Speaking Volumes

This week was a big week for both children and young adult books. On Monday the Newbery and Caldecott award winners were announced at 2009 American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting.

The Newbery Medal is awarded annually to the author of "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children."

This year's winner was The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman

Here is part of the description from Amazon, "In The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman has created a charming allegory of childhood. Although the book opens with a scary scene--a family is stabbed to death by "a man named Jack” --the story quickly moves into more child-friendly storytelling. The sole survivor of the attack--an 18-month-old baby--escapes his crib and his house, and toddles to a nearby graveyard. Quickly recognizing that the baby is orphaned, the graveyard's ghostly residents adopt him, name him Nobody ("Bod"), and allow him to live in their tomb.  The story follows Bod's progress as he grows from baby to teen, learning life’s lessons amid a cadre of the long-dead, ghouls, witches, intermittent human interlopers. "

I haven't read it yet, but sounds tempting, and seems to have real YA appeal. I am curious to hear more about this pick because not to long ago there was an article in School Library Journal called, Has the Newbery Lost Its Way? Snubbed by kids, disappointing to librarians, the recent winners have few fans. As you can probably tell from the title, the article points out the lack of excitement among both kids and librarians over most recent winners. The article suggested that many feel the most recent picks were books that the committee felt kids should read, not necessarily books that they would WANT to read. To read the entire School Library Journal article, copy and paste this link into your browser:

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6600688.html

The Newbery Honor books were, The Underneath, by Kathi Appelt, The Surrender, Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle, Savvy, by Ingrid Law, and After Tupac & D Foster, by Jacqueline Woodson .

Savvy just happens to be our Book Club book this month – I didn't really like it all that much, but I can imagine the kids liking it. I'll be sure to post their comments after our meeting in February.

The Caldecott Medal is awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.

This years winner is The House in the Night, illustrated by Beth Krommes.

Beth Krommes illustrations are made by creating scratchboard illustrations and then adding color with watercolors. The illustrations are mostly black and white with touches of yellow, its a different look and really is beautiful.

The Caldecott Honor books include: A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee, How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz, and A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, written by Jen Bryant.

We own all these new winners and honor books, so come check them out for yourself!

PLUS...on February 1^st we will be able to announce the 2010 Nutmeg Teen and Intermediate Nominees, so stay tuned!!