Congratulations, A.L.A. Youth Media Award Winners!

 

 

My students at KME were watching with me today!  This is the Caldecott announcement.

What an exciting day it was today as we watched the winners announced on the live webcast of the ALA Youth Media Awards!

 

I woke up excited (I know I'm a book nerd!), and I could just imagine the authors and illustrators of 2012's wonderful books anticipating phone calls. I'm very happy with the winners! I was sad that Wonder by R.J. Palacio was completely passed over this year, though, and I know a lot of you were, too. However, I know that her book will continue to be loved, read, and talked about in years to come. Here are a few of my favorite categories:

SCHNEIDER FAMILY BOOK AWARDS

(The Schneider Family Book Awards honors an author or illustrator for the artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.)

Middle School Title



This is what I thought Wonder could have won if it didn't win the Newbery. I haven't read this winning title, but it looks very sweet!

SIBERT MEDAL

( The Robert F. Sibert Medal is for the most distinguished informational book for children.)


Wow - this book won quite a few awards!

HONORS:






A couple students at SLE read this for a Titanic project, and they liked it.

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults


HONORS



I've got small groups reading this book right now. It's excellent.

ODYSSEY AWARD

(The Odyssey Award is given to the producer of the best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults, available in English in the United States.)

Loved this story for teens!

 

Honor:

I listened to this and thought the narrator was fantastic, so I'm happy it won an honor award for the Odyssey.

WILDER AWARD

( The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award honors an author or illustrator, published in the United States, whose books have made a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.)

KATHERINE PATERSON

I'm so happy she won. Bridge to Terabithia is one of my favorite children's books of all time.

WILLIAM C. MORRIS AWARD

(The William C. Morris Award honors a book written for young adults by a previously unpublished author.)

For your big brothers or sisters:

I haven't read this one yet, but I thought the cover was so beautiful, and I heard so many good things about it, I had to buy it! It's been sitting on my shelf at home ready to be read. 

GEISEL AWARD

(The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award is given to the author and illustrator of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year.)

These can be for your little brothers and sisters!

I haven't read this one, but I did read two of the honor books:

I loved this one!

Kids LOVE Pete the Cat books!  So do I. :-)

I haven't read this one, but now I will! CeCe Bell is Tom Angleberger's (Origami Yoda's author) wife!

CORETTA SCOTT KING BOOK AWARDS

(The Coretta Scott King Book Awards honors African American authors and illustrators of outstanding books for children and young adults.)

I just bought this one for my Civil Rights Movement unit!!

I haven't read this one, yet, but I love Bryan Collier's work (we read Fifty Cents and a Dream illustrated by him, and Rosa), so I'm very glad he won.

HONOR BOOKS






I read this book aloud, and it made a big impact. 



I just read this aloud to my classes to introduce our Civil Rights Movement unit.

ALEX AWARDS

(The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has selected 10 adult books with special appeal to teen readers to receive the 2013 Alex Awards.)

Maybe for your big sisters or brothers?



Some friends of mine read this book and recommended. It's been on my TBR list for awhile.



One of my teacher friends JUST told me about this book, and I bought it over the weekend!



Wow - it's also this year's National Book Award Winner! It's sitting on my coffee table.

PRINTZ AWARD

( The Michael L. Printz Award is for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.)

These can be for your big brothers and sisters.



This title was completely under my radar. It's the first time I've heard of it. It's on my TBR list now!

One of FIVE Honor Books:



I LOVED this book and really thought it might win. I'm happy it was named as an honor book, though.

CALDECOTT AWARD

(The Caldecott Medal is for the most distinguished picture book.)
NPR did a story on the Morning Edition about the Caldecott turning 75, the oldest of the medals given today.
http://www.npr.org/2013/01/28/170200109/a-colorful-anniversary-the-caldecott-medal-turns-75?ft=1&f=1032


I'm SO happy this won today! It was my number one pick. Some of you picked it, too!

HONORS:


Such a funny book.

Wow! Jon Klassen had TWO winners this year!



A lot of you loved both of these!



This one got away from me - I hadn't heard of it, so I didn't get a chance to share it with you. I will put it on my TBR pile!

NEWBERY AWARD

(The 2013 Newbery Medal goes to the most distinguished contribution to children’s literature.)



YAY, Ivan!! Students, teachers, parents, and librarians were cheering all over the country for you! For my students at JFB and KME - don't worry!  You'll love it too, even though I know you wanted Wonder to win.  I'll read this aloud to you this spring.  It's amazing. 

HONORS:



I'm listening to this story right now, and it's excellent!  I'll get it for the classroom library.



I had a small group read this book during the mystery unit at JFB, and they loved it! I enjoyed it, too.




Here it is again! I think it won three awards.

CONGRATULATIONS to all the winners! Now let's see what this year will bring! Are you excited about 2013 books?

 

For a full list of the winners and ideas for books for all the readers in your lives, here is the link:

http://www.ala.org/news/pr?id=12298

Book Trailer Friday!

I promised you some book trailers to get you excited about some of the books I have in my classroom library, and since I don't have time to show them to you during class, you can visit here to see them.  I'm going to try to give you time every Friday to take a look and then grab a book from my library!!!  I have a lot of AWESOME books!  I'm going to focus on nonfiction historical fiction since that's what we're reading.

COUNTDOWN is by one  of my favorite authors, Deborah Wiles, and since we're reading about the 1950s and 1960s and the Civil Rights Movement, I thought you might be interested in reading about other things that were going on during the 1960s like the Cuban Missile Crisis.

I loved this book!  It takes place in 1918. It won the Newbery in 2011.  I just read Clare Vanderpool's newest book, Navigating Early, and I'll be getting that for my library, too.  I loved it, too.

This is actually the second May Amelia book, but it can stand on its own.  I also have the original, Our Only May Amelia.  It just doesn't have an official book trailer.  You'll love May Amelia!

Wednesday Wars and Okay for Now are two of my favorite historical fiction novels, both set in the 1960s, the time of the Vietnam War and Apollo space missions.

I LOVED Wonderstruck and The Invention of Hugo Cabret!

I'm really excited about this book, Courage Has No Color.  I should be getting it in the mail any day now.  When I do, it will be available for you to read!

A memoir by Jon Scieska, author of lots of favorite kids' books.  Look at his website: http://jsworldwide.com/

This is an awesome book about Amelia Earhart that reads like a novel!

See anything you liked and what to read?  SEE ME and I will lend it to you!

How To Draw a Moose

THIS IS FOR YOU, PAIGE C.!

 

HOW TO DRAW A MOOSE by OLIVER JEFFERS

Vote For Your 2013 Caldecott Winner!

      

It's time to pick a winner!  Vote from these titles that I read in class and tell me why you think it should win. I'm going to grade your paragraph, so be careful with how you type it up and make sure you add your name.  If you'd like to write your paragraph on paper instead, feel free to do so.  The paragraph needs to be 5-7 sentences.  Your topic sentence will be your choice with the title (capitalized and underlined if you're writing on paper - don't worry about underlining the title if you write the paragraph on the blog) and author/illustrator.  Then give a brief 1-3 sentence summary.  Follow that up with the reasons why it is your top pick (review the qualities of a Caldecott winner in your notebook) in 2-3 sentences.  End your paragraph with a closing sentence.  This is similar to the practice ones you wrote in your notebook.  Review your best ones to remember how to write a good one!  You may pick up to THREE honor winners, too.  You just need to tell me the title and author/illustrator for those - no paragraphs.  It's hard to pick - so many good ones!  Feel free to read one again if you need to refresh your memory.  I have all of them available in the classroom.  Your paragraph is due on Monday, January 14th.