National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

The position of National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature was created
to raise national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature as it
relates to lifelong literacy, education, and the development and betterment of the
lives of young people.

The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature is named by the Librarian of Congress for a two-year term, based on recommendations from a selection committee representing many segments of the book community. The selection criteria include the candidate's contribution to young people's literature and ability to relate to children.

The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, the Children's Book Council (CBC), and the CBC Foundation are the administrators of the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature initiative.

Selection Criteria
• Author or illustrator of fiction or non-fiction books
• U.S. citizen, living in the U.S.
• Excellent and facile communicator
• Dynamic and engaging personality
• Known ability to relate to children; communicates well and regularly with them
• Someone who has made a substantial contribution to young people's literature
• Stature; someone who is revered by children and who has earned the respect
and admiration of his or her peers

Leonard Marcus is one of the most trusted critics in the field. His incisive book reviews are featured regularly in Parenting magazine and he has been a Parenting contributing editor since 1988, in which capacity he has directed the magazine's annual Best Books of the Year Awards since their inception. He has been a frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review, Washington Post Book World, The Horn Book, and Publishers Weekly, among other publications, and is a three-time judge of The New York Times’ Best Illustrated Books of the Year prize. He is a standing member of The Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award committee and was a judge of the 1996 National Book Awards.

Hazel Rochman was born and raised in South Africa, where she worked as a journalist. She was a librarian at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and then from 1984 an editor at ALA Booklist, where she is now a contributing editor, reviewing books for children and young adults. Her reviews have also appeared in The New York Times Book Review and other journals. Her book Against Borders: Promoting Books for a Multicultural World won the G. K. Hall Award for Library Literature. She has served on numerous book committees, and chaired the National Book Award committee for young people's literature. She was selected to give the 2000 Arbuthnot Lecture.

Maria Salvadore was the Coordinator of Children's Service for the DC Public Library until 2000. Since then she has worked as a specialist and consultant in children's literature and family literacy. Her work for numerous local and national organizations includes the Kennedy Center Education Department, Reading Is Fundamental, BPS Ready To Learn Service, WETA's Reading Rockets, Turning The Page, In2Books, DC Early Childhood Education Collaborative, the Phillips Collection and the Catholic Charities Parenting Program. She holds Master's degrees in Education and Library Science.

Henrietta M. Smith is Professor Emeritus, School of Library and Information Science, University of South Florida, Tampa. Formerly retired, she continues to teach the youth-oriented courses in the library school's East Coast program. Service to ALA includes membership on Newbery, Caldecott, Batchelder, Carnegie, and Notable Film committees, and chair of the Wilder committee. She is a reviewer for Horn Book Guide, and with Ginny Moore Kruse has contributed articles to Book Links. Smith has served as chair of the Coretta Scott King Task Force and has been a member of the Award jury. She also has edited each edition of The Coretta Scott King Awards Book: From Vision to Reality.

Jewell Stoddard was co-owner of the Cheshire Cat Book Store, which opened in 1977 as one of the first children's bookstores in the country. Since closing the store in 1999, she has been director of children's services at Politics & Prose, an independent bookstore in Washington, D.C. She has served on the Caldecott and Boston-Globe Horn Book Award committees, and consults with schools, libraries, and museums about children's books. Jewell chaired the 2002 Award committee for The Washington Post-Children's Book Guild Award for Nonfiction.

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