ALA Award Winners Announced...

Here are the highlights:

The 2010 John Newbery Medal for most outstanding contribution to children’s literature went to When You Reach Me, written by Rebecca Stead.


The 2010 Randolph Caldecott Medal for most distinguished American picture book for children went to The Lion & the Mouse, illustrated and written by Jerry Pinkney.


The 2010 Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults went to Going Bovine, written by Libba Bray.



For a complete list of ALA medalists, click here.

Congratulations to all the outstanding authors and illustrators who were recognized!

NOTE: Printz Award winner Libba Bray is the opening keynote speaker for the SCBWI Annual Winter Conference next week in New York City. Click here to register for the event.

NYC Teen Author Festival--My First Day...

I arrived in New York on rainy Thursday to catch the last few days of the Teen Author Festival. That afternoon I met my friend Aaron Hartzler (who is the Director, Communications & Design for SCBWI) for a 4 o'clock reading at the 67th branch library featuring Rachel Vail, Courtney Sheinmel, Martin Wilson, Lisa Ann Sandell, and Cecily Von Ziegesar (pictured below in my rather dark photo, L to R, holding up their books).


Oh...I really adore listening to authors reading their own work. There's something sort of magical about it. I'd love to have a continuous bedtime rotation of YA authors reading me a few chapters every night before I fall asleep. Courtney Sheinmel told us she got the idea for her book My So-Called Family, featuring a girl whose father was a sperm donor, from a "The Today Show" story. Cecily Von Ziegesar read a scene from an early Gossip Girl title showing us the book version of why Blair Waldorf didn't get into Harvard (no cocktail parties or text messages involved). Rachel Vail's reading from her upcoming book Lucky offered humor and a great character. Lisa Ann Sandell's writing was lyrical and beautiful and I wasn't surprised to hear that her book A Map of the Known World is her first first prose work, her previous books written in verse. As for Llambda Literary Awards finalist Martin Wilson--after the reading teens were fighting over who got to read his book What They Always Tell Us first as he gave his copy to the library.

And that was another wonderful thing about this reading: teens. There were a bunch of them. And they (pretty much all) paid attention and they asked thoughtful questions and they seemed to have a relationship with the YA librarian which was wonderful to see.

After the reading we were off to Books of Wonder for the debut of Tiger Beat, the first-ever all-YA-author band including Libba Bray, Daniel Ehrenhaft, Barney Miller, and Natalie Standiford. Tiger Beat's opening act was David Levithan and Rachel Cohn (rockin a flannel shirt and eye liner) offering readings from their book Naomi and Eli's No Kiss List (in both English and German!) and a reenacted scene from the movie version of Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist.


Then Tiger Beat seriously rocked (they were, like, good) and everyone cheered.


And waved foam Tiger Beat rock'n'roll hands.


Oh--and attached to Books of Wonder: a cupcake place! Aren't they pretty. (The chocolate icing was fantastic.)


Last, here's a reenactment of part of Aaron's conversation with the girl who sold us cupcakes. (I forget her name. I will call her Kara.)

Aaron: Hi Kara. Are you excited about the authors here in the store?

Kara: Oh. I'm not really into young adult books.

Pause.

I'm sixteen.

Aaron: What do you read?

Kara: Neil Gaiman.

Blogger of the Week:
Steph at Reviewer X...


In March of this year, Steph, then a 14-year-old sophomore at "a freakin' hard prep school" started her blog, Reviewer X, to talk about books.

"You'll often hear me say I started a book blog because I readreadread and I'm opinionated, which breeds a review site," says the now 15-year-old junior. "The real reason, though, is because I wanted to interview authors I admire (like Libba Bray, Megan McCafferty, Annette Curtis Klause and Melina Marchetta) and get away with asking questions like, 'What is your favorite curse word?' (Which I totally asked Megan McCafferty.)"

She also feels that reviewing helps develop her interpretation and critical thinking skills. "I study at a hard prep school and we're given so much schoolwork in so many subjects all at once, it's almost impossible to truly learn without memorization, let alone discern—in lit classes—what works for you. It's a great school, don't get me wrong, but a bit laconic at times. My mantra is: book blogging + private lit classes = my conditioning."

Reviewer X readers will mostly find reviews on Steph's blog, as well as the occasional interview and guest post. She recently departed a bit from her routine posting, however, for Girl Week. "I'm big on feminism and this was my way of showing it: a whole week devoted to feminism and strong YA characters. I don't do many theme weeks—in fact, this is my only theme week—but I plan on bringing it back annually. It's gotten an amazing turnout and I can't wait to do it again next year!"

Since it's the holiday season, here are Steph's recommendations for all you last-minute shoppers looking for books for the teen readers in your life:

• If it's soulful you're looking for, then definitely Melina Marchetta.
  
• Philosophical, cute, and kind of catastrophic? John Green.
  
• Historical feminism? Libba Bray.
  
• Snarky coming-of-age? Megan McCafferty.
  
• Vampires? Rachel Caine.
• Other authors to watch for are CK Kelly Martin, Laurie Halse Anderson (whose 09 release Wintergirls is just amazing), Stephanie Kuehnert, Christine Fletcher, Maureen Johnson, Melissa Walker, and Robin Benway.
• If they're looking for something super different, The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King. It's a February 2009 debut and it's fantastic, with a lot of crossover potential. Should appeal to both teens and adults.