How to use this Page

Have you nominated a book for the Cybils? Hurry up, there's only a few days left. Nominations close on October 15, 2008. Anybody can nominate one book per category.

Flood! by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by John Wallace

Snow Dogs: Racers of the North by Ian Whitelaw

Volcano! by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by John Wallace

Click here to nominate in the early reader category.

In addition to this list, another great place to look for ideas is the Mock Geisel blog, created by the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Check out the new poll on the sidebar to see if you've nominated a book in every category.

Add a Comment

I'm putting this post up now, so it will have an October 2008 date stamp and because I want to keep from getting swayed by all the predictions that are about to pop up everywhere. I do feel a little strange, though, about sticking my neck out so early with these predictions.

I'm a book buyer for an independent toy and book store. There's a lot at stake for book buyers in correctly picking the Newbery and Caldecott winners and honor books. If you guess correctly, you'll have tons of copies of the magic books during the week that everyone wants them.

If you guess incorrectly, you won't have the magic book and you'll have to wait two months or more for it to be reprinted. Or you'll have a huge pile of books that no one is looking for that you'll probably end up returning to the publisher. This is particularly important for small independents, who thrive on having the right book at the right time... and who can't afford to keep as much stock on hand as larger chains.

If you're curious about my predictions and reactions about last year's American Library Association Awards, see:

• My predictions and comments about how tough it is to predict the ALA award winners.
• A scorecard of how many winning books I had on hand at the store when the announcements were made.
• Why I thought Hugo Cabret was going to break my heart and
• Why I've never been so happy to be wrong.
• Hear the crowd reaction when Hugo Cabret won the Caldecott.
• Additional reactions to the awards.
• Highlights from the 2007 and 2008 Caldecott/Newbery banquets.
• A Caldecott Adventure, which has nothing to do with predictions, but it's my favorite (and the most challenging) post that I wrote about the Caldecotts last year.
• Plus, I hosted the January 2008 Carnival of Children's literature, where you can find numerous and well-written reactions to various children's book awards.
  

Enough with previous years. Let's move on to this year.

I just finished The Underneath by Kathi Appelt. Wow. What a book. I know I've already predicted a Newbery for Trouble by Gary Schmidt, but I think The Underneath is a force to be reckoned with. My current thought is that The Underneath will get a shiny gold sticker, and Trouble will get a shiny silver sticker. But, there's lots of other books with buzz swirling around them that I haven't yet read (including some on the list below), so I don't have firm predictions yet.

Warning about The Underneath: DON'T judge this book by its cover. It's for an older audience than the cute dog and cat pictures seem to indicate.

At this moment, here's the books I'm planning on having on hand at the book store when the Newbery announcement is made:

• Brooklyn Bridge by Karen Hesse, illustrated by Chris Sheban
  
• Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Greetings from Nowhere by Barbara O'Connor
• Savvy by Ingrid Law
• Trouble by Gary Schmidt
• The Underneath by Kathi Appelt, illustrated by David Small
  
• Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor

On to the Caldecott. As a book buyer, I've read literally hundreds of picture books this year. Here's some of the ones that have risen to the top for me and that I'm planning on having on hand at the store when the Caldecott announcement is made:

• A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee
• Darkness Slipped In by Ella Burfoot
• How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz
• In a Blue Room by Jim Averbeck, illustrated by Tricia Tusa
• Old Bear by Kevin Henkes
  
• Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad by James Rumford
  
• Wanda Gág: The Girl Who Lived to Draw by Deborah Kogan Ray (also a possibility for the Sibert, the informational book award).

I'm not sure where to put We Are The Ship by Kadir Nelson, but my guess is that it has a shot at the Caldecott, Newbery and Sibert. It'll be interesting to see what happens with it.

Do you think I missed a few very obvious titles? Take a look at the Caldecott medal terms and criteria on the American Library Association website.

"The Award is restricted to artists who are citizens or residents of the United States."

And, also look at the following definition within the criteria:

"'Resident' specifies that author has established and maintained residence in the United States as distinct from being a casual or occasional visitor."

So this means, that some of the books with lots of buzz around them are out of the running for the Caldecott. These include:

• A Visitor for Bear. Author Bonny Becker lives in the U.S. but illustrator Kady Macdonald Denton lives in Canada. Sigh. I would have loved it if my favorite picture book of the year were eligible.
• Monkey and Me and Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears. Emily Gravett lives in England.
• Wave. Suzy Lee lives in Singapore.
• Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes. Mem Fox lives in Australia and Helen Oxenbury lives in England.
  

For the Geisel Award (the new early reader award), here are some of the ones I'm thinking about:

• A Brand New Day for Mouse and Mole by Wong Herbert Yee
• Dodsworth in Paris by Tim Egan
• Dog and Bear: Two's Company by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
• Hooray for Fly Guy! by Tedd Arnold
  
• Houndsley and Catina and the Quiet Time by James Howe, illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay (it's in the poll, but shouldn't be. A librarian pointed out in the comments that the illustrator is Canadian, which I hadn't realized).
• I Love My New Toy! by Mo Willems
  
• I Will Surprise my Friend by Mo Willems
  
• Mr. Putter and Tabby Run the Race by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Arthur Howard
  
• The Twin Giants by Dick King Smith, illustrated by Mini Grey (which may be to long for the Geisel).
  

My best guess for the newly created Odyssey award for audio books so far is Jim Dale's narration of Alice in Wonderland.

This year's announcement is particularly exciting for me. I'm attending the 2009 ALA Midwinter conference in Denver, so for the first time, I'll get to hear the award announcements live.

Do you want to nominate your favorite book from 2008 for an award? Check out the wonderful Cybils (the Children and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards). Nominations are open from now until October 15, 2008. Finalists will be posted on January 1, 2009 and winners will be posted on February 14, 2009. Check out the Cybils website and see this post on Jen Robinson's Book Page for more information. The Cybils nominations and finalist lists are also a great way to get a sense of which books are being talked about.

Want to hear ALA Award prediction buzz and offer your own thoughts? The Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana has four terrific blogs set up for just this purpose. Here are links to their Mock Newbery, Mock Caldecott, Mock Sibert and Mock Geisel blogs.

What are your thoughts at this early date? Leave the titles I didn't mention and your opinions about your early favorites in the comments. I posted about the Caldecotts, Newberys and Geisels, but predications about other ALA awards are definitely welcome. (Printz, Sibert, Coretta Scott King, Odyssey, Batchelder, Belpré, Carnegie, and the American Indian Youth Literature Award). Also, there's an award being given out for the first time... the William C. Morris Debut Award for for first time authors of young adult literature.

If any authors, illustrators, publishers and editors of the books listed above happen to land on this post via a Google search, please comment. I'd love to hear what you think. (If you feel weird about posting your comment for everyone to see, you can e-mail me at: wizardwireless at gmail dot com. (Yes, it's "wizard" not "wizards" because the plural version was already in use). And I'd love to hear opinions from everyone else, too, of course.

Also, if you, or anyone you know, has posted a "best of the year" children's book list... I'd love to see it. Please leave links in the comments.

Check back when the announcements are made on Monday, January 26, 2009, and we'll see if any of us guessed correctly.

And, be sure to vote in the new poll on the sidebar!

Add a Comment

Last week, Charlesbridge heard the good--no, make that great... stupendous, joyous, and all--news that Hello, Bumblebee Bat, by Darrin Lunde and illustrated by Patricia Wynne, won a Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Honor. We were overjoyed and beside ourselves with glee. So, we had cake and champagne to celebrate. The cake lady misspelled 'bumblebee', but that's okay. She just won't win a Geisel Honor.

And here we are at ALA-Midwinter with our popular poster of Lola at the Library. The lucky winner of the poster raffle is Monica Rhue of James B. Duke Library in Charlotte, North Carolina. Congrats!

Posted by Donna

Add a Comment

While there were definite gasps and applause when The Invention of Hugo Cabret won the Caldecott gold, I’m sure that there were also cheers for the two medals Mo Willems’ books received. Personally, I wasn’t able to hear them, since I was at home cheering, “Yeah! Yeah!” like it was a football game in the fourth quarter. In dashing off a note of congratulations to Mo, I slipped in that I might

Add a Comment

After all that build-up to the American Library Association awards, I haven't talked about the winners and honor books yet, except for Hugo Cabret. Let's correct that. You can find a full list of all the books that were honored here on ALA's website.

On to the books that I'm particularly overjoyed about...

I'm absolutely thrilled that The Invention of Hugo Cabret won the Caldecott Medal... in fact, I wrote a whole post on the subject. If you haven't been able to get your hands on this extraordinary book yet, here are a few things you can do. To see the images from the first chapter of the book, go the Hugo Cabret website. And be sure to go to Teachingbooks.net to hear the first chapter narrated by Brian Selznick, and find out that the correct pronunciation of the title character is Hue Go Cab Ray. Then, head to the nearest library or bookstore, because you won't want to stop reading.

After I'm done with my standing ovation for the 2008 Caldecott committee, I'd like to give another one to the 2008 Newbery committee for awarding the Newbery medal to Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz. It's a quiet, powerful book that slowly takes hold of you and is a unique work that's a combination of poetry, theater, non-fiction and superb storytelling. The research that went into it is excellent and it has some of the funniest and informative footnotes that I've ever found in a book written for children. I really felt like I gained an understanding of the Middle Ages, particularly what life was like for children, in a way that I never have before. I also felt like I made friends with each character in Schlitz's village and I loved when their stories connected. Most importantly, Schlitz never talks down to her audience. This understated book could have easily been lost in the shuffle. I'm so glad that through the power of the Newbery Medal, kids will have a chance to discover it.

To hear Schlitz read the last monologue from the book (which also happens to be one of my favorite pieces in the book), go to TeachingBooks.net. For Schlitz's reaction to winning the Newbery, see "Children's Book Award Winners Break the Mold" by Bob Thompson in the Washington Post and "Fairy tales do come true at Park School" by Mary Carole McCauley and Jill Rosen in the Baltimore Sun. Also, see Newbery committee member Monica Edinger's description of the magic phone call on her blog Educating Alice.

First the Egg by Laura Vacarro Seeger received not one, but two honors. It was awarded a Caldecott Honor and a Geisel honor. I think this book is extraordinary in subtle ways. Through the magic of LookyBook, I can give you a glimpse into this lovely book.



Unfortunately, this doesn't really convey the die-cuts, which I think are the best part. There are strategically placed holes throughout the book (the best example is on the title page where you can see the cut-out of the egg). Seeger is a brilliant artist and and I am so happy that she's finally received well deserved recognition.

I'm also quite happy that Henry's Freedom Box garnered a Caldecott honor. It's a straightforward, true and moving account of a slave who literally mailed himself to freedom in a large box. And the pictures are wonderful. Author Ellen Levine has written a number of books I've enjoyed such as I Hate English and If Your Name was Changed at Ellis Island. It's great to see her gripping and engaging text honored. Illustrator Kadir Nelson is becoming a bit of a superstar and picked up a Caldecott honor last year for Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom.


As for There is A Bird on Your Head! by Mo Willems, which won the Geisel Award, I agree with MotherReader (see here and here) that it's the best of the four Elephant and Piggie books. The humor and slapstick in this book is absolutely brilliant. I read it aloud at a storytime yesterday to a group that ranged from 6 months to 6 years old. Kids and parents were hanging on every word, and practically every page was greeted with uproarious laughter. Also, it makes excellent use of white space and contains large text and simple words which combine to make it a terrific early reader. And the jokes don't hurt either.

One last comment... and it's about Harry Potter, of course. I was watching the live webcast of the awards. When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was mentioned as an Odyssey Honor, my heart sank. Because that meant that it hadn't won the Odyssey Award. And it's unfair to gripe about, because I haven't heard the winner yet. Jazz, which did win, is based on an excellent book, and I look forward to hearing the audio edition. And, I applaud the Odyssey committee for looking at the entire spectrum and awarding honors audio productions created from picture books, informational book and traditional chapter books. And really, I'm delighted that Deathly Hallows received an Odyssey honor.

Congratulations to all the committees and all the award winners. Now that the big moment is over, what do you want to do? Go to Disneyland, of course. The ALA annual convention is in Anaheim this year, and I can't wait to hear the acceptance speeches in June.

Add a Comment

The Geisel? The what? You know, the Theodor Seuss Geisel award for beginning readers. Particularly important this year because it goes to There’s a Bird on Your Head, by Mo Willems. Didn’t I say that was my favorite of the Elephant and Piggie books? Oh, yes I did. Go Mo! The Caldecott Honor Awards go to Henry’s Freedom Box, illustrated by Kadir Nelson; First the Egg, written and illustrated by

Display Comments Add a Comment

All right. There’s an award I shouldn’t have missed. I shouldn’t have missed it because one of the books receiving the award was a book that was given to me by the author. And was a book specifically recommended to me by a blogfriend. So...

Theodor Seuss Geisel Beginning Reader Award Winner:

Zelda and Ivy: The Runaways, written and illustrated by Laura McGee Kvasnosky
(No, not this one.)

Three Geisel Honor Books:

• Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride, written by Kate DiCamillo
  (No, not this one either — though I think it is funny that the lighter side of DiCamillo won and the darker side did not.)
  


• Move Over, Rover! written by Karen Beaumont
  (Nope.)
  


• Not a Box, written and illustrated by Antoinette Portis
  (Yes! Many of the kids’ lit blogs reviewed it and liked it, but it seems that we missed her award — including the blogger who suggested the book to me.)
  

I am a bit confused by the award itself, which is for “the most distinguished beginning reader book”; I thought of Not a Box as a picture book. What’s up with that?

While I’m here, let me also mention the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award for most distinguished informational book for children, which went to Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon, written by Catherine Thimmesh. Great book, and also much talked about in the kid-lit world, including here.

Display Comments Add a Comment