Author Archives: ylgnorthwest
Picture Books In The Pub – The 2020 Edition
Due to the very unusual circumstances that we find ourselves in, we’ve decided to take our popular Picture Books In The Pub format online. If you’re not in the North West, or haven’t managed to join us in person before, now is the perfect moment to join in the fun and discuss these outstanding illustrated books amongst friends.
Our plan is to hold fortnightly meetings via Zoom to discuss the eight books which have been shortlisted for this year’s Greenaway Medal (there will also be a sneaky bonus meeting dedicated to the Carnegie shortlist too). We will discuss two different books per meeting, culminating in a final ‘knockout’ week in which we decide which book we think should win this prestigious award. As part of every discussion we will be referring to the Medal criteria to help us with our decision making.
If you are interested in joining us please get in touch via Twitter or by emailing achilds@lostock.trafford.sch.uk . No experience is necessary – you certainly don’t need to be a picture book expert to join in – and don’t worry if you don’t currently have access to the books, we’ll try and share images from the books as best we can on the night.
Our first meeting on the 7th April will be dicussing Chris Mould’s spectacular version of The Iron Man by Ted Hughes and Chitra Soundor and Poonam Mistry’s beautiful You’re Snug With Me.
CKG Nominations 2020 – Read Along With Us
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Is there a book you’ve read that you think is worthy of being nominated? Get in touch and let us know what you’ve been reading and which books you think would be worthy contenders for these prestigious awards.
Nominations for the 2020 Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals are open in September 2020. If you are a CILIP member you may also make individual nominations (one title per Medal) – please see www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk for more detail about the Medal criteria and mission for the Awards.
Picture Books In The Pub – CPD Opportunities
Amanda Childs shares her experience of joining in with our Picture Books In The Pub events…
At the age of seven I wanted to be a librarian. From an early age – I guess I was about nine I would visit Eccles Library on my way home from primary school and help the library staff – whether they wanted me to help or not!
At eleven we moved and at thirteen/fourteen I discovered a new library to help out at.
For my work experience, no prizes for guessing …. I went to a library which led me onto getting a Saturday job and some holiday work. I went to university and gained a degree in librarianship and from leaving university until today I have almost always been a librarian – both in schools and the public arena. During my twenty five plus years in this wonderful job, I have been fortunate to have encountered a wide range of CPD. For the majority of these days (as we know) the best part is getting together with other librarians to discuss what we love most – books and our jobs.
…what I have professionally and personally gained from the last few months have been almost indescribable
This year I have been lucky enough to be involved with the North West Committee of YLG. Last July two of the group headed to the North East for a training day and learnt of a project there – Picture Books in the pub. My ears pricked up – how does this work? Getting books out to more people is of course one of the joys of our jobs and I wanted to learn how to get involved. In reality it hasn’t been as I imagined but what I have professionally and personally gained from the last few months have been almost indescribable. Since the Greenaway List was announced a number of the committee and others have met in a pub in Manchester to discuss the shortlist. Our first meeting involved looking at all 8 on the shortlist and Emma the North West CKG representative gave us a brief overview of why these had been selected. It was marvellous. We then planned on what two books we were going to look at in detail two weeks later….
It was amazing how looking at the criteria with others truly enhanced the experience with the books.
The format for the sessions became – we would order food and drink first (priorities, priorities) then settle with the first book and go through the criteria item by item and discuss whatever pages would catch our eyes. Some folk would email in their thoughts and these were discussed too along with our own analysis. I absorbed every comment, analysis and pages of these books. It was amazing how looking at the criteria with others truly enhanced the experience with the books.
After the first sessions I devised a library lesson for my Year 7 groups sharing the Greenaway books with them, something it had never occurred to me to do before – I know, 25+ years in the field of librarianship, where every year I devoured and loved reading all the Carnegie books but had never really taken much notice of the Greenaway! I was very much ashamed of this and now I can’t wait to explore the backlist of past shortlisted books with my students.
After the discussions of the two books was over we would vote – which one we thought would possibly win/our favourite? It was always such a tough choice. We of course ate, drank and chatted more about work and I have found these times enormously helpful professionally but also because we all love literature I have had the best of fun.
If you ever get the chance to join us please do I know you won’t regret it.
Youth Libraries Group North West 