AWARDS! 

 The American Library Association's Youth Media Awards were announced today! This is always an exciting time of the year for anyone interested in books for kids and teens. There were lots of Honor books this year - which means there were a LOT of great books written. Without further ado, some of this year's winners are...

 

GEISEL (early readers)

 

  

    

What a fun set of books! Vacation by Ame Dykman and Mark Teague was the winner. It's the second in a series of books about three good friends - Bat, Cat & Rat. It is unsurprisingly out of stock on Amazon but it will be back. Check your local library. All of Tabor's Fox books are delightful! I am excited Fox versus Fox earned an Honor. And Towed by Toad is a funny book with an important message - everyone needs help sometimes. 

CALDECOTT (illustrator award)

 

 

   

Chooch Helped is the winner! And a wonderful selection of four Honors.

 

NEWBERY AWARD (roughly 3rd - 7th grade fiction)

 

 

   

The winner is The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly. It is a sci-fi time travel story set around Y2K. I always love it when science fiction wins the Newbery! I am also thrilled Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All won. It looks like a graphic novel but it is not - though it does have illustrations. And The Wrong Way Home is a captivating story of a girl and her mom running away from a cult. I have not read Behar's Across So Many Seas or Cline-Ransome's One Big Open Sky. 

The Excellence in Early Learning Digital Media Award

     

The Robert F. Sibert Informational (non-fiction) Book Award

 

Life After Whale: The Amazing Ecosystem of a Whale Fall won - the other four were honors. Great non-fiction this year!

 

 

 

CORETTA SCOTT KING AWARD

 

Jason Reynolds' Twenty-four seconds from now... won the book award; My Daddy is a Cowboy won the illustrator award; Kwame Crashes the Underworld won the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award; and Jimmy's Rhythm & Blues: The Extraordinary Life of JAMES BALDWIN won the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award.

 

 Pura Belpré Awards

 

The Dream Catcher by Marcelo Verdad won for illustrator; Lola by Karla Arenas Valenti won the Children's Author Award; and Shut Up, This is Serious by Carolina Ixta won best Young Adult.

 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature

 

  

 

Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature 

   

Schneider Family Book Award 

for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience

 

 

   

 

 For a complete list of all winners, visit the ALA website.

 

 DECEMBER

As always -- so many books to read, so little time. But I did read a lot of great picture books. Oliver Jeffers The Dictionary Story is a masterpiece.  And if you would like to expand your indigenous collection, I recommend Let's Go! haw êkwa by Julie Flett. It's a great book about family, community, and skateboarding. I love reading kid's books because I am constantly learning new things. Reading The Bard and the Book by Ann Bausum expanded my knowledge of Shakespeare and printing and theater. And I knew basically nothing about Lion Dancers until I read the graphic novel Lion Dancers by Cai Tse. There is a US Dragon and Lion Dance Sports Association and they hold competitions! It is very physically demanding and every move they make has meaning.  Lightfall by Tim Probert is a great graphic novel series for anyone that likes a good fantasy quest series. Now I just have to wait for #4. For adult reading - I'm a big fan of Elle Cosimano's Finlay Donovan series. It is a quirky, fun mystery series and I was lucky enough to snag a digital ARC of #5. It will be published on March 4th!