Walter Dean Myers, critically acclaimed author of children’s and young adult literature, will visit the Champaign area this month as part of his work as this year’s National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His visit, organized by the Children’s Book Council, is sponsored by the Center for Children’s Books (CCB) at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
On March 25 at 7:00 p.m., Myers will give an hour-long presentation at the Champaign Public Library that will include a discussion of the National Ambassador’s “Reading Is Not Optional” platform, Myers’s writing process and career as an author, and a Q&A session with the audience. A book signing will follow the presentation. Students, parents, and educators are encouraged to attend. Advance registration is not required, and the event is free and open to the public. Illinois educators are eligible to receive CPDU credits for attending this presentation.
The following day, March 26, Myers will attend an informal meet-and-greet session at the Champaign Public Library’s Douglass Branch at 3:45 p.m. This event is specifically aimed at middle grade and high school students, but it is open to youth of all ages. During his visit, Myers also will speak at Central High School and the Juvenile Detention Center in private events.
Myers’s body of work—picture books, poetry, fantasy, and realistic fiction—has garnered him several awards, including the Margaret A. Edwards Award, the Michael L. Printz Award, five Coretta Scott King Awards, two Newbery Honors, and recognition three times as a National Book Award Finalist. Much of his writing for teens focuses on the plight of the urban poor in America and the cost of violence both at home and abroad.
Myers discussed his platform, Reading Is Not Optional, in an interview with Publishers Weekly:
“We all know we should eat right and we should exercise, but reading is treated as if it’s this wonderful adjunct. ‘Reading takes you to faraway places,’ ” Myers said. “We’re still thinking in terms of enticing kids to read with a sports book or a book about war. We’re suggesting that they’re missing something if they don’t read but, actually, we’re condemning kids to a lesser life. If you had a sick patient, you would not try to entice them to take their medicine. You would tell them, ‘Take this or you’re going to die.’ We need to tell kids flat out: reading is not optional.”
The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature is named by the Librarian of Congress for a two-year term, based on recommendations from a selection committee representing many segments of the book community. The position was created in 2008 to raise national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education, and the development and betterment of the lives of young people. The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, the Children’s Book Council (CBC) and its foundation, Every Child a Reader, are the sponsors of the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature initiative.