Sunday Reflections: Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend, Egmont’s Last List

A little over 3 years ago when I began TLT, I had no idea what I was doing. Sure you could argue that I still don’t know what I’m doing, but then I really didn’t know what I was doing. I began blogging as sort of a hail mary pass in a moment when my life was in extreme flux due to job issues – The Mr.’s – and I just knew that being a YA librarian was really and truly the heart of who I was. And one of the very first publishers to work with me was EgmontUSA.

Shortly after I began TLT, I somehow became connected with EgmontUSA. And I became friends with Alison Weiss, one of my main contacts there. Over the years I have done a variety of projects with EgmontUSA, including hosting an annual Egmont Week. In addition, EgmontUSA was one of the sponsors for the annual It Came From a Book Teen Art Contest that we jointly host with The Library as Incubator Project.

One of my favorite EgmontUSA moments came when they invited me to a small, intimate dinner at ALA in San Diego. Stephanie Wilkes was blogging with me at the time and we were invited to eat dinner with Lex Thomas (who are really two people) and Michael Grant. There are two things I remember most about this dinner. For one, I got to eat the most amazing steak. This was a really big deal because as the mother of a child with chronic health issues working part-time at a library, there is not a lot of steak on our dinner menu. The other is that I got to spend time talking with Michael Grant, the author of a wide variety of popular book series including the Gone series and, of course, Animorphs. And yes, I’ve been a librarian long enough to remember a time when you couldn’t own enough copies of the Animorphs series.

I feel like I can honestly say that TLT wouldn’t be what it is today without the help of EgmontUSA. They were the first publisher to actively send me books to review, helping me have content for my blog. When I saw them again at other events they always seemed to remember who I was and showed me incredible kindness. As someone who works in public service and often gets yelled at because a patron walks in and realizes that they may have to wait a few minutes for a computer or because I have to explain once again that no I’m sorry we’re not getting any tax instruction books, it was so edifying to get to have those moments where someone remembered you, treated you with kindness and respect, and could talk enthusiastically about the books you love with you.

EgmontUSA also holds a place in my heart because they published some of my favorite titles, including The Hourglass series by Myra McEntire, the Ashes trilogy by Ilsa. J. Bick, Human.4 and The Future We Left Behind by Michael Lancaster, and Guitar Notes by Mary Amato.

I was incredibly sad when it was announced that EgmontUSA would be closing its doors. I wondered what it would mean for those authors who had or would soon be publishing titles under their house. There was a bit of a silver lining this past week when it was announced that Lerner is going to be acquiring those authors and titles, but in many ways it still feels like the end of an era for me personally.

This next week we are honored to be hosting Egmont’s Last List. Every day we will be featuring posts from some of EgmontUSAs authors who will be publishing their final titles with the Egmont logo on the spine. It’s a bittersweet honor, getting to work with EgmontUSA this one last time.

This Sunday, I can’t help but reflect on what Egmont has meant to me personally: as a librarian, as a reader, and as a blogger who is just looking for a way to learn and grow and be a YA librarian even in the midst of job changes and kids with health issues. Thank you so much to everyone who worked at Egmont for allowing me to continue to do what I love. Thank you to the authors for writing some of the books that I have loved and been deeply moved or entertained by. I wish you all great success in the future.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go snuggle up with my Egmont books.

Filed under: Egmont USA, Sunday Reflections