MotherReader

Yes, I missed the Youth Media Awards announcements. I took my Girl Scouts snow tubing on the teacher work day. Of course, I wish I had known that it was a teacher work day for all the surrounding counties. Perhaps then we wouldn’t have had a three-hour wait for our tubing time and wouldn’t have had to fight with crowds the entire time and I wouldn’t have come home so late and wouldn’t have run out of steam to the point where I don’t even care any more about the awards.

I’m sorry, I’m obviously not myself to have even said such a thing. I admit to feeling a little disconnected from the Newbery Awards because out of all the winners, I only read The Underneath. But I did think it would get an honor award, so I was right there. I did know all the Caldecott winners, and while I may not have chosen them myself, I didn’t find them a surprise. I had also thought that How I Learned Geography was going to win an honor award. Apparently, I am not even trying to predict the winners anymore. Just the honors.

Popping around through my blog reader I noticed others’ reactions, more interesting than mine:

• Fuse #8 made plenty of predictions as the year went on, and shares her thoughts while listening to the results. Updated to add: And adds her opinions on the Newbery and Caldecott results.
  


• Abby (the) Librarian was all hopped up on the awards, and offers her thoughts on the picks. Kids Lit reports the award high points.
  


• A Year of Reading offers a different way to win the prediction game — by predicting that the winner will be a book that one has not yet read. In contrast, over at Becky’s Book Reviews, we have links to her many reviews of award-winners.
  


• At Mitali’s Fire Escape, she’s wondering about the need for all the ethnic book awards. The Brown Bookshelf, on the other hand, is celebrating them.
  


• Jama Rattigan offers congrats to her fellow writers. And the Newbery winner takes us into his reponse (insert amazed and delighted swearing). Updated to add: Holy cow! An interview with Gaiman one day after his win at Just One More Book.
  


• Charlotte couldn’t be happier about the Gaiman win, as Jen highlights her favorites from the day.
  


• At Wizards Wireless, Susan can’t help but offer one last-minute prediction, and follows up with the the complete list of winners, which I’m lifting directly from her site (as it seems to involve the least formatting) and pasting below. (But not before I acknowledge the Geisel win of a very special person. He’s happy about it, too.)

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Newbery Medal: The Graveyard Book
Newbery Honors: The Underneath; The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba; Savvy; After Tupac & D Foster

Caldecott Medal: House in the Night
Caldecott Honors: A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever; How I Learned Geography; River of Words: the Story of William Carlos Williams

Printz Award: Jellicoe Road
Printz Honors: Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation Volume 2; The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks; Tender Morsels

Geisel Award: Are You Ready to Play Outside? [by Mo Willems]
Geisel Honors: Chicken Said Cluck; One Boy; Stinky; Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator

Coretta Scott King Author Award: We Are the Ship
Coretta Scott King Author Honors: The Blacker the Berry; Keeping the Night Watch; Becoming Billie Holiday

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award: The Blacker the Berry
Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honors: We Are the Ship; Before John Was a Jazz Giant; The Moon Over Star

Coretta Scott King / John Steptoe New Talent Award: Bird

Schneider Family Book Award for Young Children: Piano Starts Here: the Young Art Tatum

Schneider Family Book Award for Middle Grades: Waiting for Normal

Schneider Family Book Award for Teens: Jerk, California

Sibert Medal: We Are the Ship
Sibert Honors: Bodies From Ice; What to Do About Alice?

Pura Belpré Illustrator Award: Just in Case
Pura Belpré Illustrator Honors: Papa and Me; The Storyteller’ s Candle; What Can You Do With a Rebozo?

Pura Belpré Author Award: The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom
Pura Belpré Author Honors: Just in Case; Reaching Out; The Storyteller’s Candle

I’m not sure when else I’d link to a USA Today article unless it’s the first to tell me about the winners’ reactions.

After learning she had won, Schlitz still went to work at Baltimore’s Park School, where she has been a librarian for 17 years. “But I am wearing a plastic tiara,” Schlitz, 52, said Monday.

Selznick, 41, literally flew. “At 3:30 a.m., the phone rang and I jumped out of bed,” says the writer/illustrator. He flew from San Diego to New York to appear this morning with Schlitz on the Today show.

The Washington Post shares a little bit of extra information on the Newbery-winning book. It also features the worst slide show ever, given that there are two slides and one is a book cover. The new information, at least for me, was that the book was pulled from the slush pile, and that it was written, submitted, and awaiting publication while she was writing, submitting, and publishing two other books. Remember A Drowned Maiden’s Hair, anyone? A book that should have won a Newbery last year.

Fuse#8 is in the room with a detailed report of the ALA Media Awards. She’s also found the Today Show video and here it is, in all its annoying glory. OMG, does the interviewer not realize that authors can speak? TV Tip: Let the writers talk about their own books. You can almost see the thought flickering behind Selznick’s eyes, “I had to get up at 3:30 a.m. and fly to New York for this?”

Fuse also reminded me of something that I remembered, then forgot, and now with her help remembered again. Monica Edinger was on the Newbery committee, and she has been posting choice thoughts over at Educating Alice. Interesting stuff, very interesting.

If you wish you were in the room to hear the gasp when the Caldecott winner was announced (And yes, Zee, I could hear the gasp), Zee Says lets us join her at ALA with her post. She also provided the link to the videocast, in case you want to relive the award moments with bonus audience reaction. Or if you just want to hear the Hugo Cabret Whoop (yes, that’s what it’s called now), try the podcast over at Read Roger. It includes bonus behind-the-scenes audio coverage!

There were lots of posts all over the kidlitosphere (duh), but one that really caught my eye was over at Writing and Ruminating, where she suggested, “Let’s look at the awards with our poet-goggles on, shall we?” Until I saw that, I hadn’t realized how poetry-heavy the lists were. So as she says, “a great day for poetry.” Who would have thunk it?

Now, David Lubar’s post is all about not winning at “Newbery my heart at wounded pride,” where he offers his comment space “to complain, rant, moan or vent.” Apparently, the loudest sound in the world is the sound of the phone not ringing.

Seems like the Cybils committees know a thing or two, based on the number of books that made the short lists that received awards. Take a look.

The YAYAs (or at least one YA) express shock and... well, disappointment at the Printz awards. Interesting reading. But then there’s Sara, who had a pretty enthusiastic response to the winner.

Some great thoughts on the awards at Wizards Wireless, but maybe even more relevant are her thoughts as a bookseller. Did she get the orders right?

As it turns out, Slate picked up one of my standard run-on sentences about Brian Selznick’s Caldecott win. Scroll down (no, even farther) to see a quote from me and and also Lisa Yee. I’m in good company there.

Robin Brande was the first to alert me to the fact that the Young Adult Library Services Association’s Best Books for Young Adults 2008 listing is now posted. She was particularly interested in the list, because her book, Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature, is on the list! Way to go, Robin! I also see some of my other favorites listed, including fun guy Barry Lyga for Boy Toy. Here’s where you’ll also see some love for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Personally, I’m a bigger fan of these lists than the awards themselves, because they more accurately capture the range of literature that can touch many different people. Picking one “Best” book is all well and good for the fun of it, but I get more out of a variety of styles and genres.

So of course, I’m all over the ALA 2008 Notable Children’s Books list. Some wonderful books, including Loree Griffin Burns’ Tracking Trash (maybe now my library will get a copy — yeesh) and my 2007 favorite, Jenni Holm’s Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf — and Harry Potter shows up here too. There are still some very good, very talked-about books that didn’t make the list, and that is disappointing. However, it’s a great list to use to catch up on your 2007 reading before the 2008 books get to your library. Or that’s how I look at it.

Last, but certainly not least, is my mini-chat with Mo Willems, in which he talks about his award wins and offers the newest game to the kidlitosphere (not intentionally). Take a famous title and pompous it up. His titles are hysterical, but some of us less brilliant folk are taking a stab at it also. Propel Thyself Canine; Propel Thyself!

I’m not sure when else I’d link to a USA Today article unless it’s the first to tell me about the winners’ reactions.

After learning she had won, Schlitz still went to work at Baltimore’s Park School, where she has been a librarian for 17 years. “But I am wearing a plastic tiara,” Schlitz, 52, said Monday.

Selznick, 41, literally flew. “At 3:30 a.m., the phone rang and I jumped out of bed,” says the writer/illustrator. He flew from San Diego to New York to appear this morning with Schlitz on the Today show.

There were lots of posts all over the kidlitosphere (duh), but the one that really caught my eye was one at Writing and Ruminating, where she suggested, “Let’s look at the awards with our poet-goggles on, shall we?” Until I saw that, I hadn’t realized how poetry-heavy the lists were. So as she says, “a great day for poetry.” Who would have thunk it?

I, for one, am waiting for the reactions of Fuse#8, who so totally called the Newbery awards. But until she posts, I’ll be happy with David Lubar’s post “Newbery my heart at wounded pride,” where he offers his comment space “to complain, rant, moan or vent.” Apparently, the loudest sound in the world is the sound of the phone not ringing.

Edited to add:
Apparently the Cybils committees know a thing or two, based on the number of books that made the short lists that received awards yesterday. Take a look.

If you wish you were in the room to hear the gasp when the Caldecott winner was announced (And yes, Zee, I could hear the gasp), Zee Says lets us join her at ALA with her post. She also provided the link to the videocast, in case you want to relive the award moments with bonus audience reaction.

The YAYAs (or at least one YA) express shock and... well, disappointment at the Printz awards. Interesting reading. But then there’s Sara, who had a pretty enthusiastic response to the winner.

The Washington Post shares a little bit of extra information on the Newbery-winning book. It also features the worst slide show ever, given that there are two slides and one is a book cover. The new information, at least for me, was that the book was pulled from the slush pile, and that it was written, submitted, and awaiting publication while she was writing, submitting, and publishing two other books. Remember A Drowned Maiden’s Hair, anyone? The book that should have won a Newbery last year.

I couldn’t find the Today Show video of the winners mentioned in the USA Today article, though the video of Spears missing her day in court was front and center. It’s all about priorities, people.

Edited AGAIN to add:
Fuse#8 is in the room with a detailed report of the ALA Media Awards. She’s also found the Today Show video and here it is, in all its annoying glory. OMG, does the interviewer not realize that authors can speak? TV Tip: Let the writers talk about their own books. You can almost see the thought flickering behind Selznick’s eyes, “I had to get up at 3:30 a.m. and fly to New York for this?”

Fuse also reminded me of something that I remembered, then forgot, and now with her help remembered again. Monica Edinger was on the Newbery committee, and she has been posting choice thoughts over at Educating Alice. Interesting stuff, very interesting.

As it turns out, Slate picked up one of my standard run-on sentences about Brian Selznick’s Caldecott win. Scroll down (no, even farther) to see a quote from me and and also Lisa Yee. I’m in good company there.

Some great thoughts on the awards at Wizards Wireless, but maybe even more relevant are her thoughts as a bookseller. Did she get the orders right?

Robin Brande was the first to alert me to the fact that the Young Adult Library Services Association’s Best Books for Young Adults 2008 listing is now posted. She was particularly interested in the list, because her book, Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature, is on the list! Way to go, Robin! I also see some of my other favorites listed, including fun guy Barry Lyga for Boy Toy. Here’s where you’ll also see some love for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Personally, I’m a bigger fan of these lists than the awards themselves, because they more accurately capture the range of literature that can touch many different people. Picking one “Best” book is all well and good for the fun of it, but I get more out of a variety of styles and genres.

So of course, I’m all over the ALA 2008 Notable Children’s Books list. Some wonderful books, including Loree Griffin Burns’ Tracking Trash (maybe now my library will get a copy — yeesh) and my 2007 favorite, Jenni Holm’s Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf — and Harry Potter shows up here too. There are still some very good, very talked-about books that didn’t make the list, and that is disappointing. However, it’s a great list to use to catch up on your 2007 reading before the 2008 books get to your library. Or that’s how I look at it.