Putting the "m" and "e" in committee!

A few weeks ago, I applied to be on the Nutmeg nominating committee for 2015. (I KNOW-- already?) For those of you not in the fine Nutmeg State, the Nutmeg award goes like this: the nominating committee of librarians and reading teachers read a LOT of books to be considered for the nomination. Then those books are narrowed down to ten by the committee. The noms are kept TOP SECRET until their announcement. Then kids and teens across the state read the Nutmeg noms and they can choose their favorite. The award itself is given to the book that gets the most votes from kids across the state.
I grew up with the Nutmeg award, and now that I am finished with grad school, I thought I'd go for the committee. I applied for the teen committee (grades 7 and 8) and the high school committee (grades 9-12). I found out on Thursday that I got picked to be on the teen committee! (I got some disappointing news on Wednesday, so this was a welcome invitation).
I work with children and teens, so the age level I'm reading for is quite good for any reader's advisory I may do at work since I am the "bridge" between the children's and teen departments. I already got a list of eight books (of which I already finished one-- BAM!) to read before the first meeting in February. These books are not necessarily ones I'd read myself (I tend to read YA and adult books) so I will be exposed to something new, plus I'll get to meet librarians and reading teachers and other rad bookish folks from across the state. The downside is I have to read something like 80 books in several months (and I average 50-70 a year) and I will have to set aside all other books in order to get through the pile. I apologize in advance to you, dear reader...and Netgalley, where I have galleys waiting for me. I can't really review the books I'm reading since ten of them will be the TOP SECRET nominees, so I will have to figure something out for the blog.

I will post a list of my top books from 2012 soon, so stay tuned for that at least...and I will blog about awesome library programs or something while I do the Nutmeg thing.

Ex libris,

Marissa