2020 In Literature discussion

My name is Jenni, and I am a youth services librarian at a public library in the SF bay area. I have conquered the challenge two years in a row, but we'll see if I can actually do it again this year.

Thanks for the invite! I'm looking forward to completing the challenge for the first time. This will be my accountability group and I look forward to sharing the hub challenge experience.

I'm Emily, and I'm a teen services librarian in Seattle. I've been on a selection committee the last two years, so I'm excited to finally have time to do the reading!

I'm Jenna. Youth Services Librarian in suburban Chicagoland.

Jenni, I am amazed that you always conquer the challenge. I haven't managed to even finish 25 titles the past two years.. But maybe this year will be different!

I'm Ariel. I'm an outreach librarian from the New York Public Library. This is my second year doing the challenge!

Jenna, you totally can do it! I've almost convinced Mo to do it, too.

I have conquered the challenge two years in a row, but usually toward the end I start thinking, "Why I am doing this?" The last few books are always the hardest to get through.

I'm Becky, a substitute librarian in Des Moines, Iowa! I believe I started this last year but let it slide. I'm excited to give it another go! Thanks for the invite!

I'm Angela, teen librarian in Charlottesville, VA. This will be my fourth year participating in the challenge.

It gets a bit more difficult for me each year because I find I've already read more of the titles on the list during the previous year. I guess that's a sign that I'm doing a good job keeping up with the latest YA books. But there are so many new books I feel like I should look at that I avoid re-reading books just to count them for the challenge.

I know what you mean, Angela. I try to read new ones for the challenge, and then I save any re-reads for conquering (and also because I'm not a fan of re-reading, except for maybe three particular go-to books in my personal library).

I felt good, too, to find out that I had already read quite a few of the books from the list this year. I hadn't heard of any of the Alex award books, though.

I'm Lucie, a YA services library associate in Baltimore, Maryland. This is my second year doing the challenge, and like Angela and Jenni, I found I have already read a number of the books this year - which, yes, I guess is a good thing! I really enjoy that the challenge makes me read beyond what I pick for myself. It's fun to track, too!

I'm Cindy and this will be my 2nd year participating in the challenge. I participated in the nonfiction challenge for the 1st time so I started with 5 books under my belt. I just finished "Everything I Never Told You" which was a beautiful book.

I'm Bethany Miller, a high school librarian in Cincinnati, Ohio. This is my third time attempting the challenge, and I hope I will actually complete it this time. I have high hopes because I'm coming into it with eight books read in the Morris/nonfiction challenge. I'm currently reading Lock in from the Alex list and really enjoying it.

Hi, I am Diane, a children's public librarian in Mineral Point Wisconsin. This year is my third year of trying to conquer to the challenge. Its fun to get to explore these books and I find myself recommending them to others throughout the year.

I'm Jenn, a youth services librarian in Danville, VA. This is my third time doing the challenge. It's a lot of fun and forces me to read things I might have just skipped.

I'm Lori. I'm a Library Assistant in Stockton, California. This is my first time joining the challenge, and I just found out about it on the day it started. I read Kwame Alexander's The Crossover on February 9; I have spent much of this week looking up other titles on the list and locating/requesting them.

I'm looking forward to reading 24 more by the end of the challenge.

I'm Justine. I'm a middle/high school librarian in Durham, NC. I signed up for the challenge in 2013 but dropped the ball. Determined to do it this time, and I'm off to a good start (sort of!): I finished The Crossover (loved it) and In Real Life (so-so). Then I read Kekla Magoon's How It Went Down, which I somehow thought was on the Challenge list... turns out it wasn't, but it was a great read, anyway! No regrets. :)

I've never understood why YA titles from the Schneider Family and Stonewall Awards are included in the challenge but not any from the Coretta Scott King or Pura Belpre Awards. In my opinion, that is a major oversight and should be changed.

How It Went Down is SO good! I've been recommending it constantly since I read it.

I'm Emily Childress-Campbell, I'm a children's and teen services librarian in Smithfield, NC. This is my second year participating.

I am a middle school English teacher and feel like I stumbled into the librarians' conference by accident!

Our school librarian runs a Newbery Club every year, so I read a lot of current middle grade fiction with them, but I find myself missing out on YA books if I do that exclusively. The Hub Challenge makes me branch out to others I might have missed. I also do not choose to read graphic novels so this forces me to look at those too.

I'm Anna Chappell, the head of youth service at Swanton Public Library. This is either my third or fourth year participating, I'm not sure!

I'm Sarah and I'm the teen services librarian at the Barberton Public Library in NE Ohio. I've looked at the challenge list in the past, but this year I'm committing to read 25 titles!

Elisia from Arizona here, I'm a Library Assistant specializing in teen programming.

This is my first time participating, but I have a coworker who's completed the challenge for a few years now. I'm excited! I've read Curtsies and Conspiracies as well as the WS Star Wars books, so I'm looking forward to listening in. Otherwise, everything will be new to me! I'm mostly a Sci-fi/ Fantasy reader, so much of this will be outside of my comfort zone.

Hi All! I'm Kim Farnsworth, Youth Services Librarian, from the Nevada County Library system in Nevada City & Grass Valley, CA (I work for two branches in the system). This is my second time doing the challenge and I did finish it last year. I completed the nonfiction challenge this year, so I got a head start.

It sure does help me to finish when I read all of the top 10 graphic novels because they're quick reads. I love graphic novels anyway, so several of them I'd already read last year, which is sort of a problem actually because I rarely re-read books and my "easier" way to finishing the challenge is complicated :). I haven't decided if I'm going to reread or not.

I'm a school librarian in NYC and this is the first year that I haven't served on an awards or selection committee so I'm looking forward to being able to participate for the first time.