Recently in Awards Category

School Library Journal has an intriguing article on the recent Newbery winners and their lack of popularity.  I have to agree.  I feel a certain numbness about all of them.  My biggest pleasure this last year was the win of Brian Selznick for Hugo Cabret. 

My greatest disappointment was that it didn't win the Newbery.  Two of my other favorites of 2007 were Elijah of Buxton and Wednesday Wars. 

They both got Newbery Honors, but not the Medal.  Somehow there is a disconnect where the Honor Books in recent years seem to be more popular, accessible and of the same writing standard as the winners.

Of course, this is exactly the sort of thing that created the Cybils.  The Cybils take audience reaction into account alongside writing quality. 

Our conversations center on how children and teens will react to the books, but they also focus on writing style, theme, characters, scope, genre, and other pieces that make exceptional books. 

The Cybils are open right now for your input.  Nominate your favorite books of the year.  Participate by reading the blog.  Be a part of a new award process that hopefully addresses some of the issues with the Newbery and forges a new path.

Join in the fun that is the Cybil Awards, the children's lit blog awards!  Now entering their third year!

You can nominate only one book in each category, so think carefully and browse through the other nominations to make sure you aren't duplicating someone else's.  Some people love to nominate early, others wait until the nominations close on October 15th, so that they can nominate their favorite that got overlooked by others.

There are a few rules:

One nomination per genre per person.

The book must be published between January 1 and October 15 of 2008.

English or bilingual books only.

Easy peasy! 

Here are the genres:

Fantasy and Science Fiction

Fiction Picture Books

Graphic Novels

Middle Grade Fiction

Non-fiction: Middle Grade and YA

Non-fiction Picture Books

Poetry

Young Adult Fiction

I'm lucky enough to have been asked to head the Fantasy/Science Fiction category and the only thing I regret is that I won't be able to nominate books this year.  So you go ahead and enjoy!  Nominate some great ones!

Patrick Ness has won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for his amazing Knife of Never Letting Go!  Hurrah! 

Here is my review of the book, if you missed it.  One might call it gushing. 

The Guardian article about the award has a great interview with Ness.  After several authors being apologetic about writing for teens and children, this quote from the interview is particularly refreshing:

"The thing a teenage audience will do for you is that if you don't insult their intelligence, they will often follow you to strange places, so you can really really go for it. This story felt like something that's got to be really gone for, really shouted out from the rafters, and teenage fiction is where you can do that and still not be shoved into genre," Ness said.

The rest of the interview is definitely worth reading too.  I also like his take on truth and teens.  Great stuff.

The shortlist for the Booktrust Teenage Prize has been released.  Here's the list:

Creature of the Night by Kate Thompson

The Knife that Killed Me by Anthony McGowan

The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner (great book!!)

Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz

Apache by Tanya Landman (released as I Am Apache in the US)

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (reading this right now)

The Guardian Prize for Children's Fiction will be announced on September 24th.  For now, we have to content ourselves with the four finalists on the shortlist:

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Before I Die by Jenny Downham

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (next on my to-read pile)

Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd

The Roald Dahl Funny Prize was founded by Michael Rosen and has its very first shortlist out now.  I love the idea of a prize just for the funny books, because Rosen is right when he talks about funny books being squeezed out.  I think it's a lot like the Oscars where humorous performances rarely get the prize.  For some reason, drama is much more award-worthy in people's minds than humor.  Funny, huh?

A reminder that this is a British prize, so some of the books may not be available yet in the U.S.

There are two shortlists:

For Children Six and Under

Stick Man by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler
Elephant Wellyphant by Nick Sharratt
The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers (coming January 2009)
The Witch's Children Go to School by Ursula Jones, illustrated by Russell Ayto (no US release date)
There's an Ouch in My Pouch! by Jeanne Willis, illustrated by Garry Parsons (no US release date)
Manfred the Baddie by John Fardell (no US release date)

For Children Seven to Fourteen

Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear by Andy Stanton, illustrated by David Tazzyman (coming October 2008)
Paddington Here and Now by Michael Bond, illustrated by RW Alley
Stop in the Name of Pants! by Louise Rennison
Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Aliens Don't Eat Dog Food by Dinah Capparucci (no US release date)
Urgum and the Goo Goo Bah! By Kjartan Poskitt, illustrated by Philip Reeve (no US release date)