It has already been a very exciting morning in the children’s book world! I was up early today, on my day off, sitting at my computer refreshing the #alayma hashtag on Twitter to get the award announcements as they happened. I cheered some of my favorites from the year, including Breaking Stalin’s Nose (mentioned in The Year of Protest Reading List) and Ball for Daisy (mentioned in Exploring Character Ed with Picture Books) and Where Things Come Back (mentioned in If You Like… Sufjan Stevens), won awards or honors. It’s a good day to be a kidlit geek. 
Outside my window, snow is falling. Perhaps we will have a real Minnesota winter this year yet. Watching snow out the window when I have nowhere to go is one of my favorite winter activities. My soundtrack to the snow is Minneapolis band Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lappelles. I’m looking forward to their upcoming record, HEAT, which “is comprised of all original material written predominantly by Lucy Michelle during the bone-chilling Minnesota winter of 2010. Many of the songs center around the feeling of being trapped and isolated while yearning to be somewhere else; physically or psychologically.” More about the new record in this video:
Happy Awards Day, Happy Snow Falling Day, Happy Monday. Enjoy.
I was hashtagging on Twitter this morning too! A good way to start the week.
I agree! Fun