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The McConnell Conference this year

was a great time! The conference began

with breakout sessions including a

presentation by Mary Lou White, Tyler

Anderson, and Stephanie Sawyer on

this year’s Young Adult Youth Media

Awards. Dan Yaccarinno kicked off the

conference with a breakout session

where he answered the audience’s

questions about his fabulous illustra-

tions. Meggan Conway gave a breakout

session on how to find multicultural

literature for all children and Krista

King-Oaks and Pamela Jayne geeked

out with graphic novels.

During the first round of breakout ses-

sions, the McConnell Conference spon-

sored its first SLIS Student Poster Ses-

sion. Jessica Herrington, Desireé Per-

ry, Heather Burke, and Danielle Gab-

bard presented an amazing poster ses-

sion on marketing information to youth.

On Saturday Heather Burke presented

her poster session on her “Artists’

Books Access Project.” Thank you to

all the participants from SLIS who con-

tributed to the McConnell Conference’s

first poster session.

Friday night was concluded with the

Toy Terhune Lecture featuring the au-

thor of the Joey Pigza and Jack Adrift

books, the amazing Jack Gantos. The

From left: Dr. Stephanie D. Reynolds, Jack Gantos, Dan Yaccarino, Selene Castrovilla,

and Mercedes Hopewell

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2012 Newbery Medal Winner for Deadend in

Norvelt had the entire audience laughing at his

childhood antics.

On Saturday, the morning session began with

author of the novel The Girl Next Door, Selene

Castrovilla. Breakout sessions followed includ-

ing a meet-the-author with Jack Gantos and a

session by Karalea Lane discussing the virtues

of heroes in young adult literature. Edith Camp-

bell and author Ashley Hope Pérez presented a

wonderful breakout session that discussed creat-

ing and finding ethnic authenticity in youth liter-

ature.

Our Saturday lunch session featured author/illustrator Dan Yaccarino. He has sold over 1.5 million books and

has illustrated over 50 books! He is also the creator of Nickelodeon shows “Willa’s Wild Life” and “Oswald”.

Yaccarino delivered a hilarious presentation about his struggles and rise to becoming an amazing illustrator

for children.

Following the lunch session, there were more breakout sessions during which some previous sessions were

repeated and conference attendees could “meet the author” with Selene Castrovilla or celebrate the art of pic-

ture books with - our first hands-on session in many years - with Denise Vallandingham.

Thank you to local treasures Martha Bennett Stiles and George Ella Lyon and to up-and-coming author Ash-

ley Hope Pérez for participating in our signing sessions.

If you have any photos you would like to share of the Conference please send them to

mercedes.hopewell@gmail.com.

This year was another wonderful Conference for us! Thank you to all who joined us.

Dr. Seuss’ birthday and Read Across

America was on March 2 this year. Did

you celebrate in anyway? Send us pic-

tures and testimonial on how you spent

Dr. Seuss’ birthday or Read Across

America. We would love to see how

you spent the day!

Send all pictures and testimonials to

mercedes.hopewell@gmail.com

“Be who you are and say what

you feel, because those who mind

don't matter and those who matter

don’t mind."

- Dr. Seuss

From left: Dan Yaccarino and Jack Gantos

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The third annual Kentucky Literacy

Celebration week will occur March 4-8, 2013.

Kentucky Literacy Celebration is a result

of collaboration among several literacy/

education institutions and Kentucky First

Lady Jane Beshear. The intent of the

event is to highlight literacy in Kentucky,

celebrate the accomplishments and focus

on the challenges still faced as a state.

The week of March 4-8, 2013 is set aside

for this event.

There are several ways you can get

involved.

Visit the Kentucky Literacy Celebration

website for more details.

www.kentuckyliteracy.org/celebrate

March 23 at 7:00 p.m.

Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys

http://bit.ly/OutofEasy2013

April 13 at 7:00 p.m.

McConnell Board Game Night

http://bit.ly/

McConnellBoardGameNight2013

Please RSVP on our Facebook pages or us-

ing the form found here for these events so

we know approximately how many are com-

ing or if we need to reschedule. ~Thanks!

After 4 years, the McConnell Listserv is now 300

subscribers strong. Not subscribed? Don't miss out

on McConnell Center and Conference news, sub-

scribe today. Please email Mercedes Hopewell at

Mercedes.Hopewell@gmail.com with your pre-

ferred name and email address.

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The McConnell Center’s 4th Connecting with Characters Contest was organized in conjunction with the 2013

McConnell Conference for Youth Literature featuring Jack Gantos, Dan Yaccarino and Selene Castrovilla.

The Contest provides an opportunity for the youth of Kentucky and the surrounding states to connect with the

characters in the works of these wonderful contributors to the world of literature for youth.

Congratulations to the winners for 2013:

Brittany Kay Allen, Age 6, Kindergarten, Gallatin County

Lower Elementary, Donna Kannady, Librarian, Warsaw, KY

(The Belly Book by Dan Yaccarino)

Aaliyah Schave, Age 7, 1st Grade, Gallatin County Lower

Elementary, Donna Kannady, Librarian, Warsaw, KY (The Belly

Book by Dan Yaccarino)

Kaley Mills, Age 6, 1st Grade, Goose Rock Elementary, Lainie

Miller, Teacher, Manchester, KY (Every Friday by Dan

Yaccarino).

Hannah Roper, Age 6, 1st Grade, Yates Elementary, Emily

Pike, Librarian, Lexington, KY (Rotten Ralph by Jack Gantos)

Olivia Thompson, Age 8, 2nd Grade, Hearn Elementary, Becky B. Nelson, Librarian, Frankfort, KY

(Rotten Ralph by Jack Gantos)

Brookelynn Gail Perkins, Age 7, 2nd Grade, Gallatin County Lower Elementary, Donna Kannady,

Librarian, Warsaw, KY (The Belly Book by Dan Yaccarino)

Averie Thress, Age 8, 2nd Grade, Hearn Elementary, Becky B. Nelson, Librarian, Frankfort, KY (Best In

Show For Rotten Ralph by Jack Gantos)

Katherine Nolan, Age 9, 3rd Grade, Hearn Elementary, Becky B. Nelson, Librarian, Frankfort, KY (Best

In Show For Rotten Ralph by Jack Gantos)

Cameron Hubbard, Age 9, 4th Grade, Goose Rock Elementary, Emily Jackson, Librarian, Manchester,

KY (Joey Pigza Loses Control by Jack Gantos)

Dylan Jamison, Age 11, 5th Grade, Hearn Elementary, Becky B. Nelson, Librarian, Frankfort, KY, (Jack

On The Tracks by Jack Gantos)

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Be sure to save the date for the

McConnell Center Board Game

Night on April 13 at 7:00 p.m.

We look forward to seeing

everyone there!

As always you can access

Mercedes’ Board Game

spreadsheet at

http://bit.ly/

MercedesBoardGames

Be sure to send all of your

suggestions to

mercedes.hopewell@gmail.com

before April 10th.

If you haven’t heard about the “New Adult” category

for YA lit, you will be soon. It is being pegged by the

media as racy books for teenagers. In reality these

books are not much different than the fiction that has

been out for years. Check out Nightlines spot on the

“New Adult” genre for young adults at

http://abcn.ws/Wv3JXI and judge for yourself if this is

a new genre.

The McConnell Center staff has compiled their own

list of some of our favorites from this new “genre”

below.

1) Slammed by Colleen Hoover

2) Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

3) Easy by Tammara Webber

4) Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

5) Reason to Breathe by Rebecca Donovan

Let us know about what you think of the “New Adult”

genre or email us book suggestions at

mercedes.hopewell@gmail.com

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Are you in LIS 614 or LIS 612 this

Spring? Come use the McConnell

Center! We can help you find books

to use for your class.

Our Spring 2013 hours

Monday & Wednesday, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Tuesday & Thursday, 12 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Or by appointment contact

mercedes.hopewell@gmail.com

Mary Landrum is a former

McConnell Center Graduate

Assistant. This March we

interviewed her.

What job do you currently hold?

Children's librarian at Lexington

Public Library.

What is your favorite part of the

job?

Storytime! yay!

How has your education prepared

you for your job?

Yes, absolutely.

What classes from SLIS have been

instrumental in laying the success in

your new job?

The children's lit classes helped me

learn how to identify good books for

children, and how to match the right

book with the right child. The

library services for youth class also

gave me practical experience in

doing programs in a library setting.

What parts of your job have only

been learned by real world

experience?

Using the library's circulation

systems has definitely been a

real-world learning experience.

There's also a wealth of things

you just can't learn in library

school: how to give refunds

from the copier, or

what to do when

the games

computers don't

work.

STUDENT SECTION

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On the Blog:

ARC Read & Review 2012! We

have the following titles available

for anyone who wants to read and

review them for the McConnell

Center blog at http://

youthlitmatters.wordpress.com/

New Books in the Center:

Juvenile Fiction

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The

Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Jinx by Sage Blackwoord

Amelia Bedelia: Means Business

by Herman Parish

A vital gathering place for books

and ideas, the McConnell Center

is committed to identifying

excellent literature for children

and adolescents and to bringing

this literature to the attention of

those adults who have an

academic, professional, career, or

personal interest in connecting

young readers with books.

We maintain two main, non-

circulating collections:

Our Current Collection includes all

books sent to us for review by

publishers during the current year.

The Permanent Collection is

several collections of books

maintained in the Center as a resource

for students and librarians. It includes

the Basic Collection, the Award-

winning Collection (Caldecott,

Newbery, Printz, Morris, Pura Belpré,

Sibert, and Orbis Pictus Awards), the

Kentucky Collection (notable

Kentucky authors and books about

Kentucky), the Reference Collection,

and the Periodical Collection.

Please visit our website for more

information: https://ci.uky.edu/lis/mcconnellcenter

Young Adult

Prodigy: A Legend Novel by

Marie Lu

Dodger by Terry Pratchett

Scarlet by Melissa Meyer

The Madman’s Daughter by

Megan Shepherd

Picture Books

Perfectly Percy by Paul

Schmid

Nelson Mandela by Kadir

Nelson

Graphic Novels

A Wrinkle in Time: The

Graphic Novel by Madeleine

L’Engle

In the Center:

March 23 at 7:00 p.m.

Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys

http://bit.ly/OutofEasy2013

April 13 at 7:00 p.m.

McConnell Board Game Night

http://bit.ly/

McConnellBoardGameNight2013

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