Library & Literary Miscellany

March has passed and has left in its wake a hearty dose of book-related action; this post briefly mentions just a few pieces of that action–the March Madness Tournament of Books, PLA’s convention and related-handouts, and ALA’s new season of Step Up to the Plate.

Tournament of Books

It’s March Madness, so fans are rooting for their favorite book. Didn’t I mean basketball team? Well, there is that too (and I, for one, am a huge fan of NCAA tournament action), but there’s also a more recently established Tournament of Books. Currently in its fourth installation, the 2008 tourney is winding up. The Tournament of Books is sponsored by Powell’s Books; brackets and standings can be found on the Morning News.

As the Morning News website puts it, “The Morning News Tournament of Books, sponsored by Powell’s Books, is an annual battle royale amongst the top novels in ‘literary fiction’ published throughout the year” (read more about the tournament). As this year’s tournament approaches fruition, Remainder by Tom McCarthy and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz are facing off for the title.

PLA Handouts

In non-tournament related book action, the Public Library Association (PLA) held it’s 12th National Conference in Minneapolis, MN on March 25-29. While it would have been great to attend, what’s even greater is that PLA has made available a great number of handouts and resources from its sessions.

Click here to view the full list of handouts including handouts from sessions such as When the Story Is True: Practicing Nonfiction and Readers’ Advisory Readers’ Advisory Tool Kit III: Market Driven Readers’ Advisory -Three More Skills to Increase Your Effectiveness as an RA Librarian.

ALA’s Step Up to the Plate

Lastly, the American Library Association (ALA) just launched Season three of Step Up to the Plate @ your library. Read the press release or play the trivia game that’s found on the program’s website. Or view the booklist of baseball books which includes books for those in Little League (grades 1-6), Minor League (grades 6-12), and Major League (18 and over) while also including films and reference sources.

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April 2 has been International Children’s Book Day since 1967 (this ties it in with Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday). International Children’s Book Day is “celebrated to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children’s books.” Each year the day is hosted by a different National Section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) and each year the day has a different theme.

A list of International Children’s Book Day National Sections and themes from 1995-2008 is available at the IBBY site where you’ll be see that this year’s host National Section is Thailand and the theme is “Books Enlighten: Knowledge Delights.”

And as long as we’re talking about special book-related times and themes, don’t forget to celebrate April as National Poetry Month.

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