Hi everyone,
I wanted to write about my experiences on the Texas 2x2 Reading List Committee since I was a first time member this year.
How did you apply for the 2x2 Committee?
CRT (The Children's Round Table for TLA) sent out an email to the listserv requesting for interested people that work with kids in libraries to apply. It was a short Google form to express interest. This year, they were looking for 2 individuals from school libraries and 1 from public libraries, although it wasn't required that you be a librarian.
Why do you think you were selected?
I knew I wanted to be on the 2x2 Committee for a while, so I strengthened my application by doing a family storytime when I was at Oak Forest featuring 2x2 books and by doing a presentation called Programming for Youth Using Texas Reading Lists at the 2014 TLA District 8 conference. I also let them know that one of my strengths is craft activities, and I had noticed there weren't as many crafts in the activities on last years list, and I felt like that was something I could bring to the table.
How many books did you have to read?
We received 800 books for children age 2-grade 2 from June through December from publishers! I read them all! (except for the one book that was obviously a YA book, and I have no idea why the publishers sent it).
Can you only nominate books that were sent to you by publishers?
No, you could nominate any book that was published in 2015 in the USA that was for kids age 2-grade 2. I found some books that I loved at the library before we received them from publishers, and I would nominate them (as would other committee members), and then our chair would try to get the publisher to send all committee members the book.
How did nominations work?
We have a Google nomination form. Each month, each of us would nominate between 5 and 10 books for consideration for the list. For each nomination, you would write a short 1-2 sentence blurb about the book. They didn't have to be the most amazing blurbs; it was just practice for what would end up on the final list. The day after the due date for the nominations, our chair would send a list of what had been nominated. It was always a thrill when something I nominated in a previous month was later also nominated by someone else! I felt like a trendsetter!
Did you have a meeting during TLA? What was that like?
We met in person for the first time at TLA Annual Assembly in July. We met for the whole day, and just practiced talking about the books we had nominated, and why we had nominated them. We also shared some books that hadn't been received by publishers yet, but felt were worth a look. This was nice practice for the actual deciding of the list, which happened in early January.
What was the January meeting like?
In December, we narrowed down our nominations to our top 15. Then our chair compiled the list, and we had a list of 69 titles to discuss. She assigned each of us 8-10 titles to present, but not titles that we had nominated in our top 15, the idea being that we already think the books we nominated are great (or we wouldn't have nominated them!) So we each had to reread the books that were assigned to us to do them justice in the list deciding process. We went down the list, sharing the positive things about each book, and then we opened discussion on why the book would be great for the list, or wasn't strong enough for the list. Some books were immediately taken off the table, but most stayed on. We narrowed down the list throughout the rest of the day, and actually had the list almost figured out by the end of day 1, which is pretty rare. There were spirited discussions about some of the books, and I was definitely sad to see some of my favorites not make the list, but some of my favorites did make this list. It's a compromise, and that's part of the reason that it's a committee, not just one person deciding the list. When making the list, we also wanted to make sure it was balanced and show diversity. We think we did a pretty good job with it!
What happened after the list was decided?
After we came up with the list, our chair had to contact the publishers to let them know that we had selected one or more of their books. Each of us is in charge of 2-3 titles, and we had to write the original annotations and activities that are found on
the Texas 2x2 webpage. We are also going to present our 2-3 titles at the 2x2 showcase at 8 am on Thursday at TLA! If you are attending, you should try to attend!
How many years is your commitment?
2x2 is currently a 3 year commitment. It's been a busy year, and I'm gearing up to do it again! I've updated my address, and now I'm waiting for the books to start coming in.
What are you doing with all those books?
I'm donating them to one of the HISD schools that has a school librarian, but they have a very small book budget, so they can use some refreshing.
What's your favorite book from this year's list?
The Princess and the Pony by Kate Beaton!
If you want to know more about my experience, I'd love to talk to you about it! Also, let me know what you think of the
2x2 list! Is there a book you wish was on there, or did we pick all your favorites? :)
-Sara
