An ALA Smore report from Caitlin Jacobson, June 2018
Topics are selected by the ALSC President and presented during annual conference. The program is named in honor of children's librarian and first African-American to lead ALSC (1957-58). She was an early critic of diversity in children's literature, and was the first African-American to receive ALA's honorary lifetime membership.
This year's program was "Considering all children: a new ideal in evaluating and engaging around books for youth". The session featured a panel of well-known educators and authors, and was moderated by Edi Campbell.
This program was on Monday afternoon, following a dramatic vote of the ALSC Board to change the name of the Wilder Award to the Legacy Award, and this program reflected the desire of ALSC leadership to push toward inclusion.
The program included authors Margarita Engle and Jason Reynolds, and educators Debbie Reese and Ebony Thomas.
