One Berry, Two Berry, Pick Me A Newbery

In January, I went to Denver for the American Library Association's Midwinter Conference. This year's conference was extra special because I was on the 2009 Newbery Award Committee! All year long during 2008, I read and read and read, along with the 14 other members of the committee. We got together in Denver for hours of discussion and deliberation. On our final day together, we called the authors of the winning book and the honor books at 6:30 in the morning, just before the ALA's press conference where the awards were officially announced. Here is a picture of our committee chair, Rose, calling one of the authors:

And here are some committee members, crowded around the phone to hear the authors' reactions:

And the winner was... Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book! We visited the publisher in the exhibit hall after the press conference to wish them congratulations.

The Graveyard Book is really really good! If you haven't read it yet, I recommend it!