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Happy New Year/New Decade!


I spent New Year's Eve with my son sitting in front of the TV watching the ball drop in NYC. For some, that might not be very exciting, but it was just perfect for me!

With the new year comes two big events in the world of children's and young adult literature. The first is the announcement of the new National Ambassador for Young People's Literature on January 5th by the Library of Congress. A great big huge round of applause goes to the first ambassador, Jon Scieszka--he was fabulous!

The second is the announcement of the ALA Youth Media Awards on January 18th. You can watch the announcement via a live webcast starting at 7:45 AM EST.

If you're like me, it's hard to chose just ONE book for each category since there were so many excellent books published in 2009. But, there are a few groups and individuals up to the task:

The Allen County Library has their mock Newbery list up on the library's website. In addition, they have started a blog for several of the awards: Newbery, Caldecott, Geisel, Sibert, Coretta Scott King, and Printz.

Other "mock" groups include: The Eva Perry Mock Newbery Club, a group of a group of about 25 6th-9th-graders in the Wake County Public Library system in NC; the Bayside Mock Newbery Book Club, the Bergen County Cooperative Library System; and the St. Joseph's County Public Library's Mock Newbery Club.

The School Library Journal's blog, Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery blog has had a series of wonderful posts on potential Newbery winners between former Newbery committee members Nina Lindsay and Jonathan Hunt.

 Children's and Young Adult Bloggers Literary Awards just posted their short list for all categories today. The CYBILS award won't be announced until Valentine's Day, but the lists include books that will certainly be considered for the ALA awards.

With all of these great resources, I'm sure I'll be able to narrow my choices...but, it's still never easy and I'm usually wrong:-) Happy reading in 2010!

Comments

Barbara O'Connor said…
Your New Year's Eve sounds perfect - and just like mine!

Happy New Year, Denise.
January 2, 2010 at 9:30 AM
Ms. Martha said…
Thanks for referring to our group of middle school readers! We plan to post our Winner and Honors before the official announcement this year.
Feel free to check back on our progress any time.
January 2, 2010 at 10:51 AM
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