So You Think You Can Interview (or Scoring a Children's/YA Librarian Job)

Tip of the Day: WriteOnCon goes through the end of the day today! Check out this amazing and super well-attended FREE online kidlit conference.

At my library, the Children's Services Manager is hiring a new part-time Children's Librarian. The head Reference Librarian and I are on the interviewing committee. We sifted through over 30 applications to find six candidates to interview, and on paper, they look great!

Next comes the interviews. Dun dun DUN....

Based on conducting interviews for such positions in the past, I have some advice.

Now I'd hate to spout wrong information regarding interviews for other non-librarian jobs in the kidlit world (as a Children's/YA bookseller, agent, editor, teacher, etc. for example), but if you are being interviewed for one of these positions, it cannot hurt to consider the following.

1. Know the most recent Caldecott/Newbery/Printz/Morris Award winners. Please. FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S HOLY, no matter how much you may have disliked the titles, know who won and possibly a runner-up or two. Nothing says, "I don't keep my eye on the industry at ALL" like having no clue about any of these titles.

2. Be able to name at least five of your favorite RECENT (within the past year or so) picture books, MG novels, and YA novels. This is where knowing the runner's up from the awards in (1) above can also come in handy (let your research do double duty).

3. Exude a huge interest in kids/teens/kidlit. Don't tell me you always wanted to be a librarian; say you always wanted to be a CHILDREN'S librarian. I don't want to think you just want ANY job (even if you do); make me think you are DYING for THIS job and you will just be CRUSHED AND BAWLING if you cannot officially call yourself a Children's Librarian (or whatever is relevant).

4. Be able to book talk some of your favorite titles without rambling/taking up half the interview. PRACTICE this out loud to yourself ahead of time if you are not comfortable doing book talks -- CONCISE book talks. We all know that person who tells you every detail of a movie/book they just watched/read so you don't even need to watch/read it yourself; DO NOT BE THAT PERSON.

Keep in mind, you don't need to memorize any of this info. You can come into the interview with a notebook with notes on it. You will look PREPARED! You will look INTERESTED! And you will NOT look EMBARASSED when you don't know the info above. Note: this can be super awkward for the interviewers too.

What questions do you have about the above? Any? Need any advice on interviewing for a librarian job? The door is now open!

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

ALA Youth Media Award Winners (or Silver and Gold Writing Lessons)

Tip of the Day, Librarian Edition: If a library fine of less than $1 appears erroneously on your account, please make sure your freak-out to the library staff is monetarily equivalent. It is hard to take you seriously if you are foaming at the mouth over 50 cents.

Wow.

Just wow.

None of the books that the Printz Club read made it on the Printz list this past Monday, and overall I only read one of the Printz books. I read about 150 teen novels last year -- how could I miss them?

In other news, my TBR pile now has four more titles on it. :)

One of the Newbery Club books made it onto the list, but only two honor books were chosen in addition to the Newbery winner.

You can see here that my predictions and wishes were wrong or not granted.

But congratulations to all of the winners, especially to the authors who books my Newbery and Printz Clubs read:

BETWEEN SHADES OF GREY by Ruta Sepetys (Morris Honor)
WONDERSTRUCK by Brian Selznick (Shneider Award)
OKAY FOR NOW by Gary Schmidt (Odyssey Honor)
INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN by Thanhha Lai (Newbery Honor)

As a writer, I look at the winners above and hope that I can channel the parts I love from them:

--Ruta's historical accuracy and chilling setting
--Brian's daring storytelling techniques
--Gary's emotional truth and complexly layered characters
--Thanhha's powerful brevity and lyricism

Did any of your favorites win? What have you learned from their writing, or what do you hope to achieve?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

My Job is Awarding III (or I Predict Literary Greatness!)

Tip of the Day, Librarian Edition: Keep your email address up-to-date with your public library. It cuts down on library system costs to email you rather than call or send a snail mail notice, and libraries can use all the financial help they can get.

It's award season! While people across the country are discussing who wore what and who won which Golden Globe Sunday night, I'm awaiting Monday, January 23 at 7:45 Central Time to hear the Newbery and Printz winners!

I discussed the Newbery and Printz Club reads, but now to prepare for the official decisions!

Based on a verbal sampling of the kids from both clubs, it seems that for the Printz, they want IMAGINARY GIRLS by Nova Ren Suma to win, but think SHADES OF GREY by Ruta Sepetys will win. And for the Newbery, there is more of a mixed bag but WONDERSTRUCK by Brian Selznick is high on the list.

My personal opinions? For Printz I'd love to see:
1. IMAGINARY GIRLS
2. SHADES OF GREY
3. EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS by A. S. King (which came out too late in the year to make the Club's short list)
4. HOW TO SAVE A LIFE by Sara Zarr (ditto note above)
5. BLOOD RED ROAD by Moira Young

And for Newbery I'd love to see:
1. OKAY FOR NOW by Gary Schmidt
2. CLOSE TO FAMOUS by Joan Bauer (ditto note above)
3. THE AVIARY by Kathleen O'Dell
4. BIGGER THAN A BREAD BOX by Laurel Snyder (wasn't on the Club's short list)
5. HOUND DOG TRUE by Linda Urban (also wasn't on the Club's short list)

I'd rather see WONDERSTRUCK win the Caldecott for its illustrations than the Newbery for its story (the illos for Rose's story are brilliant).

What are your predictions and/or the books you'd love to see make the lists?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing