Honorees Ashley Bryan and Neil Gaiman on the floor of the show.

With a record-breaking attendance of nearly 29,000, scores of competing parties and breakfasts, plenty of big-name author signings, and an array of programs, it was easy for librarians and publishers at the ALA Annual Conference to forget—if only for a few delicious moments—that yes, we are in the midst of a serious recession.

True, many of the librarians paid their own way, there was more pizza than prosciutto at the receptions, and the number of exhibitors was off by more than 1,000. As for library material budgets, they ranged from flat to down by as much as 25%. Nevertheless, spirits were high, children’s and YA librarians were energized by this year’s books, and publishers were delighted by the crowds.

Even before the cabin doors closed on the first flight to O’Hare on Friday, tweets were flying about the biggest story of the conference: YALSA’s plans to jettison the venerable Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA) list and replace it with a "people’s choice" award. By the time Holiday House’s party rolled around on Friday evening, the cries of "No they didn’t!" had changed to "No they won’t!" When YALSA’s board of directors met on Monday, the topic had been moved from an action item to a discussion item—with many livid members happy to discuss their disappointment. The upshot: the board will revisit the topic at the midwinter meeting in 2010. Stay tuned.

On the show floor, "things were as lively and hopping as I’ve ever seen it," said ALA veteran Luann Toth, managing editor of SLJ’s Book Review. "The publishers were all pressed to deal with crowd control and had to carefully monitor the numbers of books that they had available to the length of the lines." Kids Can Press’s Scott Robins spoke for most publishers: "Our booth has been just crazy!"


Melissa Sweet (l.) and Jen Bryant sign copies of their Caldecott Honor title, A River of Words.

Part of that craziness stemmed from the many big authors in attendance, including Brian Selznick, Judy Blume, Mo Willems, Kate DiCamillo, Kadir Nelson, Walter Dean Myers, Neal Gaiman, M.T. Anderson, John Green, Laurie Halse Anderson and Sarah Dessen. Suzanne Collins’s Catching Fire was the "it" book of the show; other sought-after ARCs included Kristin Cashore’s Fire, Barry Lyga’s Goth Girl Rising, Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s Front and Center, Libba Bray’s Going Bovine and Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan. You couldn’t cross the floor holding David Small’s Stitches without being asked where you got it.

The Newbery Caldecott Awards dinner on Sunday evening provided some half-time relief, at least for the feet. As always, it was accompanied by so many tears and such a level of intensity the casual observer could be forgiven for thinking that the cure to some terminal disease was being celebrated and not, well, the selection of a few good books. Caldecott winner Beth Krommes charmed, Newbery winner Neil Gaiman entertained, while Wilder winner Ashley Bryan, just hours shy of his 86th birthday, completely stole the show.

To view our extensive photo-essay from the conference, click here.