ALA YOUTH MEDIA AWARDS ANNOUNCEMENT

ALA Youth Media Awards were announced this morning! It's like the Oscars for the American children's book world. And the winners are...

Newbery (for writing)
Gold:
WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead (Random House)
Silver:
CLAUDETTE COLVIN: TWICE TOWARD JUSTICE by Philip M. Hoose (Farrar Straus Giroux)
THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE by Jacqueline Tate (Henry Holt)
WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON by Grace Lin (Little, Brown)
THE MOSTLY TRUE ADVENTURES OF HOMER P. FIGG by Rodman Philbrick (Scholastic)

Caldecott (for illustration)
Gold:
THE LION & THE MOUSE by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown)
Silver:
ALL THE WORLD by Liz Garton Scanlon, illustrated by Marla Frazee (Beach Lane)
RED SINGS FROM TREETOPS by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski (Houghton Mifflin)

Sibert (for nonfiction)
Gold:
ALMOST ASTRONAUTS by Tanya Lee Stone (Candlewick)
Silver:
THE DAY-GLO BROTHERS by Chris Barton, illustrated by Tony Persiani (Charlesbridge)
MOONSHOT: THE FLIGHT OF APOLLO 11 by Brian Floca (Atheneum)
CLAUDETTE COLVIN: TWICE TOWARD JUSTICE by Philip M. Hoose (Farrar Straus Giroux)

Complete list of awards awards announced here, including the Coretta Scott King (congrats to Walter Dean Myers for lifetime achievement, great news!), Pura Belpré, Prinz and Geisel.

Apart from the usual robberies (ugh, never enough good to go around, it seems!), I'm generally pleased with this year's picks, largely honing in on titles with young readers in mind (read: humor and lightness of spirit), always a positive in a children's book award yet not to be taken for granted. I was especially happy to see some poetry represented, as well as new talent, strong female protagonists and subjects, a cross-section of publishers and some multicultural representation. I was also pleased to see five of these winners predicted here on PlanetEsme, plus two more reviewed here in the year. Still the place to be for the cutting edge of children's lit, ha-ha!

Feel free to celebrate or vent in the comments section.