ALA Youth Media Awards 2011

Snow Day, snow day!

Hooray!

I was kind of sad about not being able to watch the live feed of the 2011 ALA Youth Media Awards this year because I would have a class in the library (my very first!), but we got 3-1/2" of snow yesterday.  So, no school and I get to watch the announcement! 

It's always an exciting morning for me because I like to see if I did a good job with my collection development (when I was at the public library) and we have the books in our library already.  If we don't, we've got to get those ordered!

So...here's who I hope wins...
Caldecott--Jon Muth for City Dog, Country Frog
Newbery--One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia....though Mockingird by Kathryn Erskine will be in the running too
Geisert--We Are in a Book by Mo Willems

The rest I'm afraid I don't have enough knowledge to make a good guess.  So I'll just wait and see what happens! 

You can watch live by clicking here: http://alawebcast.unikron.com/.  There will be lots of flurry on Twitter and I'm sure facebook will have lots of action too.  I'll post back after the announcements are made the winners and my thoughts!

Comps are DONE! Time to READ!

Happy Day!  I took my comprehensive exam yesterday, concluding all the coursework and requirements for my M.S. Information Sciences.  All that's left now is to wait for the score to be posted, my diploma to be conferred and my teaching endorsement to be processed by the state. All these are out of my hands!

Any happy "Liz passed comps!" would be appreciated though.  I'm fairly confident I did okay, but there is always this sneaking doubt in the back of my head.  We'll just wait and see!

So..now I get to read for fun again.  Here are some things I've got lined up:

 Nightlife: A Parody by The Harvard Lampoon.  I'm a little bit into it, and it's entertaining.  If a reader was a Twi-hard, I could see it annoying them a bit. 

 Operation Yes by Sara Lewis Holmes.  I heard the author speak at the Southern Festival of Books and I've been looking forward to reading this since then! 

I've got to re-read these!  Since I finished the last book, I wanted to re-read The Hunger Games trilogy in order back-to-back.  I'll get to it sooner than later!  

 I enjoy Nicholas Sparks' books, and I'm excited to dive into his latest work.  In his video talk on Amazon, he describes the book as being somewhat similar to The Guardian, which is my favorite of his novels.   Safe Haven was actually the first book I had planned to read post-comps, but I couldn't find my copy when I was packing for my trip across the state!  I'll have to remember where I put it.

The Cardturner by Louis Sachar has been on my list to read for a while, but after hearing Sachar speak at the Southern Festival of Books, it catapulted to the top.  

I saw Love in a Time of Homeschooling by Laura Brodie at my library and was interested.  There are a lot of home school families that visit the library, and a lot of people I know are choosing to home school their children and this just stood out to me.  I'm looking forward to this book!

So, there are the books up first!  I'm so excited to be able to read for pure enjoyment again, I'm sure it won't take me long to get through these.  

What's on your to-read list?  Share your list!   Is there anything you think I should read?  Let me know!

Time Out....

I'm taking comps in 23 days.

Be back when I'm finished!


In the meantime, entertain me and tell me about what YOU are reading!  Leave a comment!

Top 100 YA Novels via Persnickety Snark's Poll

A while back, Persnickety Snark held a Top 100 YA Novels Poll and then tallied the results to create the Top 100 YA Novels. 

I didn't vote in the poll, but did check out the results.  You can see it below and I've bolded the books I have read.   It's 30 of 100, and there are LOTS of books I really want to read listed here! 

Sigh...my "to-be-read" list is never ending.

Top 100 YA Novels via Persnickety Snark's Poll
#100 The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (1985) 

#99 The Pigman by Paul Zindel (1969)
#98 Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (1987)
#97 Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (2010) 

#96 The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks (2009) 

#95 Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols (2009)
#94 Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles (2008) 

#93 Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher (2001)
#92 Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (1994) 

#91 The Astonishing life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party (2006)

#90 Glass Houses by Rachel Caine (2006) 

#89 A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L’Engle (1980) 

#88 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon (2003) 

#87 An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (2006) 

#86 The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi (1990)
#85 Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead (2008)
#84 Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder (2006)
#83 The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (2008) 

#82 Jacob I Have Loved by Katherine Paterson (1980)
#81 The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (2009)

#80 Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen (1998) 

#79 Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1954) 

#78 Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr (2006)
#77 Go Ask Alice by Anonymous (1971) 

#76 The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants by Ann Brashares (2001) 

#75 Feed by MT Anderson (2001) 
#74 The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley (1983) 

 #73 Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley (1978)

#72 Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (2009) 
#71 The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (2006)

#70 If I Stay by Gayle Forman (2009) 

#69 Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison (1999)

#68 Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (2008) 
#67 Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen (1999) 

#66 City of Glass by Cassandra Clare (2009)
#65 How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (2004) 

#64 Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta (1992)

#63 The Diary of a Young Girl (1947)
#62 Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block (1989) 

#61 The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier (1974) 



#60 Fire by Kristin Cashore (2009)

#59 Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (2006)

#58 Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (2007) 

#57 Dreamland by Sarah Dessen (2000)
#56 Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty (2003) 

#55 Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta (2003) 

#54 Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (2009) 

#53 The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper (1973)
#52 Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (1986)
#51 Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli (2000)



#50 The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot (2000) 

#49 Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (1997)
#48 I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (1948) 

#47 Forever by Judy Blume (1975) 
#46 Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margie Stohl (2009) 

#45 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling (2003) 
#44 Sabriel by Garth Nix (2003) 

#43 Evernight by Claudia Gray (2008) 

#42 The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (2000) 

#41 Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen (2008)



#40 The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (2007) 

#39 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (1943) 

#38 Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (2009) 

#37 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling (2000) 

#36 Paper Towns by John Green (2008) 

#35 The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (1978) 
#34 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813)
#33 The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (2008) 

#32 Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden (1995)
#31 A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray (2003) 



#30 Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (2005)

#29 Harry and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling (2005) 

#28 Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (1985) 

#27 Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce (1983)
#26 The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien (1954) 

#25 Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty (2001)
#24 Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (2007) 

#23 Graceling by Kristin Cashore (2008) 

#22 Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead (2007) 

#21 Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (2009) 



#20 Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen 

 #19 The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (1999) 

#18 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling (1999) 

#17 Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger (1951) 

#16 On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (2006) 

#15 City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (2005) 

#14 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868) 

#13 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling (2007) 

#12 Just Listen by Sarah Dessen (2006) 

#11 Looking for Alaska by John Green (2005) 

#10 This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen (2002) 

#9 Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (2005) 

#8 The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (1967) 

#7 The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (2006) 

#6 The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen (2004) 

#5 Northern Lights [The Golden Compass] by Philip Pullman (1995) 

#4 Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (1996) 
#3 To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960) 

#2 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling (1996) 

#1 The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2008)

I've been invited to participate as a presenter in a webinar that is coming up by my state library about YA Literature.   There are 5 of us who will be talking about our favorite YA novels, each of us specifically targeting our favorite genres.   I will be book talking my top 10 favorite realistic fiction books, and am working on my list of faves.  When I finalize it, I'll share!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Movie Trailer

Movie set to be released on April 2, 2010. I know a lot of excited kids out there, ready to see their favorite books come to life!

(And I'm pretty excited too!)

Jerry Pinkney & Rebecca Stead's [short] Interview on the Today Show

I don't know whether to laugh or puke...

It appears that Twilight will soon have its very own series of Manga. Twilight, the graphic novel is slated to release on March 16, 2010.

Young Kim adapted the novel by Stephenie Meyer and did all the art work. (Which looks stunning, by the way.)

Entertainment Weekly shares the cover, a short excerpt and interview with Meyer on their Shelf Life blog.





I think this is pretty cool, but at the same time wonder how much more Twilight can we take? No doubt this will be be a wildly popular book. And I'm interested to check it out!

Every librarian needs one...

My friend Margie has a really cool blog called Picalicious where she and her husband (and maybe some other friends) post a picture a day for a year.

It's great fun to watch what they observe during their daily lives!

Today, she thought of me! How special?? I am so honored.

What picture did she take that reminded her of me? Well...find out!












That's right...a librarian action figure.

Although I hope I don't look quite as frumpy, even though today I sure felt like it!

Thanks Margie...I think it is super cool!

2010 ALA Youth Media Awards

Hooray! It was a fantastic morning on my couch with the YALSA Live Blog of the ALA Youth Media Awards. I never connected to the live feed, which is fine because I had horrible issues with it last year.

So here's the lowdown:

Newbery Honors:
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice written by Phillip Hoose
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate written by Jacqueline Kelly
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon written by Grace Lin
The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg written by Rodman Philbrick


Newbery Medal Winner:
When You Reach Me written by Rebecca Stead

Caldecott Honors:
All the World ill by Marla Frazee, written by Liz Garton Scanlon
Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors ill. Pamela Zagarenski written by Joyce Sidman

Caldecott Medal Winner:
The Lion & the Mouse ill & written by Jerry Pinkney

Printz Honors:
Charles & Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman
The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
Punkzilla by Adam Rapp
Tales of the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance, 1973 by John Barnes

Printz Medal Winner:
Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor:
E.B. Lewis for The Negro Speaks of Rivers

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Medal:
Charles R. Smith Jr. for My People, written by Langston Hughes

Coretta Scott King Author Honor:
Tanita S. Davis for Mare's War

Coretta Scott King Author Medal Winner:
Vaunda Micheaux Nelson for Bad News for Outlaws: the Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal

Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamiliton Award for Lifetime Achievement: (1st year for this award)
Walter Dean Myers

John Steptoe Award for New Talent:
Kekla Magoon for The Rock and the River

Geisel Honors:
I Spy Fly Guy! written & ill by Tedd Arnold
Little Mouse Gets Ready written & ill by Jeff Smith
Mouse and Mole: Fine Feathered Friends written & ill by Wong Herbert Yee
Pear and Wagner: One Funny Day by Kate McMullan ill R. W. Alley

Geisel Medal Winner:
Benny and Penny in the Big No-No! written & ill by Geoffrey Hayes

Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award
2011 Lecture will be given by Lois Lowry

Alex Awards:
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
The Bride's Farewell, Meg Rosoff
Everything Matters! by Ron Currie, Jr.
The Good Soldiers by David Finkel
The Kids Are All Right: A Memoir by Diana & Liz Welch
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
My Abandonment by Peter Rock
Soulless: An Alexia Tarabotti Novel by Gail Cairriger
Stitches A Memoir by David Small
Tunneling to the Center of the Earth by Kevin Wilson

Batcheldor Honors:
Big Wolf and Little Wolf written by Nadine Brun-Cosme, ill. Olivier Tallec, trans. Claudia Bedrick
Eidi by Bodil Bredsdorff, trans. Kathryn Mahaffy
Moribito II: Guardian of the Darkness by Nahoko Uehashi, ill. Yuko Shimizu, trans Cathy Hirano

Batcheldor Medal Winner:
A Faraway Island by Annika Thor, trans. Linda Schenck

Belpre Illustrator Honors:
Diego: Bigger Than Life ill. by David Diaz (written by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand)
My Abuelita ill. Yuyi Morales, written by Tony Johnston
Gracias Thanks ill by John Parra, written by Pat Mora

Belpre Illustrator Award:
Book Fiesta!: Celebrate Children's Day/Book Day; Celebremeos El dia de los ninos/el dia de los libros ill. Rafael Lopez, written by Pat Mora

Belpre Author Honors:
Diego: Bigger Than Life written by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, ill. by David Diaz
Federico Garcia Lorca written by Georgina Lazaro ill. Enrique S. Moreiro

Belpre Author Award:
Return to Sender written by Julia Alvarez

Carnegie Medal:
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! Produced by Paul R. Gagne and Mo Willems of Weston Woods

Margaret A. Edwards Award:
Jim Murphy

William C. Morris Finalists:
Ash, by Melinda Lo
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
The Everafter by Amy Huntley
hold still by Nina LaCour

William C. Murphy Winner:
Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan

Odyssey Honor:
In the Belly of the Bloodhound - written by L. A. Meyer
Peace, Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson
We Are the Ship by Kadir Nelson

Odyssey Medal Winner:
Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken Produced by Live Oak Media written by Kate DiCamillo & narrated by Barbara Rosenblat

Schneider Awards:
Young Children's: Django written & ill by Bonnie Christensen
Middle Grades: Anything but Typical written by Nora Raleigh Baskin
Teen: Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork

Sibert Honors:
The Day-Glo Brothers by Chris Barton, ill. Tony Persiani
Moonshot written & ill by Brian Floca
Claudette Colvin by Phillip Hoose

Sibert Medal Winner:
Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone

YALSA Award of Excellence Finalist:
Almost Astronauts by Tanya Lee Stone
The Great and Only Barnum by Candace Fleming
Written in Bone by Sally M. Walker
Claudette Colvin by Phillip Hoose

YALSA Award of Excellence Winner:
Charles & Emma by Deborah Heiligman---WINNER


What a great list! I'm excited that for the first time I've read the Newbery & Caldecott Medals already! And I'm about 3/4 through one of the Newbery Honors, and have read several of these listed already. But I've got a hefty reading list ahead!

I'm VERY excited for Jerry Pinkney and his The Lion and the Mouse. I had that book picked from the second I picked it up. It's that amazing.

What do you all think of today's announcements?

Check this girl out...

I don't remember who directed me to this blog, but I'm awfully glad I found it.


This is Laura. I have not met her, and have no idea who she is...but she's an inspiration!

Laura has challenged herself to read every Newbery by the time she enters middle school. She was in second grade when she started, and now is almost finished as a fourth grader!

Go Laura go!

You've inspired me to read more of the Newbery Award winners I never read (which is, ahem, most of them). Thank you and keep up the great work!

Check out her blog here and see what she thinks of the books she's read.

Hooray for Jon Scieszka, Huzzah for Katherine Paterson

Today marks the last day of Jon Scieszka's term as the Ambassador for Children's Literature. This position was created to "raise national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education, and the development and betterment of the lives of young people."

I'd like to take a second to thank Scieszka for all the work he has done the last two years promoting children's literature! He especially does excellent work with his organization Guys Read that encourages males to read and promotes books written and intended for guys! Plus, he's just a great author!



Thanks Mr. Scieszka! You've been a great Ambassador!

Today, the new Ambassador was chosen: Katherine Paterson. What a wonderful choice and I know that she will do an excellent job with this position! She's another wonderful author and I'm excited to see what she does during her term.

One excited person

So, this morning as I attempted to wake up, I checked my Twitter feed. That's when I saw this tweet from Linda Braun (lbroun200), the YALSA president and educator who've I've had the privilege to hear speak:

"NYT on the return of The Babysitter's Club http://bit.ly/4FwKtI"

.

Needless to say...I woke up quickly after seeing that!

Okay, here's the deal. When I was a kid/tween, I LOVED (loved, LOVED, LOVED) the Babysitter's Club. I had quite collection, and would literally start at Book 1, read all that I had, go to Sam's Club and buy the next set of four, read those, then start the process all over again.

The Babysitter's Club is why I'm a librarian who missed a lot of great books published during during my childhood and classics. I was busy reading the BSC! (Don't worry...I'm working on catching up on those now...in my 30's!)

I was kind of disappointed when the library I work at only had a few installments of the series. When I ran across 85% of the series at the farmer's market for a quarter a book, I jumped on that deal! Now the library has a decent set of the series and they've been checked circulating pretty well. We also have the BSC graphic novel set. (Which are pretty stinkin' cool!)

I'm so excited to get this new set for the library and especially read the prequel: The Babysitter's Club: The Summer Before, due out April 1, 2010 according to Amazon.



How exciting that a whole new generation will get to enjoy a series of books their mom's enjoyed!

So sad...

One of my school friends passed along this link to a school listserv today.


http://www.freelibrary.org/



I feel so sad for all the people in Philadelphia as their library will be closing on October 2 due to the lack of "the necessary budgetary legislation by the State Legislature in Harrisburg."

All branches, regional, and central libraries will be closed.

No more books (all current checked out books due back on 10/1), no more children's/teens programming, no more educational classes, no more outreach to the community.

ALL GONE.

Shame on these people in the State Legislature in Harrisburg. I hope you realize how important the libraries are to a community before its too late.

As my friend said: "Benjamin Franklin is rolling over in his grave."

Oooh, I can't Wait!

Oh, my! I just can't wait!

Book Bits

So my email and blog reader is just stock full of some interesting tidbits, and I thought I would share!

1. Check out this article from School Library Journal where they interviewed some librarians about what kids are reading this summer for fun. I see some books kids I know are reading and some that I need to order for my library!

2. MO WILLEMS IS RELEASING A POP-UP BOOK! I am beyond pumped. Check out Mo's blog to see what he has to say and a short video. Now the real decision, do I pre-order or wait to see if I can score a signed copy from Books of Wonder later in the year?

I'm working on a couple of books, but so far its been a lazy summer.

And I'm okay with that.

Reviews coming as I finish!

Summer Reading Lists

In this month's School Library Journal, they ran an article reporting on what many different authors are reading this summer. It's pretty interesting! You can read that article here.

After checking out these authors' list, I thought about what I wanted to read this summer! Here is my list...

*Handle with Care by Jodi Piccoult
*The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare
*Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet by Graham Salisbury
*The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks
*Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
*The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart
*Lily's Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff

There's no doubt that I'll add more as we get new books in at the library that I will just have to read. So we'll just have to see what else is in store!

What is on your list? Is there a book that you've read lately that I just have to read? Leave a comment and let me know!

Top 100 Picture Book Poll of 2009

School Library Journal conducted a poll this year asking readers to pick their favorite picture books. The results have been tallied and released!


Check out the Top 100 Picture Books from the 2009 Poll!

How many have you read? I've read 82, and will be looking to read the others very soon!

I was thrilled to see some of my favorite books on this list, and up at the top of the list!

Wow, how cool!

Today at the Annual White House Easter Egg Roll, President Obama read Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.



I love that book, and loved to see our President read it to a group of young children.

Whoo-Hoo for reading aloud!

Awww!

Thanks to my friend Jennifer R. who sent me this AWESOME Valentine's Card starring Mo Willem's Elephant and Piggie.



It was Jennifer who introduced me to Mo Willems by ordering Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus for the LRC a few years ago when we worked together. Now I clamor for anything he publishes!

Thanks Jennifer! You are awesome!

YALSA Releases Best Books of the Year for Young Adults

Happy Day!

YALSA (Young Adult Services Library Association) has released their yearly Best Books of Young Adults.

You can check out the entire list here, or the just the Top Ten List here.

Again, I have a lot of reading to do!