Wednesday, January 6, 2010

National Ambassador of Young People's Literature


Thank you, those of you who commented yesterday and told me you hadn't known of such a position either; made me feel better.

Davin, you had a question about what this ambassador does. From the official site, the stated goal is for the ambassador to
"raise national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature."

As far as I can tell, the ambassador makes appearances: at schools and libraries to meet with children and people who work with children. The other type of appearances, such as those as the White House, are to promote the idea to the public. Makes sense, I suppose, since an ambassador is someone who builds bridges and forge relationships.

Anyone else out there who cares to add to this?

I will try to follow the new ambassador's activities more closely now that I know of such a position and see if I can help promote it from my little corner.

On an aside, I am slightly baffled as to how someone like me, who is interested in children's lit, who tries to find out news events and other happenings related to children's lit, could have been in the dark for two years. Am I not plugged in enough? (The thought of getting any more plugged in is already causing discomfort) Or maybe this is too new a position?

Thoughts?

4 comments:

Bish Denham said...

I can give you several callused and/or pessimistic answers to your question...It isn't in the news (much) because: 1.)It isn't scandalous. 2.) It isn't divisive. 3.) There isn't any blood and mayhem. 4.)It's good news and has to do with literacy.

Yat-Yee said...

You could very well be right! But let's see if it will slowly become more visible over time.

Davin Malasarn said...

Thanks for the info, Yat-Yee. And, as far as being plugged in, I bet there are several other avenues and connections that could be useful to you that you don't know about it. I know in my fields of writing and science I'm constantly hearing about things like this, and I've been doing both for at least a decade. It's impossible to be aware of everything.

Yat-Yee said...

Yes, I'll bet there are many other sources that I am ignorant of but I have to accept that there is more information out there than I'll ever hope to know.