The ALA Midwinter conference in Seattle this past week was a celebration of milestones.
2013 marks the 75th Anniversary of the Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children. The Association of Library Service to Children kicks off a year-long celebration, including a logo specially designed by Brian Selznick, which integrates many characters from the Caldecott's legendary winners. A preconference to be held in partnership with the Art Institute of Chicago will start the ALA Annual Conference this summer in Chicago.
National Geographic, celebrating a 125-year anniversary, held a reception with Barbara Kerley for her book The World Is Waiting for You. Her text connects a child's experience of nature and his or her natural curiosity with the many vocations chronicled in the breathtaking photographs from the more than century-old archives of National Geographic. Kerley spoke about the importance of child-directed free time in feeding the imagination. "The thing about structured play is that someone else is in charge," she pointed out.
At the HarperCollins breakfast, librarian fans from across the nation wished the charmingly literal Amelia Bedelia, created by Peggy Parrish, a happy 50th birthday.
Algonquin heralds its 30th year of publishing and launched a brand new imprint aimed at young people, under editorial director Elise Howard. Here Kuo-Yu Liang, Diamond's v-p of sales & marketing; PubSpring's Sean Concannon; and rare books librarian Jessica Pigza celebrate at a party hosted by Algonquin and Shelf Awareness at Seattle's Garage.
Random House gathered a half-dozen luminaries who've earned Newbery Medals and Honors to speak on a panel at the Seattle Public library to a packed auditorium: (l. to r.) Christopher Paul Curtis, Jennifer Holm, Kirby Larson, Nancy Pearl, Louis Sachar, Jerry Spinelli, Rebecca Stead and Clare Vanderpool. 
Among the gems, both funny and deep: in answer to moderator Pearl's question, "What's different now that you've won the Newbery?" Holm responded, "Now you're homework." Her nine-year-old recently brought home Spinelli's Maniac Magee. Vanderpool expressed concern that her child received a "C" on a book report about her own Moon over Manifest. Stead explained that she eschews her computer for a pencil and notebook so that she's forced to "move forward." Spinelli finds it hard to read when he's writing because he tends to ape the author he's reading. "An artist needs to be invisible to himself," Spinelli said. However, Spinelli's reading of the history of the railroad dining car poses no threat in that respect. Louis Sachar agreed about being influenced to "write like the author I'm reading, so I want him to be good." Sachar's reading The Passage of Power, the fifth volume in Robert Caro's Lyndon B. Johnson biography. He noted that you need not have read the first four to enjoy it. Stead added that her "urge to write comes from reading." She's immersed in Black Swan Green by David Mitchell. Christopher Paul Curtis says he's on page 300 of The Autobiography of Mark Twain and has yet to make it past the introduction. He praised Twain's humor, which is never outdated. --Jennifer M. Brown