2008 ALA Youth Media Awards

Alex Awards
American Shaolin by Matthew Polly
Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff
Essex County Vol. 1 by Jeff Lemire
Genghis by conn Iggulden
The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The Night Birds by Thomas Maltman
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz

Schneider Family Book Awards
Children's: Kami and the Yaks by Andrea Stenn Stryer, illustrated by Bert Dodson
Middle Grades: Reaching for Sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer
Teen: Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby

Coretta Scott King Book Awards
CSK John Steptoe Award for New Talent: Sundee T. Frazier, author of Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It
CSK Author Honor Books: November Blues by Sharon M. Draper; Twelve Rounds to Glory by Charles R. Smith, Jr.
CSK Author Award: Christopher Paul Curtis, author of "Elijah of Buxton"
CSK Illustrator Honor Books: The Secret Olivia Told Me illustrated by Nancy Devard and written by N. Joy; Jazz on a Saturday Night illustrated and written by Leo and Diane Dillon
CSK Illustrator Award : Ashley Bryan, illustrator and author of Let It Shine

Margaret A. Edwards Award
Orson Scott Card: Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow

Michael L. Printz Award
Printz Honor Books: Dreamquake by Elizabeth Knox, One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke, Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins, Your Own, Sylvia by Stephanie Hemphill
Printz Award: The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean

Odyssey Award
Honor Audio Books: Listen and Live: Bloody Jack, Weston Woods: Dooby Dooby Moo, Scholastic: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, HarperCollins: Skulduggery Pleasant, Treasure Island
Audio Book Award: Live Oak Media: Jazz

May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award
Walter Dean Myers: Where Does the Day Go?, Fallen Angels, Scorpions, Monster, Jazz, Blues Journey

Mildred L. Batchelder Award
Batchelder Honor Books: Milkweed Editions: The Cat, or How I Lost Eternity by Jutta Richter; Phaidon Press: Nicholas and the Gang by Rene Goscinny and Jean-Jacques Sempe
Batchelder Award Book: Viz Media: Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe

Robert F. Sibert Medal
Sibert Honor Books: Nic Bishop Spiders by Nic Bishop; Lightship by Brian Floca
Sibert Award: The Wall by Peter Sis

Pura Belpre Award
Belpre Illustrator Honor Books: My Name is Gabito illustrated by Raul Colon and written by Monica Brown; My Colors, My World/Mis colores mi mundo by Maya Christina Gonzales
Belpre Illustrator Award: Yuyi Morales for Los Gatos Black on Halloween written by Marisa Montes
Belpre Author Honor Books: Frida by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand; Martina the Beautiful Cockroach illustrated by Michael Austin retold by Carmen Agra Deedy; Los Gatos Black on Halloween by Marisa Montes illustrated by Yuyi Morales
Belpre Author Award: Margarita Engle, author of The Poet Slave of Cuba, illustrated by Sean Qualls

Andrew Carnegie Medal
Medal winner: Jump In! Freestyle Edition

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award
Geisel Honor Books: First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger; Hello, Bumblebee Bat by Darris Lunde illustrated by Patricia J. Wynne; Jazz Baby by Lisa Wheeler illustrated by R. Gregory Christie; Vulture View by April Pulley Sayre illustrated by Steve Jenkins
Geisel Award: Mo Willems author of There is a Bird on Your Head!

Randolph Caldecott Medal
Caldecott Honor Books: Henry's Freedom Box illustrated by Kadir Nelson and written by Ellen Levine; First the Egg illustrated and written by Laura Vaccaro Seeger; The Wall illustrated and written by Peter Sis; Knuffle Bunny Too illustrated and written by Mo Willems
Caldecott Medal: The Invention of Hugo Cabret illustrated and written by Brian Selznick

John Newbery Medal
Newbery Honor Books: Elijah of Buxton by Christpher Paul Curtis; The WEdnesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt; Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson
Newbery Medal: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz

cover art

Scott Westerfeld books
Originally uploaded by Canton Public Library (MI)

One of my favorite trilogies is Uglies-Pretties-Specials by Scott Westerfeld. (Actually, there'll soon be a fourth book, Extras - cannot wait! This is another on my list of galleys to look for at ALA.) The covers of the US editions are pretty good, but nowhere near as awesome as these German versions.

The! Best! News!

Frank Portman @ Cupcake Royale
Originally uploaded by ChrisB in SEA

Frank Portman, author of last year's brilliant King Dork has a new book coming out! It'll be called Andromeda Klein and I cannot wait to read it. It won't be out until January, so I'm hoping I'll be able to find a galley at ALA. So impatient!

Noted at Alice's CWIM Blog

Blogging allowed after all (mostly, anyway)

Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) logo
Originally uploaded by annethelibrarian.

Back at ALA Midwinter, rumors were flying about whether or not literary award committee members would be allowed to blog about books during their terms.

As many of us had hoped, blogging will still be allowed. The policy states that

"Members of award committees who run or participate in social networking web sites or software, including blogs, wikis, electronic discussion lists, and the like, should not engage in any discussions about their ALSC award committee work, or about the status of eligible books in relationship to these awards during their term of committee service."

So you can blog about books. Can you state that you're on an award committee, or would that constitute discussion about your award committee work?

Lately I've seen several references to the fact that some librarians/experts-in-the-field consider blogs as a whole to be inferior. These opinions have ranged from those who see bloggers as amateur reviewers to those who see them as unprofessional and/or usurpers of the throne of 'real' reviewers. (See Cybils: Who Do You Think You Are and the comments on Fuse#8: My Newbery Half a' Year) It goes without saying that there are all kinds of bloggers writing in all kinds of styles and with all kinds of writing quality, and I think it's a mistake to dismiss bloggers as a group as unprofessional. It's probably easy to do so for those who haven't really read what's out there, but, to me anyway, many of the amazingly insightful kitlitosphere blogs are often more interesting and useful than some of the print journals with established cred.

I was very glad to see that this applies only to award committees (where money and fame are part of the reason it's so contentious) and that members of process committees aren't limited (as far as I've been able to find, anyway) in terms of blogging. I don't think we should be; I think that it's a great opportunity to stimulate discussion and has the potential to get more members actively involved, especially those who aren't able to travel to conferences.

Anyway, I do appreciate what must have been a time-consuming and difficult decision-making process for the ALSC Executive Board.

related items:
ALSC policy for service on award committees (PDF)
FAQ regarding the ALSC conflict of interest and confidentiality policy
School Library Journal's take