Annual award from the Catholic Library Association

I'm honored to share that the Catholic Library Association awarded me the 2025 St. Katharine Drexel Award, which recognizes an outstanding contribution to the growth of high school librarianship.

This award goes to one person per year, and the recipient is not always an author.

Among the past honorees who are/were authors: Jason Reynolds, Gene Luen Yang, Jacqueline Woodson, Lois Duncan, Walter Dean Myers, Chris Crutcher, Sharon Draper, and [in 1970] Isaac Asimov.

When I was notified, at first I wondered [and respectfully asked] if there had been a mistake—for multiple reasons:

1. That's a mighty distinguished list of authors. 
2. My books don't have Catholic content. 
3. I'm Jewish [though I was already fairly confident that was okay]. 
4. Most of my work is aimed at kids younger than teens [though I do often speak to teens].

CLA confirmed there had not been a mistake. The nomination process is confidential, meaning they can't tell me who nominated me. 

Whoever you are, thank you! I am grateful that you recognized that work like mine can resonate with readers older than the primary target audience. 

During my acceptance talk, with a pinch of trepidation, I briefly, organically mentioned my experiences, both negative and positive, saying "gay" during elementary assemblies, and felt warmly understood and supported.

I also showed off perhaps my all-time favorite snippet from the principal of a school that booked me to speak [in this case, a Catholic school in Connecticut]. 

First, I love that the schedule says "enjoy lunch with the sisters of the convent." Not "eat lunch." Not simply "lunch." Specifically enjoy lunch. I followed that commandment and, no surprise, did enjoy it. [First and last meal with a dozen nuns.]

Second, as you see, this principal was more than a principal. All are, but none like this.

Superman/Batman displays by librarians hosting my school visits

I've had the privilege of speaking at schools in 30+ states and almost 20 countries. School librarians worldwide have a gift for rolling out the read carpet for visiting authors. 

With Superman and Batman as my headliners, librarians have a lot of material to play with.

Sometimes that welcome is a splashy display. Sometimes it's a student-driven project. Sometimes it's a cheeky sign to reserve a parking space [not a requirement of mine, only an appreciated courtesy].

My librarian partners have greeted me with custom T-shirts, graffiti, pumpkins, cake, LEGO, ginormous banners, and so much more.

Here is a gallery of memorable efforts I've documented. [These span years and I didn't note every face/location, so no IDs. Speak up if it's yours!]