I can't think of a better word to use for the inaugural post of this series. I feel like I spent a large part of 2020 in various states of ennui. However, there's another reason I chose this word to start off with. It shows up somewhat frequently as I'm reading and I had to look it up the first 50 times at least. For some reason I could never remember exactly what it meant. Then, every time I would look it up, I'd kick myself for seeing how simple the definition was. ALSO, I had no idea how to pronounce it for a while. En-nooey? En-u-eye? En-wah? Nope. None of those. It's pronounced "Ahn-wee" and isn't that fun to say? For the appropriate pronunciation symbols see above or click on the link to Merriam-Webster to hear someone say it out loud!

So, why am I starting a series about words you may ask? Isn't reading the dictionary the very definition of ennui? No! I think it's fascinating to learn about the words we use, how they came to be, and why some of them go in and out of style. I like to learn new words, but I like learning about the ones I know just the same. You never know when you need a really good one.


“Ennui.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ennui. Accessed 1 Jan. 2021.

...all of us. I've been able to watch the last two years of the ALA Youth Media Awards live online because of snow days. Thanks, January in Michigan! Today, like everything in the past year, was different. I had the awards on mute in the background while I attended a zoom meeting. Thanks to Twitter, I caught up on all the winners throughout the day and I just love all of it. I love that everyone is genuinely happy for each other. I love that my entire feed was filled with virtual hugs for authors and illustrators. I love that hard work pays off. I love that the first woman BIPOC won the Caldecott. I love that women creators were well-represented in general. I love that for a whole day we can geek out about the genius of kidlit. I haven't read a single mean tweet today and that, my friends, is a good day. Congratulations to all the winners and to anyone who had a book published in 2020. What a year to have your dreams come true.
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Check out the full list of winners here:
​http://www.ala.org/news/taxonomy/term/788