I missed Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan when it came out in February of 2015. Scholastic is one of the few publishers I don't get review copies from and, working in a library instead of a bookstore now, I an not as up on what's new in the world of kid's books as I once was. I even missed the March, 2015 review of Echo in the New York Times Book Reivew, which I usually scour. Echo crossed my radar in January of this year when it won a Newbery Honor, along with two other superb books, The War that Saved My Life and Roller Girl. While I hate the fact that I didn't read Echo right when it came out, I am so, so glad that I knew absolutely NOTHING about it (save that it won an award) before I began listening/reading it. Having worked with and been an avid reader of children's literature for more than 20 years, I've kind of read it all. There aren't too many plots or characters that surprise me or feel really new and original. Echo surprised me - it's as if A. S. Byatt, an author of novels for adults that are magnificently crafted and often centered around a work of art - wrote a kid's book. If you want to be surprised by a story and you trust me and the librarians who hand out the Newbery awards, stop reading my review after the next sentence and go out and get your hands on a copy of Echo. Actually, I very, very strongly suggest LISTENING to the audio of this book (as well as buying it - you WILL want to own it) because - tiny spoiler alert - music is an integral part of Echo, and you get to hear it in the audio.
Stop reading HERE if you want to be surprised
****************************************
I was definitely surprised when I started listening to Echo and there were music credits before the story began. I was especially surprised when harmonica music kicked in. Like several minor characters in the book, I, too, did not take the harmonica seriously - nor did I notice the drawing (wonderful artwork by Dinara Mirtalipova) of one on the cover and spine of Echo! Echo is a work of historical fiction wrapped in the cloak of a fairy tale that is ultimately a story about the power of music to, "pass along . . . strength and vision and knowledge," and even overcome fear, intolerance and hatred. The story visits three very different children at three different times, starting in 1933 and ending in 1942. The common thread that connects these three children is their passion for music, embodied, at that time, in the harmonicas that they own. Surrounding these stories is the tale of a boy that begins just before the start of the 20th century. From a Gypsy, who presses a mouth harp on him for free, he buys a book titled, The Thirteenth Harmonica of Otto Messenger. The book tells the story of three abandoned princesses with beautiful singing voices. Trapped in the woods under the spell of a witch, they need a messenger to take something out into the world for them, something that will break the spell. Becoming lost in the woods, Otto meets the three princesses from the book. Desperate to know the end of their story, they enchant the harmonica that the Gypsy gave him and he agrees to send it into the world where, if it can "save a soul from Death's dark door," the spell will break and the princesses can return home.
The stories of the three central children in Echo would have been a satisfying book on their own, but linking them with the fairy tale of the three sisters imbues Ryan's novel with a quality of hopefulness and beauty, much like the sound of a well played harmonica. Part one begins in 1933, in Tossingen, Germany, with young Friedrich, a gifted musician. Part two begins in Pennsylvania, 1935. The third and final part begins in 1942, just after Pearl Harbor, in California, a harmonica at the heart of each story. Friedrich has a port wine birthmark on his face and suffers from seizures. Hitler's persecution of physically disabled forces Friedrich and his family to make difficult choices and his story ends without closure, his life in danger. Part two, features orphan brothers, the eldest of whom is a gifted musician, with his only hope for survival hinging on his ability to make it into a renowned harmonica band. Mike and Frankie are adopted by a painfully grieving heiress who needs to produce an heir to keep her fortune, their story also ending in a moment of danger and uncertainty. Finally, Ryan turns to Ivy Maria Lopez, shining a light on xenophobia and racism.
It is Fresno, 1942, and Ivy is the child of migrant farm workers. Her brother, Fernando, has just enlisted and her father has just accepted a job running a farm in Orange County. When they arrive at the farm, the Lopez's discover that it belongs to a Japanese-American family that has been sent to an interment camp. Their oldest child, a son in the Marines, is coming home on leave to sign the running of the property over to Mr. Lopez, if he approves of him. Ivy, and her parents, struggle to understand how the Yamamoto family, with a father who fought in WWI and a son fighting in WWII could be treated this way, while at the same time Ivy experiences racism and segregation when she learns that she is not allowed to attend her neighborhood school, but must go to one that will "Americanize" children like her. Living in California and working with the children of immigrants, many of whom are also the children of migrant workers, this part of the story resonated most with me.
The last two parts of the novel tie together all three stories in a marvelous, deeply satisfying way that had me weeping. Ryan returns to the fairy tale, bookending Echo with the conclusion to the story of the three princesses as well as the story of Otto, now the messenger, and the enchanted harmonica that he must send out into the world and how it gets there. Echo is a big book, but as many reviewers have said, and as was my experience, you will soar through it, drawn along by the beauty if Ryan's writing, the craft of her story and the humanity of her characters.
Source: Purchased Book & Audio Book
The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley came out in January of 2015. In January of 2016 it won the Newbery Honor, the Schneider Family Book Award for the "artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences," and the Odyssey Award for best audio book, with narration by Jayne Entwistle. A couple of months back, Bradley's book came to my attention when I saw it on several end of the year "best of" lists and Newbery prediction lists. After fantasy, historical fiction a very close second favorite genre of mine and without a doubt, The War the Saved My Life is one of the best works of historical fiction I have ever read. In narrator Ada, Bradley has created powerful narrative voice, an unforgettable character and a deeply moving story of survival, both physical and emotional, during WWII England.
Ada is not sure how old she is. She has never been to school, in fact, she has not left the tiny apartment she shares with her mother and younger brother, Jamie, in ages. She is crippled by a club foot and a widowed mother who never wanted to be one. Deeply suspicious, ignorant and filled with anger and hatred, Ada's mother abuses her physically and emotionally, filling her with shame and fear. Ada's only pleasure comes from tending to her little brother Jamie. As he grows older and starts school, his independence leaves her feeling like she should get some of her own. Used to crawling on her hands and knees, Ada slowly, painfully teaches herself to walk. When she learns from Jamie that the children are being evacuated from the city - and that her mother has no intention of letting her go - she sneaks out of the house and joins the evacuees. Upon arriving in Kent, Ada and Jamie, filthy, louse ridden, sick with rickets and impetigo, find themselves unwanted once more. The iron faced Lady Thornton, head of the Women's Voluntary Service, packs the children into her car and takes them to the home of Susan Smith, who refuses to take them, saying she didn't even know there was a war on.
Susan is mourning the loss of her dear friend, Becky, and in her near catatonic state of grief she unthinkingly says that she never wanted children in front of Ada and Jamie. However, Ada catches sight of a pony in the field behind Susan's house and determines to stay. With Susan, Ada faces a new set of challenges, the biggest being trust. Even if she hadn't heard Susan say that she never wanted children, the task of being able to trust Susan would be overwhelming. And this is where Bradley's superior narrative skills shine. With Ada's voice, Bradley conveys the isolation, fear and ignorance that have been her life. So many of the words that Susan says to her mean nothing, from "soup," to "sheets," to "operate," the reader quickly gets a strong sense of disconnect with which Ada moves through the world. This disconnect is expressed most powerfully when Ada is in distress, when her foot hurts or when people are talking about her or touching her. When she was home with her Mam, Ada would retreat, mentally, when the agony of her physical situation - like being locked in a dank cabinet under the sink - was too much to bear. She relies on this relief with Susan, too, imagining herself with Butter, the pony she saw in the field that she teaches herself to ride.
While Ada is an incredible character, Susan Smith is also remarkable. Oxford educated, she herself is familiar with parental disapproval and rejection. Bradley never states it openly, but she weaves enough threads into the story to lead me to believe that Susan and Becky were in love and were ostracized for it. But, Susan exemplifies the motto from the morale boosting poster created during the war, "Keep calm and carry on." In fact, Bradley quotes another poster made by the Ministry of Information to boost morale in The War that Saved My Life. Seeing the poster in town, Susan reads to to Ada, "Your courage, your cheerfulness, your resolution will bring us victory." "That's stupid, it sounds like we're doing all the work," Ada replies, saying it should be, "Our courage, our cheerfulness, our resolution, will bring us victory." This is one of the first moments where Susan sees through Ada's defenses. Susan clothes, feeds and educates Jamie and Ada, persistently, but never forcefully. While she expresses frustration, and both children cringe or hide at times when they think they have truly angered her, she never hits them or raises her voice to them. Instead, she explains herself when called for and hugs them when words will not do. She somehow understands the depths of Ada's emotional wounds and is patient with her when she breaks down, wrapping her tightly in a blanket and hugging - or even sitting on her during their first air raid.
While Ada and Jamie's mother only appears in the first and last few pages of The War that Saved My Life, her presence is a constant throughout. Her abuse of Ada is sometimes horrific, but also sparsely and effectively employed by Bradley. Witnessing this abuse allows the reader to be patient with the often unlikable Ada and also helps the reader understand her decisions, like the choice not to learn how to read or write, and her reactions, like the catastrophic break down she has when, on Christmas Eve, Susan gives her a handmade, green velvet dress, telling her that she is beautiful when she tries it on. Her mother's words, "You ugly piece of rubbish! Filth and trash! No one wants you with that ugly foot!" run through Ada's head and her roaring screams and panic are more understandable. It is even almost understandable that, throughout most of the novel, Ada believes that all the new things she is learning, from walking to horseback riding to reading and writing, will prove her worth to her mother and make her love her. With this possibility always out there, letting herself get attached to Susan is almost impossible. Then, there is always the knowledge of what her mother has thought of her and how she has treated her. Halfway through the novel, Ada says, "I wanted Mam to be like Susan. I didn't really trust Susan not to be like Mam."
But, Ada does get attached and she does grow stronger, physically and emotionally, over the course of this very rich and detailed story. And, while at first it seems like the war is a far off thing, it does come to Kent in a shattering way. After the Battle of Dunkirk, Kent finds itself overwhelmed by injured and dying soldiers, Ada heading into the village to help where she can. There is even a triumphant moment where, following the government dictate to say something if you see something, Ada not only must assert herself, but also let a prejudiced, condescending adult know that her foot is very far away from her brain, something she has heard Susan say, in order to be taken seriously. As life grows more dangerous in Kent and Susan refuses to send Ada and Jamie away, Ada thinks to herself, "It was hard enough to cope with Susan. How would I ever cope without her?"
I was in tears and sobbing for the last half of The War that Saved My Life, especially the final pages. Bradley delivers a very satisfying ending to a deeply satisfying book, one that makes me want to turn around and read it all over again. I am so grateful that this book won a Newbery honor, among other well deserved awards, because it means that it's likely to fall into the hands of children over and over for decades to come. I can't wait to get a copy for my library - I usually donate books I buy for myself to read to my library, but I am keeping this one! - and see what my students think of it!
Source: Purchased
I thought I try something different (and hopefully easier) this year for my post of the ALA Award winners: a Pinterest Board. Not sure if it was the timesaver I wanted it to be, but I hope you enjoy it as much if not more!
Reviews of these ALA Winners coming soon:
The War the Saved My Life
The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
Gone Crazy in Alabama
The Ghosts of Heaven
More than a review, what follows are my thoughts on a picture book winning the Newbery, my experience reading Last Stop on Market Street to my students, and how this changed and shaped my understanding of and experience with this book.
A week ago, Last Stop on Market Street, a picture book by YA author Matt de la Peña, illustrated by Christian Robinson won the Newbery award. Traditionally, this award is given to novels, although this is not specified in the criteria, which is that the award be given to the "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children." Last Stop on Market Street also, very deservedly, won a Caldecott honor, an award given to the "most distinguished picture book for children." I received a review copy of this book when it came out and, as sadly sometimes happens with great books, I read it but didn't get around to reviewing it. When I heard that Last Stop on Market Street won the Newbery, I did a double take, rereading the announcement on the American Library Association's website. I was surprised and a little angry, thinking about the amazing novels that had come out in 2015, and began writing, in my head, a heated response to the librarians on the committee that made this out-of-the-box choice. Then, I decided to take the book to school and read it to as many kids as possible over the course of the week. 
Last Stop on Market Street tells the story of CJ and Nana as they leave church and head, by bus, to a soup kitchen where they volunteer every Sunday. Over the course of the trip, CJ asks Nana all kinds of questions, the way kids do. He wants to know why they don't have a car, why he can't have an iPod, why can't the man with the cane and dog see, why it's so dirty in the neighborhood near the soup kitchen. Nana answers CJ's questions, not always directly, but with wisdom, creativity and sensitivity. And, although he didn't want to go there at first, CJ finds he is happy to be at the soup kitchen with Nana. As de la Peña says in an essay titled, "How We Talk (Or Don't Talk) About Diversity When We Read with Our Kids," his book is, among other things, about, "seeing the beautiful in the world and the power of service."
The student body at the school where I am the librarian is almost 90% Hispanic, with African Americans, Asians and whites making up the other 10%. Almost 90% of the student body at my school qualifies for free lunch and many of them live in a home with multiple families, are foster children or do not live with both parents. The majority of my students speak English as a second language and struggle to read at grade level. Last Stop on Market Street is a book that, unlike most, shows them people of all colors (and their colors) as well as people who share their socioeconomic status. In his essay, de la Peña says that he strives to "write books about diverse characters, but now I try to place them in stories that have nothing to do with diversity, not overtly anyway." And, as I read this book over and over to my first through fifth graders, I came to share the belief of the ALA that Last Stop on Market Street is indeed worthy of the Newbery Medal, in large part because it is accessible for my students, many of whom cannot read Newbery winners because the reading level is too high for them, but also because it is intimately, immediately relatable. Also, it is very cool to be able to tell my students that, not only is Matt de la Peña, who is half Mexican and half white, grew up in National City, which is in San Diego county, where our school is, Matt is also the first Latino author to win the Newbery Medal. And then I get to give a shout-out to another San Diego county writer and winner of the Newbery Honor medal this year for her book Echo, Pam Muñoz Ryan, who is also half Mexican.
Besides being accessible because of the reading level, I love Last Stop on Market Street because reading it has opened doors to so many amazing conversations with my students. With the younger students, I didn't talk about the diversity of the characters, but we did talk about volunteering time and what a soup kitchen is. We talked about who has ridden the bus and who has seen a street performer. With my older students, we were able to have a discussion about diversity in the books they read, why there isn't a Latina Junie B. Jones and how maybe some of them will grow up to write kid's books with diverse characters. We even touched on socioeconomic diversity, which I also am grateful to be able to talk about when I read Eve Bunting and Lauren Castillo's amazing book Yard Sale to students. Yard Sale is about a family who, after losing their house, is having a yard sale before moving into a small apartment. Having an opening to talk about diversity in kid's books with the fifth graders also allowed me gently, hesitantly bring up gender diversity. Last summer I read and reviewed George, by Alex Gino, which just won the Stonewall Award, which is given to "works of exceptional merit for children and teens relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience." I decided not to put Gino's book on the shelf in the library, not because of the content, but because I was not sure if my students would understand it. However, once I mentioned gender diversity, right away, one of my students asked, "Like transgender?" and a brief conversation followed where I was able to talk about the book George. More than a few students expressed interest in reading it and it was on the shelf and checked out the very next day.
While I wish I had reviewed and taken Last Stop on Market Street to school to read to students right when I received it, and also that I had not had an initially negative reaction to hearing that it won the Newbery (and not the Caldecott) I am deeply grateful that this series of events brought me to the experience I had with my students last week after it won the Newbery and deeply grateful that Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson created this uncommon book, one that I hope opens the doors to many, many more like it.
Source: Review Copy
Winner of the National Book Award, the Newbery Honor Medal (her third) and the Coretta Scott King Award for Authors, brown girl dreaming is worth every medal and more. Like the Newbery Medal winner this year, Kwame Alexander's Crossover, Woodson's book is a verse novel - two verse novels wining ALA awards in the same year! While Jacqueline Woodson's memoir in verse, brown girl dreaming, is
I am embarrassed to admit that I had The Crossover by Kwame Alexander sitting on my bookshelf for almost a year before it won the Newbery Award this year. I read the blurb about basketball phenom Josh Bell and his twin brother Jordan and couldn't get excited, even though I LOVE verse novels and am continually amazed by them. It's just that I have zero interest in sports and sports stories.
John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature:
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
(it's been on my shelf for an embarrassing amount of time: review to come!)
Newbery Honor Books:
El Deafo by Cece Bell
click here for my review
Brown Girl Dreaming
by Jacqueline Woodson
(also winner of the National Book Award. Review to come!
Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgewick is the winner of the 2014 Printz Award, the Newbery for Young Adult books. While preparing to write this review, I was taking a look at past winners and surprised by how many of them I have reviewed - and loved - here and also pondering the current trend of adults reading YA literature. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the review for a list of these
.
Howdy, Campers!
First of all, I'd like to apologize for pushing the "publish" button instead of the "save" button when I was composing this post yesterday. As a result, my weird and clearly unfinished post went out to our subscribers above Carmela's wonderful Wednesday Writing Workout (which I highly recommend reading.) Oy!
Onward...to Poetry Friday!
My poem is below. :-)
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Breaking News: the
American Library Association is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Caldecott Award at its
annual conference! Right now--
right this very minute!
Here's one fascinating fact from the
ALA's beautifully put together scrapbook of all things Caldecott:
Until 1958, an artist could not be awarded more
than one Caldecott Medal unless the committee's vote was unanimous. In
his letter responding to the news, Robert McCloskey expresses his
surprise at winning the award a second time.
Except for his first
picture book and his last one, Robert McCloskey won either a Caldecott
Medal or a Caldecott Honor for every picture book he published.
Here's a 1:03 minute video of last year's Caldecott honor winner, John Rocco, talking about The Phone Call...the moment he learned he'd won the Caldecott honor for his book, Blackout:
and here's a funny-weird 1:49 minute video about getting ready for
this year's Newbery/Caldecott banquet...
And, yes, it's Poetry Friday! My poem was inspired by Carmela's
Wednesday Writing Workout, in which author
Melanie Crowder suggests that sounds can spark writing ideas.
But where to start--what sound? How about applause--applause for all Caldecott winners (and those hard-working Caldecott committee members)? There are so many different kinds of applause, including
this and
this--which is the applause
before a concert begins. That's the sound that stuck with me. Here's my rough draft:
INSPIRED BY THE SOUND OF EXPECTANT APPLAUSE
by April Halprin Wayland
On stage:
tune strings,
star in the wings.
In your seat:
fleet squeaks,
copious creaks.
Clap-clap-clap!
Toe-tapping beat,
Impatient feet!
Rise in your seat,
stomp on the floor,
awaken your core!
And even before his wild art starts,
roar
for more!
poem © 2013 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved
TeachingAuthors will be taking a vacation from July 1-July 12, 2013. Ta-ta! Bye-bye! Take time to write! See you soon, Raccoons!
By April Halprin Wayland, who thanks you from the bottom of her little heart for reading all the way to the end.
In case you missed them, the 2013 ALA Awards (Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, etc.) have been announced!
Celebrate great children’s book writing and illustration by checking out this year’s winners and honor books here: 2013 ALA Award Winners
The following are excerpts from a Press Release about the ALA Awards, which were announced this week. I added Amazon links. I'm not familiar with many of these (shamefully), but I'm excited to check them out.
NEWS
For Immediate Release
January 23, 2012
American Library Association announces 2012 Youth Media Award winners
DALLAS - The American Library Association (ALA) today announced the top books, video and audiobooks for children and young adults – including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery and Printz awards – at its Midwinter Meeting in Dallas.
A list of all the 2012 award winners follows:
John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature:
“Dead End in Norvelt,” written by Jack Gantos, is the 2012 Newbery Medal winner. The book is published by Farrar Straus Giroux.
Two Newbery Honor Books also were named: "Inside Out & Back Again," written by Thanhha Lai and published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers; and "Breaking Stalin’s Nose,” written and illustrated by Eugene Yelchin, and published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC.
Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children:
“A Ball for Daisy," illustrated and written by Chris Raschka, is the 2012 Caldecott Medal winner. The book is published by Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
Three Caldecott Honor Books also were named: “Blackout,” illustrated and written by John Rocco, and published by Disney · Hyperion Books, an imprint of Disney Book Group; "Grandpa Green" illustrated and written by Lane Smith, and published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings
By:
Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 1/27/2012
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Howdy, Campers! Author and illustrator Barney Saltzberg is a generous soul, and in his Friday the 13th interview, he offered an autographed copy of his fun and amazing book, BEAUTIFUL OOPS to one of our readers.
And the lucky, randomly chosen winner is...
Sarah Albee--yay, Sarah (who's an amazing author--check out her
website)!
Here's Sarah's
Beautiful Oops:
My oops moment happened when I was a very junior editor at Sesame Street. I was editing my first big book, a SS songbook (because I was the only editor in my dept who could read music and play piano). I went over to Jeff Moss's house (composer of Rubber Duckie) to show him some song arrangements, and when we got to People In Your Neighborhood (his song) we both stared at the composer credit, which read Joe Raposo (his long-time rival and writer of Bein' Green, among many others). Jeff was notoriously curmudgeonly, and I knew there was a good chance he would flip, even though of course it was just galleys and there would be plenty of opportunity to change it. So I quickly made a joke about it (along the lines of how interchangeable he and Joe were, whatevs). After five tense seconds, he grinned broadly. And we became fast friends.
So...drawing the winning name, watching the exciting
announcements of the ALA awards (I felt as if I were in the audience!) and reading
Carmela's,
Mary Ann's,
JoAnn's,
Esther's, and
Jeanne Marie's fabulous and thought-provoking posts about awards, got me to thinking about winning...
...which inspired this poem for Poetry Friday, graciously hosted today by Jim at
HeyJimHill!
WINNINGby April Halprin Wayland
I sit under this treeto sit under this tree.
I'm hosting the
Kidlit Interview Wednesday round-up here on our
TeachingAuthors blog this week. Actually, I'm writing this post on Tuesday afternoon, but I'll schedule it to go live just after midnight (with my fingers crossed) so that early risers and bloggers around the world can share their links whenever it's convenient. If you have an interview you'd like to share, just post a comment below containing the url. The interview should meet the criteria listed at the end of this post. I'll check back during the day to add your links to this post. If you have a blog related to reading, writing, or publishing books for children and you'd like to host Interview Wednesday, visit the
official Kidlit Interview Wednesday sign-up page.
You'll find the interview roundup below. First, I want to say a bit more about the ALA awards, the topic of our current series of posts. Yesterday was the first time I've watched the announcements live (thanks to the ALA webcast). I joined the program in progress, just as they announced that the winner of the Coretta Scott King Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement was
Ashley Bryan. A shiver of delight went through me--I'd heard Ashley Bryan read years ago at one of our Vermont College residencies. His reading was electrifying! His love of story and poetry and literature shone through in his voice, gestures, and facial expression. I'll never forget that day. So yesterday when they announced the winner of the Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, I was thrilled to hear not only his name, but also the cheers and applause of all the attendees expressing their approval. Congratulations to author-illustrator Ashley Bryan on his well-deserved award!
Yesterday, Mary Ann shared the
titles of the winners of the Newbery, Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, and Printz winners. You can read the entire list of ALA award winners
in their official press release. You can also
watch the webcast of the ALA award announcements.
If you're looking for more great titles to read after you finish the ALA award winners, head over to the
official SCBWI blog for links to other award lists. Or consider signing up for
the Newbery reading challenge being hosted by a K-5 teacher-librarian at the
Watch. Connect. Read. blog or the
Caldecott reading challenge organized by a K-8 library media specialist at
LibLaura5.
And now, for the Interview Wednesday roundup so far:
In case you haven't been parked in front of a computer since the crack of dawn, hoping for leaking news from the Newbery-Caldecott committees, here they are--the 2012 American Library Association award winners:
Newbery--Jack Gantos for Dead End in Norvelt
Honors--Eugene Yelchin--Breaking Stalin's Nose
Thanhha Lai--Inside Out and Back Again
Caldecott--Chris Raschka for A Ball for Daisy
Honors--Patrick McDonnell--Me...Jane
Lane Smith--Grandpa Green
John Rocco--Blackout
Coretta Scott King Award Author: Kadir Nelson for Heart and Soul
Honors--Patricia McKissack--Never Forgotten
Eloise Greenfield--The Great Migration
Illustrator--Shane W. Evans for Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom
Honors--Kadir Nelson--Heart and Soul
Printz--John Corey Whaley for Where Things Come Back
Honors--Maggie Stievater--Scorpio Races
Craig Silvey--Jasper Jones
Christine Hinwood--The Returning
Daniel Handler (aka "Lemony Snicket")--Why We Broke Up
Congratulations, one and all. And now let the speculations fly! All over the country book lovers are cheering or gnashing their teeth or wondering why it will take "one to three weeks" for Amazon to get the book in stock. (Answer...the publisher was caught without sufficient inventory for a huge sudden sale rush.)
I shall keep my own observations to myself, except for the fact that I have never been right about the big awards. The closest I have gotten to predicting correctly is for the honors books (this year I had Inside Out and Back Again on my list). Mysterious are the ways of The Committees.
Other observations--this is the first time in a long time that there was not one single dystopian novel on the list! Can life be getting better?? There were a lot of historical novels (yippee, since I write historical novels). Only one truly contemporary book (Why We Broke Up). All the award winning illustrators were also the authors of their books. What does this mean? I have not the slightest idea.
All I know is that I have a lot of good reading ahead of me (I did read all the Newbery honors and winner in advance, but none of the Printz books).
Mary Ann Rodman
P.S. You can still enter our drawing for an autogra
By: Seira Wilson,
on 1/23/2012
Blog:
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This morning I got up at 5 a.m. to see (via webcast) the 2012 winners of the biggest awards in children's publishing--the American Library Association (ALA) awards. The film industry has their Golden Globes® and their Oscars®, and we have the Caldecott and Newbery Medals, the Coretta Scott King Award, and the Michael J. Printz Award. Unlike most other book awards, the major children's book awards given by the ALA have no lists of finalists or nominees. It's a surprise every single year (with plenty of speculation beforehand) and I kind of love the secrecy. This year's announcement had both the unexpected and the "ah, of course" books on the lists (including some 2011 Best of the Month titles)--you just never know who is going to win what. Congratulations to this year's winning and honored authors and illustrators:
2012 Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children:
2012 Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature:
2012 Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults:
By: Seira Wilson,
on 1/23/2012
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This morning I got up at 5 a.m. to see (via webcast) the 2012 winners of the biggest awards in children's publishing--the American Library Association (ALA) awards. The film industry has their Golden Globes® and their Oscars®, and we have the Caldecott and Newbery Medals, the Coretta Scott King Award, and the Michael J. Printz Award. Unlike most other book awards, the major children's book awards given by the ALA have no lists of finalists or nominees. It's a surprise every single year (with plenty of speculation beforehand) and I kind of love the secrecy. This year's announcement had both the unexpected and the "ah, of course" books on the lists (including some 2011 Best of the Month titles)--you just never know who is going to win what. Congratulations to this year's winning and honored authors and illustrators:
2012 Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children:
2012 Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature:
2012 Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults:
Well, I sure didn't see that coming.
I'm more than a little heartbroken that Ruta Sepetys' absolutely STUNNING novel,
Between Shades of Gray, didn't even get a Printz Honor. There were so many books I was certain would be honored today -
Okay for Now,
Wonderstruck (although it did win a Schneider Award),
A Monster Calls... And how were there only 2 Newbery Honors??? What I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall in the judges' rooms.
On the plus side, I'm celebrating Printz Honors and Odyssey Honors for Maggie Stiefvater's
The Scorpio Races! And Newbery Honors for Thanhha Lai's
Inside Out and Back Again!
And I'm excited to add to my must-read list:
-
I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen (
Geisel Honor)
-
Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet (
Sibert Winner)
-
Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall (
Pura Belpre Winner and
Morris Honor)
-
Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley (
Printz Winner and
Morris Winner)
What did y'all think of the
2012 ALA Youth Media Awards? Which awards had you standing and cheering? Which books do you think were overlooked? And which titles are you now excited to dive into?
By: Anastasia Goodstein,
on 1/14/2011
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Has the term 'hipster' lost all meaning? (A mysterious San Francisco startup named after the demo that dare not speak its name generates early buzz by fueling the ongoing debate. As for where teens tread online, the Alloy Digital Network holds on... Read the rest of this post
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on 1/20/2010
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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
by Grace Lin. Little, Brown and Company Books for Young Readers.
Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg
by Rodman Philbrick. The Blue Sky Press, An Imprint of Scholastic Inc.
Randolph Caldecott Medal for most distinguished American picture book for children
Winner
The Lion & the Mouse
, illustrated and written by Jerry Pinkney. Little, Brown and Company Books for Young Readers.
Honor Books:
All the World
, illustrated by Marla Frazee, written by Liz Garton Scanlon. Beach Lane Books.
Red Si
In catching up with my Internet reading as I enjoy a day off from work, I read School Library Journal's Heavy Medal blog post on predicting the ALA winners.
And the Schneider Family Book Awards are mentioned! (I have an entire post on the winners, don't worry.). Usually, these ones are overlooked. Jonathan Hunt says: "SCHNEIDER FAMILY.
Does anybody care about this one? Okay, maybe some of you do. I'm going to guess MARCELO for the teen category, ODD AND THE FROST GIANTS for the middle grade category, and I'm completely clueless about the picture book category. Suggestions?" It's not the only "does anybody care" award; the Carnegie Award got a similar comment.
Sigh. For those of you who are new to the blog, and me, I'm on the Schneider Family Book Award Committee; I work for a regional library for the National Library Services for the Blind & Physically Handicapped; and the Schneider Family Book Award is for "The Schneider Family Book Awards honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences." I urge you to read the Manual, which explains the background of this Award and why, indeed, it matters how the disability experience appears in books and why an award for this does matter.
Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.
© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Want to know what the ALA award committees were thinking?
Find out.
© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Congratulations to all the winning and honor ALA books. I'm sure someone will blog a detailed and unbiased analysis of the results, but here's my utterly personal view of some of yesterday's choice moments.
1) My editor, Cheryl Klein, edited TWO of the winning books:
A Curse as Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce took the William C. Morris award for a debut YA novel
and Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi and translated by Cathy Hirano took the Mildred Batchelder award for the "most outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States."
I love it that Cheryl and Arthur A. Levine Books seek out translations and first time authors.
2) Last year, I psychically blogged about the Newbery winner, Neil Gaiman, after I heard him read from The Graveyard Book at the National Book Festival last fall. Unfortunately and non-psychically, the Festival's bookstore had long lines and thus I have no book. Here's what I said:
The session with Neil Gaiman was underway when I found the Children and Teens Pavilion, but I could've told you who was speaking without even entering, because the audience overflowing the venue was....20-somethings in funky hats and cool clothes. They absolutely didn't mind that he wasn't promoting an adult read like American Gods, but The Graveyard Book, his novel with a 14-year-old protagonist. He read a funny excerpt in which the boy seeks the help of a long-dead but still highly verbose poet. Gaiman is a natural dramatic reader. He never veers into camp, he never shortchanges a word or a pause, and he has complete confidence in his material. He took questions, and his answers were perfectly encapsulated stories, one of them involving an ancient human elbow bone. My favorite line: when talking about why he doesn't outline, he says he loves to find out what happens, except that three-quarters of the way in, he sometimes feels like "he's jumped from a plane and must knit himself a parachute on the way down."
3) I'm tickled that Marla Frazee, who is illustrating my friend Liz's next book, took a well-deserved Caldecott Honor for A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever. I got to hear her speak about its creation at the SCBWI conference in L.A. last August and have been a fan ever since.
4) My book club, DC Kidlit, chose to read honored books We are the Ship and The Underneath this past year. Because of them, I don't feel like quite such a loser in the "have I read it yet?" department. We're meeting this Sunday to discuss all the books and I can't wait to hear everyone else's personal take on everything.
Because it is, isn't it? Personal. That's what makes this business great and what makes people tear their hair out. I, for one, love the excitement.
Oh, my double mocha was divine! The real whipped cream was so rich and stiff that it stayed afloat on the dark espresso sea as serenely as a sugar cloud.
The table was piled with books! We found each other by them, in fact. Who else would be carrying Hugo Cabret or Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! into a restaurant and waving them about?
The conversation was scintillating! Tales of book ordering frenzies after the ALA awards so wild they would win a bond trader's admiration. Stories of manuscripts being finished, started, revised, sold, dreamed about. Newbery and Caldecott winners passed from hand to hand. Confessions about what we had read and what we hadn't. Who loved what (and who didn't) and why. Cheeky ARCs for 2008 hobnobbing with seasoned 2007 titles.
Yes, folks, the DC Kidlit Brunch was everything I could've hoped for. If you live near the DC area, please come out next time. Email Caroline Hickey to be added to the A-List. (Hey, around here, we're all A-List.)
The Brunch Crew, after being instructed
to hold a book we had NOT yet read
From left to right:
Susan (
Wizards Wireless) holding
The Wednesday Wars.
Louise Simone holding
Henry's Freedom Box, written by Ellen Levine and illustrated by Kadir Nelson. I would buy this book for the cover image alone. Stunning.
Caroline Hickey (
Author of Cassie was Here and member of those fab Longstockings) holding
The Wall by Peter Sis
Gina Montefusco (PBS) holding Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers
MotherReader and Tami Lewis Brown (of the soon-to-be-released Soar, Elinor!) both holding Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!
Anamaria Anderson (Books Together) holding Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains by Laurel Snyder of Kid*Lit(erary)
Sara Lewis Holmes (me!) holding an ARC of A la Carte* by Tanita Davis (Finding Wonderland)
*But since I had PRE-ORDERED this book already, I let someone else take the ARC home. I could hardly stand it, but I did it. (After peeking at a few of the recipes.)
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Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave
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April - A poem of anticipatory-applause! And applause for you! Audiences can be so grateful, and this fact fills me with hope. I really dig that first stanza - that tuning - it almost feels like we're given a listen into the dressing room. Thank you! My hands beat for you for today and for everything here at Teaching Authors! Have a glorious summer break. Happy PF!
John Rocco's smile throughout his video was proof of the power of Caldecott. Loved the rhythm and joy iof poem....enjoy your summer break!
Bravo! (Sound of loud applause here.) Thank you for sharing all the Caldecott info, too!
Catherine
Love the ending of your poem, "roar, for more"-exactly like the sound. And thank you for all the Caldecott info. I hope they'll tell more about this morning! Happy vacation, April!
I love your celebratory poem. It has such great sounds.
Enjoy your vacation!
Such joy and a wonderful upbeat rhythm in your poem, April. Love it! I join in the applause for the Caldecott anniversary. Thanks for the great info!
"Awaken your core" - I love that! Your poem takes me back to my days of playing in the high school orchestra. There is a sense of anticipation that builds to the roar at the end. Lovely!
Clapping here too!
Great Poem! Loved the climbing rhythm crescendo right up to the end.
Dear Amy, Tara, readingtothecore, Linda, Katya, Jama, Robin, Ruth and Michelle--thank you for coming by. Me and my blogmates appreciate your reading our posts SO much!
xxx
Oh, rats. I meant "My fellow blogmates and I"...
I swear, I should have gotten a ticket from the Grammar Police...
Such fun!
Thank you for bringing this fantabulous 75th event to us.
And in such a fetching, poetic way.
In my writing, such as my 1st ch. book I sent out (fingers crossed) this wk, I think about how to weave sounds into the story.
But... duh.. never realized I can use a sound as a writng prompt or poetry starter. Now I have a new idea, to write a poem about a sound. Thank you!!!
Her is my impromptu poem inspired by this post.
Wheee!
What is that?
Feeling free
You and me
At the beach
In the park
On a walk
in the dark
Up a hill
Down a street
Moving on vacation feet!
- Jan Godown Annino
Happy vacation to the always fantabulous Teaching Authors!
Love your poem. I can hear it loud and clear. Thanks for the info on the Caldecott.
I also want to thank Jan for her response sound poem about vacation. Such a world of talent in this Poetry Friday community!
Hooray for the Caldecott's 75th!
Love your poem!
Its refreshing!
Thank you!
Jan--three cheers for sharing your poem with us!
And Margaret, Mary Lee and Teresa--we really appreciate you reading and commenting on our posts--thank you.
<3