A Salute to Librarians from Sharon Creech
To celebrate National Library Week, HarperStacks has asked some of our most beloved authors to share
I’ve often mentioned how a group of fifteen librarians changed the course of my life in a phone call in February 1995. At the time, I was living and teaching in a small village in England, and I was confused by the call from a librarian in the States, informing me that Walk Two Moons had received the Newbery Medal. I thought perhaps it was one of my brothers playing a joke.
But it was not a joke. It was Kathleen Horning, chair of the Newbery Committee, and in the background the rest of the committee shouted, “Huzza, huzza!” What followed was a dizzying submersion in the world of Newbery--the phone calls, the interviews; and in the world of librarians--the overwhelming love of a nation of enthusiastic librarians, and a solid launch into the world of children’s books.
Daily mail from librarians and teachers thank me for my books, but I thank them, a thousand times over, for what they do to promote good books and reading and curiosity and knowledge. Even now, when we are in the midst of a global pandemic, librarians and library workers continue to serve their communities with enthusiastic offerings: with online readings and activities and encouragement, with access to ebooks and movies and music. Our local library here in a small town in Maine is such a positive, unifying force in our community, just as libraries all across the country are equally unifying forces.
We need you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Listen to Sharon’s Newbery speech here!
Sharon Creech is the author of the Newbery Medal Winner Walk Two Moons, the Newbery Honor Winner The Wanderer, and the Carnegie Medal winner Ruby Holler. Her other works include Saving Winslow, Moo, The Boy on the Porch, The Great Unexpected, The Unfinished Angel, Hate That Cat, The Castle Corona, Replay, Heartbeat, Granny Torrelli Makes Soup, Love that Dog, Bloomability, Absolutely Normal Chaos, Chasing Redbird, and Pleasing the Ghost, as well as three picture books, A Fine, Fine School, Fishing in the Air, and Who’s That Baby? Her newest book One Time is on sale this September. Sharon Creech and her husband live in Camden, Maine. You can visit her online at www.sharoncreech.com.
Follow Sharon Creech here:
blog: sharonkaycreech.blogspot.com
Facebook: Sharon Creech
Twitter: @ciaobellacreech