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January 22, 2007
And the Winners Are…
here.
First, a big round of applause for the committees. I’ve never done one of the Big Awards, but I did do two years on the Children’s Notable Recordings Committee and can attest to how time-consuming and demanding this type of work is. So bravo, guys, and thanks!
Now the awards.
Well, it’s no surprise that Flotsam by David Wiesner won the Caldecott Medal (given to an illustrator for distinguished picture book art, for you non-librarians in the room). I think that man just wakes up and does something brilliant every day, and I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Yay, David! I was running around the library this morning telling anyone who would listen that I thought we might see some nonfiction in the Caldecotts today, and while I was terribly, shockingly wrong about some awards, I was right on with that one. The Honor books, Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet by David McLimans and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom illustrated by Kadir Nelson and written by Carole Boston Weatherford, are both nonfiction. Gone Wild is okay. I love the art, but you know how I feel about alphabet books like this. Moses is beautiful, no question – moving and lovely. Overall, I am pleased.
The Printz books have become the award (teen fiction) that I seem to love the best over the last few years. I haven’t read the winner, American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, yet, but it’s on my list – and woo hoo to a graphic novel netting a major award! I've read and absolutely loved three of the honor books: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation by M.T. Anderson, An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. So that was really exciting.
And check out James Marshall with this year’s Wilder Award (given for making a significant and lasting contribution to children’s literature)! I wouldn’t have predicted that one, but I agree with it wholeheartedly.
I'm going to be interested to hear what everyone else thinks of the awards this year. It's a pretty big deal here in the library/youth services world.
Posted by adrienne at January 22, 2007 12:28 PM