CALDECOTT! NEWBERY! MY Annual Geek-OUT!

DRUMROLL PLEASE!

This post slides from my usual Tuesday schedule to Monday in honor of  this once-a-year extravaganza.  

The American Library Association's YOUTH MEDIA AWARDS!

If you are reading this in time, you can watch the full awards program LIVE at this link, on Monday, January 27 at 11:00 AM Eastern time.  But  if you miss it live you can view it as a recording within a few hours of the event. Either way, pour yourself some tea or coffee or cocoa, sit back, and savor excellence in books for youth.

What in the world am I writing about? For the full description, click on YOUTH MEDIA AWARDS above. My take, though, is that this is the annual book party for readers from birth to twenty. It celebrates the books and their creators, curators, educators, and  circulators.Everyone enjoys awards programs, although we can acknowledge that great art and creativity should not be in competition with itself. But we know that is always the case. The Oscars, the Emmys, the TONYs, and even the  People's Choice are viewed with glee. And on and on. We all get an adrenaline rush when seeing our own favorites gained wider recognition through awards. And we ache a bit for those that seem to have been overlooked.

Anyone reading my posts can imagine that watching a room full of other book-lovers, perching at the edge of seats and screaming in glee over each announcement of winning and honored books in each category, is a high point in my year. When I had my own classroom of book-lovers, we would hype this during the months ahead by sharing as many prime candidates as possible, offering our personal awards predictions and reviews, and many other award-related activities that engaged kids with a wide range of high-quality reading options. 

These days, I consider readers here as my audience to cheer for various superb books throughout the year, landing on this decision day with hopes that one or more of my recommendations might be selected. Some of the more widely-read book advocates post predictions, and I urge you to read theirs HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE, just to get a sense of the convergences and divergence of opinions. There are no wrongs and rights, but be prepared to take notes for your library hold lists, wishlists at your favorite indie bookstore, and gift lists for young readers you know and love. The links  to predictions focus on Caldecott (illustration award) and Newbery (Youth literature award), but the morning announcements incorporate multiple categories that will excite and impress viewers. The specialty awards are each worthy of a program of their own. Taken together, this is an adrenaline-inducing experience that I hope many will view, live or later. 

Some that I expect you might hear mentioned (this is as close as I'll come to making award predictions) have been featured in posts during the past year. I'm sharing only a few of the titles I'll be rooting for, but they are a great sample of why such choices are hard to make. SO. MANY. GREAT. BOOKS. Truly. Click any of the following to see what i had to say about them.

Nonfiction: 

FROM BAM TO BURP!    SCRATCHING THE SURFACE  

IN THE WORLD OF WHALES, 

CALDECOTT (Illustration):

WHEN NIGHT CAME CALLING, DEAR ACORN, LOVE OAK, 

WHERE DEER SLLIP THROUGH, TO SEE AND OWL.

There are categories for graphic novels, audio books, beginning readers, and so much more. Enough reading here for now. Get over to that link, live or as a recording, and experience the excitement for yourselves. 

MULTI-CULTURAL Day Celebrations- With Books!

Side note- I love celebrating theme days and months, but consider them to only be periodic reminders of the importance of reading WIDELY and DIVERSELY all year long, Please, keep the momentum moving forward all year long.

This post anticipates the coming annual MULTICULTURAL CHILDREN'S BOOK DAY, January 31, 2020, in order to provide readers here with easy access to resources. A quick click will lead you to tabs offering lists of recommended books, press kits, and other resources.

I was tempted to insert multiple links in this post to various titles I've featured over the life of this blog. One reason for that is based on my experience as a classroom teacher. I know that a classroom library and/or a school library is unlikely to have on hand the very latest releases, regardless of how outstanding they may be. 
Speaking for myself, I'll admit that before buying copies of books I would usually wait several months to see if the latest, acclaimed titles might be picked up in less expensive formats- book club order forms, paper back editions, etc. The less I had to spend on each book, the more books I could provide to my students. So I want to be sure that those who lead young readers will seek out diverse titles to spotlight from among those immediately on hand. 
Having said that, I can't help but celebrate some of the latest and greatest books from the past year. Monday morning marked the annual American Library Association Youth Media Awards announcements, and the full list of the winners and honor titles, and their creators, are listed fully in a link, here. I'm thrilled to note that many of the acclaimed titles reflect multi-sutural categories, creators, stories, and content. 
One way to celebrate on Friday, Multicultural Day, could be to have a short discussion about the past practices of the publishing world, practices that were managed by and featured, almost exclusively, a very narrow menu of works, a body of materials. The vast majority of published works excluded a large number of cultures and experiences from the world of literature, especially for youth. 
Follow that brief publishing history lesson with a live viewing of the actual award announcements from January 27, 2020. The hour-plus videotape of those announcements will allow students to realize that BOOKS deserve  rock-star, sports-star attention and cheers. Encourage kids to have a notebook out to jot down titles and creators' names for the next trip to the library, to watch for in book club over forms, and to put on wish-lists for birthdays and holidays.Model hat process by developing a list of works to add to the classroom library.
Here's the  link to the ALA MEDIA AWARDS.
Meanwhile, let's not forget that picture books are for EVERY age, and this is particularly true for those designated in this year's accolades. The same is true for the graphic novel, NEW KID, by Jerry Craft. This year marked a history-making decision by ALA for a graphic novel to be named the NEWBERY WINNER, and I applaud the decision of that committee with a standing ovation. See my notes about it on Goodreads here. 
Whatever choices you might make to honor this particular day (and all the days that follow), please make sure that the literary choices available in your lives and the lives of your learners will throw wide the doors and windows to the world!

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