>> From the Library of
Congress in Washington D.C.
>> Gosh it quiet really fast,
you guys make me nervous sheesh.
I think Dr. Hayden said
it well, it's like we're
in a library [laughter] welcome.
I'm Lee Ann Potter, I direct
Educational Outreach here
at the Library of
Congress and welcome
to this very, very special day.
It's special for a number
of reasons for starters,
it's special because it's here
at the Library of Congress
and that as many of you know,
the library is the largest
library in the world,
but did you know, and I've got
good notes here, did you know
that the libraries collections
contain almost 164 million items
in a wide variety of formats,
languages and subjects?
And did you know that these
collections are the single most
comprehensive accumulation of
human expression ever assembled?
And if that doesn't
give you goose bumps,
then maybe the weather did.
[Laughter] the collections are
broad, they are broad in scope
and they include
materials in more
than 470 different languages,
more than 35 different scripts
and many different media
formats from photographs,
to maps to drawings,
to manuscripts to,
sound recordings, and more.
The collections even
include books I say
that because sometimes we
assume and not the others.
Today's event though is also
special because we are here
in the Members Room not your
typical meeting room, huh?
The Members Room in the
Thomas Jefferson building
of the Library of Congress is
a good reminder to all of us
that the Library of Congress
is the main research arm
of the United States Congress,
and today is extra special
because today's event
is not the kind of event
that happens every day in fact,
it only happens once
every two years.
Today, as you know,
we are inaugurating the
new National Ambassador
for Young People's Literature
who will serve in this position
until January of 2020.
As you probably know,
an ambassador someone
who is authorized to
be a representative
or a messenger of something.
A great ambassador is
smart, knows what he
or she is talking about, is a
champion of an important cause
and is a supporter and
a promoter of others.
You could almost say
that the Librarian
of Congress is an
ambassador of sorts.
I am honored to introduce you
to Dr. Carla Hayden the
14th Librarian of Congress,
she earned her Ph.D. from
the University of Chicago,
she began her career as
a Children's librarian,
she led the library in
Baltimore, was the President
of the American Library
Association,
and is absolutely aware
of the power of reading,
she knows the magic
of a good story
and is a tremendous
ambassador for the Library
of Congress, Dr. Hayden.
[Applauding]
>> Well, good morning
and thank you, Lee Ann.
I was all ready to sprint
and you started doing what
my mom always loves to hear,
they never tire that
accent, they never tire that.
This is a wonderful event and
I just want to say, welcome.
I'm especially happy
to see the young people
from Brooklyn Middle School,
the orange [applauding]
in their wonderful shirts, the
orange sixth grade and teal,
seventh grade, so you should
know that and that welcome
and we hope you come
back many, many times.
One of the many pleasures of
being Librarian of Congress is
to host events like this, I have
to say though, this one is very,
very special, the inauguration
of our new National Ambassador
for Young People's Literature
is Jacqueline Woodson.
[Applauding]
Now, I've been a fan of Ms.
Woodson's for a long time
and in my ten year at the
Enoch Pratt Free Library,
I was very fortunate to
work with someone who was,
talk about an ambassador,
a champion,
a mentor for Young People's
Literature, Ms. Deborah Taylor.
[Applauding]
She had been an advocate,
and still is,
for respecting young people
by giving them the best
in literature and being the
person who also was able
to spot talent early on.
She was the one and the young
youth ambassador, Gene Yang,
I remember when she
said, oh, my God Carla,
he's going to be the youth
ambassador and this is
and she had been following him
and then Jacqueline Woodson
in 2004, Deb Taylor
selected Miracles Boys,
and I had my copy, to
be Baltimore's book
and the library purchased copies
for all young people in the city
and this was the book in 2003.
She also, and I'm going to
embarrass her a little bit,
was the person who gave
Tupac Shakur his first award.
He won, at 16, Deb Taylor,
took her car and picked
up Tupac Shakur at home,
he was 14, to attend,
and young people please don't
laugh, there was a Boogie
to the Book Beat Contest
[laughter] you should see their
faces, Boogie?
Yes a library rap
contest, right?
It was the '80s, it was
'80s we were all Boogie ing,
Michael Jackson, it
was boogie, okay?
And Deb Taylor had a library
rap contest and they she picked
up young Tupac Shakur
in her car, he was 14,
and he performed his library
rap which is now in a vault
at the library because
it's in his own hand
about the libraries cool
and he won the contest
and he also was very smart
because he put a C
for copyright on it.
So Deb Taylor, thank
you, thank you,
thank you because [applauding]
now, I mentioned Gene
because he's here with us
today and thanks to John Cole,
the center for the
book, we've had five
and this would be the sixth
youth ambassador's and I
to want thank John Cole for
having the vision to say
that this is something that
Library of Congress should do
and also showing that
respect for our young scholars
who are coming up so, John
we thank you for that.
[Applauding] so we
are so fortunate
to have the Children's
Book Council support
and Every Child a Reader
Foundation support,
you have been wonderful to help
the library expand this reach
and, Gene I have to tell you, I
have samples of graphic novels
from the Folger Library and
from other places that we'd love
to see the Library of
Congress through, just saying,
we're going to still use it.
So please let me hand this back
over to Lee Ann, but thank you,
thank you all for being here.
[Applauding]
>> Dr. Hayden mentioned that
Gene is here, but sitting next
to Gene is also one
of our National Ambassador's,
Jon Scieszka.
I think Gene and John ought
to just stand up, please.
[Applauding] [laughter]
I think she slipped in the other
door, I think that's marvelous,
so thank you, Dr. Hayden.
Next, it is my pleasure
to welcome Carl Lennertz
up here to the podium.
Carl is executive director of
the Children's Book Council
and of Every Child a Reader.
He is busy, he oversees the
development and expansion
of both organizations
programming
and that programming includes a
few things you've probably heard
before, how about
Children's Book Week
and the Children's
Choice Book Awards?
As well as, The National
Ambassador
for Young People's
Literature, Carl come on up.
[Applauding]
>> I have a B in psychology
[laughter] but I went straight
to work at a bookstore
and that was my education,
but thank you all.
Okay. Who likes magic?
Good answer.
John not that one, no, no, no.
All right give me three to four
minutes to say some thank you's
and then I have a magic
trick, Shawn is going, oh, no.
Thank you to all the
young people here,
from the Brooklyn Middle
School to the school librarian,
thank you so much for
doing this [applauding]
but the room is full of a
lot other young people adults
who are young at heart,
young at spirit and we are
that day every day because we
read, write, illustrate, publish
and share books with
children and teens every day
and that keeps young at heart
and that's a joyful thing.
We say we go to work, we love
going to work, it is work,
but it's a joy every day to
do our work to bring books
to young people everywhere.
So I'm going to take a moment
like minute or half or so or two
or three, to talk about
the hundreds of thousands
of people every day who bring
books to readers everywhere.
Some of us here today and
watching on live stream,
not too nervous, book publishers
who discover talented writers,
print their works and get them
to readers, there's a lot more
than that, but I only
have five minutes.
The book publishers
also support the work
of Children Book Council
and Every Child a reader,
including the Ambassador
Program,
thank you all here today,
thank you for the board members
who made it and thank you
for all the Children Book
Council Members watching
at work.
Some of us here today are
librarians those amazing,
amazing people in every
town, city in America,
I'm a library kid from a small
town, I went there every day,
bringing books to kids
and adults everywhere,
but special thanks to the
super hero of librarians,
they deserve capes, Dr. Hayden
and the Library of Congress,
thank you and your staff, you've
been work with, Lee Ann, Karen,
Gale, Benny all of you, it's
been a joy, thank you so much,
another librarian is here
Starr LaTronica from Vermont,
thank you for coming
down [applauding] she was
on your Selection Committee,
which I'll come back
to in just a moment.
Some of us here are independent
booksellers for real, former,
present and the in spirit,
those passionate people
who were librarians in a
community, they're the roots,
they are in touch with
everybody in America more
than all of us can ever be.
Hundreds of thousands of
booksellers and librarians
who read the books ahead of time
and reach to the heart and soul
of communities across America,
we would not have the country
we have now, the diverse spirit,
the talent, the literature
without independent
booksellers and librarians.
We have an independent
bookseller here, DeAndra Beard,
thank you for coming
[applauding] thanks
for being here and
for being on that call
with us, it was wonderful.
Okay. This one's underlined
because I went to public school,
to the teachers here today
and everywhere I consider
your professions as important
to the health and well being
of our kids and to us as much
as doctors and nurses.
Public school teachers
rock [applauding]
so do college teachers
[laughter] we have two
of them Sarah Park Dahlen who
is on our Selection Committee,
thank you for coming in.
Oh, all right.
Go ahead. [Applauding]
and Susannah Richards
who is a Children's art
illustration guru, historian,
friend of CVC, and
just an idea person
and a friend of us in general.
[Applauding] to the media here
today, thank you for helping
to protect the free flow
of [inaudible] every day
without you, we're in trouble.
To others here, yup, thank you
[applauding] and review books,
very important, to others here
at home doing the important work
of getting books and stories
to those in need every day
from first book, to Sesame
Workshop, screening free weeks
for little library
[inaudible] which is awesome,
from open book, to the PTA and
more organizations and charities
and places that I can name that
just work with us, ALA, ABA,
ABC it's an acronym world but
you all every day getting books
to people who need
books, which is important.
I'm coming to the end.
I'm here on behalf of
my small, but passionate
and wonderful team back
in New York, Laura Peraza,
Shifa Kapadwala, Ryan Mita
and Kelly Graham I know you
haven't got water in the office,
but you're hugs around
the coffee machine
and it's been rough and for
two people here, who I'm going
to embarrass, Roger
Bolton our producing guru
who made all the interviews
happen, thank you [applauding]
and for Jacqueline, for your
time giving the interviews it
was just so wonderful,
it's stressful.
It's say something different
to each person, but thank you
for doing that, we've got major
coverage across the country,
we're the Library of
Congress, I think we're talking
about a one hundred million
dollar media impression story
about books, reading, love
of books, it was wonderful.
And Shaina Birkhead,
my director of programs
and partnership [applauding]
you're here
in two years doing this, okay?
She does so much and I cannot
thank you enough, thank you
and now for the magic.
No, not my trick, just a second,
to the magic makers the writers,
illustrators everywhere
who create the word
and picture stories that
delight us every day and yes,
talking back to the young at
heart thing, Jon Scieszka,
you make me smile
every time I see you,
your books make me smile,
Gene Yang, you brought me back
to the world of comic
books I left that world
in a shadow here, brought
me back, thank you.
And Jacqueline Woodson, what
a gift to the world you are,
you teach us, you guide us, you
make us wiser, better, stronger,
this last [inaudible] work the
summer was just the coolest
phone call ever, it was just all
about the love of books and art
and illustration
and the highlight
of the last year was your
selection as the ambassador.
We're happy for you, your
family, for us and mostly,
for the young people you'll
reach with your message
and energy and the
power of storytelling.
Thank you all of you and the
children of the book world,
you make a difference every day.
We'll see again soon
in Children's Book Week
the first week in May,
The National Festival of Book,
Jackie's on the road talking,
selling her books,
doing her thing
and doing for us along the way.
All right.
Time for my magic act I
am going to disappear back
to my seat [laughter] and let
the real magic makers take
the stage
[Applauding]
>> Thank you, Carl.
Very nice.
Next it is my pleasure to
be reminded that I'm shorter
than Carl [laughter] it is my
pleasure to welcome Gene Yang
to the stage, but I'm going
to tell you a little bit
about him just in
case you didn't know.
For the past two
years Gene has served
as the 5th national Ambassador
for Young People's Literature.
He was born and raised in
California and is the son
of Chinese immigrants,
he has been drawing
comics since the 5th grade.
In 2006, his book, American
Born Chinese was published
and it became the first
graphic novel to be nominated
for a National Book Award
and it was the first
to win the American Library
Association's Prints Award.
In 2013, his two
volume graphic novel
about the Boxer Rebellion
entitled:
Boxers and Saints was
not nominated as well
for a National Book Award and
won the L.A. Times Book Prize.
In addition and I could go on
but, in addition to cartooning,
he is also a teacher,
he is currently teaching
creative writing
and he has been a tremendous
National Ambassador.
His platform, Reading Without
Walls has challenged all of us
to stretch our reading habits
in very important ways, Gene?
[Applauding]
>> Good morning everyone.
>> [All together] Good morning.
>> I am so excited to be here.
Two years ago in this same
building in a different room,
but the same building I got
the fanciest thing that I own,
got the National Ambassador for
Young People Literature medal
from the Library of Congress,
from ever Every Child a reader,
from the Children's
Books Council
and the last two years have
been among the most amazing
of my life.
I want to thank Dr. Hayden and
Carl and Shawn and everyone else
for all of your support.
I want to especially thank the
librarians and the teachers
and the booksellers that have
made these past two years
so magical.
For the last two years I've
gotten to go around the country
to talk to young people from all
different communities in America
and what I've discovered
is that kids love books,
despite what some adults
might lead you to think,
kids still love books,
and they love books
for the same reason
we all love books it's
because stories help us
make sense of our lives,
stories help us make sense of
the world and that's why I am
so excited to be here
today because today,
we all in this room,
we get to witness one
of the greatest storytellers
of our time,
receive the National Ambassador
for Young People's medal,
Jacqueline Woodson is one of
my heroes, she is a person
that I deeply admire, I admire
her, not just as a writer,
but also a human being.
In many ways I believe that her
ambassadorship is simply going
to be an extension of the
work she's already doing.
If you've have had the
pleasure of reading one
of Jackie's books, if you
had the pleasure of sitting
in on one of her speeches,
you know that through her
words whether they're spoken
into a microphone or written
on a page, she teaches us
about the world, she helps
us make since of life
and make sense of the world,
her words bring us hope,
her words bring about change.
Like I said, she's one of my
heroes and if she isn't one
of yours yet, give her a few
minutes, wait until she gets
up here, she'll be
one of yours too.
Thank you all for being here, I
know you all are just as excited
as me to celebrate
Ambassador Jacqueline Woodson.
Thank you so much.
[Applauding]
>> Thank you Gene and thank you
for your last two years, really.
[Applauding]
I ask Gene to stay here
with me and now I'm going
to ask Dr. Hayden to join
us because we're going
to start telling you
really cool things
about Jackie [laughter]
Jacqueline Woodson is the author
of more than two dozen award
winning books for young adults,
middle graders, and children.
Her books address important
topics such as: Bullying
and kindness, incarceration,
identity,
mixed race experiences,
and much more.
Among her many accolades, she
is a four time Newbery Winner,
a three time National
Book Award Finalist
and a two time Coretta
Scott King Award winner.
For some specifics, Gene or Dr.
Hayden, either way [laughter]
>> In 2014, she received
the National Book Award
for your New York Times
bestselling memoir,
"Brown Girl Dreaming"
you all read this book?
You haven't read this book, you
should be a little bit ashamed,
it's an amazing book
[applauding]
which was also a recipient of
the Coretta Scott King Award,
a Newbery Honor, the NAACP Image
Award and the Sibert Honor.
In 2015, Jacqueline Woodson was
named the Young People's Poet
Laureate by the Poetry
Foundation and some
of her other books include:
"The Other Side" "Each Kindness"
"Coming on Home Soon" "Feathers"
"Show a Way" "After Tupac"
and "D Foster" and
"Miracle's Boys"
>> She is also the recipient
of the Margaret Alexander
Edwards Award
for lifetime achievement
for her contributions
to young adult Literature,
the winner of the Jane
Addams Children's Book Award
and was the 2013
United States nominee
for the Hans Christian
Andersen Award and this March,
Penguin Young Readers will
celebrate the 20th anniversary
of her, "If You Come Softly"
with a special addition
of the adored story
of star crossed love
between a black teenage boy
and his Jewish class mate.
>> And later this year,
The Dream of America,
a middle grade novel written by
Woodson and The Day You Begin,
a picture book also written
by Woodson, and illustrated
by Raphael Lopez, will
be published, but today,
should we get a drum in here?
She officially becomes the
6th National Ambassador
for Young People's
Literature Dr. Hayden is going
to make it official as
soon as Jackie gets up here
and places the medallion
around her neck.
[Applauding]
>> The Olympics [laughter]
>> Awesome.
[Applauding]
Get a three some.
[Applauding]
>> Okay. Our photographer
is right there waiting
for a great picture and then
I'm going to get out of it.
Okay. Now of you three.
>> Oh.
>> [Laughter]
>> Okay.
>> Nice. Okay, Shawn do
you need any other shots?
You're good.
All right.
Excellent, now Jacqueline
and Dr. Hayden are going
to have a little conversation
and about ten minutes
into the conversation,
Jacqueline's going to come
up here and make some remarks,
especially for all of us,
and then we'll open
it up for questions
from the audience
starting with our students
from Brooklyn Middle School.
Thanks.
>> Well, this is just
an honor for all of us
and a special pleasure?
>> Yay [laughter]
>> Special, special,
pleasure yes, my copy.
Yes, my copy [laughter]
just saying,
but you have been
such an inspiration.
>> Oh, so have you,
Dr. Hayden, thank you.
>> Now, I remember my favorite
book was called, "Bright April"
and it was the first time that
I could see myself in a book,
little girl, she was brown,
she had pigtails, all of that
and you're talk about not
seeing yourself reflected
and that's why "Miracle's
Boys" was one of the books
that people say,
wow I see myself,
what does that mean
to see yourself?
>> Well, I think it's so
important looking back
on the work of Dr. [Inaudible]
who talks about the importance
of young people having
both mirrors and windows.
So they have books where they
can look in and see a brown girl
or a young Latin boy or an
Asian girl and see some part
of their identity in the
book and that's a mirror
and it makes them aware of
their presence in a bigger world
and I think we also talk about
books having windows so you see
into other worlds and for me,
as a young person growing up,
I had many, many windows into
white worlds and very few books
where young kids of color
were reflected on the pages
until I think one
of the earliest books I remember
reading was Virginia Hamilton's
oh, which Virginia "Zeely"
>> Oh.
>> And "Zeely" and it was about
two kids and they were going
down south and there was
so much of me on the page
and another one was Mildred
Taylor's, "Thunder Hear My Cry"
and it was so eye opening to see
a reflection of myself in Cassie
and suddenly realize that
there I was on the page
and that I could be on the
page and not only could I be
on the page, but I could grow up
to be a woman of color who wrote
because here was,
Mildred Taylor,
here was Virginia
Hamilton who were women
of color telling stories.
So I think it legitimizes
us in this way
that we don't realize
our absence until we see
that presence on the page.
>> Now, you mentioned
wanting to write
and seeing you could write, how
young were you when you said,
boy, I like this writing?
>> [Laughter]
>> Reading, but writing
and I want to produce.
>> I's known I wanted to write
since I was seven and I remember
as you young person loving
the physical act of writing,
of holding a pencil and seeing
that putting letters
together made words
and words made sentences and
sentences made paragraphs
and that writing was just
that organic, you know,
that all you needed was
that pencil and that paper
and an imagination and
the rest was there,
you didn't need any
expensive paraphernalia
to be able to create art.
>> Wow. Turning to
the students here,
in terms of paraphernalia
[laughter] and things like that
because there are so many
distractions and things
and so people have said, you
know, reading is disappearing
and what's going on with
young people what do you
>> I don't think I think we
see fewer books sometimes,
but I don't think
people are not reading,
I think sometimes we
have to wrestle them
and get their paraphernalia
[laughter] out of their hand
and remind them of the glory
of reading, but I think,
as Gene said, young people
love story and they love
to be engaged that way and there
are many ways in which we read;
so I think even though we're not
always seeing them with a book
in their hand, sometimes they
have a book in their ear,
sometimes they're
reading on a tablet,
sometimes someone is
telling them a story,
sometimes they're creating a
story in their head in some way.
So I think it's definitely
gotten more challenging,
but we're a country that
has always had this shift
and so we figure out ways of
engaging people where they are
and if they are in a world where
there's a lot of technology,
then what are we going to do
to shift them toward reading?
How do we engage with that
technology to get them
where they're engaging
with narratives?
>> Poetry has another
way, a gateway into that.
Now, when did you start with
poetry as another extension of
>> You know, I didn't I
was very afraid of poetry
when I was a kid, I always
thought it was this, kind of,
secret code that I was emit
to understand and it wasn't
until I remember
hearing an album,
my mom was playing this album
and it was Nikki Giovanni
and so it was early spoken word
and I was like, what is that?
And I think it was my
sister that said, "you know,
that's Nikki Giovanni, that's
poetry" and I'm like, "no,
that's not, like,
I understand that,
that's not poetry" [laughter]
>> Right.
>> And then later on,
writers like Langston Hughes
and Claude McKay and
all of these poets
who suddenly were speaking
a language I understood,
unlocked it so that
I could begin
to understand other
poets the more, kind of,
incomprehensible poets
[laughter] by poetry, you know,
I learned to do the work
of deconstructing poetry
because I had the
gateway into people like,
Langston Hughes and, you know,
and Nikki Giovanni, Audre Lorde,
Gwendolyn Brooks, Angelina
Weld Grimké and so many
of the writers who
helped me figure that out.
>> I remember my grandmothers,
Paul Laurence Dunbar
and I was like, how
could you do the dialect?
And she said, "I know it"
>> I know it.
>> I could do it, I
know what this is.
>> Had a real big
party in the house
>> Right.
>> the other night.
>> Yeah.
>> I love him.
>> Right. Now, Tupac, we mention
and rap is another way or
>> Yeah. He was an amazing poet,
I mean, Tupac when you look
at The Rose That
Grew From Concrete
and just the he was not only
a poet, he was an activist
and I think that's what was so
phenomenal about him and so many
of the young people
who were rapping,
they were telling stories,
they were telling history,
they were breaking down
where we are in the moment
and they were doing it in a
way, going back to shifting,
where young minds could
understand what they were trying
to say and they were
asking big questions
and I think that's what
all good literature does,
is ask questions of the
reader, of the listener
about the moment they're in.
>> Speaking of the moment, your
platform, "reading equals hope
and change" for your time,
how do you see that evolving?
Because this is an interesting
time to be an ambassador,
to work with the young people,
to ask questions,
to answer questions.
>> So "reading equals hope
times change" is the platform
that I came up with, that
we came up with that speaks
to the fact that reading
does allow we go into a book
because we're hopeful for
something, we're hopeful
for a good story, we're
hopeful to meet some mirrors
on the page, we're hopeful
for great characterization
and when we come out of
a book, we're different
and that difference is because
we've met the writer half way,
and I'm going to talk more
about this in my very short talk
after this, but I think
that books can change us,
they can help us begin to
have the bigger conversations,
they can help us see worlds
and identities and ideas
that we've never
thought about before
until they've been brought to
the page and we've met them
on the page; and so I think we
come out of a book different
than we were than
when we went in it.
>> Now, one of the
questions I had here
that you've been
applauded and criticized
for tackling tough
issues, getting back
to respecting young people,
that they can handle discussions
about tough issues, they're
looking to books sometimes
to help them through it where
they don't have foster care
and incarceration and why is
that important that we have it?
>> I think the first thing is
I'm not trying the hear the
haters so, you know,
they from the beginning
of time people who have had
>> Listen to this.
>> who've tried to create change
have been blasted against,
right?
And I think it's because
people are afraid.
When we look at the issue
of mass incarceration
in our country I think it's a
sin not to speak to it and not
to let the young people
who have people who have
in their families,
in their lives
who are incarcerated let them
know that they're not alone
on that journey and that
there is nothing wrong
with their family makeup and
there is nothing, you know,
when I wrote, "Visiting Day"
it was because I had grown
up with my uncle in prison
and it was this, kind of,
thing we weren't suppose to talk
about and I never understood
where the shame came from
and looking at it now, again,
going back to mass
incarceration, how can we try
to hide something that's
so visible in our society?
And if we don't talk about it
we can't begin to change it,
we can just, kind of make
believe it doesn't exist
and so I think any
writer who's going to try
to have harder conversations,
is going to get criticized.
I remember writing, "If You
Come Softly" where, you know,
an African American boy gets
killed by cops in a case
of mistaken identity, I remember
people saying this would never
happen, you know?
Is and this was twenty years ago
and at some point you're kind
of questioning your own
reality because you think, oh,
maybe this doesn't happen, but
you know it does and that kind
of gas lighting can happen
when you don't have the proof
of books and experiences in
the world so that you can go
to that book and say, yeah, you
know, I'm not alone in this,
yeah, I was right in
thinking about that
because someone else
is thinking this too.
>> And young people can
see it and discuss it,
and they can handle it.
I think they can too.
Now, you also said, "brilliance
is passion recognized"
which is a wonderful
phrase and in terms
of encouraging young
readers and young authors
and young poets that
they see that.
>> Yes that they know.
I think it's so important,
I mean, I was talking
to my Brooklyn friends and we
were talking about their talents
and their plans for going to
Duke Ellington and what they do
and it is, I think,
that sometimes people
think there's just one way
to be brilliant, there's maybe
only academic brilliance or
but I think our brilliance
is our passion recognized
and celebrated, right?
When I know that I'm kind of
a good writer and it's nice
because it's also what I love
to do and I think because I love
to do it, I want to do it
the best that I possibly can
and I remember having
a teacher say,
when you chose a career choose
something you love doing
because you're going to be doing
it for the rest of your life.
>> Right.
>> And I think that those
words stayed with me
because I thought hopefully
I would live a long life
and the idea of waking up
every day and being unhappy
with the work you're doing
was heartbreaking to me
and so I honed the thing
that I felt was my brilliance
and worked at it until it became
the thing I wanted it to be
in the world, the
stories I wanted to tell,
and I think everyone much has
that, everyone has that thing
that they're really good at,
that they really love doing
and our work as adults,
is to not kill that fire,
your work as young people, is to
not let that fire get murdered
and then we get to see all of
that brilliance in the world
in a way that transforms
it and transforms us.
>> Can writing help with that?
As you said, look
through moments in time
into a more hopeful
place, about writing it,
expressing it, music,
another way.
>> I think writing can help
with everything [laughter]
I think writing is, like,
is the bomb [laughter]
I talk about writing
because I questions and I
do think that there is a way
where we can sit and begin
to figure out who we are,
and who we're becoming, and
what the questions that we have
through writing and
through reading.
So I believe deeply,
deeply in writing and I love
when young people want to be
writers because I know I'm here
because of Nikki Giovanni, I'm
here because of Toni Morrison,
I'm here because
of Langston Hughes,
I'm here because
of Gwendolyn Brooks
and if they had not come
before me, I wouldn't be here
and I feel like the same thing
the young people are here
because of us, because of, you
know, Gene and because of John
and because of Catherine
and me and let
that circle be unbroken,
you know what?
People keep coming and telling
their stories because now,
I mean, y' all must have
some amazing stories to tell
about this moment in time.
>> Oh, I see you're nodding.
Do we have time for a few
>> I think you've
got some remarks.
>> Remarks.
>> If you want to go ahead
and then we'll respond
to questions, how about that?
>> Okay.
>> Is that
>> Yes.
>> Gene has my speech.
>> [Laughter]
>> Thank you, this one.
>> And I am going to exit.
>> Thanks, Dr. Hayden.
So I'm not going to
be long because I am
so much more interested in your
questions maybe I'll answer a
few of them and what
I have to say,
but I love when young
people ask me questions.
But I was told I
needed to say something
about becoming ambassador.
So is it still morning?
Because I start it with
saying good morning.
Okay. Oh, I have the
lavalier so people
who are live streaming is
it okay, is my sound okay?
I'm good, I could
keep using this?
I could use both of them?
Thank you.
So it's an amazing honor to
stand before you in the Library
of Congress this morning, it's
also an honor to be living
in this time to bare witness
to our countries beautiful
and complicated history
and its immense possibility
because I do believe we're
living in a time of great,
great, great possibility.
What an honor to
follow the footsteps
of groundbreaking ambassador's
that came before me, Gene Yang,
who is not only my
absolute hero,
so which makes me
think he read my speech
because he called me his hero
[laughter] but he's also a hero
to both my children
and to many children.
Kate DiCamillo, who is
the inspiration for us,
naming our cat Fred after Bink
and Gollie, who never fails
to make me laugh
or make me choke
up with each book she writes.
Katherine Paterson one of is one
of the kindest people I know.
Walter Dean Myers, who came
into the world and left it
with his untimely passing
filled with a body of work
that changed consciousness of so
many young men and boys of color
and so many others as well,.
I miss Walter.
Walter, who during his time
as National Ambassador,
tirelessly traveled and spoke
to the many who had not thought
of themselves as part
of a bigger world
or deeper narrative; and of
course, our beloved pioneer,
Jon Scieszka neighbor,
friend, and awesome writer
who is sitting among us this
morning I would not be here
without y' all.
First and foremost, I
want to thank the people
who have worked beyond
hard to bring me
to this moment the not
fabulous Library of Congress
and Dr. Carla Hayden, my sister
from another mother
and history maker.
My dear friend, Debbie
Taylor and all of my people
at Enoch Pratt Library it
was here doing a reading
for my first novel,
"Last Summer with Maizon"
that I rediscovered the
breath and depth of libraries.
Readings, conversation,
children's programs,
programs for young mothers,
adult literacy classes,
passport renewals, puppet
making, all of it was,
is happening at the libraries,
Enoch Pratt and nationwide.
As I began to travel, I saw in
every single state the enormity,
both large and small,
had to offer anyone
who stepped through their doors.
I rediscovered that libraries
aren't just for some people,
they're for all people.
I'd like to thank The
Children's Book Council,
Every Child a reader and
the committee that chose me
to succeed, Gene, DeAndra,
Sarah, Earl, Travis,
Starr and Ellen and of course,
Gene, I love your faith in me
and I'm grateful, I
think [laughter] for it.
I wouldn't be standing here
without my Penguin family,
my long suffering editor Nancy
Paulsen [laughter] Jen, Ellis,
Jocelyn, Felicia, Cecilia
and the rest of the crew.
A writer writes in solitude
and then steps outside
of the solitude to get the help
they need to shape their work
into something that the rest
of the world can understand.
When I wrote "Brown Girl
Dreaming" they were 31 rewrites
before it became the book
so many of y' all have read
and some tweaks between the
first and second addition,
so if you have that
first addition,
hold on [laughter] my eyes
in the world are my own world
and the eyes of those who
I trust deeply, Nancy,
thank you for being my second
set of eyes in the world.
I am thankful too to my
amazing family, my partner,
Juliet our children, Toshi
and Jackson Leroi and all
of my sisters from other mothers
including Linda Velarosa,
Genna Welch, Jane
[inaudible] and the ones
who couldn't be here with us as
well, there are a lot of them,
y' all be sitting here
forever [laughter] and I want
to thank those who have
been with me on this journey
from it feels like the moment it
began, including Katie Horning,
Dr. [Inaudible] Rita
Auerbach, Dean Snyder.
In this room with us
this morning are those
who guide us now as ancestors,
Robin Smith, Virginia Hamilton,
my mom and grandmother.
Let us each take a moment
and remember someone
who has left this place for
the next one, who continues
from that place to walk with us.
In the African American
tradition there was the calling
of names where we call our
ancestors back into the room,
where we acknowledge that
because of them we are.
Let us take a moment and
remember friends, loved ones,
relatives, anyone we can think
of, writers who have left us
and who remain important
and call out their name.
[Inaudible]
Thank you.
"Your world is as
big as you make it.
I know, for I used to abide in
the narrowest nest in a corner,
my wings pressing
close to my side.
But I sighted the
distant horizon
where the skyline encircled
the sea and I throbbed
with a burning desire to
travel this immensity.
I battered the cordons around
me and cradled my wings
on the breeze, then soared
to the uttermost reaches
with rapture, with
power, with ease!"
I wish I had written that
poem because I didn't.
It was written by the poet
Georgia Douglas Johnson
who for more than 40 years
hosted a salon right here
in D.C. on Smith Street S.W.
for those you who don't know,
a salon is basically a gathering
where you come and eat food,
drink about wine
and organic milk,
young people [laughter] read
your work and read the work
of others, maybe get a
cipher going and share ideas
about the world and through
the sharing of these ideas,
you begin to change
your own way of image
and the way others think,
but it starts with gathering.
Through Douglas' salon came some
of the most influential writers
of the Harlem Renaissance from
Alain Locke, to Langston Hughes
from Angelina Weld Grimké, to
Jean Toomer poets that I hope
by the end of my ten year
as National Ambassador I'll
know how to pronounce the word
and we will all know them.
Reading equals hope
times change.
When Georgia Douglas Johnson
began those writing salons no
one knew that the Harlem
Renaissance would take a very
important place in history.
No one knew that one day
Mildred Taylor would write,
"Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry"
that Gene Yang would write,
"American Born Chinese" that
Simon J. Ortiz would write
"The People Shall Continue"
or Sherman Alexie would one day
write, "The Absolute True Diary
of a Part time Indian"
these books,
these writers were decades
away from that moment,
many were not even born yet.
The people in Douglas'
salon walked into that room
with a books they were writing
and books they were reading,
they walked into that salon with
hope, they read, they talked,
they laughed, they
drank, their wine
and milk [laughter] they sang
and they changed the world
because of them I am, because
of them we are gathered here.
Yesterday my family and I spent
the day at the American Museum
of African American
History and Culture; again,
right here in D.C. it took
over one hundred years to make
that museum a reality.
First it was dreamed,
then it was built,
then people open their trunks
and suitcases and books
and pulled history of African
Americans in this country
from the crevices into which
that history was delicately
and lovingly packed away.
They knew a time would come
when that history need
a home now is the time.
As National Ambassador,
my hope is
to begin conversations
our country is hungry,
but off times, afraid to have.
Some days this place feels
like a country divided,
a country in despair, a country
hungry for a way out of no way,
but what the books will tell
us and continue to show us is
that there is magic in this
moment we're living in now.
There is so much possibility
and to the young people
gathered here today,
that power to create
change is in your hearts,
in your heads, in your hands.
I am often asked
about my writing,
when you write this
book or that book,
what were you trying to teach?
And my answer is always the
same I don't write to teach,
I write to learn, I write
because I have so many questions
that only I can answer and
the way can I answer them is
by putting pen to paper,
the only way I can find
the hope I'm looking
for in a particular moment, is
to put that hope on the page
and when I'm done, like many
writers, my hope has been
that the reader will
meet me halfway.
Bring their own ideas
and experiences and hope
to the narrative I've created.
So my hope for the next two
years is that we come together
in many rooms to talk, that
we meet the authors halfway
and talk about what our
hopes are for the future,
your equations, our plans for
change, that we hold salons
and classrooms and libraries and
book stores and living rooms,
around kitchen tables
and playgrounds,
at hair salons and barbershops.
That we find the books that
tell the stories we need to hear
and use those stories to
write the next chapter
in this country's history.
That we remember
that there was a time
when people were not
allowed to learn to read
because reading led to freedom.
It's a lot of things being
in this room, at this podium,
in front of the all of you in
this moment in time, it's scary,
it's thrilling, its
mind blowing,
it's imagining the unimaginable.
The writer, the activist
Audrey Lorde said we can sit
in our corners mute as bottles
and we will still
be no less afraid.
I believe that reading equals
hope, hopes times change,
I believe that me plus
you equals a conversation,
I believe that hope
minus fear equals change,
I that believe listening plus
hearing minus judgment equals
friendship, these are
just a few of my equations
in the next two years I'm
eager to gather and hear yours.
[Applauding]
>> You did good [laughter]
>> Thank you.
>> Outstanding.
Well, now it's time
for some questions
and my audio visual team has
told me that there are two mics
that we float around the room,
if you've got one in your hand,
would you let me see it?
Awesome, perfect.
So how about one of you come
over on this side and one
of you stay on that side,
and then if you guys
could raise your hands
when you've got a question,
we'll make sure you get the mic
and the reason we need to make
sure that you use the mic is
so that our audience that's
watching the live stream
and our recording can
hear your question, okay?
All right.
>> That's better.
>> And if you could
say your name
when you ask the question
that'll be so helpful.
>> My name is Christian
Strickland.
>> Hey, Christian.
>> And what do you plan to
do after your term is over?
>> [Laughter] thanks Christian.
Oh, man [laughter] oh, I think
it's going go so fast and I plan
to rest [laughter] you know,
I don't plan to stop writing
because I talked about how
much I love writing and I plan
to be right here all
willing putting this medal
on the next ambassador.
>> Okay. My name is Lucia
Brisbane my question is, okay,
what do you plan to do
while your ambassador?
>> So what do I plan to
do while I'm ambassador?
I plan to do a lot around
trying to get people to gather,
I don't one thing that I have
to do as ambassador is to travel
around the country, you
legitimately only have
to travel five times, right?
[Laughter] that was
one of the promises
of being ambassador [laughter]
but I think there are all kinds
of ways to gather, I
think we can Skype,
I think people can come to book
festivals, I think we can gather
in classrooms; so I
plan to help, kind of,
get the conversation
going from wherever I am.
I hope to meet a lot of people,
I hope to travel to a lot
of juvenile detention centers
and group homes and places
like that to meet people
who might not otherwise,
have met authors.
My family's going to Mississippi
in April so I'm planning to go
to some of the play
schools and libraries
in rural Mississippi while
I'm there and really,
really just begin
having the conversation
that I hope will become a
very nationwide conversation.
>> Yes?
>> My name is Cameron Jackson
and I was wondering do you
guys have anybody in mind
to be the next ambassador?
[Laughter]
>> Cameron's all ready
to push passed me.
He's like, do y' all
have someone in mind
for the next ambassador?
Cameron, I'm sure they're
taking requests [laughter]
>> Hi, my name is Deon Odem and
my question is how old were you
when you first published
your first book?
>> So my first book was,
"Last summer with Maizon"
and that was published
when I was in my 20's,
my early 20's it took me about
four years to write that book
because I didn't know what
I was doing so unlike,
the many years it took me to
write "Brown Girl Dreaming"
when I thought I knew
what I was doing,
I just didn't know
what I was saying,
but it was finally
published in my early 20's.
The first book that
there was a book
that was published before that,
that was really badly written
by me and really badly
illustrated by Floyd Cooper
and that book is not
in existence anymore.
Sometimes a librarian and pull
it out and say, I got that book,
but "Last Summer with
Maizon" was my first novel.
>> Hi, my name is Justice
Bel Perry and my question is,
out of all books that you
have read and the characters
that you have met in
those books, what book
or character is most like you?
>> That's such a great question.
Oh, my goodness.
You know, like, it's so funny
because I feel like the person
that comes to mind that when I
first said that's me was Cassie
Logan in "Role of Thunder,
Hear My Cry" you know,
I feel like also Franny in
"Daddy Was a Number Runner"
and Francis Nolan in "A Tree
Grows in Brooklyn" like,
anytime there was a girl
around the age I was
when I was reading it, who
had something so for me
in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"
the mirror was Brooklyn
because that's where I live
and so everything Brooklyn
about that book I
was like, you know,
I know this even though it
took place probably forty years
before I began reading it, but
I did and still, do find myself
in so many characters and don't
have to, you know, be the same,
you know, as you're
preferred gender, right?
I found myself in
characters like, you know,
"Ghost" Jason Reynolds book like
I read that book and I'm like,
yeah, I was a runner I
could probably beat him,
but so I really, there
were a lot of characters.
>> My name is Jocelyn
and my question is,
have you ever thought
about having another
career instead of writing?
>> So I don't know if everyone
heard Jocelyn's question,
have I thought of having another
career besides being a writer?
No, I don't think so.
I would probably to be
a singer, just kidding.
[Laughter] my family's laughing
because they've heard
[laughter] yeah, no.
[Laughter]
>> Hi, my name is
Judea Hercules.
Did you have a secret
place to go
when you wanted to
write a story?
>> Do I have a certain
place to go?
So once my family leaves the
house I'm usually writing
at the kitchen table,
but I have tend to I
like writing downstairs in my
office because it's quietest.
Every time I write I put head
phones on so it helps me round
out the rest of the world,
so even though I don't have
to physically leave a place,
I do have to, kind of,
cover up my ears so that noise
isn't coming, but I've been able
to write on subways, I've
been able to write in cafes,
I've been able to write
in libraries as long
as I have my earphones
on because I don't want
to hear other people's
conversations.
>> Hi, my name is Schkiya
Wright and did you ever expect
to be the Ambassador
for National Young
People's Literature?
>> Nope [laughter]
>> Hi my name is Leah
Redman and my question is,
did you have any
challenges becoming an author
and how did you overcome them?
>> You know, it's
a good question.
Why I always quote Katherine
Patterson who says the main rule
of writing is BIC, right?
Butt In Chair and, you know,
because basically you have
to be disciplined to be a writer
and I think the older I got
and there are more and more
things that, as Dr. Hayden
and I were talking about.
There are more things that
distract you from writing land
so as a young person I didn't
know writers, I didn't know
that someone it wasn't like now
where you could actually meet
a writer and hear them talk
or go online and see them
talk, or even look at the back
of the book and see their photo
and know stuff about them,
it was a very different time and
writers seemed really far way
in something that was
unattainable something you
couldn't do, but for some reason
I knew I always wanted to do it
and I wasn't sure
how I was going to.
So I think the first
huge challenge
for me was faith, right?
Believing that I could
write these stories
that might someday
get published.
But in the process of
writing the stories,
I realized that writing
made me happy so even
if they one day didn't get
published, I loved writing them
and then the big challenge
was finishing stories
and then the big challenge
was rewriting stories
because you write something
and you think it's done,
right, Jackson Leroi?
[Laughter] and then you
realize you have to rewrite it
and rewrite it and rewrite
and so that was a challenge
and then once realizing how
rewriting made it a better
story, but I think there are
always going to be challenges
and the question is when
you get to the challenge,
what you do with it
because there's always going
to be the book that falls apart
and you could either just stop
writing and start a new book,
which is going to fall apart,
and you stop writing that one
and start a new book, which
is going to fall apart
or you could push through when
it's falling apart and get
to the end of it, because I ask
my fellow authors everything we
write falls apart and that's
when we know the real work
is about to get started.
>> Hi, my name is Loren and
my question is how do you come
up with the topics
for your book?
>> How do I come up with
the topics for my books,
so there's a saying that if you
survive Kindergarten you have
enough to write about
for the rest of your life
and I think it's true I
think so many things happen
to us every day and
I'm sure John
and Gene will tell you this,
it's hard to not write,
it's hard not to find material.
So, you know, thoughts I
have, conversations I have,
sometimes things I read,
sometimes other books inspire
me, sometimes questions a lot
of times it's the
questions I have
that I'm trying to figure out.
When I wrote the book "Feathers"
that was actually inspired
by a story called "The
Selfish Giant" by Oscar Wilde
and the book was originally
called "The Jesus Boy"
because that's what I
called the main character
in the selfish giant
and it began to change,
but it was inspired by something
I first read in the third grade.
So I think that's
where the whole,
the longer you live the more
stories you have to write.
>> Is there a specific theme
>> What's your name?
>> oh, Justice, my
name is Justice.
>> Okay.
>> Is there a specific
theme or topic in all
of your books are they,
like, different in each one?
>> They're pretty different.
I don't write series because
I get bored after, like,
the second book I've
aspired to do it
and then I either kill
the characters off
or [laughter] have them move
away or let them a happily ever
after or something, but I do I
have, I write realistic fiction,
so that's the genre and
write it both in verse
and as narrative so, but usually
my characters are different.
I've written a trilogy, I've
written books that have sequels
but that's about as
long as I can get.
>> I'm Deon and my question
is, out of the all the books
that you've written, which
one is your personal favorite?
>> You know, and
I'm sure, again,
my fellow ambassador's
will say the same thing,
I like them for different
reasons, you know,
I don't have a do y'
all have favorites?
I mean, because you're
when writing it it's the
experience you're having
with the book and then sometimes
if the book is old you get tired
of it, so I have books I
like less than other books,
but I don't have a favorite yet.
Last question?
Okay.
>> Yeah. I think so if someone's
missed out of the room,
want to jump right in.
Your questions have
been terrific kids.
>> Carl.
>> Oh, you need a
mic, Carl sorry.
Its coming, its coming.
There you go.
>> Carl. When you
first started writing,
did you show it to a friend?
You seem pretty confident
and you knew what you put
on paper was good, but what
was your first validation
and my point being,
if one of these people
from Brooklyn starts writing,
what would you tell them just
go ahead or show it to a friend?
>> Well, I would say
it's a good question.
Who do you show your writing to?
I think you show it
to people you trust
because there two kinds
of criticism, right?
There's constructive criticism
that makes you go running back
to your work and want
to make it better
and there's destructive
criticism,
which makes you just want to
throw it away and you want
to show it to the people who
are going to say, you know,
here's all the things I love
about this and here are some
of the questions I might have.
You know, because that's
helpful and that makes you
to want go back to it, but
if someone says, you know,
I don't know this
sucks or, you know,
you should never
write again, like,
that's destructive criticism,
I don't even know why you're
writing that [laughter]
but one thing I do is
I like I always think
that is really important
when you have something new
and you show it to someone
you trust just say to them,
ask me three questions, like,
what three questions
do you have?
You know, tell me something
positive and me three questions.
Oh, I love that character,
I wonder why he to the store
in the corner, I wonder
why he decided to do this,
I wonder what's going
to happen to him next
and that gets you
excited and makes you want
to write the next
draft or add to it.
So questions not
destructive criticism.
Thanks Carl.
>> All right.
I think we're going
to wrap things up.
That was awesome; you
have to stay right there
for a couple more minutes.
>> Oh, okay.
>> So we can clap some
more [laughter] really,
students from Brooklyn
Middle School thanks
so much [applauding]
>> Can I just say one thing?
>> Yeah.
>> So I am sorry.
I just wanted to give a plug
for We Need Diverse Books
which has changed the
narrative of literature and I
to want thank them
[applauding] for being
in the room even though
they're not in the room.
>> Outstanding.
Okay. Well, I am confident
that our Young People's
Ambassador our ambassador
for Young People's Literature is
well on her way to making lots
of friends in the next couple
of years and getting all of us
to think very thoughtfully
about reading and writing
and I really can't say enough.
This has been a terrific
conversation and really,
so glad that all of
you have been here.
I have a couple more thank
you's I want to extend I want
to make sure that my colleagues
Karen Jaffe and Sasha Doughty
and Monica Valentine get big
high five [applauding] as well
as all of the volunteers from
our Young Readers Center,
our multimedia team, our
library photographer,
Shawn and our special
events Clay who I don't see,
but events like this
at the library don't
just happen magically,
they happen when people come
together and make things happen
and really, we are
blessed at the library
so have an amazing
team of people
who pull an events like this.
So thank you to all of my
colleagues [applauding]
for making today work.
I want to make sure that were
as we leave, we is the kids
to go first and I'd like
you to guys to, kind of,
come around this way, you
could give Jackie a high five
as you walk by and then
our colleagues here,
have a special gift
for you Penguin,
they are signed copies oh,
of one of Jackie's books
and if you haven't read it
yet I bet you will tonight.
Awesome. Congratulations
again, Jackie.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you, thank
you, thank you.
We're off to a great
year [applauding]
>> This has been a
presentation of the Library
of Congress, visit
us at LOC.gov.