library of congress, meg medina. what does the national ambassador for young people's literature do? well, i would say basically it is being the nation's book friend, book friend to the children in the u.s. that's how i explain it. when i go to schools and i meet them. it's to promote reading. it's to help kids sort of discover their reading lives, find book joy and just be a cheerleader for their literary lives. how long is your term as ambassador? it's two years. and at the beginning you think that's going to be a very long time and it goes in the blink of an eye. so it's two years of traveling the country and, you know, creating different programs and platforms that will invite kids into, you know, the world of reading and books. so your ambassadorship ends in early 2025. what measure will you use to determine whether it was a successful ambassador ship? oh, my gosh. i don't know it for me. when i took the job on, you have to go into it with this idea that for two years you're not going to be thinking so much abou

library of congress, meg medina. what does the national ambassador for young people's literature do? well, i would say basically it is being the nation's book friend, book friend to the children in the u.s. that's how i explain it. when i go to schools and i meet them. it's to promote reading. it's to help kids sort of discover their reading lives, find book joy and just be a cheerleader for their literary lives. how long is your term as ambassador? it's two years. and at the beginning you think that's going to be a very long time and it goes in the blink of an eye. so it's two years of traveling the country and, you know, creating different programs and platforms that will invite kids into, you know, the world of reading and books. so your ambassadorship ends in early 2025. what measure will you use to determine whether it was a successful ambassador ship? oh, my gosh. i don't know it for me. when i took the job on, you have to go into it with this idea that for two years you're not going to be thinking so much abou

the meg medina the author to them.son who, you know, nags and and ed spends time with them and all the other things. as we come to a close, i want to come back to meg medina, the national ambassador for young people's literature and what you said at that ceremony when you became the national ambassador. you said, we are at a time when we need to help our young people find their way back to joy. we are at a time when we need to reset and find a path back to understanding and respecting one another. and i believe a reading life can be part of that solution. i stand by it still. i believe that the first day of my ambassadorship and i'm leaving my ambassadorship with that same commitment to it, we have as a nation had such, you know, this four year span that has been so difficult. and we continue to struggle with each other. i feel like reading and sharing the deep things that we can find in a book, the light moments we can find in the knowledge. that's the way that we can stay connected with one another. yeah. meg medina

i am not meg medina the offer to them i am the person who nags.r] and spends time with them and all the others. things. >> i want to come back to med medina at the national ambassador for literature. i what you said when you became the national ambassador. were at the time we need to help our young people find themselves way back dejoy. we are at a time we need to resetun and find a path back to understanding and respecting one another. i believe a reading life can be part of that solution. >> i stand by it. i'm leaving my ambassadorship with that same -- with it to it. we have as a nation we have a four year span that has been. so difficult.t. we continue to struggle with each other. i feel like reading and sharing but deep things we can find in a book of the light moments we can find in a book the knowledge, is the way we can stay connected with one another ambassador to 74 million children in this country under the age of 18 for the national ambassador for young people thank you for the checkbook to vp. >> tvp. >> thanks so much. ♪ ♪ ♪ if you a

so you are -- meg medina. >> i write picture book and middle grade young adult fiction for kids and i'mrrently serving as your national ambassador for young people literature and you are who -- [applause] >> i am gene i'm a cartoonist means i write and draw comic books for a living i work on american born chinese and dragon hoops, and -- superman smashes clan and fifth national ambassador for young people my term was from 2016 to 2017. now, that was -- the fanciest job title i've ever had national ambassador for young people literature i'm sure not everybody in this room knows exactly what that job entails how would you explain it to them? >> there's two ways the official way. the official definition is that it's a wonderful program that supported by the madison council thank you very much for all of you who are here tonight. and the library of congress every child a reader and this is meant to celebrate and -- enhance children's reading lives. so we tour the country and we support reading and kids' relationships to books what i say it is being a book friend to the kids in this country.