BookExpo America 2009: Librarians'Picks ofthe Showat Book Shout and Share
Panel selects must-have titles for libraries
Francine Fialkoff -- Library Journal, 06/01/2009
So, what were the must-have titles at BEA? After circling the show floor for two days, eight librarians with collection development or readers' advisory backgrounds came up with a list and presented them in ten minutes each at BEA's first-ever Librarians' Book Shout and Share.
Organized by Brooklyn Public Library's Barbara Genco (standing, above far left) the star-studded group included (l. to r.) Baltimore County 
Public Library's Lila Wisotzki, New York Public Library's Miriam Tuliao, Boston PL's Michael Colford, San Francisco PL's Jason Honig, Columbus Metropolitan Library's Robin Nesbitt, Kansas City (MO) PL's Kaite Stover, and LJ RA columnist Neal Wyatt (also president of ALA's Reference and User Services Association).
Top titles
Among the dozens of titles the gang of eight gave a shout out to, seven drew multiple raves. They are:
- Stitches (Norton) by David Small, a memoir LJ's Barbara Hoffert highlighted as one of the half-dozen galleys to grab. Wisotzki called the graphic novel "dark and hard and depressing...it tears your heart out," saying it was a "gateway book to graphic novels.
- Mathilda Savitch (FSG) by Victor Lodato, which Tuliao compared to Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, but "a little less genre-y."
- Going Away Shoes (Algonquin) by Jill McCorkle, deemed "a great book club read" by several panelists.
- Labor Day (Morrow) by Joyce Maynard, a coming-of-age story that Colford said was "a no-brainer."
- Baking Cakes in Kigali (Delacorte) by Gaile Parkin, which will appeal to foodies.
- The Elephant Keeper (Morrow) by Christopher Nicholson, which should play well among readers of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.
- The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope (Morrow) by William Kamkwamba, about a boy who brought electricity to a whole village. Genco described it as a "book I'd give to my mother...it's about triumph over adversity." Others called it a Rocket Boys readalike.
(Photo by Mike Rogers. For an full album of LJ exclusive BEA pix of authors, celebs, and show floor action, click here.>>>
(For additional coverage of BookExpo America 2009, visit the BookExpo America 2009 page of our sister publication, Publishers Weekly)
