Children’s/YA Award Winners

One of the things I always tell new writers and one that everyone in the industry will tell you is to read, read, read.  The list below is a great place to start when making up your book list for this year’s reading.  My problem is I still have a pile of books from last year waiting for me to read.  Even so, my itchy Amazon finger couldn’t control itself and made me order three books on the list today.  

Funny how most of the editors will tell you they are not looking for historical fiction, but most of the books listed for the Newbery are historical fiction.  Doesn’t that make you want to buy a historical fiction manuscript, editors?  Of course to be fair, what the editors are saying is that historical fiction doesn’t sell and the Newbery committee is not picking the winners using that criteria.

At the bottom you will notice that Grace Lin (Our Keynote Speaker for our June Conference) won the Theodore Seuss Geisel Honor Award for her book LING & TING.  Congratulations, Grace!

Here is the full list of children’s/YA award winners from today’s ALA ceremony! 

Newbery Awards & Honors

Honor	Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night	Joyce Sidman	9780547152288
Honor	Heart of a Samurai	Margi Preus	9780810989818
Honor	One Crazy Summer	Rita Williams-Garcia	9780060760885
Honor	Turtle in Paradise	Jennifer L. Holm	9780375836886
Winner	Moon Over Manifest	Clare Vanderpool	9780385738835

 

Caldecott Awards & Honors

Honor	Dave the Potter	Laban Carick Hill	9780316107310
Honor	Interrupting Chicken	David Ezra Stein	9780763641689
Winner	A Sick Day for Amis McGee	Erin Stead	9781596434028

 

ALEX Awards: The Alex Awards are given to 10 adult books that are appealing to young adults

The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To	D.C. Pierson	9780307474612
Breaking Night	Liz Murray	9780786868919
Girl in Translation	Jean Kwok	9781594487569
The House of Tomorrow	Peter Bognanni	9780399156090
The Lock Artist	Steve Hamilton	9780312380427
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake	Aimee Bender	9780385501125
The Radleys	Matt Haig	9781439194010
The Reapers Are the Angels	Alden Bell	9780805092431
Room	Emma Donoghue	9780316098335
The Vanishing of Katharina Linden	Helen Grant	9780385344173

 

Schneider Awards: Annual juvenile award to an author or illustrator that best captures the disability experience

Best Children’s Book	The Pirate of Kingergarten	George Ella Lyon	9781416950240
Best Middle School Book	After Ever After	Jordan Sonnenblick	9780439837064
Best Teen Book	Five Flavors of Dumb	Antony John	9780803734333

 

Stonewall children’s and YA literature Award: Annual award for English language book best capturing GLBT  experience

2011 Honor Books

Will Grayson, Will Grayson	John Green	9780525421580
Love Drugged	James Klise	9780738721750
Freaks and Revelations	David Willis Hurwin	9780316049962
The Boy in the Dress	David Williams	9781595142993

 

2011 Winner

Almost Perfect

Brian Katcher

9780385736657

 

Coretta Scott King: Given to African American authors and illustrator for outstanding inspirational and educational contributions

Lifetime Achievement	Henrietta M. Smith
New Talent	Zora & Me	Victoria Bond	9780763643003
New Talent	Seeds of Change	Sonia Lynn SadlerJen Cullerton Johnson	9781600603679
Illustrator	Dave the Potter	Laban Carick Hill	9780316107310
Author Honor	Lock Down	Sharon Berti	9781450062732
Author Honor	Ninth Ward	Jewell Parker Rhodes	9780316043076
Author Honor	Yummy	G. Neri	9781584302674
Author Winner	One Crazy Summer	Rita Garcia-Williams	9780060760885

 

Margaret A. Edwards Awards for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature

• Terry Pratchett

William C. Morris Award for Best debut YA Author

Honor	Hush	Esches Chayil	9780802720887
Honor	Guardian of the Dead	Karen Healy	9780316044301
Honor	Hold Me Closer Necromancer	Lish McBride	9780805090987
Winner	Freak the Observer	Blythe Woolston	9780761362128

 

YALSA Best Nonfiction Award

Honor	Spies of Mississippi	Rick Bowers	9781426305955
Honor	The Dark Game	Paul Janeckzo	9780763629151
Honor	They Called Themselves the KKK	Susan Campbell Bartoletti	9780618440337
Winner	Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing	Ann Angel	9780810983496

 

Printz Honor Books: Excellence in YA Literature

Winner

Ship Breaker

Paolo Bacigalupi

9780316056212

 

Pura Belpre Awards: Celebrating Latino Authors and Illustrators

Winner Illustration	Grandma’s Gift	Eric Velasquez	9780802720825
Winner Text	The Dreamer	Pam Munoz Bryan	9780439269704

 

Mildred L. Batch Elder Award: International and Translated into English

Winner

A Time of Miracles

Anne-Laure Bondoux

9780385739221

 

Sibert Honor: Most Distinguished Informational Book

Honor	Ballet for Martha	Jan Greenberg	9781596433380
Honor	Lafayette & the American Revolution	Russell Freedman	9780823421824
Winner	Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot	Sy Montgomery	9780618494170

 

Laura Ingalls Wilder Award: Lasting & Significant Contribution to Children’s Literature

• Tomie DePaola

Theodore Seuss Geisel Award: Book for Beginning Readers that demonstrate great creativity and imagination to engage children in reading

Honor	Ling & Ting	Grace Lin	9780316024525
Honor	We Are in a Book	Moe Willems	9781423133087
Winner	Bink & Gollie	Kate DiCamillo	9780763632663 076363266X

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy