The results are in!

This is all straight from the American Library Association site

2007 ALSC Literary and Related Award Winners:
In order to post the winning information as expeditiously as possible, we are providing a straight list of 2007 ALSC award winners, including book title, author, and publisher. Additional information, including annotations and book cover images for each award-winning title, will be posted to the individual award pages as soon as possible.

Newbery Medal
The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, illustrated by Matt Phelan (Simon & Schuster/Richard Jackson)

Newbery Honor Books
Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm (Random House)
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson (Delacorte Press)
Rules by Cynthia Lord (Scholastic)

Caldecott Medal
Flotsam by David Wiesner (Clarion)

Caldecott Honor Books
Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet by David McLimans (Walker)
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, written by Carole Boston Weatherford (Hyperion/Jump at the Sun)

2008 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecturer
David Macaulay

Batchelder Award
Delacorte Press, publisher of The Pull of the Ocean, by Jean-Claude Mourlevat, translated from the French by Y. Maudet

Batchelder Honor Books
Delacorte Press, publisher of The Killer's Tears, by Anne-Laure Bondoux, translated from the French by Y. Maudet
Hyperion/Miramax, publisher of The Last Dragon, by Silvana De Mari, translated from the Italian by Shaun Whiteside

Carnegie Medal
Mo Willems, author/illustrator, and Weston Woods Studios, producers of Knuffle Bunny

Geisel Medal
Zelda and Ivy: The Runaways, by Laura McGee Kvasnosky (Candlewick)

Geisel Honor Books
Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride, written by Kate DiCamillo and illustrated by Chris Van Dusen (Candlewick)
Move Over, Rover!, written by Karen Beaumont and illustrated by Jane Dyer (Harcourt)
Not a Box, by Antoinette Portis (HarperCollins)

Sibert Medal
Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon by Catherine Thimmesh (Houghton)

Sibert Honor Book
Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement by Ann Bausum (National Geographic)
Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea, written by Sy Montgomery, photos by Nic Bishop (Houghton)
To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel, written by Siena Cherson Siegel, illustrated by Mark Siegel (Simon & Schuster/Richard Jackson and Simon & Schuster/Aladdin)

Wilder Medal
James Marshall


So how did I do with my predictions? Well, I named all three of the Newbery Honor books, but I missed the winner (which I have sitting on my bookshelf and I haven't even picked up because it was impossible for me to read all of the MGF Cybil Award nominees and several of the other committe members read it so I tried to focus on some of the books not many of us had a chance to read). I haven't seen The Higher Power of Lucky on anyone's predictions and it's fairly unusual for a book aimed at younger kids to win the Newbery, but I'm glad for the attention it's getting because there really hasn't been much out there for 8 - 10 year-olds that isn't a series and we could use better literature for that age group. Hopefully the Newbery Medal this year will encourage more publishers and writers to try their hand at something new for this often ignored age group.

Today's the day!

The American Library Association announces their award winners today and in case you've missed this info elsewhere, you can listen to the announcement live! Just click here around 7:45 PST/ 10:45 EST and you can hear all take place live! They tried this last year and it was such a success that they're letting us listen in live again this year. I'm so glad! I can't wait!

I think you will also be able to listen to the announcements later through an archive at teh same link.

The votes are in

As the bookclubbers know, I will be hosting February's meeting and we are reading the five finalist for the middle grade fiction Cybil award. I finally finished the tally from our meeting and here are the topics that we chose for the next few months:

• Fantasy
• New works by past favorites
• Historical fiction (we'll probably focus on the Cold War Era)
• 2007 Newbery and Caldecott winners
• Books being made into movies (Bridge to Terebithia- 2/16, The Golden Compass 11/16, Stormbreaker – a couple months ago, Arthur & the Invisibles – 1/12, the Invisible 1/26, Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, etc.)
• Picture books (I'm not sure if we're doing new favorites or classic picture books)

Are there any books being made into movies THIS YEAR that you've heard about? That was all that I could come up with so far, but I didn't have time for much research.

Stephenie Meyer News

Did you know that Stephenie Meyer is going to be speaking at Brigham Young University's Midwinter Symposium on books for Young along with Joan Bauer and Rosemary Wells on February 3rd? The registration is open to anyone older than 13. I would plan to head to my good old hometown of Provo, Utah to visit my parents and here Stephenie speak if baby Ford wasn't due so soon!

All you dedicated Stephenie Meyer fans might also be interested to know that Stephenie is hosting an Eclipse Prom in Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday, May 5th. What an interesting way to market a new book. I have to admit that I'm curious about what will take place. So far all I know is that Stephenie will be revealing the Eclipse cover and reading the first chapter aloud. Her website says more details will be coming soon.

Newbery predictions?

The Newbery Awards for 2007 will be announced in about a week and I love seeing the predictions of the winners. Fanki and Mary Lee have a great round-up of the predictions so far.

I can't resist adding my two cents. The official criteria for the award states it's to be given to the, "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children published in English in the United States." The immediately eliminates one of my favorite books of the year, Framed by Frank Cotrell Boyce. I could really create two lists here: a list of the books that I would like to see win the Newbery, and a list of the books that I think have a more realistic chance of winning the Newbery. For instance, I would be shocked to find Kiki Strike, one of the finalists for the middle grade fiction Cybil Award, on the Newbery list because it isn't exactly a great literary novel, but kids will love it (and I have to mention that I do not always think that the majority of kids will LOVE some of the Newbery winners).

So, without giving it too much thought (I am on my lunchbreak so time is limited) here's a list of book that I would like to win that I think might actually have a chance:

Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy
Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata
Rules by Cynthia Lord
Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass

And a few others that I would not be surprised to see on the list:
Gossamer by Lois Lowry
The Loud Silence of Francine Green by Karen Cushman
Penny From Heaven by Jennifer Holm
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson (although I have to admit I haven't read this one)
The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages

I'd mention the Mirculous Journey of Edward Tulane, but Fuse #8 is on the committee and I have faith that she will not allow that to happen.

I have to be honest and tell you that I haven't spent anytime thinking about who will win the other awards. I could see Flotsam or Hippo! No, Rhino! as winners of the Caldecott and Moses by Carole Boston Weatherford as a Coretta Scott King winner and it seems like An Egg is Quiet should win something, maybe the Seibert award?

So what are your predictions?

We've been experiencing techincal difficulties

So I finally converted to the new version of Blogger today only to find 41 unmoderated comments just waiting to be posted on this blog! How did that happen? Why didn't they show up in my old account and why are some comments coming through while others aren't? I feel awful that so many of you went ignored! I hate it when I get up the nerve to post a comment somewhere only to have the author ignore it. I apologize to all of you and promise it won't happen again (I just changed all of my setting so it shouldn't happen again anyway).

I've been neglecting this blog a bit because I felt like barely anyone read it so the comments were a happy surprise. If I'd known authors like Grace Lin and other child lit bloggers that I admire were actually reading this blog, I would have been a little more diligent with my posts! I'm turning over a new leaf so you can expect new reviews and other fun info soon!

-Steph

Raskin Redux

This just in from Publisher's Weekly:

Stephanie Owens Lurie and Mark McVeigh at Dutton have acquired five books by Newbery Award–winner and The Westing Game author Ellen Raskin in a major six-figure deal negotiated by Alex Glass and John Silbersack at Trident on behalf of the Raskin estate. The books include two new puzzle mystery novels: The Westing Quest, a sequel to The Westing Game, and A Murder for Macaroni and Cheese, a never-before-seen manuscript nearly completed at the author's death in 1984. The deal also includes the reissue of three backlist novels, Figgs & Phantoms, The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel) and The Tattooed Potato.

I would love to get my hands on a sequel to the Westing Game. I can't wait!

The Traveling Pants Take One Last Trip

Since so many of the book clubbers liked the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, I thought you might be interested in this article about the final book in the series (which comes out on January 9th!)

Mo's blog

How did I miss that my favorite children's author/illustrator has a blog?

Check out Mo Willem's blog here!

The Cybils Nominees

The finalists have been announced for the Cybil Awards! If you haven't seen them already, you must go check them out.

Here are the finalists my committee settled on for the Middle GRade Fiction category:
Drowned Maiden's Hair, A
Laura Amy Schlitz
Candlewick
This gothic page-turner features a feisty orphan, a houseful of secrets, and a villain preying on unsuspecting victims.

Framed
Frank Cottrell Boyce
Harper Collins
Take a small grey Welsh town. Add great works of art. Stir.

Heat
Mike Lupica
Philomel
A heartwarming tale of immigration, baseball and familial love. It's a reminder of what the U.S.A. and Americans can be.

Kiki Strike
Kirsten Miller
Bloomsbury
What's better than Girl Scouts, books, and an underground world under New York City? Absolutely nothing! That's why Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City one of the most entertaining books of the year.

Weedflower
Cynthia Kadohata
Atheneum
WWII serves as the backdrop to this tale of internment, friendship, and growing flowers in the dry desert dust of Arizona.

More about these titles and a few of my other favorites coming up!

On the Tenth Day of Christmas

ok, this isn't actually a children's book, but I wanted to let you all know that Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight series, had a Christmas story/article in the December issue of the Ensign. It's called "Hero at the Grocery Store" and you can find it online here.