Bookworm 4 Life» Awards

National Book Award Finalists, 2009

Casey — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:13:41 +0000

The finalists have been announced. Here’s the list of finalists for Young People’s Literature:

Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Philip Hoose
Stitches by David Small
Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
Jumped by Rita Williams-Garcia

I’m a bit surprised. At least last year there were a few that I expected, this year not a one. I’m familiar with most of the titles and I’ve heard good things about Charles and Emma but still not one that I would call a standout of the year, at least as far as buzz is concerned. Despite my surprise, I’m definitely interested in getting to know some of these books. I’ve put a couple on hold already.

Anyone else have any thoughts on the list?

And the Winner is…

Casey — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:38:20 +0000

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart for the YA Fiction Category!

Check out all of the winners here. There are some not surprising winners — The Graveyard Book and The Hunger Games for the Middle Grade and YA Fantasy categories respectively — and some titles I can’t wait to read, like the London Eye Mystery, MG Fiction winner, and The Year We Disappeared, Nonfiction MG/YA, whose story I just saw last night on 48 Hours (I think that’s the show’s name).

I had an awesome time participating in the Cybils this year. Remember, if you are a fan of the Cybils and are interesting in purchasing one or more of the winners, use the links to Amazon on the Cybils page and some of the procedes of your purchase will help support the Cybils!

2009 Printz Winner and Honors

Casey — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:22:30 +0000

Today the 2009 ALA Youth Media Awards were announced including the Printz winner and honors. Since the winner and one of the honors is up for a Cybil in the Young Adult Fiction category, of which I’m a judge, I must remain mum on my feelings regarding these titles so I thought that I would connect you to some other wonderful bloggers’ reviews of the books. Without any further ado, the 2009 Printz titles are:

Winner:

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (review by Trisha @ the Ya Ya Yas)

Honors:

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart (review by Bookshelves of Doom)

Nation by Terry Pratchett (review from Guys Lit Wire)

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan (review by Reading Rants!)

The Astonishing Live of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II by M.T. Anderson (um, no review because I couldn’t find one on any of my normal channels — i.e. my trusted sources, so check it out on Amazon)

For a full list of all the Youth Media Award winners, click here. My highlights — Yeah for Graveyard Book (Newbery winner) and Savvy (Newbery honor), neither of which I’ve read yet but both of which I’ve heard awesome things about and hope to convince the teachers of the fledgling middle school bookclub to choose as bookclub selections, and yeah Curse as Dark as Gold as the first Morris Award winner.