

ALAN Marketplace 2013
ALAN Real Quick Picks
 
ALAN Real Quick Picks features three-sentence reviews of readers' recommended titles. Send a short blurb for your most recent favorite to cannemcleod@outlook.com to share in ALAN Online News. 
 
Of Beauty and Beast by Stacey Jay (Delacorte, 2013)
In this fractured fairy tale,Stacey Jay invites readers to confront ignorance: the darkness, the cages, the narrow worlds in which we sometimes live. She also spends immense space in defining love-which can feel like home but also represent everything strange and uncertain and unknown. Through her protagonists Gem and Isra, Jay challenges people to see without the blinders of contempt, selfishness, and elitist attitudes; to love a little harder to avoid falling into darkness; and to realize that difference is not something sad and strange and frightful.
Donna L. Miller 
 
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick (Little Brown, 2013)
Leonard Peacock plans for this, his birthday, to be the last day of his life, but first he must say goodbye to the handful of people who mean something to him. In this stylistically brilliant novel, scenes of dialogue, embellished by footnotes, reveal Leonard's intelligence and soulful depth.Complex characters, existential questions, and a suspenseful plot will draw readers in and keep them turning pages in this heartbreaking, fiercely hopeful book. - Jennifer Buehler  

 

Kindness for Weakness by Shawn Goodman (Delacorte, 2013)
 Incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility where sensitivity is ridiculed, fifteen-year-old James must hide his gentle nature from guards and peers. Writing with brutal honesty, Goodman confronts readers with urgent and difficult questions: how do young people hold onto their humanity in a system that degrades and brutalizes them? What hope is there for those written off by society at such an early age? This dark, devastating novel offers no easy answers, but it compels us to see incarcerated youth with new eyes and to care about their fate. - Jennifer Buehler 
 
And two from Teri Lesesne who explains, "There is a thread on Twitter right now with 3 word booktalks. I thought I might try that out for RQP."

The Real Boy by Anne Ursu (HarperCollins, 2013)
Pinocchio beautifully reimagined

Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller (Jossey-Bass, 2013)
Valuable professional development 
Calls for Papers and Proposals 

 

The ALAN Review

Fall 2014: Open Call

The last 40 years have seen an explosion of young adult literature novels. From vampires to zombies, biographies to poetry, video games to movies, YAL is a considerable force in the world of publishing and media. This issue is an open call issue so we ask you to consider young adult literature writ large. What is it that we know and can say about this field? Who are the authors and texts that are shaping the current and next generations of readers? What has changed or stayed the same about young adult literature? What are the trends, themes, or topics that capture the attention or imagination of adolescent readers? This theme is meant to be open to interpretation, and we welcome manuscripts addressing pedagogy as well as theoretical concerns. Please send manuscripts to: jbach@lsu.eduGeneral submissions are also welcome. Submission deadline: March 1, 2014

 

Stories from the Field

Editors' Note: Stories from the Field invites readers to share a story about young adult literature. This section features brief vignettes (approximately 300 words) from practicing teachers and librarians who would like to share their interactions with students, parents, colleagues, and administrators around young adult literature. Please send your stories to: jbach@lsu.edu.

 

ALAN Online News
Items needed for this newsletter: ALAN organizational news items, YA Links in the News, The Book That Changed My Life, Real Quick Picks, candidates for Spotlight on an ALAN Member, feature articles about programs in your area that promote teen reading or young adult literature. Photographs are welcome as well. Please make sure to have media permission of the subjects and send a photo credit. Send to cynthiaamcleod@gmail.com. Deadline for next newsletter is December 8, 2013.  

 
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Remember to send a change of address to Membership Secretary   Karin Perry. The postal service does not forward bulk mail, and if ALAN does not have your current mailing address, you will miss issues of TAR.