Printz Awards

We dashed directly from The Perks of Being a Wallflower to the Printz awards and made it with seconds to spare.  Unlike the Newbery and Caldecott awards, all the Printz Honor recipients get a chance to speak.  This year there were four honor books.

First up was Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler with art by Maira Kalman.  It was like watching a stand-up comedy routine.  They played off each other so well.  It was hysterical.  After thanking people, Daniel told us that he and Maira had a song for us.  It was amazing.  Please see below.  They received a standing ovation.

Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards

This past Friday I got to attend the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards, which were held at Simmons College. It was delightful, although in all honesty not super exciting. Horn Book is not one of the publications we get at my library, but it's a lovely journal. We got a copy of the latest edition in the folder they gave us, and it happens to have the most adorable cover ever. As my colleague said, "I would wear that on a shirt." Me too.

The Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards are a bit different than other awards. First of all, the book does not have to be written or illustrated by an American citizen, although it does have to published in the US. Also, when a book wins, both the author and illustrator (if applicable) gets the award, which I think is lovely and totally makes sense since so often it's the two together that makes the book excellent. There are only three categories, nonfiction, picture book, and fiction/poetry. There are two honor books and one winner in each category.