A new National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature named
January 4th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
from the Library of Congress website
Walter Dean Myers has been named the next National Ambassador for Young People’s literature. According to the Library of Congress website:
The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature raises 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.
Myers will be officially inaugurated for the two-year term on January 10th in Washington D.C. and has named his platform as “Reading is Not Optional.”
He succeeds Katherine Paterson who has held the post since 2010 (Jon Scieszka was the first Ambassador in 2008). Patterson was interviewed by the Huffington Post: My Term As The National Ambassador For Young People’s Literature. She said that the theme of her tenure was to:
Read for fun, read for information, read in order to understand yourself and other people with quite different ideas. Learn about the world beyond your door. Learn to be compassionate and grow in wisdom. Books can help us in all these ways.
More articles on the new Ambassador:
- Christian Science Monitor: Walter Dean Myers chosen as new YA literature ambassador
- Huffington Post: Walter Dean Myers Appointed New National Ambassador for Young Readers
- New York Times: Children’s Book Envoy Defines His Mission
- School Library Journal: SLJ Exclusive Interview: Walter Dean Myers, the New National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature
posting by Lorraine
