2015 ALA Youth Media Awards

It's that time of year again!  The time of year when I'm usually all cranky and ragey because books won awards I don't agree with.  But not this year!  The patriots won the Super Bowl and it's a snow day and I listened to the awards in my pajamas and nothing made me angry.  Hurray! 

You can see the complete list of all Youth Media Award winners on the ALA website.

This year's Newbery Medal goes to The Crossover by Kwame Alexander.

There were two honor books: El Deafo by Cece Bell and Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson.

I got The Crossover for my library but haven't read it yet.  I was surprised Brown Girl Dreaming didn't win.  It seemed like it was in the bag.  I am delighted about El Deafo getting an hour.  It's a great story and huzzah for graphic novels getting some recognition.

The Caldecott Medal went to The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, illustrated (and written) by Dan Santat.

There were SIX Caldecott Honor books: Nana in the City, illustrated by Lauren Castillo, written by Lauren Castillo; The Noisy Paint Box: The  Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art, illustrated by Mary GrandPré, written by Barb Rosenstock; Sam & Dave Dig a Hole, illustrated by Jon Klassen, written by Mac Barnet; Viva Frida, illustrated by Yuyi Morales, written by Yuyi Morales; The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, written by Jen Bryant; This One Summer, illustrated by Jillian Tamaki, written by Mariko Tamak.

Yay for This One Summer!  More graphic novels and an amazing book besides.

 The Coretta Scott King (author) Award went to Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson.

There were three Honor Books: Kwame Alexander for The Crossover, Marilyn Nelson for How I Discovered Poetry, illustrated by Hadley Hoope, and Kekla Magoon for How It Went Down.

The Printz Award!  The one that usually makes me feel oh so angry.  But not this year!  This year the Printz Award went to I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson.  I just read this one last week, and it was my favorite YA of the year.  Nice job, Printz committee.  Finally picking something not only good, but that kids will actually want to read.

There were four Honor Books: And We Stay, by Jenny Hubbard; The Carnival at Bray, by Jessie Ann Foley; Grasshopper Jungle, by Andrew Smith; This One Summer, by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Jillian Tamaki.

This One Summer gets honored for both words and pictures!

Schneider Family Book Awards go to A Boy and a Jaguar by Alan Rabinowitz, illustrated by Catia Chien for children ages 0 to 10; Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin for middle-school and
the teen award winner is Girls Like Us, by Gail Giles.

Pura Belpré (Author) Award goes to I Lived on Butterfly Hill by Marjorie Agosín, illustrated by Lee
White.

There was one Honor Book: Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes, by Juan Felipe Herrera, illustrated by Raúl Colón.

Stonewall Book Award winner is This Day in June, by Gayle E. Pitman.

There were three Honor Books: Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, by Susan Kuklin; I’ll Give You the Sun, by Jandy Nelson; Morris Micklewhite and The Tangerine Dress, by Christine Baldacchio.

ALA Youth Media Awards 2014

It's that time of year again.  The Oscars of the book industry.  The time when we find out which books we've never even heard of have won prestigious awards.  The ALA Youth Media Awards!  The really only interesting thing that happens at Midwinter!  Here we go!

Let's start off with the big one!  The Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to American Literature for children went to Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by K.G. Campbell.

There were four Newbery Honor books:
Doll Bones by Holly Black
The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Hankes
One Came Home by Amy Timberlake
Paperboy by Vince Vawker

The Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children went to Locomotive, written and illustrated by Brian Floca.

There were three Caldecott Honor books:
Journey, written and illustrated by Aaron Becker
Flora and the Flamingo, written and illustrated by Molly Idle
Mr. Wuffles, written and illustrated by David Wiesner

The Printz Award for the best book written for young adults went to Midwinter Blood by Marcus Sedgwick.

There were four Printz Honor books:
The Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Coral
Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner

Oh Printz awards.  The only one I read was Eleanor & Park.  I've never even heard of Navigating Early.  I'm sure they're all lovely books.

Other winners:
The Belpre Award goes to Meg Medina for Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass
YALSA Nonfiction Award goes to The Nazi Hunters by Neal Bascomb
The Morris Award goes to Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn
The Coretta Scott King Author Award goes to P.S. Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia

You can see the full list of all wniners at ala.org/yma.  When they get around to putting them up, that is.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Verity, a British secret agent, has been captured in France by the Gestapo.  There she is questioned and forced to reveal her mission.  Verity begins to tell her story, starting with her friend Maddie, a girl who dreamed of flying airplanes, to her own beginnings as a secret agent, to how she ended up alone in France.

The second half made the first half good.  It certainly was very cool to see how everything suddenly came together and made sense.  However, it didn't fix some glaring issues for me.  The entire first section of the book I was mostly just confused.  I couldn't understand what the point was.  Why was she writing this?  She was giving zero helpful information that the Nazi could actually use.  Why was she allowed to write it?  Why on Earth would she be allowed to write it in a narrative form?  It would be a waste of time and resources.  It was difficult for me because the entire premise of the book didn't make sense to me: That Verity would be writing this narrative of how she ended up a prisoner.

The second part, from Maddie's point of view also didn't really make sense.  For a girl that was so concerned about doing things the regulation way, and feared getting other people captured and killed, she would really have kept a detailed narrative of her time, with names of the people that helped her and exactly how they carried out their plans?  I know, I know.  Literary license, and we needed them to write it all down, or else how would we know?  But...I couldn't get passed it.  All the trouble has been gone to to create a realistic sense of place, except for this one thing the whole book revolves around wouldn't have actually happened.

If you can get past that, it's certainly a good story and great to see how everything comes together perfectly.  It was certainly good storytelling and good writing.  I enjoyed reading it.  I don't want to say too much about it, because it really was great how it all came together.  I made me go back to Verity's section a few times to see what she had written and how it matched up with what Maddie was revealing.

This was one of the Printz honor books, and I can see why it was chosen.  But man, it sure did bug me the whole time that the set up was how Verity was writing her confession.  In novel form.

In Darkness by Nick Lake

 A boy lived in the Site in Haiti, a place of extreme poverty and violence.  Injured in a gun fight, he is in a hospital when the earthquake happens, trapping him beneath the building.  He remembers all that has happened to land him in this darkness, and his memories are interspersed with the memories of Toussaint l'Ouverture, the revolutionary leader who helped to free Haiti.

In Darkness just won the Printz award, so I had high expectations.  And it was a good book.  It was brutal and honest and thought provoking.  It told the story of modern Haiti, as well as telling the history of Haiti.  Despite this, it was just a good book, not an awesome, amazing book, at least for me.  It took me a while to get through it, because it just wasn't a book the grabbed me and held me riveted.  It was easy to put down.

You know what was really interesting?  I only realized that the main character's actual name is never given when I went to write this review and realized I didn't know what to call him.  He's called a variety of things throughout the book, but none of them are his actual name.  In the book blurb, he is referred to as "Shorty," which he is often called by the member of his gang, so I guess I will call him that too for lack of anything better.

Youth Media Awards 2013

So I am fairly happy with the winners of the Youth Media Awards this year.  Usually, I am filled with rage afterwards.  No rage this year, I'm glad to announce.  I'm happy that my favorite book of the year, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (which I will review soon, I swear) won two awards and was an honor book for the Printz.  I was also very happy that Seraphina won the Morris Award.  That book was awesome.  And now, the winners!

The winner of this year's Printz Award (for excellence in literature written for young adults) is In Darkness by Nick Lake.

Honor Books: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (yay!) by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, Dodger by Terry Pratchett and The White Bicycle (none of us had heard of this one) by Beverley Brenna.

The winner of this year's Newbery Medal(for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature) is (to no one's surprise) The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.

Honor books: Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz, Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin  and Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage 

The winner of the Caldecott Medal (for the most distinguished American picture book for children) is This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen.

Honor Books: Creepy Carrots! illustrated by Peter Brown, written by Aaron Reynolds, Extra Yarn illustrated by Jon Klassen, written by Mac Barnett, Green illustrated and written by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, One Cool Friend illustrated by David Small, written by Toni Buzzeo, and Sleep Like a Tiger illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski.

The winner of the Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award (recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults) is Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Brian Pinkney.

Honor Books: Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by E. B. Lewis and No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie.

The winner of this year's Pura Belpré (Author) Award (honoring a Latino writer and illustrator whose children's books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience) is Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (yay!).

Honor Book: The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano by Sonia Manzano

The winner of the Stonewall Book Award - Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award (given annually to English-language children’s and young adult books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience) is Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (yay again!)

Honor Books: Drama written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier, Gone, Gone, Gone by Hannah Moskowitz, October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard by Lesléa Newman, and Sparks: The Epic, Completely True Blue, (Almost) Holy Quest of Debbie by S. J. Adams.

The winner of this year's Morris Award (for a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens) is Seraphina by Rachel Hartman.

See the full list of all the award winners.

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.