Meg Medina’s two-year term as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature came to an end on December 12 at a celebration held in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress’s Thomas Jefferson Building in Washington, D.C.
Medina’s literary career spans from picture books to young adult novels. She was the recipient of the 2019 Newbery Medal for Merci Suárez Changes Gears, the 2014 and 2016 Pura Belpré Author Awards, and the 2012 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer award. Her YA novel Burn Baby Burn earned numerous distinctions, including being longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award and shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize.
The Ambassador for Young People’s Literature position was an honor for many reasons, Medina told PW, especially because the role exists specifically to “elevate the needs, interests, and thoughts of children.” She added that this is crucial because most lifelong readers discover their reading pathway during childhood. She also appreciated the opportunity to represent the kid lit community. “There are thousands of incredible people making and illustrating literature for children who believe, as I do, that childhood is sacred,” Medina said, “and we want to stand with children as they go through everything they will face in their journey.” During a time of when book bans and challenges have been prevalent, it was especially important to call attention to the children’s literature community, she said. “I’m delighted that kids are reading my books, but I really hope they will read widely—the many incredible books that are being published right now that are speaking to their experience.”
Medina visited 32 schools and libraries across 11 states as ambassador. “Seeing all the different communities and how we read and live as Americans was invaluable to me,” she said. “When you’re out in the vastness of the country, you see its plurality. You see the ways in which reading has to stretch and library collections stretch to embrace us all.”
Getting to talk to so many kids and seeing first-hand the impact that reading can have on a family were among the highlights of her experience. She recalled meeting a mother and two daughters at her “office hours” at the Library of Congress. While the children’s grandparents were illiterate and their mother had limited reading ability, the daughters were voracious readers. “Seeing how the world became so big for them so quickly because of reading—that’s something that will stay with me for a long time.” Another memorable moment was meeting a family of avid readers who read together and shared their opinions. Listening to their interactions, she understood more deeply that “reading is another way for families to knit themselves together.”
Medina’s tenure began on January 18, 2023, not long after schools had returned to full in-person classes after Covid. At the time, the level of anxiety about children’s engagement with reading was high, a feeling that persists today. One of her biggest take-aways from her tenure as ambassador was the concept of protecting a “reading life” for children that’s driven by the kids’ own interests. “We have to continue to find innovative ways to return joy to reading,” she said. “If we focus on fear and worry, we’ll miss out on the concept of having a reading life that kids control outside of school, one in which they get to pick the books they like and express opinions about them with their friends.”
Throughout her work, it also struck her that school and public libraries each have unique “gifts,” she said. “School libraries have the audiences, and public libraries often have facilities and funding that schools don’t have. Finding ways for those librarians to join forces and create a thicker net to support our reading lives is important.” Even in small under-resourced communities, she encountered librarian “heroes” working to serve their communities. “The respect I have for librarians has only skyrocketed from being in this role. I can’t say enough about what they’re doing.”
Medina is the eighth National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and the first Latina to hold the position. Among her accomplishments in the role is the launch of the Cuéntame!: Let’s Talk Books platform, designed to be used by families and in classrooms and public libraries to promote conversations about books. Through the program, more than 40 student “cuentistas” at schools around the country gave short book talks aimed at sparking their peers’ interest in reading in a fun, natural way. Her “Family Office Hours” at the Library of Congress offered 20-minute in-person sessions to students and their families based on their personal learning and reading goals. She introduced families to valuable library resources.
She also launched “Let’s Talk Books!,” a short-form video series featuring beloved authors, illustrators, and graphic novelists discussing their favorite books and writing journeys. The full series is available on the Library of Congress’s YouTube channel. And she donated primary sources related to her novel Burn Baby Burn to the Library’s new education studio, The Source, set to open in 2025 with the aim of helping kids explore historical research and storytelling. In collaboration with the library and Medina’s publisher, Candlewick Press, more than 6,000 copies of Medina’s books—both in English and Spanish—were donated to students.
“Meg Medina’s tenure as ambassador was extraordinary,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “Meg’s service to our nation’s children and teens, coupled with her deep belief in the library’s mission to advance knowledge and creativity, put her in a new tier of what is possible as an ambassador.”
The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature is an initiative of the Library of Congress, in partnership with Every Child a Reader, with support from the Library of Congress Madison Council, the Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation and Candlewick Press. The next Ambassador will be announced in February. Medina said she will be cheering on the new person when she returns to her writing life.
As her ambassadorship comes to a close, Medina remains optimistic about the future of children’s books and reading. “You can have a screen life, you can have a sports life, but a reading life is a really private thing that stays with you forever. As private as it is, it also has the potential to be such a connecting force,” she said. “We can preserve and ignite reading, but we have to remember to make it joyful.”
