All Is Calm

[...]of year especially, there can be no shortage of picture books featuring-and centering-grandparents; you may've heard us call them "grandparent traps," designed to tug at the heartstrings without really offering much narrative satisfaction. Outgoing National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Meg Medina's Zena Sutherland Lecture, excerpted beginning on page 21, pays loving homage to her family's matriarchs: her grandmother, mother, tías, and childhood caregiver, along with exploring how art can imitate life and be informed, transformed, and deepened by it. The library was founded soon after World War I and intended as a balm for young people, a just-right place that would offer imaginative exploration and creativity, healing and relief from terrifying times.