Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards

Given in three categories (poetry and fiction, picture book, and nonfiction), the Boston-Globe-Horn Book Awards were announced today with a special citation added in as well.

The 2008 winners are:

Nonfiction
The Wall by Peter Sís (Foster/Farrar)

Fiction and Poetry
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, illustrated by Ellen Forney (Little)

Picture Book
At Night by Jonathan Bean (Farrar)

Special Citation The Arrival by Shaun Tan (Levine/Scholastic)

The two honor books in each category:

Nonfiction:
Frogs by Nic Bishop (Scholastic)
What to Do About Alice? by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham (Scholastic)

Fiction and Poetry:
Shooting the Moon by Frances O'Roark Dowell (Atheneum)
Savvy by Ingrid Law (Walden/Dial)

Picture Book:
Fred Stays with Me! by Nancy Coffelt, illustrated by Tricia Tusa (Little)
A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee (Harcourt)

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2008 Amelia Bloomer List

How fun is this! I found via Fuse this year's list for the Amelia Bloomer Project. (Available on their website are lists for 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and of course 2008).

Via Roger

The E.B. White Read aloud award....for 2008 is

When Dinosaurs Came With Everything by Elise Broach and David Small.


The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart and Carson Ellis. Which conveniently enough just released as paperback earlier this month. I enjoyed this one very much when I read it last year.

Children's Choice Book Awards Nominees Announced

A celebration of the written word, Children's Book Week introduces young people to new authors and ideas in schools, libraries, homes, and bookstores. One hallmark of the new Children's Book Week is the culmination of a national child-selected book awards program. 10,000 children in five teams from around the US spend months reading and evaluating books submitted by publishers. They look at 500-700 titles. In March and April 2008, we will present the five favorite books published in 2007 in each of these categories for a nation-wide vote in each of three grade categories: K-2, 3-4, 5-6 as well as Favorite Author, and Favorite Illustrator. Kids across the country can vote electronically online or in their school, library, or bookstore via paper ballot. The winner in each category will be named at a gala during Children's Book Week 2008 in New York City.

LA Times Book Prize Nominees

Here are the list of nominees in the young adult fiction category for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean
What They Found: Love On 145th Street by Walter Dean Myers
Darkwing by Kenneth Oppel
A Darkling Plain by Philip Reeve.

The LA Times Book Prize ceremony will be held on Friday, April 25th on the campus of UCLA.

Cybils Have Been Announced

The 2007 Cybils Winners have been announced. You may read about it in full here.

Fantasy and Science Fiction:
Middle: The True Meaning of Smek Day by Adam Rex (This one is way fun!)
Young Adult: Book of A Thousand Days by Shannon Hale (Do I really have to say how much I loved this one? It's Shannon Hale! Need I say more???)

Fiction Picture Book: The Chicken Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice N. Harrington. (This is another one that is oh-so-easy to love.)

Middle Grade Novel: A Crooked Kind Of Perfect by Linda Urban. (You can read my interview with Linda Urban.)

Young Adult Novel: Boy Toy by Barry Lyga. (You can read my interview here.

2008 American Indian Youth Literature Awards

The American Indian Youth Literature Awards are presented by the American Indian Library Association, an affiliate of the American Library Association. Here are this years winners:

Picture Book
Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship and Freedom by Tim Tingle, illustrated by Jeanne Rorex Bridge. Cinco Puntos Press, 2006.
A beautifully inspired story of a friendship between Martha Tom, a Choctaw girl and Li' Mo, a slave boy and how their relationship brought wholeness and freedom to Mo's family and also to many slaves. Bridge's illustrations enhance the story by resonating the joy of friendship, the light of faith, and the leadership of children.

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Middle School
Counting Coup: Becoming a Crow Chief on the Reservation and Beyond, by Joseph Medicine Crow. National Geographic, 2006.
This appealing autobiography of Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow (Absarokee) is a winner with the young and old. The author recounts his adventures and training as a traditional Crow warrior and his service as a decorated World War II veteran. Walk, run and ride with him as you learn first-hand about real-life on the Crow reservation before during and after encounters with newcomers. In a text that is not preachy, but and honest read, Joseph Medicine Crow tell how he over came many challenges to fulfill is role as Chief of the Crow Nation.

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Young Adult
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, Little Brown Publishers, 2007.
A realistic, bitter-sweet yet, humorous look at the life of Arnold, a Spokane Indian teenager making his way in life on the reservation while attending an all white high school. Alexie brings to life the challenges many young native people experience as they learn to navigate and balance Indian life in a modern world. Part autobiography, Alexie's Arnold reminds us of the complexities of coming of age, bigotry, bullies, loyalty to family and the meaning of love.

---

2008 Gryphon Awards

2008 Gryphon Awards

2008 Winner: Billy Tartle in Say Cheese by Michael Townsend
2008 Honor Books: Spiders by Nic Bishop; Rufus the Scrub Does Not Wear a Tutu by Jaime McEwan

About the award:

The Gryphon Award of $1,000 is given annually in recognition of an English language work of fiction or non-fiction for which the primary audience is children in Kindergarten through Grade 4. The title chosen best exemplifies those qualities that successfully bridge the gap in difficulty between books for reading aloud to children and books for practiced readers.

2008 Orbis Pictus Award Nonfiction

To find out more about the Orbis Pictus Award, click here.

2008 Winner: M.L.K. Journey of a King by Tonya Bolden
2008 Honors: Black and White Airmen: Their True History by John Fleischman; Helen Keller: Her Life In Pictures by George Sullivan; Muckrakers by Ann Bausum; Spiders by Nic Bishop; Venom by Marilyn Singer.
2008 Recommended Reads: 3-D ABC: A Sculptural Alphabet by Bob Razcka; Animals in the House: A History of Pets and People by Sheila Keenan; Clarabelle: Making Milk and So Much More by Cris Peterson; Living Color by Steve Jenkins; The Snow Baby: The Arctic Childhood of Admiral Robert E. Peary's Daring Daughter by Katherine Kirkpatrick; Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion by Loree Griffin Burns; The Wall by Peter Sis.

January Carnival of Children's LIterature

Wizards Wireless is this month's host of the January Children's Literature Carnival.


To submit carnival posts for next month's carnival of Children's Literature (host to be determined), go to Blog Carnival. And hey, since there's no host yet, maybe you'd like to give it a try. It's a lot of fun. Just contact Melissa Wiley at Here in The Bonny Glen.

Also of note, the 2007 Cuffies have been announced. I was extremely happy to see that the winner of the "Favorite Book to Handsell" was one of my favorites of the year--A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban.

Edgar Award Nominees

The Mystery Writers of America have announced their shortlists for the 2008 Edgar Awards. Here are the Children's and YA nominees. I've only read one of the 'juvenile' titles: THE NAME OF THIS BOOK IS SECRET. (A book that I loved and ranked among my favorites of the year.) And I've read three of the YA titles: DIAMONDS IN THE SHADOW, TOUCHING SNOW and BLOOD BROTHERS. (RAT LIFE was one of the Cybils nominated books that I never got to reading.)

Juvenile

The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
Shadows on Society Hill by Evelyn Coleman
Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn
The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh
Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things by Wendelin Van Draanen

YA

Rat Life by Tedd Arnold (Penguin - Dial Books for Young Readers)
Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline B. Cooney
Touching Snow by M. Sindy Felin
Blood Brothers by S.A. Harazin
Fragments by Jeffry W. Johnston

2008 Notable Children's Books

The 2008 Notable Children's Books list has been published. This list selects "notable" books for children from birth to age 14. It is divided into Younger Readers, Middle Readers, Older Readers, and All Ages.

2008 Top Ten Best Books For Young Adults

Here is YALSA's Top 10 of the year.

The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie.
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah.
Before I Die, Jenny Downham
Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath, Stephanie Hemphill
Mister Pip, Lloyd Jones
Skulduggery Pleasant, Derek Landy
Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal, Mal Peet
American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China, Matthew Polly
The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick
The Arrival, Shaun Tan.

To read their full list, visit their Best Books for Young Adults page. Of special note, I see Miss Spitfire by Sarah Miller has made the list!!! That is exciting news indeed.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers 2008.

Big Day Is Here....

2008 Awards and Honors

Newbery Medal Winner: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices From a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz.
Newbery Honor books: Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis, The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt, Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson

Caldecott Medal Winner: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Caldecott Honor Books: Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine, illustrated by Kadir Nelson; First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger; The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis; Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity.

Coretta Scott King Book Award Winner (Author Category): Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
Honor books: November Blues by Sharon M. Draper; Twelve Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali by Charles R. Smith

Coretta Scott King Book Winner (Illustrator category): Let It Shine by Ashley Bryan
Honor books: The Secret Olivia Told Me by N. Joy, illustrated by Nancy Devard; Jazz On A Saturday Night by Leo and Diane Dillon.

Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award: Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything In It by Sundee T. Frazier

Schneider Family Book Award: (age 11-13) Reaching for Sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer (age 13-18) Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Winner: There Is A Bird On Your Head! by Mo Willems
Honor Books: First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger; Hello, Bumblebee Bat by Darrin Lunde; Jazz Baby by Lisa Wheeler; Vulture View by April Pulley Sayre.

Margaret A. Edwards Award Winner: (Lifetime Achievement) Orson Scott Card. (Yes, you heard me ORSON SCOTT CARD) (Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow)

Pura Belpre Award: Yuyi Morales illustrator of Los Gatos Black on Halloween by Marisa Montes; Margarita Engle author of The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano, illustrated by Sean Qualls.
Honor books (illustrator): My Name Is Gabito: The Life of Gabriel Garcia Marquez illustrated by Raul Colon, written by Monica Brown; My Colors, My World by Maya Christina Gonzalez.
Honor books (author): Frida: Viva la vida! Long Live Life by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand; Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale by Carmen Agra Deedy; Los Gatos Black on Halloween by Marisa Montes.

Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal Winner: The Wall by Peter Sis
Honor Books: Lightship by Brian Floca; Nic Bishop Spiders by Nic Bishop

Michael L. Printz Award Winner: The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean
Honor Books: Dreamquake by Elizabeth Knox; One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke; Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins; Your Own Sylvia by Stephanie Hemphill

Mildred L. Batchelder Award: Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe (translated by Alexander O. Smith
Honor books: The Cat: Or How I Lost Eternity by Jutta Richter (translated by Anna Brailovsky); Nicholas and the Gang by Rene Goscinny (translated by Anthea Bell)

Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Productions Winner: Jazz
Honor titles: Bloody Jack: Being An Account of the the Curious Adventures of Mary 'Jacky' Faber; Ship's Boy; Dooby Dooby Moo; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; Skulduggery Pleasant; Treasure Island.

Notable Children's Audio Recordings 2008
Notable Children's Video Recordings 2008

Charlotte Zolotow Award Books

Charlotte Zolotow Award Books

The Charlotte Zolotow Award is given annually for outstanding writing in a picture book published in the United States in the preceding year. Up to five honor books and up to ten highly commended titles may also be named each year.

2008 Winner (one of my favorites, by the way) Thank You, Bear by Greg Foley!
2008 Honor Books: At Night by Jonathan Bean, Pictures From Our Vacation by Lynne Rae Perkins, Dragon Dancing by Carole Lexa Schaefer
2008 Highly Commended: Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts, Only You by Robin Cruise, The Trouble with Dogs....Said Dad by Bob Graham, The Chicken Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice N. Harrington, A Good Day by Kevin Henkes, What Happens On Wednesdays by Emily Jenkins, The All-I'll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll by Patricia C. McKissack, Pierre in Love by Sara Pennypacker, Grandad's Fishing Buddy by Mary Quigley, Jazz Baby by Lisa Wheeler.

In completely unrelated news, Elijah of Buxton is the winner of the Scott O'Dell award.

Booklist Editor's Choice: Books for Youth 2007

You'll need to consult the journal (in print or online) for detailed information on the books--including descriptions and age and grade recommendations--but here is list stripped down.

Shaun Tan's The Arrival
Jenny Downham's Before I Die
Margo Rabb's Cures For Heartbreak
Elizabeth Knox's Dreamquake
Christopher Paul Curtis' Elijah of Buxton * (also Top of the List selection)
Renee Rosen's Every Crooked Pot
Mary Hoffman's The Falconer's Knot
Carmen Bernier-Grand's Frida: Viva la Vida!
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Nancy Farmer's Land of the Silver Apples
Sarah Miller's Miss Spitfire
Roland Smith's Peak
Ursula K. Le Guin's Powers
Rosemary Wells' Red Moon At Sharpsburg
Mike Carey's Re-Gifters
Nick Hornby's Slam
Mal Peet's Tamar
Ibtisam Barakat's Tasting the Sky
C.A. Schmidt's Useful Fools
Peter Sis' The Wall* (Top of the List selection)
Gary D. Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars
Walter Dean Myers' What They Found: Love On 145th Street
Geraldine McCaughrean's The White Darkness
Russell Freedman's Who Was First?
Stephanie Hemphill's Your Own Sylvia

Valerie Worth's Animal Poems
Ted Lewin's At Gleason's Gym
F.E. Higgins' The Black Book of Secrets
Jacqueline Wilson's Candyfloss
Lynne Jonell's Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat
Laura Amy Schiltz's Good Masters! Sweet Ladies
Natalie Babbit's Jack Plank Tells Tales
Steve Jenkins' Living Color
Trenton Lee Stewart's The Mysterious Benedict Society
Sneed Collard's Pocket Babies and Other Amazing Marsupials
Katherine Kirkpatrick's Snow Baby: The Arctic Childhood of Robert E. Peary's Daring Daughter.
Ruth White's Way Down Deep

Lauren Thompson's The Apple Pie That Papa Baked
Janice N. Harrington's The Chicken Chasing queen of Lamar County
Ilene Cooper's The Golden Rule
Kevin Henkes' A Good Day
Libby Gleeson's Half A World Away
Ellen Levine's Henry's Freedom Box
Jane Yolen's Here's A Little Poem
Brian Floca's Lightship * (Top of the List selection)
Rosemary Wells' Max Counts His Chickens
Anita Lobel's Nini Here and There
Chris Smith's One City, Two Brothers.
Nan Gregory's Pink
Hazel Hutchins' A Second is a Hiccup
Meghan McCarthy's Strong Man: The Story of Charles Atlas
Emily Jenkins' What Happens on Wednesdays
David M. Schwartz's Where In the Wild

Barnes & Noble Best Books of 2007

There are many categories for best books listed at Barnes & Noble's Best of 2007 list. But the ones of interest here are "Best for Teens" and "Best for Kids."

Best for Kids

Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Peter Yarrow's Puff, The Magic Dragon
Gary D. Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars
Peter Sis' The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain
Emily Gravett's Orange Pear Apple Bear
Jeff Kinney's Diary of A Wimpy Kid
Mo Willems' Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case Of Mistaken Identity
Lauren Thompson's The Apple Pie That Papa Baked
Stephen J. Dubner's The Boy With Two Belly Buttons

Books for Teens

Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian
Stephenie Meyer's Eclipse
Jenny Downham's Before I Die
Peter Cameron's Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You
Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely
Nick Hornby's Slam
Gabrielle Zevin's Memoirs of A Teenage Amnesiac
Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why
Chris Crutcher's Deadline
Anne Cassidy's Looking for JJ

The 2008 Sydney Taylor Book Awards

The Sydney Taylor Book Awards were announced earlier this morning. The winners will receive their awards in June at the Association of Jewish Libraries convention.

Younger Readers
Winner: The Bedtime Sh'ma: A Good Night Book by Sarah Gershman and Kristina Swarner. (EKS Publishing)
Honor Books: The Castle on Hester Street by Linda Heller and Boris Kulikov; Letter on the Wind by Sarah Lamstein and Neil Waldman; Light by Jane Breskin Zalben.

Older Readers
Winner: The Entertainer and the Dybbuk by Sid Fleischman (HarperCollins).
Honor Books: Holocaust: The Events and Their Impact on Real People by Angela Gluck Wood; The Secret of Priest's Grotto by Peter Lane Taylor and Cristos Nicola (Kar-Ben).

Teen Readers
Winner: Strange Relations by Sonia Levitin (Knopf)
Honor Books: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie by Mirjam Pressler

The announcement came via email, but this site should eventually be updated to reflect this year's awards.

2007 Blue Ribbons

The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books has just released their 2007 Blue Ribbons list. Their guide to the "best" of 2007.

Fiction
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Little Rat Makes Music by Monika Bang-Campbell
Prom Dates From Hell by Rosemary Clement-Moore
Remembering Mrs. Rossi by Amy Hest
Tamar by Mal Peet
The Professor's Daughter by Joann Sfar
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Robot Dreams by Sara Varon

*Interesting how several *big* books are missing isn't it? No mention of Invention of Hugo Cabret, Wednesday Wars, or Elijah of Buxton.

Nonfiction

The Strongest Man in the World: Louis Cyr by Nicolas Debon
Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine
Houdini the Handcuff King by Jason Lutes
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies by Laura Amy Schlitz
The Wall by Peter Sis

Picture Books

Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts
When Dinosaurs Came With Everything by Elise Broach
Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett
Today and Today by Kobayashi Issa
Pictures From Our Vacation by Lynne Rae Perkins
Bad Bears Go Visiting by Daniel Pinkwater
Bittle Tartle in Say Cheese by Michael Townsend
Dog by Matthew Van Fleet
Scaredy Squirrel Makes A Friend by Melanie Watt

Time's Top 10 Children's Books of 2007

Article can be found here.

When Dinosaurs Came With Everything by Elise Broach
Today I Will Fly by Mo Willems
Motherbridge of Love by Xinran and Josee Mass
Iggy Peck Architect by Andrea Beaty
Great Joy by Kate DiCamillo
Diary of A Fly by Doreen Cronin
The Chicken Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janine Harrington
Smelly Bill by Daniel Postgate
City Lullaby by Marilyn Singer
Cherry and Olive and Benjamin Lacombe