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I was so excited this morning about the ALA awards. I'm truly a book nerd. People roll their eyes at me. It's okay, I'm proud to be a book nerd.

Here of some of the award and honor winners that I have previously reviewed:

Caldecott Honor Books:
Henry's Freedom Box (and I'm very excited--I'll get to see Kadir Nelson at the Virginia State Reading Association Conference in March)

First the Egg (also received a Geisel honor award)

I'm not sure how I managed not to review Knuffle Bunny Too, but I really did like the book. It made the Cybils fiction picture book shortlist.

Caldecott Winner:
The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Winner:
Let it Shine

Schneider Family Book Award, Middle Grades Category:
Reaching for the Sun (my review is in The Edge of the Forest)

Pura Bulpre Award, Author Recipient
The Poet Slave of Cuba: A biography of Juan Francisco Manzano

I'm pretty pleased that I had reviews in many categories. While I read a lot of middle grade fiction, I don't always review it (I don't know why...). It was one of my New Year's Resolutions to review more middle grade fiction. I read the Newbery winner and two of the three honor books. I really liked the ones I read, but I didn't review them this year.

Ah, the award season is upon us. And I don't mean the Golden Globes, Academy Awards, or any other silly low profile affairs like those. I am of course referring to the children's book award season that begins with the announcement of the Newbery and Caldecott and other ALA awards and culminates with the prestigious Bluebonnet award presented at the TLA conference in late March. For those of you who have possibly not lived in Texas (or The Center of the World as we think of it here), you may not be familiar with the Bluebonnet Award. You can familiarize yourself here.

This morning the feeding frenzy began when ALA announced the winner of all of their major awards. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village, a book I've never heard of, won the Newberry. White Darkness won the Printz, and in what I'm sure will be a controversial move, ALA awarded the Caldecott for "most distinguished American picture book for children" to The Invention of Hugo Cabret, a mid-grade novel. Personally, I feel a picture book award should go to a picture book, but no one asked me.

And, that, I have decided, is the problem. Yet again I am unable to participate in all the non-stop discussions on these books because I haven't read a single one of them. I tried to read Hugo Cabret, but didn't make it past the first set of pictures. The other 2 don't really sound all that interesting to me, so I doubt I'll be reading them. I have read some of the Honor books, but that's not as fun as discussing the actual winners. So if one of the books has disturbing imagery, or controversial plots, or even uses taboo words like booby, I know nothing about it. I'm spending another year in the dark concerning the winners.

But, I'm determined not to miss out on award mania entirely. Since I can't join the talks about the "official" award winners, I just decided to present some awards of my own. So, presenting the first 1st annual 2008 Slushie Awards. (Play suitable theme music here.) From now until I lose interest, I will periodically be presenting a Slushie to a book I think worthy of notice and attention. I will be taking nominations for both book and category ideas. And since no award is complete without a seal, I made one of those too:


So as to not take away from the other award winners' special day, I will not announce the first of the Slushies until tomorrow. You'll just have to wait in hair pulling anticipation until then.

AND THE WINNERS ARE:

Newbery - Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz (author of one of my favorites - the Drowned Maiden's Hair)

Honors - Elijah of Buxton - Christopher Paul Curtis

Wednesday Wars - Gary D. Schmidt (ok, I'll admit it - this is the one I WANTED to win!!!)

Feathers - Jacqueline Woodson

Caldecott - Invention of Hugo Cabret - Brian Selznick

Honors - Henry's Freedom Box - ills. by Kadir Nelson, written by Ellen Levine

First the Egg - written and illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain - written and illustrated by Peter Sís

Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity - written and illustrated Mo Willems

To see more, go HERE.

And the winners are:

Caldecott Honor books:
Henry's Freedom Box
First the Egg
The Wall
Knuffle Bunny Too

Caldecott Winner:
The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Newbery Honor:
Elijah of Buxton
Wednesday Wars
Feathers

Newbery Medal:
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!

Many thanks to Goddess of YA Literature for her live blogging! You can see all of the winners at her site. I was watching the live webcast with my kids at school and right after Wednesday Wars, it stopped! Stopped I tell you!!!! And I couldn't get it back. I don't know why! I don't know if it was my end or ALA's. I was going crazy! Then I jumped to the Goddess's website and she put me out of my anxiety ridden moment.

What I'm excited about...I've read ALL of these books except for Feathers. This is the first time ever for me that has happened. And you know who I credit? Why the kidlitosphere of course! The kid lit bloggers are out there posting on all of these good books all year.

What else I'm excited about...The Invention of Hugo Cabret!!! All year long I have been bragging about this book to everyone I know. It is one of the best books ever. And all of the naysayers were saying that this book wouldn't get any big awards because what category is it in? Well, yippee ka yay! It won! Congratulations Mr. Selznick!

Click the play button on this flash player to listen now:


Or click MP3 File to start your computer's media player.

SHOW NOTES:

In this episode of The Book of Life, a show about Jewish people and the books we read, we celebrate Thanksgiving with a special bonus episode!

> We hear from Todd Herzog, a Jewish musician/singer/songwriter from Phoenix, Arizona. Todd's spiritual pop music has a thankful quality about it that fits in well with Thanksgiving. Also check out Todd's MySpace page.

> We meet Maryann Kovalski, illustrator of the award-winning picture book Rivka's First Thanksgiving by Elsa Okon Rael.

> We learn about the Library Blogathon at the Feldman Children's Library (home base of The Book of Life). If you are a fan of books and libraries, you need to check out this blog! Available beginning November 21, 2007.

> Throughout the show we send shout-outs to various listeners who have sent in their comments and feedback to The Book of Life during the year. Do YOU have something to say? Be sure to email us at [email protected]!

Background music is provided by The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band. Additional background music for this episode is provided by Brian Smith at The Laughing Librarian's "BibDitties" (copyright 2006).

Books and CD's mentioned on the show may be borrowed from the Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel. Browse our online catalog to reserve books, post a review, or just to look around!