Monday, January 10, 2011

Award Winning Thoughts


Today was the big day! The ALA Youth Awards were announced this morning in San Diego. I have enviously read other posts about the many ARCs bloggers have collected at this conference, and just being present for this event would be spectacular. Each year I look forward to the announcement of these awards anxiously. While a part of me would like to have read the award winning books prior to the announcement of their winning, I also revel in the fact that an unknown title that wins means I have a near guaranteed chance of a great book.

Today, I was happy to see the Newbery winner and honor books. I did appreciate Esme Raji Codell's post just this morning about some dark horse favorites that were on my list for potential winners. None of them were selected. If you are still interested in some great reads that didn't win an award, check out her post. Moon Over Manifest, the winner of the Newbery Medal, is at home on my TBR pile. I can't wait to get into it, as it is my most favorite genre, historical fiction. Visit ALA's website to see the entire list of Newbery winners.

On the Caldecott front, I don't think I will ever be able to pick out which books might win a Caldecott. I feel like I read a lot of great picture books during the year. While I know each of the three books selected (the winner and two honor books), I don't know if any of them would have made my short list.

No matter who the winners are, seeing a list of wonderful authors and illustrators being honored for their work in providing kids with great books to read is exciting. I can hardly wait to lay my hands on these titles and dig right in.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I just clicked over to see if you had read Moon Over Manifest, but then as I was reading your post I realized, "OMG! YOU FOLLOW ESME!" Esme Raji Codell is my hero in life and the reason I became a teacher and then a school librarian. I love finding other people who love her too :)

Meg @ write meg! said...

I love seeing award announcements -- you're right: it's pretty much a guarantee that we're in for a great read! Moon Over Manifest has a gorgeous cover, and I'm adding it to my wishlist.