The Presidential Address The Children's Literature Association: Cha La or ChLA?

The Presidential Address The Children's Literature Association: Cha La or ChLA? by Virginia Wolf Members and friends of the Children's Literature Association, a few years ago, when I was asked to run for president of this organization, I agreed, thinking that giving this address would be a breeze. I knew, of course, that I would have other duties, such as writing many letters and running a few meetings, but those hardly seemed troublesome. You must remember that I was finishing a three-year term as ChLA's Treasurer, so almost everything looked relatively easy in comparison. Stil, had I not had a fairly good idea of what I would talk about here, I would have found this feature of the presidency a major roadblock to my candidacy. But I knew. I knew I would talk about how special this organization is to me because of the many close friends I have made by being involved in it. I knew I would talk about the importance of friends who are colleagues-who think seriously about children's literature, who give It major importance in their professional and personal lives, and who love to talk about it with anyone, but especially so with someone who feels as strongly about it as they do. I knew, finally, that I would talk about specific individuals and their contribution to ChLA. For when I think of the Children's Literature Association, actual faces and voices come to mind, and I remember unique gifts of time and talent that these very real people have made to the growth and development of this organization. I remember conferences at Storrs, Ypsilanti, Harvard, Toronto, Minneapolis, Gainesville, Edmonton, Charlotte, Ann Arbor, Kansas City, and Ottawa, and I remember stories about the conferences I missed at Williamsburg, Philadelphia, and Baylor. I remember Newsletters. Proceedings. Quarterlies. Touchstones, as well as a variety of other publications in diverse formats. I remember award and scholarship winners and countless stimulating papers. I remember over fifty officers, board members, and committee chairs thrashing through countless weighty issues facing the association. In essence, I remember what my good friend George Shannon calls "Cha La." A few years ago when he joined, he startled me with this pronunciation of what I had for about ten years called ChLA. But since then Cha La has come to seem a more apt expression of my feelings for this organization than the initials ever could. Belonging to and working for the Children's Literature Association have brought me many moments of happiness and contentment. I value the organization as one of a kind-as a scholarly club uniquely suited to my interests. But this year as president and last year as vice-president have taught me to look at the Children's Literature Association differently and have mined the speech I planned to make here. I wanted to talk about the very specific and wonderful work of certain individuals-Jill May, Perry Nodelman, Alethea Helbig, Ruth MacOonald, Carol Gay, and Margaret Esmonde, and Jon Stott, and the list goes on and on. Some people have given of themselves in major ways so that Cha La would work. I have long felt that they deserve to be recognized for the length and breadth of their service. During the last two years, however, and perhaps earlier, if less consciously, I have realized that the Children's Literature Association is in the throes of change. It is no longer simply a scholarly club. It is now also a small business. Unfortunately, it is still largely run as a scholarly club-on volunteer labor. Surely, a few of the details of what is now being done by ChLA will clarify what I mean. The Children's Literature Association offers its members an annual conference; a refereed, polished Quarterly: the annual, Children's Literature: and a published proceedings of each conference. All of these services, of course, encourage the serious study of children's literature, but so do our many awards-up to four now-to promote scholarship, two for outstanding writing in the form of an article and book about children's Uterature, and, of course, the Phoenix Award. Then, too, there have...