John Newbery Medal
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz (Candlewick)
Newbery Honor Books
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis (Scholastic/Scholastic Press)
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (Clarion)
Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson (Putnam/GP Putnam's Sons)
Randolph Caldecott Medal
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (Scholastic)
Caldecott Honor Books
Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, written by Ellen Levine (Scholastic/Scholastic Press)
First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger (Roaring Brook/Neal Porter)
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtin by Peter Sís (Farrar/Frances Foster)
Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems (Hyperion)
2009 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecturer
Walter Dean Myers
Mildred L. Batchelder Award
VIZ Media, publisher of Brave Story, by Miyuki Miyabe, translated from the Japanese by Alexander O. Smith
Batchelder Honor Books
Milkweed Editions, publisher of The Cat: Or, How I Lost Eternity, by Jutta Richter, illustrated by Rotraut Susanne Berner, and translated from the German by Anna Brailovsky
Phaidon Press, publisher of Nicholas and the Gang, written by René Goscinny, illustrated by Jacques Sempé, and translated from the French by Anthea Bell
Pura Belpré Author Award
The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Sean Qualls (Holt)
Belpré Author Honor Books
Frida: ¡Viva la vida! Long Live Life! by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand (Marshall Cavendish)
Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale, retold by Carmen Agra Deedy, illustrated by Michael Austin (Peachtree)
Los Gatos Black on Halloween, written by Marisa Montes, illustrated by Yuyi Morales (Holt)
Pura Belpré Illustrator Award
Los Gatos Black on Halloween, illustrated by Yuyi Morales, written by Marisa Montes (Holt)
Belpré Illustrator Honor Books
My Name Is Gabito: The Life of Gabriel García Márquez/Me llamo Gabito: la vida de Gabriel García Márquez, illustrated by Raúl Colón, written by Monica Brown (Luna Rising)
My Colors, My World/Mis colores, mi mundo, written and illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez (Children's Book Press)
Andrew Carnegie Medal
Kevin Lafferty, producer, John Davis, executive producer, and Amy Palmer Robertson and Danielle Sterling, co-producers, of Jump In: Freestyle Edition
Theodor Seuss Geisel Award
There Is a Bird on Your Head! by Mo Willems (Hyperion)
Geisel Honor Books
First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger (Roaring Brook/Neal Porter)
Hello, Bumblebee Bat, written by Darrin Lunde, illustrated by Patricia J. Wynne (Charlesbridge)
Jazz Baby, written by Lisa Wheeler, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie (Harcourt)
Vulture View, written by April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Steve Jenkins (Holt)
Odyssey Award
Jazz, Live Oak Media
Odyssey Honor Audiobooks
Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy, Listen & Live Audio
Dooby Dooby Moo, Weston Woods/Scholastic
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Listening Library
Skulduggery Pleasant, HarperCollins Audio
Treasure Island, Listening Library
Sibert Medal
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtin by Peter Sís (Farrar/Frances Foster)
Sibert Honor Books
Lightship by Brian Floca (Simon & Schuster/Richard Jackson)
Nic Bishop Spiders by Nic Bishop (Scholastic/Scholastic Nonfiction)
So, you know how when you are totally in love with a series and you pre-order the next volume as soon as possible and then just kinda drop everything to read it when it comes through the door? Please tell me I am not the only person like this.
Anyway, here are some books that fall in that category. I read these most of these day they came out. I'm just slow to talk about them.
The Last Apprentice: Curse of the Bane by Joseph Delaney.
Ok, I didn't preorder this. But I totally pre-reserved it at the library. If anything, this book is scarier, creepier, and grosser than the first one. And possibly even better.
Thomas Ward and the Spook are off to Priestown (which, as you can imagine, is a town full of Priests, and they're never fans of Spooks). The Bane is an evil thing that crushes its victims flat and is starting to control the minds of the people living near its prison, in the catacombs underneath the church. Thomas and the Spook need to finish it once and for all, but the Spook has tried, and failed before.
Oh, and they're going to be hanged for being Spooks. All in a days work!
Regarding the Bathrooms: A Privy to the Pastby Kate Klise
Ok, once again, something I pre-reserved. I only have so much bookshelf space people!
The kid's in Sam N's class are back. It's summer, and they've all found jobs. Marriages are on the rocks, international crime rings seemingly have ties to Geyser Creek and deep secrets of the past are uncovered. Probably the best book in this series since the first one.
The Sisters Grimm: Once Upon a Crime by Michael Buckley
When we last saw Sabrina, Daphne, Puck & Co., Puck's wings had been torn off and he was dying. SO! The family makes its way to New York City, the heart of the Faerie Kingdom so Puck can get well...
It turns out that Veronica Grimm (before she went missing) was a hero here. Sabrina is NOT HAPPY to find this out. She is angrier than ever. Then, King Oberon is found poisoned and an innocent Faerie is blamed. Sabrina wants out of the game, and Grandma Grimm lets her quit, but now Daphne won't talk to her...
This is one of my favorites in the series. The change of locale and new cast of characters keeps the scenario from getting repetitive and old. Also, it's not often that you see the cast of
A Midsummer Night's Dream making fractured appearances in children's literature. Where it's funnier if you're familiar with the play, it still works for people who haven't read or seen it (and I think most of the target audience falls into this category).
I also love the introduction of the Godfathers. More Mafia than turning pumpkins into coaches, they're brilliant. As is Bluebeard as a Wall Street financier. Once again, all jokes that younger readers aren't going to fully understand, but it's not only for adults.
The changing and evolving relationship between Sabrina and Daphne is one of the best, and most subtle, parts of this series, and this is a good volume (if less subtle) in that regard.
And yes, I've already pre-ordered
Magic and Other MisdemeanorsClarice Bean, Don't Look Now by Lauren Child
This hasn't even been published in the US yet, but Amazon will obtain a UK copy for you.
Clarice has some bigger worries in this latest installment (and more pages in which to explore them! yippee!) It's still zany and fun and silly and everything you love about Clarice, but also deeper and older. Betty moves away and everyone's cranky and she's so worried and anxious about everything that she's not sleeping anymore, which isn't helping with school. There's a new girl, Clem, and everyone seems to love her, but Clarice doesn't trust her at all.
There's still a lot of Ruby, a lot more of Marcie (as she's back from France) and less of Minal Cricket. A must read for Clarice fans.
New Sisters Grimm! So exciting. I'm jealous.