Brrrr.. and I don't mean Raymond.

It is seriously cold here. Like right now I can't feel my toes and I'm inside the house. The good news: I get to go to California tomorrow! The American Library Association conference is there. I cannot wait to get off the plane and not have to wear a parka and boots.

My brother will be there; he's on the Caldecott committee right now, so he'll spend most of the conference locked in a room with 14 other people trying to decide on the best illustrations of 2010. My friend Lindsay lives there, and I'm going to try to sneak her in to a publisher's cocktail party. Shouldn't be too hard, since she's a social butterfly and instantly becomes best friends with everyone she meets. And I get to meet Leslie, whose blog I adore.

Neil Gaiman, winner of the 2009 Newbery Award (whoever picked that book must have been really awesome...), is going to be speaking. Neil may or may not have been featured on our Christmas cards last year. Oh yes, the family photo.

On Saturday, I got news from one of the members of my Newbery committee. We served together in 2008 to select the 2009 winner and honor books. The news was very sad: our committee chair, Rose, had passed away on Friday.

We knew she was ill; she had been wearing a wig in the summer of 2009 when the award banquet took place. But of course we didn't ask. Rose was very private, and I'm sure she would have shared anything she wanted us to know. None of us would have guessed that this would happen so soon.

Rose was lovely and vibrant. I'd like to share a couple of photos of her...



Early-morning phone calls (with the entire committee huddled close, trying to hear the tinny speaker phone) to the winning authors to share the news. This was probably the 2nd most exciting event of my life (second only to our wedding day), and I would imagine that Rose would say the same.

Rose with author Neil Gaiman, winner of the 2009 Newbery Award.

Rose, you will be missed by many.