PD: SLJ Leadership Summit

I love professional development opportunities, especially when they are unique and utterly applicable to what I do. I want to be able to return to work recharged and with at least one new idea that I can implement immediately.

This is my second leadership summit. I attended my first in Nashville last year and became hooked. Links here and here and here.

I was excited that it is in Brooklyn this year and quite proud of myself for eschewing driving in and paying fifty dollars a night to house my car. My husband dropped me at the bus stop Thursday night for a 6:30 bus to the Port Authority. Turns out there was no 6:30 bus but one came at 6:42. A surprising number of people got on along the way. I listened to Property of the Rebel Librarian and finished it in my hotel room.

I caught the A train at about 8:30 and was surprised to have to stand. The subway just got more and more crowded as we travelled downtown. Who knew so many people return home so late?

My room is oddly furnished, curious use of Corian, and interesting but ineffective lighting. I slept fairly well for me.

Friday morning featured a publisher preview at Abrams. I was able to get my two school librarian friends from Georgia on the guest list and we trained three stops to lower Manhattan. Of course, we were early so we walked over to the 9/11 Memorial. St. Paul/ Trinity Church was not yet open. They were somberly impressed by the memorial. This was my third time visiting and I still had to wipe away tears. 

We loved the preview and left well fed and laden with arcs and posters. We walked the churchyard and checked out the gorgeous interior of the church. Definitely worth a visit if you're ever in NYC. 

I chose to attend the Mackin Focus Group for the afternoon. The group was led by Michelle Luhtala and the theme was "Guiding Positive Disruption in Your Learning Community." Twenty or so librarians from all over the U.S. shared challenges and things we are proud of. There was a brief discussion of AASL standards and, unfortunately, time ran out before we got to Mackin and their products that would help support our work. Note to self: stop by the booth and find out.

Later, there was an opening reception where we all mingled and networked and ran into old conference friends and met new ones. Follett had an exhibit of their book fair, so we perused that and authors were on hand to sign books.

This morning the conference proper opens.

AASL17 - Day One

The day dawned clear and beautiful here in Phoenix. I opened my curtains to take in the view and found that my little quiet corner room has none. I face a wall. If I crane my neck to look right, I can see some blue sky. Funny. I did think about upgrading to a high floor and panoramic views of the city for $20 a night but decided not to. I don't spend that much time in my hotel room at conference. Was it worth $80 more?

Headed out to register and then wait for my tour - the Desert Botanical Garden. It was beautiful and our docent was entertaining and informative. I took way too many pictures of cacti and other succulents. I just love the textures. 

Once we got back to town, I grabbed a quick bite before heading to another hotel for an "Authors in the Afternoon" panel. I forgot that it was lunch, so I grabbed my sandwich and boxed it for another time. Silly me. 

                    


Christian Robinson spoke about his creative process. His presence is a joyful as his art.

Jordan Sonnenblick made me tear up with the story behind his last two books, Secret Sheriff of Sixth Grade and Falling Over Sideways.

 

And Sarah Dessen entertained with her tales from high school and her inspiration for her latest book. 

Next up was the General Session with all sorts of welcoming remarks and thanking of sponsors, etc.

The Keynote speech was given by Jaime Casap, Google Evangelist. He was warm and funny and thought-provoking. I jotted down a lot of tweetable quotes and wish I had the time to parse through them now, but I have a dinner to attend. 

One that stuck was, "Instead of asking a child what do you want to be when you grow up, ask, what problem do you want to solve."

Bookfest@Bankstreet 2017

So Bookfest@Bankstreet happened today. I've attended quite a few and written about some here and here and here and here. I skipped it last year and can't remember why. I very nearly skipped this year but for Jerry Pinkney being on the roster. You see, I am a stalker of poor Jerry Pinkney. As soon as I learned about his appearance, I emailed my colleague and fellow Pinkney stalker, Maggie.

Maggie's the ELL teacher at my school and she is phenomenal. We collaborated on a lesson built around Pinkney's Lion & Mouse. We had begun the lesson before the Youth Media Awards were announced. When Lion and Mouse nabbed the Caldecott, we did a happy dance! I missed Bookfest in 2012 because Maggie and I presented at a workshop featuring Pinkney at the Hudson River Museum. That happened to coincide with the weekend of Superstorm Sandy. Good Times.

Our day began with coffee and breakfast in the lobby. We quickly found The Three Billy Goats Gruff at the table of books for sale through the Bankstreet Book Store. Then headed in to find seats in the auditorium. Again. There were not enough seats to be had and folks were sitting on the stairs. Not that the seats are all that great - straight-backed, albeit padded with very little leg room. They really need to find a bigger venue or limit registration further. 

Anywho. The first panel was moderated by Stephen Savage and was the main event for Maggie and me. #NoWords: Picture Books for Children. Savage started things off by avering that the he doesn't like the term "wordless." He finds it demeaning and requested that we stop called these books wordless. Jerry Pinkney, Barbara Lehman and David Wiesner joined him on this panel. 

Savage entertained with photos of each book taken "in the wild."

 

Next up was the panel entitled, "it makes Me Laugh: Humor in Children's Literature moderated by Betsy Bird, who has edited an anthology of short stories called Funny Girl. Her panelists were Carman Agra Deedy, Jon Scieszka and Rita Williams-Garcia. It was a bit hard to take notes due to all the laughing, but here are a few quotes I scrawled illegibly in my notebook: 

"The King's fool is always most powerful." Carman Agra Deedy.

"Being funny takes a lot of work." Jon Scieszka.

"I cackle a little when I take my characters down a peg." Rita Williams-Garcia.

Leonard Marcus spoke about the history of Golden Books. 

Then we broke out into our book discussion groups. As usual, there were so many great groups to choose from! I ended up choosing, "A Funny Thing Happened" moderated by SLJ YA books editor, Shelley Diaz. She chose five excellent titles that were laugh-out-loud funny, which is kind of a rarity in YA lit. 

Our box lunch was delish. 

The afternoon consisted of a panel moderated by Carole Boston Weatherford called, "The New Golden Age of Nonfiction for Young People." Her panelists included, Don Tate, author of Strong as Sandow; Candace Fleming, author of Giant Squid and ; Tonya Bolden, author of Pathfinders: the extraordinary journey of sixteen black souls and Eric Velasquez, illustrator of Schomburg: the man who built the library, which was written by Carole Boston Weatherford. I've already purchased each of the books by the panelists. I am particularly excited about the two picture book biographies, which are part of my unit with sixth graders this year.

Finally, Carman Agra Deedy delivered the keynote. I very nearly left early since I heard her speak in Atlanta at ALA Midwinter. I am so glad I stayed. She is an electrifying storyteller.

Another Bookfest@Bankstreet recorded for posterity.

SLJ Leadership Summit - Day 2

Saturday dawned cloudy and warm and rain was in the forecast; but the weather didn't matter because a long, full day was on tap.

Breakfast was self-serve and healthy - fruit, yogurts, I skipped the danish and grabbed a bran muffin. 

John Green was the keynote speaker. He has a new book, Turtles All the Way Down coming out next Tuesday and I sort of hoped that we'd get a copy; but there's an embargo on it so we all got a signed copy of Looking for Alaska, which turns ten this year! Yay! I will have to wait until Tuesday along with the rest of the world to read Turtles. His speech was funny, incisive and surprisingly emotional. I jotted a couple of quotes that resonated with me: I don't think the internet can fix the internet." 'Algorithms value clicks over nuance." And, "online tools jumpstart discussion, don't replace it."  

There was a panel called World Tour of Administrators: The literacy challenge and beyond. I didn't take any notes and am having trouble dredging up talking points. The only thing I wrote was, "Digital citizenship is not a lesson but a way of thinking and behaving and should be ongoing." A point I happen to agree with.

I chose Trust Me: media literacy for research as my first breakout session. This was pretty dynamic and very useful. I took tons of notes and both got some new ideas and feel that I'm on the right track with what I'm teaching this year.

The lunch buffet was grand as was the lunch keynote. Alan Miller spoke about The News Literacy Project. Lots of notes to follow up on there. 

The first afternoon panel was, Using Graphic Novels to Develop Racial Literacy. A high school librarian and language arts teacher brought four students to discuss how Gene Luen Yang's Printz Award winning book influenced them. Each student was incredibly articulate and thoughtful. I kept throwing quotes up on my FB feed. Totally bowled over, as was Gene. He kept saying that he couldn't add to what they said. One student, who identified as "not straight" and used or coined the term, overcompenstraight, was particularly thought-provoking. He asked for help "to completely be me." And used interesting similes and metaphors like the experience was like "reaching into a bucket of eels." He dislikes the term, micro-aggression, preferring instead, the term, macro-oppression. He claims this removes the dichotomy of aggressor and victim. Instead, he chooses to find a way to love the aggressor. Wow. 

The next panel was entitled: Visual Literacy; extending meaning through art and featured Cece Bell, Gareth Hinds and Javaka Steptoe. 

Panel moderator, Daryl Grabarek asked some interesting questions and each artist presented fascinating slides showing their process.

Authors were available to autograph their books following the conference. A cocktail reception followed featuring local authors signing their books and a strolling fiddler.

I piggybacked onto an invitation by Abdo books to dinner at Southern. The conversation was rambling and hilarious and the food was A-Mazing!

Several "pumpkin coaches" trotted by.

After dinner, we walked across the pedestrian bridge to burn some calories and take in the view.

All-in-all, a stupendous day.

SLJ Leadership Summit! Day One

I am in Nashville for the first time attending the School Library Journal Leadership Summit for the first time. And I am quite excited about FINALLY getting to one! I learned the hard way that I cannot wait to register for the amazing conferences SLJ puts together. 

I arrived late Thursday evening hoping to get a little sightseeing in on Friday, before the afternoon focus group I was scheduled to attend. My roommate learned of a hot breakfast place called Biscuit Love, known for its chocolate gravy covered biscuits so we hoofed it over on a gorgeous morning. There was a line, but we were assured that it was short by Biscuit Love standards so we chatted and caught up with each other while we waited. Once we got in, I resisted the amazing merch - mugs, tee shirts, cookbooks, jars of jam and honey and just ordered.

I decided on those biscuits with chocolate gravy and added a side of sautéd mushrooms and something they call chronic bacon - spicy, sweet, thick-cut bacon. 

Dee. Lish. Us!

After that, we met our third roommate and visited the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum. It's a beautiful space and it turns out I know more about country music than I thought!

My pals trekked off to visit some family and I wandered up and down "Music Row" checking out the scene. The windows of all the bars and honky-tonks were flung open and all the live bands competed with one another. The street was crowded and the afternoon was gorgeous. Crammed in among the competing live music venues were a bunch of stores selling boots. Now, my boot collection is not as extensive as my collection of cons, but I suddenly felt I should've worn boots instead. Lots of booted gals (and guys) were about. The stores were crammed and the boots were expensive! 

I joined a focus group with the folks from Gale. I sat with three librarians and listened to two separate presentations about changes being made to an existing product and a possible new product. We were shown dummies of possible layouts and asked for our opinions. I've never done this before. It was fascinating. 

Then, there was a cocktail party (Thank you Capstone!) on a deck as the sun set on a gorgeous day. I saw Javaka Steptoe in conversation with on of my SLJ editors and said hello. I spied a fellow focus group member and we chatted. It turns out she was invited to the same dinner I was, so we strolled over to that restaurant together.

Dinner, thanks to Mackin, was at a restaurant called Kitchen Notes. The wall decor was arrangements of recipe cards blown up and framed and the food was quite tasty - crab cakes, fried green tomatoes and a choice of three entrees. 

I was so tired and full at the end of a long day that I could not blog about it. I started this post on Saturday, but couldn't get Internet access at the meeting and was too tired Saturday night to blog. So-o, here it is Sunday morning and I'm scrambling like a middle schooler to catch up. My post will probably be filled with typos and bad grammar, but there you have it.

Fun times! 

ALAAC17 - The Odyssey Reception

The Odyssey Award honors the best producer of a book for children and has been awarded yearly since 2008. The winners are announced each January as part of the Youth Media Awards announcements. 

Those of you who know me know I am a great fan of audiobooks going back 30+ years and I have two crates of audiocassettes to prove it. In my first year of school librarianship, a language arts teacher called me out for suggesting an audiobook to a struggling eighth grade reader. "How dare you!" she said,"How do you expect him to learn to read if he doesn't read?" Admittedly, I was a bit cowed, but mumbled something along the lines of, "He hates reading, why not make him love story?"

I'm proud to say that I have listened to nearly all the winners and honor winners, many before the awards were announced. I also try to make sure I'm in town for the announcements. One year, I forgot they were usually on Monday night and made arrangements to fly from conference in Anaheim to San Fransisco to visit my husband's uncle. I was so sad.

When the awards are presented, the committee usually plays an audio clip of the book, and they usually have technical difficulties, which is kind of funny and ironic. Also, a bit unnecessary since, most of the time, the actor or actors are ready to give a short speech and perform part of the book live, which I find much more interesting. If the actor can't make the ceremony play the clip, if they're there, don't. My two cents. 

When Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit was announced as the winner back in January, I was not surprised. Narrator Allan Corduner, whose narration of The Book Thief made him my first voice crush, did an astounding job with this intense, emotional story. 

Jason Reynolds introduced Guy Lockard, narrator of his Ghost. The two are childhood friends and Lockard also narrated Reynolds' As Brave as You. His voice for Coach is superb and Reynolds praised Lockard's spot-on performance. I told Lockard later that he was one of my latest voice crushes and that I hoped to hear more from him. 

The companies of the winners provide free audiobooks at the end where we are reminded to take just one and given the opportunity for a second if there are any left over. The only recording I didn't already own was Dream On, Amber, so my choice was easy.

The reception consisted of cheese and fruit and one beverage and enabled folks to mingle and talk. I recall an early reception, I want to say Chicago in 2009, where the spread was quite impressive. Then there was a little recession and the receptions were scaled back but still appreciated. I'll be a bit negative and say that it's way better than paying $30 to eat potato chips at the Printz reception. As much as I loved hearing speeches from all the winners at Printz, why do I get charged $30 to eat chips? One year, there were sad, stale desserts. So thank you Odyssey, for allowing all the winners to speak and to the companies who generously fund the reception and giveaways.

Monday @ ALAAC17 - Little Brown Breakfast

It's a good thing I am a morning person because I had a 7:00 breakfast date with the folks at Little, Brown. I would've liked a bit more sleep as it took me quite a while to wind down from Newbery the previous evening; but, hey, it's Little, Brown!

Whether it's publisher previews in New York or events at conferences, Little Brown events are always special. Their books are consistently not only superb, but appealing to children. (We will not discuss the three-peat lest we jinx <cough> <Mighty Moby> cough). I feel lucky and honored to receive invitations. But, I felt super-lucky yesterday morning to learn that attendees were the first/ only folks to receive arcs of Peter Brown's sequel to The Wild Robot, The Wild Robot Escapes. Spoiler Alert!

Victoria Stapleton warned us that we were marked if any appeared on eBay. Like that would ever happen at my house! Just ask my patient husband who trips over books everywhere. I usually save my signed arcs on a carefully curated shelf. eBay my foot. I have actually stopped frequenting a local indie because he sells arcs. I found this out when he broke the embargo on a rather hyped book five years ago and haven't been in since.

Again, I digress. Three books were featured at the breakfast, Peter's, and The Star Thief by Lindsey Baker as well as Wade Albert White's second book in his "Adventurer's Guide" series (and his second book, period), The Adventurer's Guide to Dragons (and Why they Keep Biting Me). The Star Thief is on my summer TBR and I am embarrassed to admit that I missed The Adventurer's Guide to Successful Escapes. I must remedy that because it sounds like a lot of fun.

From the breakfast, I had to trek down to the convention center before the exhibits closed because I had put five or six audiobooks aside at the BOT booth. I always buy five audiobooks at conference in addition to the one they are giving away because, conference prices! This year, I almost purchased ten, but set the five aside and added just one on further deliberation. There's only so much money one can spend even at convention prices.

One of the problems managing conference when it's in Chicago is needing to travel a lot. There's only one hotel near the convention center and a fair number of meetings and publisher events are held off-site. Trekking back and forth took time but I refused to spring for cab fare this trip. I took the el in and am taking it out. It's the shuttle or my feet. 

Speaking of which, I used them to trek back to the convention center for the Odyssey Awards ceremony. After purchasing my audiobooks, I shuttled back to my hotel, grabbed my Simon & Schuster Art Lunch gift bag and trundled a few blocks to a FedEx store. Honestly, my arm and shoulder muscles really got a workout this weekend! I thought I might have dislocated my right elbow when I arrived at the FedEx store and attempted to lift the bags I was carrying with that hand up. My elbow wouldn't bend!

I want to post this and also spend some time writing about Odyssey.

Sunday @ ALAAC17

Sunday started re-eally early with the Coretta Scott King Awards breakfast. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I didn't fall right to sleep on Saturday night and woke frequently. Still, my body clock insists on waking me in the early morning hours. 

I had planned on walking to the hotel and left plenty of time for the walk but then I had a brain fart, misremembered the hotel, and ended up leaving later. On the Michigan Ave. bridge, I remembered where I actually needed to be and double-timed it. The hotel was nearly a mile away.

I arrived late, breathless and sweaty. The Grand Ballroom was PACKED, which makes me glad because this has always been my favorite award ceremony. I was so glad when the committee moved it from the last day of the conference to Sunday of conference. I've only missed it once (when I'm at conference) and I regretted it. That was the year that was the year Christian Robinson danced for his speech. 

It's my favorite award ceremony because all the winners get to give speeches. Admittedly, it does make for a rather long event, but the speeches are always eloquent, classy, and inspiring. They also begin the breakfast with song. Now, I can't sing to save my life, but I sing Lift Every Voice and Sing, my voice sliding all over the place. How can I not? 

I was searching for words to describe what sets this ceremony apart and Victoria Stapleton provided them, "literary church." Perfect. 

Then there's Dr. Pauletta Bracey who presides over the event with dignity and calm. I always remind myself to bring tissues because I always cry.

And this year's winners! I had read most of the books before the awards were announced and they are wonderful. Nicola Yoon/ The Sun is also a Star; the always great Jerry Pinkney/ In Plain Sight; R. Gregory Christie/ Freedom in Congo Square. The joyous and frail, Ashley Bryan won both an illustrator honor and an author honor for Freedom over Me: eleven slaves and their lives and dreams brought to life. Illustrator winner, Javaka Steptoe for Radiant Child: the story of young Jean-Michel Basquit also won the Caldecott so his day was bookended with speeches. At one point during his speech, he broke down while speaking of his father, John Steptoe and, the entire ballroom, many with their own tears streaming lent silent support. My eyes are watering right now remembering. 

I hadn't planned on going to the convention center on Sunday, but I had to because I forgot to pick up my Newbery ticket from the Junior Library Guild booth on Saturday. I was invited by Deborah Ford, who presents wonderfully enthusiastic webinars and travels about the country presenting workshops. I was so honored.

I had also learned that graphic novelist, Mike Maihack had a booth and was selling Cleopatra in Space # 3 & 4! I only had 1 & 2 on my shelf and needed to remedy that asap. At the end of the year #2 was left on my desk and when I checked it in, found it had not been checked out. I never say books were stolen, only that they have been borrowed without being checked out. Though five or so years ago, I did have one student who systematically stole from the graphic novel collection at recess, when the library was covered by a lunch paraprofessional. It was only when he was moving and his mother was packing that she found and filled a bag with books to return before they moved!

My but my mind is wandering this morning!

I checked back at the Scholastic booth and scored an arc of Jordan Sonnenblick's next middle grade book, The Sheriff of Sixth Grade, due out in late August. I picked up a few other books here and there, including stopping to get an autographed copy of Jeanette winters' newest picture book biography before heading to the Palmer House Hilton for the Simon & Schuster Art Luncheon. I totally forgot that she was going to be there! Now I have two but one autograph is personalized to my students. 

The luncheon was fantastic! Marla Frazee, Brendan Wenzel, Peter Brown, and a display of original art from all the books. 

I took a leisurely walk laden with books back to the hotel (over a mile) intending to take a nap but couldn't fall asleep.

I attended the LJ/SLJ Reviewer Party and got to meet some conference friends and make a few new ones, one of whom I gave the Newbery ticket I purchased and couldn't get a refund for. He was quite thrilled to go, so yay!

I will post separately about the banquet. 

Saturday at ALA AC17

Yesterday was a jam-packed day at ALA. I couldn't figure out why I did not fall right to sleep when I finally turned off the light at midnight. Turned it back on and read for an hour and still tossed and turned till nearly 2. I awoke at 5:30 and am wondering how I am going to get through today on so little sleep. My day starts at 7AM at the Coretta Scott King breakfast and ends late tonight with the Newbery Banquet. Oy.

But yesterday, I took the shuttle to the convention center and hit the exhibits. I had no real plan other than to wander around to see what there was to see. Waited on a few lines for author signatures. 

Met Adele Griffin and told her my story about my students who cannot wait for Oodlethunks 3. She confessed to getting teary hearing about how much they got into the Oodlethunks.

Took tons of pics of books I don't want to forget to order. Went to the Scholastic Picture Book Brunch and listened to Molly Bang, Peter Sis, Sean Qualls and Alan Say talk about the making of their latest picture books. 

I had to duck out early because I had forgotten that I bought a ticket to the Margaret Edwards Award brunch where Sarah Dessen spoke. I enjoy her books and have a gaggle of seventh and eighth grade girls who adore her. We each received a copy of her newest, Once and for All.

I wandered the exhibits and sent the first two boxes of books off.

 

I wandered around some more and took photos with authors real and standee.

 

I attended the Disney brunch, organized by the effervescent Dina Sherman, and listened to Rick Riordan speak about his new imprint at Disney and the first book set to be published by an Indian writer, featuring an Indian girl and Indian mythology. I purposely didn't take arcs from the Disney booth since I thought I'd get some at the preview. Unfortunately, nothing was left! I guess I didn't get there early enough. Bummer.

I've got plenty to read.

I ended the evening with two events with Simon & Schuster. A party celebrating Ian Falconer and his new Olivia book, Olivia the Spy, followed by a dessert party. There was a chocolate fountain and Dr. Rob Bittner, my Converse twin. A few weeks ago, he posted a pic of his Newbery outfit, which included bright yellow Cons. I am a bit of a Converse collector hoarder and I. Had. To. Have. Them. He has been very gracious.

Then I spied Jason Reynolds and had to tell him how his book Ghost created a reader.

This sight greeted me as I turned onto Michigan Ave. All-in-all a wonderfully full day. I thought I would crash but ended up staying up till after one. Even then, I couldn't fall asleep. 

SLJ Innovator Basecamp

So, I'm in Boston for my first ever SLJ Innovator Basecamp! I have never been able to get to one of their summits (Get it? Basecamp, summit?)  partly because that's usually in September and school's just gearing up and once because I didn't register early enough. So when I saw the ad for the Basecamp in Boston, I was on it in a flash. A plus was, it was an opportunity to visit #4, who lives nearby.

I am very excited about the whole program and had trouble choosing my breakout sessions! Looking forward to a fantastic day!

What's New? Stacking the Shelves - ALA Annual Audio Edition

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. Hop on over there to ogle what other bloggers got this week.

I had such a great time at ALA Annual in Orlando this past weekend! I was really glad to get home on Tuesday. Four boxes of books beat me home and the rest arrived on Wednesday. Such amazing books are coming in the next months. I don't know where to begin. I featured some of the arcs on a Top Ten Tuesday post earlier this week. Let me show you the audiobooks I bought.

One of my go-to booths is the Books on Tape booth. I usually buy some cool audiobooks for $20 a pop. Unfortunately, sometimes I forget what I already have and have purchased duplicates. This year, I actually bought two at the conference! Silly me. Apologies for leaving out bibliographic information and synopses as I am rushing to schedule this and have no time. 

Being Jazz: my life as a (transgender) teen by Jazz Jennings. I bought this in the first batch. Then promptly forgot that I had and bought another copy on the last day of exhibits. No worries, I'm sending this on to Never Counted Out with a bunch of books. 

Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk.

Red: the true story of Red Riding Hood by Liesl Shurtliff.

The Last Star by Rick Yancey. This is the exciting conclusion to the Fifth Wave trilogy.

Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez.

Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit.

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys.

Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart.

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan. This was a freebie at the booth. It's one of the few books by Levithan I have not read. 

Stonewall: breaking out in the fight for gay rights by Ann Bausum. This was actually a freebie at the Audiobook Buzz presentation. I bought it and listened to it a while ago, but thought I would pick it up to gift to either my sister or send it on to Never Counted Out.