Better late than never

Sheesh! Only took me pretty much all day, but I should have all the winners up now. I will come back later and add links and pictures.

I was nursing the Baby when the tweets about winners started coming over my phone. Eeee! It will always be the most excitng day of the year for those of us who love literature for young people. By the time the news that Chris Raschka had won his (well-deserved) THIRD Caldecott, I was spooning yogurt into Little Man's waiting mouth. I gave a Squee! of delight and ran to get Farmy Farm, also by Raschka, which is one of Maxs favorites just so we could share a book by the winner.

I am surprised there was no Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award winner (unless I somehow missed it?).

Okay. Time to gather my patient Little Man and spirit him away for books, bath and bed. I'll enhance the posts as I have time (hopefully all tonight).

John Newbery Medal

Winner:
Dead End in Norvelt written by Jack Gantos

Honors:
Inside Out & Back Again written by Thanhha Lai
Breaking Stalin’s Nose written and illustrated by Eugene Yelchin

Randolph Caldecott Medal

Winner: A Ball for Daisy illustrated and written by Chris Raschka - HOORAY! =:-D



Honors:
Blackout illustrated and written by John Rocco
Grandpa Green illustrated and written by Lane Smith
Me … Jane illustrated and written by Patrick McDonnell

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award

Winner:
Tales for Very Picky Eaters written and illustrated by Josh Schneider

Honors:
I Broke My Trunk written and illustrated by Mo Willems
I Want My Hat Back written and illustrated by Jon Klassen
See Me Run written and illustrated by Paul Meisel

Andrew Carnegie Medal

Winner:
Paul R. Gagne and Melissa Reilly Ellard of Weston Woods Studios, Inc., producers of Children Make Terrible Pets. The video is based on the book written by Peter Brown, and is narrated by Emily Eiden, with music by Jack Sundrud and Rusty Young, and animation by Soup2Nuts.

Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production

Winner:
 Listening Library,an imprint of Random House Audio Publishing Group, Random House, Inc. for Rotters written by Daniel Kraus and narrated by Kirby Heyborne


Honors:

• Brilliance Audio for Ghetto Cowboy written by G. Neri and narrated by JD Jackson
• Listening Library, an imprint of Random House Audio Publishing Group, Random House, Inc. for Okay for Now written by Gary D. Schmidt and narrated by Lincoln Hoppe
• Scholastic Inc., Scholastic Audiobooks for The Scorpio Races written by Maggie Stiefvater and narrated by Steve Westand Fiona Hardingham
• Listening Library, an imprint of Random House Audio Publishing Group, Random House, Inc. for Young Fredle written by Cynthia Voigt and narrated by Wendy Carter

Robert F. Sibert Medal

Winner:
Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade written by Melissa Sweet

Honors:
Black & White: The Confrontation between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene ‘Bull’ Connor written by Larry Dane Brimner
Drawing from Memory written and illustrated by Allen Say
The Elephant Scientist written by Caitlin O’Connell and Donna M. Jackson, photographs byCaitlin O’Connell and Timothy Rodwell
Witches!: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem written and illustrated by Rosalyn Schanzer

Mildred L. Batchelder Award

Winner:
Soldier Bear written by Bibi Dumon Tak, illustrated by Philip Hopman, translated by Laura Watkinson


Honors:
The Lily Pond written by Annika Thor, and translated by Linda Schenck.

May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture

The lecture will be delivered by...

Michael Morpurgo

Pure Belpre Award for Text

Winner:
Under the Mesquite written by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Honors:
Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck written by Margarita Engle
Maximilian and the Mystery of the Guardian Angel: A Bilingual Lucha Libre Thriller written by Xavier Garza

Pura Belpre Award for Illustration

Winner:
Diego Rivera: His World and Ours illustrated and written by Duncan Tonatiuh

Honors:
The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred illustrated by Rafael López and written by Samantha R. Vamos
Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match /Marisol McDonald no combina illustrated by Sara Palacios and written by Monica Brown

Michael L. Printz Award

Winner:
Where Things Come Back written by John Corey Whaley

Honors:
Why We Broke Up written by Daniel Handler and art by Maira Kalman
The Returning written by Christine Hinwood
Jasper Jones written by Craig Silvey
The Scorpio Races written by Maggie Stiefvater

YALSA Excellence in Non-Fiction for Young Adults

Winner:
The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery written by Steve Sheinkin

Honors:
Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom and Science written by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos
Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition written by Karen Blumenthal
Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way) written by Sue Macy
Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein written by Susan Goldman Rubin

William C. Morris Award

Winner:
Where Things Come Back written by John Corey Whaley

Honors:
Girl of Fire and Thorns written by Rae Carson
Paper Covers Rock written by Jenny Hubbard
Under the Mesquite written by Guadalupe Garcia McCall
Between Shades of Gray written by Ruta Sepetys

Margaret A. Edwards Award

The winner of the Edwards award is...

Susan Cooper

Coretta Scott King Author Award

Winner:
Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Honors:
The Great Migration: Journey to the North written by Eloise Greenfield and illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist
Never Forgotten written by Patricia C. McKissack and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Awards

Winner:
Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom illustrated and written by Shane W. Evans

Honor:
Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans illustrated and written by Kadir Nelson

Coretta Scott King Virginia Hamilton Practicioner Award for Lifetime Achievement

The winner is...

Ashley Bryant (yay!)

Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature Award

Winner:

Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy by Bil Wright

 

Honor Books

a + e 4ever drawn and written by Ilike Merey

Money Boy written by Paul Yee

Pink written by ...Lili Wilkinson

with or without you written by Brian Farrey

Schnieder Family Book Awards

Best Children's Book:

No award given in the category for children ages 0 – 8. No submissions were deemed worthy for the award.



Best Middle School Book:
close to famous written by Joan Bauer (yay!)
AND
Wonderstruck: A Novel in Words and Pictures written by Brian Selznick

Best Teen Book:
The Running Dream written by Wendelin Van Draanen

Alex Awards

Big Girl Small by Rachel DeWoskin
In Zanesville by Jo Ann Beard
The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan
The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens by Brooke Hauser
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures by Caroline Preston
The Talk-Funny Girl by Roland Merullo

2012 ALA Youth Media Awards

Tomorrow is the most exciting day in the children's lit year -- announcement of the ALA Children's Book Awards. Basically, the Academy Awards as far as kids' books go.


Awards to be announced tomorrow are:

• Alex Awards for the best adult books that appeal to teen audience
• Andrew Carnegie Medal for excellence in children's video
• Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children
• Coretta Scott King Award recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults that demonstrate sensitivity to "the true worth and value of all beings"
• Coretta Scott King - Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement  recognizes an African American author, illustrator, or author/illustrator for a body of his or her published books for children and/or young adults who has made a significant and lasting literary contribution
• Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults
• May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award recognizing an author, critic, librarian, historian, or teacher of children's literature, who then presents a lecture at a winning host site
• Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults
• Mildred L. Batchelder Award for an outstanding children's book translated from a foreign language and subsequently published in the United States
• Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature
• Odyssey Award for audiobook excellence
• Pura Belpre Award for a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work "best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth"
• Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award for most distinguished informational book for children
• Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience
• Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature given to books honored for exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered experience.
• Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for the outstanding book for beginning reader
• William C. Morris Award honors a book written for young adults by a first-time, previously unpublished author.
• YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12-18) during a November 1 – October 31 publishing year.
  
  

I think that's all of 'em. I'm going to try to get in on the webcast and post the winners as announced. I'm not sure if I will be able to do it in real-time this year since I foolishly scheduled my Doctor's appointment around Baby's nap schedule and not around the Awards' press conference. What was I thinking?!? ;)

I will post everything as soon as I possibly can and then will go back and clean up my undoubtedly sloppy posts and add links and pictures.

UPDATE: So, I thought this through over and over tonight. If I put Baby in his Exersaucer, I can blog the awards before his nap and before my appointment. BUT... really? As much as I love live-blogging them, am I really gonna be super-stressed and ignore the child to do it? Sigh. Nope. So, for the first time since I started blogging, I won't have the awards up untila couple of hours after they are announced. (It's very likely no one cares about this excpet me, but I have always been proud of posting results immediately.)

R.I.P. - Russell Hoban

The sad news has come that Russell Hoban, beloved author of many classic children's books, died yesterday. He was 86 years old. Many of us grew up with Frances the Badger, the star of books like Bread and Jam for Frances and Bedtime for Frances.

I remember receiving The Mouse and His Child for one very early Christmas and falling in love with that story; In fact, I hope to read it to Max in a few more years.

I have always believed that the authors we love will live forever, as long as we remember and share their stories. If that is true, Russell Hoban will certainly live forever, as I have no doubt that generations to come will love the Mouse who seeks to become self-winding and will rejoice with Frances eating her favorite meal until she realizes, "What I am, is sick of jam."

The New York Times and The Guardian both have nice obituaries.

Wordless Wednesday

(I swear, I really will get some real posts up soon; I have a stack of Christmas books to review, so look for those in the next few days. In the meantime, enjoy this gratuitous cute Baby picture...)

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

(I've been meaning to remember to do Wordless Wednesday posts for a while now.)

What Am I? books

Tonight I have three of the "My Look and See" books by Anne Margaret Lewis in front of me: What Am I?: Halloween, What Am I?: Christmas and What Am I?: Illinois.

Each book follows the same format. A two page spread with a flap covering the majority of the right page presents a "riddle." For example, from What Am I?: Halloween - "I am covered in fur. / I have big ears and very good hearing. / I love to dangle upside down." This is the text that appears on the left page, along with part of the illustration, a spooky house and what may be ... a wing? A black flap on the opposite page asks, "What am I? What could I be?" When the flap is lifted, the rest of the illustration reveals, "I am a funny bat. That's me!" The final two-page spread shows all the Halloween symbols together - an owl, trick-or-treaters, the aforementioned bat, etc.

What Am I?: Christmas includes primarily secular images, including Santa Claus. Interestingly, it also includes a "Christmas Angel," which might lead to a question from a wee one at storytime, so if you're using it in a public program or maybe the classroom and you're squeamish about that kind of thing, be aware.

What Am I?: Illinois includes such favorites as Sue (the Field Museum T. Rex), the state insect, tree, amphibian and more. (Wondering what the state amphibian is? You're gonna have to go get the book!)

All three books are boldly illustrated by Tom Mills. The pictures are straightforward with just enough of the "answer" peeking out from under the flap that a preschooler has a good chance of guessing the correct answer to each "What Am I? What Could I Be?"

Overall, I really liked these books. I can see them as a great addition to a preschool storytime at the library or in a classroom. They would also be fun to share at home with your favorite little person. After reading one of these books together, you could even team up to create your own "My Look and See" book, maybe about your family or neighborhood!

disclaimer: The books reviewed in this post were sent to me by Albert Whitman & Company to review for this blog. I read all the books and all opinions expressed here are my own.

A Trio of Board Books

Despite my lack of blogging, I have been reading. Not a lot, but some. I had a long list of books I had read that I meant to review, but I have given up hope of catching up. It's been so long (and my brain is currently a bit addled by Baby) that I'd really have to re-read a bunch. So, a fresh start.

Lucky for me (and you!), Albert Whitman has again sent e a box of books for review. I have divided them into loose groupings and hope to post reviews regularly until I have finished with this box.

Tonight, I'll look at the three board books we got. I read all three of them to my 4-month-old, multiple times. He seemed to like them but, then again, he seems to like every book I show him. He's 4 months old. Every book is a revelation.

First up is The Baby Goes Beep, written by Rebecca O'Connell and charmingly illustrated by Ken Wilson-Max. Can I just go on record saying that I always like Ken Wilson-Max's work? His bright colors and bold lines are absolutely perfect for the pre-reading audience this book is meant for. The text is simple ("The baby goes beep  the baby goes beep beep beep beep"), with each action occurring over a two-page spread. the first page shos the baby alone - beeping a toy car horn, for example. The second page shows the baby repeating the action with an adult; in the first case, beeping his Daddy's nose. Max giggled when I "beeped" his nose as I read (and especially when we got to "The baby goes smooch"). This book invites interaction between a caregiver and child. It could also be a great read-aloud for an infant lapsit program or toddler storytime.

Also by Rebecca O'Connell (this time illustrated by Amanda Guilliver), is Done with Diapers: A Potty ABC (also published as Danny is...). This larger board book is clearly for a slightly older set than The Baby Goes Beep. Each page features a picture of a child in one phase of potty training or another. The illustrations are cheerful - bright, warm colors and lots of white space. I also appreciate that the children possess a wide range of skin and hair tones. Under the illustration is a red sentence, beginning with the relevant letter: "C is for Clean." Each page's theme is expounded on briefly: "Clap for Caleb! He pooped in the potty and kept his clothes clean." Notice all the C's in that sentence: clap, Caleb, clothes, clean. Besides being a cheerful book to encourage little one embarking on potty-training, this title is also a very fuunctional alphabet book. Can't wait for Max for be really ready to share this one!

Finally for this evening, we have This Tree, 1, 2, 3 written by Alison Formento and illustrated by Sarah Snow. Of the three board books, this is the one I am most conflicted about. I like it, but something keeps me from loving it. Having read it aloud a number of times now, I think it is the framing around the "counting" portion of the book. It begins: "A tall tree stood behind Oak Lane School. It had a story to tell." Two pages later, we begin counting: "1 owl waits for the moon,' etc. It ends with, "Jake said, 'This tree counts!'" I see that this is an abridged board book edition of a (presumably) longer picture book; in my opinion, it would have worked better as a straight counting book. The animals on each page are fun to find and couont and the art has a kind of retro feel to it, rather like picture books I found in the school library as a child. I will definitely keep this book to share with my boy, but I would like the book much better if it had been abridged just a smidge more.

Thanks again, Albert Whitman, for some great books!

disclaimer: The books reviewed in this post were sent to me by Albert Whitman & Company to review for this blog. I read all the books and all opinions expressed here are my own.

I've been busy...

...with this little knucklehead:

He's pretty cool and we've decided to keep him, but he also eats up an enormous amount of time. Now that he's getting a little older, I hope to be able to steal away a few moments here and there to blog more.

(Besides, I owe Albert Whitman a host of book reviews! Eek!)

All the time "lost" has been worth it though...

My 101 Things

As some of you know, I am participating in the Day Zero project, wherein one creates a list of 101 things to do over the next 1001 days. I have a blog chronicling my attempt, though it has not been very well-maintained. I think I am going to see if I can merge the two blogs so they are both a part of this page (maybe I should add that to my list).

In the meantime, I am on Day 181 and have managed to cross off 14 items. Not as far along as I had hoped, but I'll cut myself some slack considering the massive time suck that having a new Baby has been. (Not a bad or toxic time suck, to be sure, but one nonetheless.) Feel free to take a peek at the list and leave any feedback.

Quotes o' the Day

‎"Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you'll look back and realize they were big things."   (Kurt Vonnegut)

"Remember: you are not managing an inconvenience, you are raising a human being." (Kittie Franz)

RIP: William Sleator

William Sleator, author of over 30 science fiction books - many for young adults -  died today. He was 66 years old.

From the obituary at the School Library Journal site:

A "...master of the creepy-crawly," as The Horn Book described him, Sleator's genius lay in "...taking vague science-fiction whimsy and using imagery to word-paint it into a stunning virtual reality," according to School Library Journal. Colleagues, too, enjoyed Sleator's work, including bestselling children's book author R. L. Stine who called Sleator one "...of my favorite young adult authors."

The Buddy Files

When I came home from the hospital after giving birth to Max, a box was waiting for me from Albert Whitman & Company, a box containing the five books that comprise The Buddy Files mystery books by Dori Hillestad Butler and intended for independent readers. (The first book in the series, The Case of the Lost Boy was the Winner of the 2011 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery.)It's taken me longer than usual to read them and get this review up (somehow, the new baby doesn't yet understand Mama's need to read and review books), but here we go.

Book One, The Case of the Lost Boy, sets the tone for the rest of the series. King is a dog ("also a detective," he tells us) who makes his home in Four Lakes, Minnesota, with his person Kayla and her father. Kayla's mother is in the National Guard. When Kayla and her father disappear, Kayla's Uncle Marty takes King to the P-O-U-N-D (dogs never say that ugly word, just spell it). Before long, King is adopted by a new family, Connor and his mom. Of course, they don't know his name, and so rename him "Buddy."

King/Buddy is excited to discover that Connor and his mom live in the house just behind Kayla's and is determined to solve the mystery of what happened to Kayla and her father. He decides to ask the other dogs in the  neighborhood and to launch an investigation but, before he gets very far, Connor disappears, too! Determined not to be sent back to the P-O-U-N-D, Buddy launches a new investigation. He enlists the help of his friend, Mouse (a very large dog), and The Cat With No Name and starts to sniff out clues. Before long, he has some leads but discovers thay none of the clues he has collected will do any good if he can't get Mom and the Police to understand him. How will he make them hear what he knows?

The Buddy Files: The Case of the Lost Boy is full of humor, suspense and a lovable main character. (I love the way he names people based on traits they exhibit, ex: Jelly Donut.)  I found myself more interested than I thought I'd be in finding out what had happened to Connor. Once that mystery was resolved, I wanted to know more about Kayla and her dad. Why did they leave such a great dog? Where did they go? Does Kayla miss him? While that isn't revealed at the end of book one, the stage has been set for an ongoing search.

The rest of the books in the series - The Case of the Mixed-Up Mutts, The Case of th Fire Alarm, The Case of the Missing Family, and The Case of the Library Monster - maintain the same engaging tone throughout. When Buddy/King finally learns what happened to Kayla and her Dad in The Case of the Missing Family, he has to struggle with how to deal with having two families now. And by the fifth book, he has a new job as a school therapy dog (but still remains a detective).

I was excited to get these books because I love writing reviews and this was the first time I was sent copies by a publisher but, in all honesty, I didn't expect to enjoy them so much; I'm not a big mystery fan. I thought I'd read them, whip out a review, and pass them on to my nephew. I was pleasantly suprised to discover they are just the kind of books I would recommend to a kid who was finally reading chapter books independently. They hold appeal for boys as well as girls, which is another huge plus.

I wholeheartedly recommend these books to kids who are reading independently. They would also make fantastic books to read aloud in the classroom or snuggled up on the couch with your favorite little person. In fact, I plan to place these books right on Max's bookshelf so we can read them together - just as soon as he stops napping and eating all the time!


disclaimer: The Buddy Files series of books was sent to me by Albert Whitman & Company to review for this blog. I read all the books and all opinions expressed here are my own.

The Wild Rumpus Has Started!

So, it's been a while since I've updated.

That's because at 8:05am on Wednesday, 22 June 2011, my Sweetheart and I welcomed our son, Max John to the family. He was 19 inches long and 6 pounds 15 ounces at birth.

As planned, we went to the hospital at 5am on the morning of June 22nd. We were  checked in and I was prepped for surgery. One of our favorite nurses from our challenging weekend was there to accompany us into surgery. My Sweetheart was given scrubs and invited to wait in the hall while I was prepared.

I was really scared about the spinal, but everyone was so kind and explained every single step along the way. My husband was finally brought in and given a chair next to my head. I hated not being able to see anything, but having him there was an enormous comfort to me. He held my hand the whole time.

It was kind of amazing - from the time they made the first incision until the time they handed Max to my husband was about 5 minutes. Wow!

It was overewhelming and strange to see this little person - this very vocal little person! - held by my husband and to be unable to hold him myself. That was sad, though I was very glad my Sweetheart was able to go with the baby to the nursery.

I was taken to recovery. My Sweetheart was back with me in less than 30 minutes. Before the first hour had passed, Max was brought back to me and I was able to breastfeed him. That first day, it was as if the Baby had read all the literature about how to be a Rock Star of breastfeeding. Since then, we've had a few more challenges, but we're finding our way. Right now, we have to supplement breast milk with 2 oz. formula twice a day (due to jaundice issues). I am not thrilled with this, but whatever we have to do to make sure Max is healthy...

Being a Mama has been odd - in one way it feels like something I have always known, but other parts were not expected. For example... I fully expected to lose lots of sleep. BUT. I had no idea that Max would not let me put him down the first few weeks! That first night home was brutal as I held and rocked him all night. When he was sleeping and tried to set him down, he would immediately wake and scream. I did not sleep one minute that night. Since then, I have been sleeping on the futon in his room with him. Over the past few days he has napped in his pack and play. And this morning, for the first time, he napped in his crib for about 90 minutes. (Before this, I got him to stay in the crib without screaming maybe 5-10 minutes tops.)

Max's first outing - to the local
public library, natch!

My Sweetheart has to go back to work tomorrow (boo!). He will be working overnights, so I think I am going to try to get Max to sleep in the crib a little each night. The goal is to get the Baby to sleep alone soon so I can move back into my own room; I miss my Sweetheart!

 Overall, though, it's been cool. Challenging, to be sure, but pretty great. Max is so adorable and amazing. He also makes the most entertaining faces ever. While I am extremely appreciative of the times I can put him down, I also do love cuddling with him or feeling him snuggled up against me in his Moby carrier.

Typing with one hand while feeding him is a challenge but I hope to get back into the blog groove soon. Besides Baby updates, I have book reviews to write. (While I was in the hospital, some books were sent by a publisher for review - woo-hoo!)

So, please be patient. I'll be back soon!