Since it’s apparently football season (or at least that’s what the trending topics on Twitter seem to imply) think of this as a kind of post-game recap of what went on yesterday in the land of ALA Media Awards. Each year I like to look at what I got right, what I got wrong, what I got horrendously wrong, and what I got so wrong that it’s a miracle I’m even allowed to blog anymore. And because I believe in eating my cake before my dinner, we’ll start at the top and work our way down (metaphorically speaking).
First up:
Newbery Winners: I Got Them Moves Like Gantos
When I posted my review of The Great Cake Mystery yesterday and happened to include at the end an image of Dead End in Norvelt: British Edition (called just plain old Dead End and shown here) I hadn’t even considered the possibility that the darn book was poised to win the greatest honor in the field of children’s literature. Why had I recovered from my Gantos fever? Well, I think Jon Scieszka put it best yesterday when he tweeted his congrats to Jack and applied the hashtag #afunnybookfinallywins. Ye gods. He’s right. I ran over to ye olde list of past Award winners and while some contain elements of humor, none of them have been as outright ballsy in their funny writing as Gantos was here. I mean, you can make a case for Despereaux or Bud Not Buddy if you want, but basically even those books drip of earnestness. And on some level I must have figured the funny book couldn’t win. I had forgotten myself the moniker I had applied to this year. The Year of Breaking Barriers. Well if giving a big award to a funny title isn’t breaking a barrier here or there, I don’t know what is.
It’s really funny to read my mid-year and fall predictions in regards to the Gantos title. In the middle of the year I mentioned the book as a possibility but even then I wasn’t putting too much hope there. I wrote:
This is undoubtedly wishful thinking on my part. Gantos has never gotten the gold, and he deserves it someday. This book, of course, has a weird undercurrent to it that may turn off a certain breed of Newbery committee member. Not everyone is going to find Jack’s constant brushes with death as interesting as I do. Still, I hold out hope that maybe this’ll be a Gantos-luvin’ committee year. Stranger things have happened.
Stranger indeed. By the fall I was mentioning it, but only in passing and with the feeling that it was an unlikely bet so that by my last prediction it had fallen off the radar entirely.
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By: Cynthia Reeg,
on 1/20/2010
Blog: What's New (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Pura Belpre Awards, children's book awards, American Library Association, Add a tag
Also announced at the ALA MidWinter Meeting in Boston on Monday were the winners of the Pura Belpre Awards, which "honor Latino authors and illustrators whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in children’s books."
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By: Lizzy Burns,
on 1/20/2010
Blog: A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Newbery, Printz, ALA awards, caldecott, geisel award, alex awards, csk award, Schneider family book awards, batchelder awards, pura belpre awards, Add a tag
Information from the ALA's Press Release for the Youth Media Awards. With, when applicable, my comments, including links to reviews or quotes. And I'm going to try to read all the books below I haven't read yet!
John Newbery Medal for most outstanding contribution to children’s literature
Winner:
When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead. Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books. "That is a lot of hype to live up to, and it's sometimes unfair to the book that you go in expecting greatness instead of just hoping for a "good read." So when the book DOES deliver everything people said, and more? You know it's a damn good book."
Honor Books:
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose. Melanie Kroupa Books/Farrar Straus Giroux, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. "Claudette Colvin should be required reading in law schools."
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly. Henry Holt and Company. "For having such fully realized characters; and for Kelly not telling us everything about Callie and her world and family, and rather telling us just enough; this is one of my favorite books of 2009."
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg
Randolph Caldecott Medal for most distinguished American picture book for children
Winner
The Lion & the Mouse
Honor Books:
All the World
Red Si
Once again, the Caldecott award proves it is nothing more than a lottery. If you told me that these four books were not even considered for an award yesterday, I would not have blinked an eye. They all have some nice things going on, but it seems so unfair that these books will go on to launch the illustrators careers to another level, when there are many many other illustrators who don’t even seem to get a sniff from the committee who are just as deserving.
There is no answer, I guess they just have to wish and hope that their number gets pulled someday.
Jefferson’s Sons?
I share your disappointment in AMELIA LOST. Such a shame. However, as you pointed out, the reason I love these awards so much is their unpredictability. Can’t wait to get my hands on BREAKING STALIN’S NOSE, DRAWING FROM MEMORY, CAZUELA, and SOLDIER BEAR. On SOLDIER BEAR particularly as I was convinced PRESS HERE was a lock for the Batchelder.
To be fair, Chaz, last year the Caldecott went to an unknown debut illustrator. And certainly on the Newbery two newbies got Honors. I think of it less as a lottery and more as a litmus test of professional opinions. Or maybe an experiment in consensus.
Oh, and yes. Jefferson’s Sons. Would have loved to see it get something, but at least it got a lot of debate and attention early on. Still, disappointing.
Elizabeth, I really like the “experiment in consensus” phraseology. That helps put the results in a better light.
Thanks.
I finished Breaking Stalin’s Nose and Under the Mesquite this weekend (snow, ice, and a wicked cold gave me plenty of time for reading!), so I was very happy to see that they were recognized. Do read Under the Mesquite; it’s well worth it.
I am very sorry that Amelia Lost did not win anything. I was quite happy that The Running Dream won the teen division in the Schneider Family award. Personally, it was a good day for local pride: Virginia author Maggie Stiefvater was a finalist for the Printz (I knew that already, though), and Printz and Morris winner John Corey Whaley is from Louisiana, my home state!
So happy to hear the NYPL ordered more copies of A Ball for Daisy. I had put it on hold a while ago and the status indicated it was “on order.” Then it changed to “in library use only.” I hope some will be available for borrowing soon!
Oh yes, pearls were clutched at the announcement of the Schneider picture book non-decision! Library scandal!
The Horn Book should be pretty pleased with the Newbery results. Breaking Stalin’s Nose wasn’t even on my radar until it made their Fanfare list.
On the topic of funny Newbery winners – what about A Year Down Yonder? Sure, there’s some earnestness, too, but that one had me howling at times. I would call Bud Not Buddy a funny book, too, and also Holes. I haven’t read Dead End yet so I can’t compare relative humor, but still.