Today I watched the complete webcast of ALA’s Youth Media Awards, and I was very happy. For the first time since the 2010 awards, both the Caldecott winner and the Newbery winner were Sonderbooks Stand-outs. And the winner of our library’s fledgling Mock Newbery Book Club vote got a Newbery Honor!<\/p>\n
Although there were a lot of books I loved that didn’t appear, I am completely happy with the ones that did. Let me go through the lists, giving my reaction.<\/p>\n
First, let me also say that I’m way behind in posting reviews. Tonight I blitzed through a stack and wrote 7 reviews, but now I have 69 reviews I’ve written that I still need to post. That’s down from 99 such reviews in December, but it’s still a daunting task, and I confess I’m letting a lot more books I read go unreviewed.<\/p>\n
So my plan is to finish posting all the reviews of Sonderbooks Stand-outs tomorrow or the next day. Then I’ll tackle some of these award winners that I’ve already reviewed but not posted.<\/p>\n
Let me go through the major awards, in the order they were announced. You can find all the award winners listed at ala.org<\/a>. Please, if you’re reading this, I’d love to hear your own reactions. Which of the books have you read? Any big disappointments? Special thrills?<\/p>\n I haven’t read any of the Alex Awards, so I won’t go through those. Some I’d meant to read, so they make my To Be Read list longer.<\/p>\n I haven’t read any of the Schneider Family winners, though A Dog Called Homeless<\/em>, by Sarah Lean, was chosen to be a Summer Reading Program selection for our library system.<\/p>\n Some people expressed surprise and disappointment that Wonder<\/a><\/em> didn’t receive a Schneider Family Award. But I don’t think it was actually eligible. The Schneider Family Award is given “for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience,” and Auggie in Wonder<\/em> mentions many times that he actually doesn’t have any disability — just a deformed face.<\/p>\n I’ve read one of the Stonewall<\/a> Honor books, Drama<\/em>, by Raina Telgemeier. I’ll post my review soon.<\/p>\n I’m kicking myself about the Stonewall Award Winner, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe,<\/em> by Benjamin Alire Saenz. Because at an ALA conference I’d accidentally picked up not one, but two Advance Review Copies. But I didn’t get around to reading it before it was published, and I’ve given both copies away. Oh well!<\/p>\n For the Coretta Scott King Awards<\/a>, I was happy about the Illustrator Honor for I Have a Dream<\/em>, illustrated by Kadir Nelson. I’ll post my review of that soon. I’ve also read the Illustrator Winner, I, Too, Am America<\/em>, illustrated by Brian Collier, which is a Capitol Choices<\/a> selection, and I think it’s a wonderful choice.<\/p>\n I’ve read the CSK Author Honor books, but not the winner. I’ll post the review soon of No Crystal Stair<\/em>, by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson. I wasn’t a fan of its Newbery chances, but I do think it’s an outstanding book, and am happy it got some honor today.<\/p>\n The Margaret Edwards Award<\/a> winner for her body of work is Tamora Pierce. I read the Song of the Lioness<\/em> quartet before I started reviewing books, and I’m happy about this choice. I will definitely plan to attend the Margaret Edwards Luncheon again this year.<\/p>\n For the Morris Award<\/a>, the only one of the Finalists I’ve read, Seraphina<\/a><\/em>, by Rachel Hartman, was the winner, and I’m very happy about that.<\/p>\n I’m currently in the middle of reading Bomb<\/em>, which was first mentioned today as the winner of the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award<\/a>. I wasn’t surprised, because it’s gotten great buzz on the Heavy Medal<\/a> blog. I’ve read all the other Finalists, and in fact they are all Sonderbooks Stand-outs in Children’s Nonfiction except for Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different<\/em>. Those Finalists were Moonbird<\/a><\/em>, by Phillip Hoose; Titanic: Voices from the Disaster<\/a><\/em>, by Deborah Hopkinson; and We’ve Got a Job<\/a><\/em>, by Cynthia Levinson<\/p>\n I got a kick out of the Odyssey Honor<\/a> for the audiobookGhost Knight<\/a><\/em>, by Cornelia Funke. This was a book under consideration for the Cybils shortlist by my committee, and I was the only one who listened to it instead of reading it. I was a much bigger fan of the book than anyone else, and I think I was probably swayed by the wonderful audio recording.<\/p>\n I was also happy about the Odyssey Award Winner, The Fault in Our Stars<\/a><\/em>, by John Green. Though I haven’t listened to the audio version, I loved the book, and the audiobook is a Capitol Choices<\/a> selection this year.<\/p>\n Then came the Printz<\/a>. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe<\/em> was an Honor book, so I again kicked myself for not having read it. <\/p>\n My favorite book of the year, Code Name Verity<\/a><\/em>, by Elizabeth Wein, did get a Printz Honor. And though I can’t fathom another book being better than it, I haven’t actually read the Printz winner or any of the other Printz Honors, so I have to reserve my righteous indignation and be happy that it did receive Honor.<\/p>\n I haven’t read any of the Pura Belpre<\/a> honor books, but again Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe<\/em> was the big winner, so I received more kicks from myself.<\/p>\n The Arbuthnot lecture<\/a> will be given by Andrea Davis Pinkney. Wouldn’t that be fun to attend!<\/p>\n I haven’t read any of the Batchelder<\/a> winners.<\/p>\n The Sibert Medal<\/a> almost completely overlapped with the ENYA Award. The Honor books were Electric Ben<\/em>, by Robert Byrd (which I haven’t read completely but is a Summer Reading Program selection for our library system); Moonbird<\/a><\/em>, by Phillip Hoose; and Titanic: Voices from the Disaster<\/a><\/em>, by Deborah Hopkinson. The winner was (again) Bomb<\/em>, by Steve Sheinkin.<\/p>\n The Wilder Medal<\/a> for lifetime achievement was given to Katherine Paterson. Wonderful choice!<\/p>\n The Geisel Awards had my biggest disappointment. I wanted to see Penny and Her Song<\/a><\/em> or Penny and Her Doll<\/a><\/em>, by Kevin Henkes represented, and was sad that they weren’t. However, I was particularly happy with two of the Honor books, Let’s Go For a Drive!<\/em> by Mo Willems (I always love his books), and Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons<\/a><\/em>, by Eric Litwin, which was a 2012 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>.<\/p>\n And then came the biggies, the longest-established awards. For the Caldecott<\/a>, I’ve read and appreciated Extra Yarn<\/em> illustrated by Jon Klassen, written by Mac Barnett (despite the upside-down knitting needles), Creepy Carrots<\/em>, illustrated by Peter Brown, written by Aaron Reynolds; One Cool Friend<\/em>, illustrated by David Small, written by Toni Buzzeo, and Sleep Like a Tiger<\/em>, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski, written by Mary Logue. I count myself a fan of Green<\/em>, by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, and that review will be forthcoming. But the winner, This Is Not My Hat<\/a><\/em>, by Jon Klassen, was a Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a> and one of my favorite picture books of the year. Almost everyone at my library has read it already, because I pushed it on them.<\/p>\n And finally, my happiness overflowed with the Newbery<\/a> announcements. I thought Splendors & Glooms<\/a><\/em> had some flaws, but had to admit that the writing was outstanding, so I think it’s Honor was well-deserved. Bomb<\/em> made its third appearance of the day, so I’m glad I’m currently reading it. But I was especially happy about the third Honor book, Three Times Lucky<\/em>, because that was the selection of our library’s Mock Newbery Book Club. I had thought we’d picked a longshot, so I was so happy to see it up there. I wrote its review today, and will post it soon.<\/p>\n And the Newbery Medal winner? The wonderful The One and Only Ivan<\/a><\/em>, by Katherine Applegate. When I first read The One and Only Ivan<\/em>, I hoped it would win the Newbery. Since reading it, it got edged out in my hopes by Summer of the Gypsy Moths<\/a><\/em> and Palace of Stone<\/a><\/em>, but discussion on Heavy Medal and in Capitol Choices convinced me that those books probably weren’t serious contenders, so my hopes were riding on The One and Only Ivan<\/em> again. So happy that those hopes were realized!<\/p>\n How about you? Which choices made you happiest? Which omissions made you saddest? Which books are hitting the top of your TBR piles? I’d love to keep discussing….<\/p>\n