Five Favorite Posts of the Year

Remember that Cosby Show episode where Cliff was at a dance class or something and this crazy old tap dancer (who was probably very very famous) kept saying "Challenge!" but pronounced it, "Chall - onge!". Then Cliff would move his feet at random on, what I seem to remember as, a washboard and then the old dancer would tap his response?

Yeah. So that's essentially what Mother Reader has presented me with. A "Chall - onge!" if you will. I am to list my Top 5 Favorite Postings of 2006. I think everyone should do this, by the way. Even if you've only just started your blog, it's fun to scroll through ye olde archives. So here are the postings that I consider my most pleasant memories.

1. The SCBWI Debate - That was when I hit the big time, babies. 700+ hits in a single day and 65 comments on a single post. I know that for the big blogs out there, that's small potatoes, but for a humble (in the monetary sense) children's librarian it was overwhelming. It felt, basically, like 800-some people had come over to my apartment for cookies and milk and I began panicking over whether or not my cookies were tasty enough and my milk fresh or past its due date. Some luminaries showed up as well, like Lin Oliver and Steve Mooser and a host of good authors and illustrators. And Jane Yolen, I later learned, found herself entirely incapable of commenting in any way, shape, or form due to the difficulty of submitting a comment to Blogger at that point in time. Hopefully she'll come back someday so that I can thank her properly for creating the original Triumvirate of Mediocrity. What I loved about this debate was that not a single person ever became rude or nasty. There wasn't a flame war, nor did I ever receive mean anonymous e-mails on the sly. Just a good discussion on a rather fascinating topic.

2. The Golden Fuse Awards - My sweet little baby. I've been clucking over and slowly feeding that post all year, it seems. Finding, to my shock, that without my noticing it January 1st had crept in the door, my eventual posting of the awards gave me slight separation anxiety. Post-posting I then remembered certain categories I was going to add and didn't get around to (Best First Time Author Title and Best Use of the Word Scrotum In a Children's Book, for example.). Well, there's always next year.

3. The ALA Conference Postings - Oh, that was fun. New Orleans, me, my hubby, and a laptop. Good times. There's no schmoozing like ALA schmoozing, sweet cheeks. From forbidden absinthe to glow-in-the-dark authors, it was my first ALA Conference and may well remain my most memorable. The upcoming Mid-Winter in Seattle will, unfortunately, not prove as fruitful blog-wise.

4. The Top 21 Children's Books Made Into Films and The Worst 14 Films Made From Children's Books - This falls into the category of posts I just had fun doing. I still regret that Babe wasn't on my Best List. I'll have to rejigger it when I get a chance.

5. The Field Trip Taken To Fuse #8 From the Bloggers At Eddis, Attolia, Sounis - Remember this? Maybe not, but this was one of the more interesting moments of my year. I had happened to mention that not only do Megan Whalen Turner fans have a blog but that they update it almost every single day. Next thing you know the whole lot of them high-tailed it over to Fuse #8 for a spirited debate over whether or not The King of Attolia could be read on its own, what the appropriate audience was, possible casting for movies, and the general brilliance of Ms. Turner. Who knew?

So here's to 2007! May we all post brilliant thoughts regarding the general flow of the kidlit world. May the Cybils grow in stature, the literary blogging world acknowledge the existence of their kidlit brethren, and everyone get a book deal at some point in their lifetimes. Salut.