2009 ALA Media Awards Recap

The 2009 ALA Youth Media Awards were announced yesterday morning, and I was camped out in front of my computer watching the webcast. At the conclusion, I played the “how many of the award-winning books do we already have in our library?” game. Turns out we had 10 of the 14 Caldecott, Newbery, and Geisel winners – not too bad. Here’s how things shook out among those categories:

Caldecott Medal
“The House in the Night,” illustrated by Beth Krommes and written by Susan Marie Swanson, Houghton Mifflin Co.

Caldecott Honor Books
“A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever” by Marla Frazee, Harcourt, Inc.

“How I Learned Geography” by Uri Shulevitz, Farrar Straus Giroux

“A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams,” illustrated by Melissa Sweet and written by Jen Bryant, Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

I would like to take this time to not mention my predictions in this category. I enjoyed all of the winners, but I just didn’t pick ’em.

Newbery Medal
“The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman, HarperCollins Children’s Books

Newbery Honor Books
“The Underneath” by Kathi Appelt, illustrated by David Small, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing

“The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom” by Margarita Engle, Henry Holt and Company, LLC

“Savvy” by Ingrid Law, Dial Books for Young Readers, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group in partnership with Walden Media, LLC

“After Tupac and D Foster” by Jacqueline Woodson, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, a division of Penguin Books for Young Readers

A couple that many were expecting, a couple surprises. The Underneath, Savvy, and The Graveyard Book were getting lots of attention in the lead-up. Slightly (but not much) less fanfare for Tupac, and The Surrender Tree probably took many by surprise. I was a little sad that Shooting the Moon missed the cut, but ah well.

Geisel Award
“Are You Ready to Play Outside?” written and illustrated by Mo Willems, Hyperion Books for Children, an imprint of Disney Book Group

Geisel Honor Books
“Chicken Said, ‘Cluck!’” written by Judyann Ackerman Grant, illustrated by Sue Truesdell, HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers

“One Boy” written and illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, a Neal Porter Book published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership

“Stinky” written and illustrated by Eleanor Davis, The Little Lit Library, a division of RAW Junior, LLC

“Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator” written by Sarah C. Campbell, photographs by Sarah C. Campbell and Richard P. Campbell, Boyds Mills Press

No surprises that Mo Willems takes the top spot for Are You Ready to Play Outside?, but I was really pumped to see Stinky make the honor list (100 Scope Notes Review). A deserving book, to be sure.

Click here to head over to the Horn Book website and view a nice roundup of all of the media award winners.

Did you miss the 2009 Media Awards Webcast? Watch this video of the event:

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-670611566949724136&hl=en]

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