Park School librarian Laura Amy Schlitz doesn’t only read books to students. She also tells them stories that she makes up. Some of them she writes down. Not only have several of these been published; two have been honored by the Newbery Committee, which bestows the most esteemed recognition to U.S. children’s authors. In 2008, the 57-year-old lifelong Baltimore resident was awarded the Newbery Medal for Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village, a series of monologues about life in a 13th century English village as told by the village’s children. Just last week, Schlitz learned that her latest book, the gothic novel Splendors and Glooms, was one of three books to earn the title of 2013 Newbery Honor by the American Library Association.
