American Library Association Award Winners (Kid Lit)

I'm posting this press release of this weekend's winners because I'm becoming convinced that we need to provide strong mysteries for kids to read, to nurture their curiosity, sense of independence, and capacity to thrive in an adventurous world. Comments encouraged!

By Diane Roback -- Publishers Weekly, 1/18/2010 7:20:00 AM

Rebecca Stead has won the 2010 Newbery Medal for When You Reach Me (Random/Wendy Lamb). Jerry Pinkney has won the 2010 Randolph Caldecott Medal for The Lion & the Mouse (Little, Brown). And Libba Bray has won the 2010 Michael L. Printz Award for Going Bovine (Delacorte). The awards were announced this morning at the American Library Association’s midwinter conference in Boston.

Four Newbery Honor Books were named: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose (FSG/Kroupa); The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly(Henry Holt); Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (Little, Brown); and The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick (Scholastic/Blue Sky).

There were two Caldecott Honor Books: All the World, illustrated by Marla Frazee, written by Liz Garton Scanlon (S&S/Beach Lane); and Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski, written by Joyce Sidman (Houghton).

Four Printz Honors were given: Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman (Henry Holt); The Monstrumlogist by Rick Yancey (S&S); Punkzilla by Adam Rapp (Candlewick); and Tales from the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance, 1973 by John Barnes (Viking).

The Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime contribution in writing for young adults was given to Jim Murphy, and Lois Lowry was chosen to deliver the May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture.

The Robert F. Sibert Award for the most distinguished informational book went to Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone (Candlewick). There were TK Sibert Honors: The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors by Chris Barton, illustrated by Tony Persiani (Charlesbridge); Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 written and illustrated by Brian Floca (Atheneum/Jackson); and Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose (FSG/Kroupa).

A brand-new award, the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award, went to Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman (Henry Holt).

The Mildred L. Batchelder Award for best work of translation went to A Faraway Island by Annika Thor, translated from the Swedish by Linda Schenck (Delacorte). There were three Batchelder Honors: Big Wolf and Little Wolf by Nadine Brun-Cosme, illustrated by Olivier Tallec translated by Claudia Bedrick (Enchanted Lion); Eidi by Bodil Bredsdorff, translated by Kathryn Mahaffy (FSG); and Moribito II: Guardian of the Darkness by Nahoko Uehashi, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu, translated by Cathy Hirano (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine).

The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for beginning reader books went to Benny and Penny in the Big No-No! by Geoffrey Hayes (RAW/Toon Books). There were four Geisel Honor books: I Spy Fly Guy! by Tedd Arnold (Scholastic); Little Mouse Gets Ready by Jeff Smith (RAW/Toon Books); Mouse and Mole: Fine Feathered Friends by Wong Herbert Yee (Houghton); and Pearl and Wagner: One Funny Day by Kate McMullan, illustrated by R.W. Alley (Dial).

The Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production went to Live Oak Media, producer of Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Harry Bliss, narrated by Barbara Rosenblat.

There were three Odyssey Honor titles: In the Belly of the Bloodhound: Being an Account of a Particularly Peculiar Adventure in the Life of Jacky Faber by L.A. Meyer, narrated by Katherine Kellgren (Listen & Live); Peace, Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson, narrated by Dion Graham (Brilliance Audio); and We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson, narrated by Dion Graham (Brilliance Audio).

Three Schneider Family Book Awards were announced: Django by Bonnie Christensen (Roaring Brook/Neal Porter) won for best children’s book; Anything by Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin (S&S) won for best middle school book; and Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine) won for best teen book.