Hear directly from the experts.
Watch our experts panel discuss their contenders for the ALA Youth Media Awards (YMA) to help you prepare now for the best library collection you can offer your students.
Each year, experts at Follett Content compile a list of contenders for the winners of the American Library Association (ALA) Youth Media Awards (YMA) before the January 22 announcement to help educators get the inside scoop and purchase the top picks beforehand on Titlewave®.
It’s a great way to engage students to choose their favorite award hopefuls for the Caldecott, Newbery, Coretta Scott King, Printz, and Pura Belpré lists with a student mock election awards.
Sign up to get notified when the ALA Youth Media Awards are announced.
The Wave is a monthly newsletter for the school librarian. You’ll receive a roundup of news, events, professional growth opportunities, and products, as well as handpicked titles to help keep you inspired and up to date on all things library.
Watch our experts panel discuss their contenders for the ALA Youth Media Awards (YMA) to help you prepare now for the best library collection you can offer your students.
We understand that empowering educators begins with getting you the ALA YMA winners as quickly as possible. Maintaining an industry-leading inventory means we’re able to offer a wide variety of in-stock titles, getting award winners into your library faster so you can continue to teach and inspire.
Faster Turnaround Times
On average, in-stock items ship from our service center within five business days.
Deeper Inventory
We currently stock more than 370,000 titles (4.5 million units), including over 75,000 FollettBound titles.
The Follett Content Curation team is made up of licensed educators and certified librarians who can align materials to standards, build resource lists, and offer book and resource suggestions based on your topic or to fit your curriculum initiatives.
Each year, our Curation Team makes their list of ALA YMA contenders. The presenters of this list of contenders include the following:
Mary Hazel
Classroom Content and Curation Specialist
Mary has been with Follett Content Solutions for almost three years as a Classroom Content and Curation Specialist. She grew up in Southern California and then moved to Illinois, where she finished a B.A. in elementary education at Roosevelt University. She taught elementary school in Alaska and Iowa before returning to Illinois. She also achieved a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction along the way. She loves reading books for all different age levels.
Wendy Miller, MS
Elementary Librarian, Supervisor of Library Curations
After working as a Children’s Librarian and Elementary School Librarian for 10 years, Wendy has curated lists of PreK-8 titles for school librarians around the world for more than 20 years here at Follett Content Solutions. After graduating from Hope College in Holland, MI, she received her master of information science degree from the University of Illinois. She lives in McHenry, IL, and enjoys reading and cheering on her daughter’s high school basketball team.
Janet Murray, MEd, MLIS
Curriculum Bibliographer, High School
Janet Murray joined Follett Content Solutions six years ago after spending 11 years as the Library Director at Northside College Preparatory High School in Chicago. At Follett Content, she supports high school lists on Titlewave as well as titles for subscription programs, marketing catalogs, and opening day core collections.
Roberta Starck, MEd, MLIS
Curriculum Bibliographer, Middle School
Roberta has been with Follett Content Solutions for 17 years, and her career spans 24 years as a teacher and librarian in elementary and middle schools. She is a librarian on the Library Curations Team, where she is responsible for curating lists for school libraries and updating and maintaining lists for Titlewave®. The highlight of her job is “attending weekly publishers’ meetings and discovering all the new titles being published!”
Jennifer Velasquez
World Languages Senior Bibliographer
Jennifer Velasquez joined Follett Content Solutions five years ago after working as a Bilingual Youth Services Associate Librarian at the McHenry Public Library, where she presented Spanish children’s programs and built collections of Spanish titles. She previously worked for Book Wholesalers Inc. as a World Language Specialist creating customer lists and handling Spanish standing orders. At Follett Content, she supports world language lists on Titlewave in addition to working on opening day collections.