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Remember that brief period where I was asked to abstain from reviewing any children's books on this blog between the months of November and January until the Newbery Award had been safely determined? Well, I read a lot of great books during that time. Books I just couldn't review, no matter how much I wanted to. Books like Tomorrow the River which, I am happy to report, has won the Minnesota Book Award in the Children's category. Well done, Dianne E. Gray. So nice to see a good book get its due award-wise.

Thanks (again and again) to bookshelves of doom for the link.

Breaking News*:

The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages (Viking) is the winner / medalist of the 2007 Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children's Literature.

Honor books are:

A Drowned Maiden's Hair: a Melodrama by Laura Amy Schlitz (Candlewick)

The Road to Paris by Nikki Grimes (Putnam)

Gemini Summer by Iain Lawrence (Delacorte)

The award will be presented on Sunday, June 10, at a dinner and presentation from 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., at the U.C.L.A. Faculty Center.

The Judy Lopez Memorial Awards for Children's Literature are granted annually to works of literary excellence for nine- to twelve-year-olds. The awards are made in remembrance of Judy Lopez, a founding member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Women's National Book Association who was deeply interested in seeing that children's literature of quality is recognized and rewarded.

A panel of judges composed of children's librarians and other professionals in the field of books for young readers selects the winning book and three honor books. Books submitted for the award must have been published in the United States in the year that precedes the award. The author must be a United States citizen or a resident of the United States.

The medal awarded the winning book was designed by sculptor Alex Shagrin and is cast in solid bronze. The medalist and the authors of the honor books are celebrated each June at a reception and dinner held in Los Angeles.

Established in 1985, the Judy Lopez Memorial Awards for Children's Literature are administered by the Women's National Book Association, Los Angeles Chapter, in association with the Judy Lopez Memorial Foundation.

Award news. It happens.

This week (which is to say, last week) the Jane Addams Children's Book Awards were announced. Who didn't win? Well, uh... howzabout Jane Addams: Champion of Democracy? That was a really good book last year and it got just about zippo attention.

I do wonder if they actively avoided allowing the Jane Addams book to win. In any case, here's the official announcement thingy:

JANE ADDAMS CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARDS ANNOUNCED
April 27, 2007….Winners of the 2007 Jane Addams Children's Book Awards were announced today by the Jane Addams Peace Association.

A Place Where Sunflowers Grow, written by Amy-Lee Tai, illustrated by Felicia Hoshino and published by Children's Book Press is the winner in the Books for Younger Children category.

Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata and published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, is the winner in the Books for Older Children category. Both books draw on personal family history to create stories about Japanese-American girls living in internment camps in the United States during World War II.

Two books have won honors in the Books for Younger Children Category.

Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom , is written by Tim Tingle, illustrated by Jeanne Rorex Bridges and published by Cinco Puntos Press. The Choctaw people live on one side of the river Bok Chitto; plantation owners and African American slaves live on the other. A secret friendship between a Choctaw girl and an African-American boy is the first link in a chain of humanity that spirits the boy's family across the river to freedom. The folk tale is a tribute to the Choctaws and Indians of every nation who aided African Americans running from slavery. Earth-tone paintings and striking use of white express the story's blend of reality and magic perfectly.

Night Boat to Freedom, is written by Margot Theis Raven, pictures by E. B. Lewis and published by Melanie Kroupa Books, an imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux. In danger and darkness, an enslaved African-American boy repeatedly risks his life to row others across the river to Ohio and freedom. Expressive watercolors use blues, grays and patches of red to convey the emotional landscape of this story etched from the oral histories of former slaves

Two books have won honors in the Books for Older Children category.

Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, by Russell Freedman and published by Holiday House . With inspiring quotes, compelling photos and telling details, Freedman's well-documented account of the1955-56 Montgomery (AL) bus boycott brings the grass-roots, nonviolent nature of this movement to the fore. This story of ordinary African American citizens who "rose up in protest and united to demand their rights—by walking peacefully" demonstrates the power of passive resistance and collective action in challenging racism and injustice that shape daily life.

Counting on Grace, by Elizabeth Winthrop, published by Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Forced to leave school, a French-Canadian girl joins her family working in the mills of Vermont in the early 1900's. With the support of a local teacher and incognito
child-labor activist and photographer Lewis Hine, she sees the world beyond the
boundaries of the mill and realizes the power of literacy to effect change.

The 2007 Jane Addams Children's Book Awards will be presented Friday, October 19 th in New York City. Details about the award event and about securing winner and honor book seals are available from the Jane Addams Peace Association. Contact JAPA Executive Director Linda B. Belle, 777 United Nations Plaza, 6 th Floor, New York, NY 10017-3521; by phone 212-682-8830; and by e-mail mailto:[email protected].

Two new booklists have just come out, practically at the same precise moment. The first, thanks to Educating Alice, is the 2007 Notable Books in the English Language Arts. It's a short but worthwhile list. I was particularly pleased to see the inclusion of The Braid by Helen Frost, A True and Faithful Narrative by Katherine Sturtevant, The Year of the Dog by Grace Lin, Rules by Cynthia Lord, To Dance by Sienna Segal, Oh Rats! by Albert Marrin, Team Moon by Catherin Thimmesh, Once Upon a Banana by Jennifer Armstrong, and The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon by Mini Grey.

Still. No Fly By Night and no A Drowned Maiden's Hair. To my mind, every list should have at least one of these two.

Also, there was the announcement of the E.B. White Read Aloud Award winners:

The winner of the 2007 E. B. White Read Aloud Award for Picture Books is Houndsley and Catina by James Howe, illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay (Candlewick).

The winner of the 2007 E. B. White Read Aloud Award for Older Readers is: Alabama Moon by Watt Key (Farrar, Straus & Giroux).

Let's do some award winners I haven't mentioned before for kicks.

First up is the The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Awards. They've announced some truly lovely winners.

Picture Book:
An Egg Is Quiet by Dianna Hutts Aston.

Middle Grades:
Team Moon by Catherine Thimmesh.

Young Adult:
Tigerland and Other Unintended Destinations by Eric Dinerstein.

Hands On Science:
Thomas Edison for Kids by Laurie M. Carlson.

The Canadian Literature Association (CLA) also announced their shortlist. I'll give someone true props if they can tell me they've read Beth Goobie's book Hello, Groin. First of all, if you write a book called Hello, Groin, you better damn well make sure that your name is Beth Goobie. Cause... y'know. It's AWESOME. Second, I want that book. Now. Gimme. Maybe it's the scrotum debate, but anything with the word "Groin" in the title just has to be good.

We live in a world where The Boy In the Striped Pajamas and Wintersmith can compete for the same award. The Galaxy British Book Awards (also known as the Nibbies because "Nibbies" sounds a lot more English), "bring together established authors, celebrity writers and new talent whose work is voted on by ordinary readers." Basically they're the Quills of England.

These are the nominations for best children's book of the year:

* CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne;
Flanimals of the Deep - Ricky Gervais;
Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend - Francesca Simon;
The Incredible Book Eating Boy - Oliver Jeffers;
Peter Pan in Scarlet - Geraldine McCaughrean;
Wintersmith - Terry Pratchett

Uh... Go Terry and Geraldine and Oliver! I love you, Ricky, but come on, man. Haven't you enough accolades for one lifetime?

And again with the Richard and Judy references. Anyone ever seen them?

Thanks to Big A little a for the link.

It looks as if the 2006 Golden Kite Award winners, as pronounced by SCBWI, have been announced. Cynsations has a great posting on who won what that I won't steal here. There were a couple of surprises here and there. I felt bad that I never saw Picture Book Illustration winner Not Afraid of Dogs by Susanna Pitzer last year. It looks charming. Plus, well done Alvina Ling for editing two of the winners. Not too shabby, m'dear.

Thanks to Cynsations for the link.

Thanks to Kids Lit our attention has been shifted to the all new ALSC ChildTech Wiki. And what a good idea it is too. With the ever shifting Web out there, permanent lists of online resources tend to become outdated in a year or less. Says the site, "Please feel free to add information regarding technology within the realm of library services for children." It's still in the early stages without many resources listed, but add your two cents if you've a yen to do so and watch it grow.

Even more fun, Kids Lit also linked to the recent Edgar nominees.

• Gilda Joyce: The Ladies of the Lake by Jennifer Allison (Penguin Young Readers - Sleuth/Dutton)
• The Stolen Sapphire: A Samantha Mystery by Sarah Masters Buckey (American Girl Publishing)
• Room One: A Mystery or Two by Andrew Clements (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
• The Bloodwater Mysteries: Snatched by Pete Hautman & Mary Logue (Penguin Young Readers - Sleuth/Putnam)
• The Case of the Missing Marquess: An Enola Holmes Mystery by Nancy Springer (Penguin Young Readers - Philomel/Sleuth)

I'm pleased as punch to see the inclusion of Nancy's Springer's Enola Holmes. To my mind this was one of the too little appreciated books of 2006. A really fun mystery with an exceedingly strong grasp on the whole Holmes mythos. Read it if you've a moment to spare. I give it to all the kids looking for mysteries.