The 2016 Printz committee showing off their tattoos.

For librarians serving on an American Library Association (ALA) book award committee, the experience can lead to a lifelong bond with fellow committee members. The reunion dinners during the annual ALA conferences are a popular gathering for reliving the memories. Some participants, though, have opted for a permanent way to recollect the good times. In 2015, members of the Caldecott committee decided to commemorate their journey with book-themed tattoos. Winning illustrator Dan Santat joined in with his own fresh ink. Victoria Stapleton, executive director, school and library marketing, at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers also jumped in, adding a tattoo to commemorate the award created by Angela Reynolds at the Black & Blue tattoo studio in San Francisco. This year the award tattoo trend rolled on as Stapleton added another work of art for this year’s Caldecott-winning book, Finding Winnie (Little, Brown) by Lindsay Mattick and illustrated by Sophie Blackall, created by New Rose Tattoo in Portland. She was soon joined by Newbery committee member Eric Barbus, a librarian at the North Beach branch of the San Francisco Public Library. He walked out with one of Christian Robinson’s images from Last Stop on Market Street (Putnam) on his upper arm. However, it was the Printz committee who took the prize for highest participation. The annual Michael L. Printz Award honors the best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit. This year’s winning book was Bone Gap (HarperCollins) by Laura Ruby, who started the ball rolling by rewarding herself with a tattoo. Many of the subsequent Bone Gap tattoos incorporate the bee from the cover. Here are some of the 2016 ink enthusiasts.

Derek Ivie, youth services coordinator, Suffolk Cooperative Library System in Bellport, NY.

April Witteveen, community and teen services librarian with the Deschutes Public Library in Central Oregon. The bee is for Bone Gap; the oak leaves and braids for Ashley Hope Pérez's Out of Darkness; the infinity and spiral symbols represent Marcus Sedgwick's The Ghosts of Heaven.

Rob Bittner of the department of gender, sexuality, and women’s studies at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.

Melissa T. Smith, administrative assistant for the Printz committee.

Ann Pechacek, lead librarian at Worthington (OH) Libraries.

L . Paige Battle of Grant High School in Portland, OR. "I came across the Alcheringa Gallery in Victoria, BC. One of the prints on William Wasden Jr.'s page featured a bee. The inspiration for it came from the Haida tribe's respect for the warrior insect of the bumblebee and its sense of family and community.The minute I saw the image and read the artist's statement, I knew I had found the design that was right for me."

 

Lalitha Nataraj, literacy services librarian, Escondido (CA) Public Library.

Eric Barbus of the North Beach branch of the San Francisco Public Library

Laura Ruby.