I am sitting here in the Ballroom of the Philly Convention Center waiting for ALA’s 2008 book and media awards ceremony to begin. Pardon typos along the way. I will clean this up later when I have some time to do more than type. We are set to begin shortly.

ALEX Awards

AMERICAN SHAOLIN
BAD MONKEYS
ESSEX COUNTY VOLUME 1
GENGHISTHE

GOD OF ANIMALS
A LONG WAY GONE
MISTER PIP
THE NAME OF THE WIND
THE NIGHT BIRDS
THE SPELLMAN FILES

SCHNEIDER FAMILY AWARD

KAMI AND THE YAKS young children

REACHING FOR SUN middle grade book
HURT GO HAPPY teen book

CORETTA SCOTT KING

CORETTA SCOTT KING STEPTOE: SUNDEE T FRAZIER for Brendan Buckey’s Universe and Everything in It

Two author honor:

NOVEMBER BLUES BY SHARON DRAPER

TWELVE ROUNDS TO GLORY BY CHARLES SMITH

AUTHOR WINNER: ELIJAH OF BUXTON BY CHRISTOPHER PAUL CURTIS
ILLUSTRATOR HONOR

THE SECRET OLIVIA TOLD ME
JAZZ ON A SATURDAY NIGHT

ILLUSTRATOR: ASHLEY BRYAN FOR LET IT SHINE

EDWARDS: ORSON SCOTT CARD for Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow

PRINTZ HONOR:

DREAMQUAKE
ONE WHOLE AND PERFECT DAY
REPOSSESSED
YOUR OWN SYLVIA

PRINTZ WINNER: THE WHITE DARKNESS

BATCHELDER HONOR: THE CAT, NICHOLAS AND THE GANG

BATCHELDER AWARD: BRAVE STORY

SIBERT HONOR: NIC BISHOP SPIDERS, LIGHTSHIP

SIBERT WINNER: THE WALL

PURA BELPRE

ILLUSTRATOR HONOR: MY NAME IS GABITO, MY COLORS MY WORLD

ILLUSTRATOR WINNER: LOS GATOS BLACK ON HALLOWEEN

AUTHOR HONOR: FRIDA: VIVA LA VIDA, MARTINA THE BEAUTIFUL COCKROACH, LOS GATOS BLACK ON HALLOWEEN

AUTHOR WINNER: THE POET SLAVE OF CUBA

ODYSSEY AWARD:

HONORS: BLOODY JACK (LISTEN AND LIVE), TREASURE ISLAND (LISTENING LIBRARY), HARRY POTTER 7 (LISTENING LIBRARY), DOOBY DOOBY MOO (SCHOLASTIC), SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT (HARPERCOLLINS)

WINNER: JAZZ (LIVE OAK)

ARBUTHNOT: WALTER DEAN MYERS

CARNEGIE MEDAL (VIDEO): JUMP IN FREESTYLE EDITION

GEISEL AWARD HONORS: FIRST THE EGG, HELLO BUMBLEE BAT, JAZZ BABY, VULTURE VIEW

GEISEL AWARD: THERE IS A BIRD ON YOUR HEAD

CALDECOTT HONOR ILLUSTRATOR: HENRY’S FREEDOM BOX, FIRST THE EGG, THE WALL,, KNUFFLE BUNNY TOO

CALDECOTT: INVENTION OG HUGO CABRET

NEWBERY HONOR: ELIJAH OF BUXTON, THE WEDNESDAY WARS, FEATHERS

NEWBERY: GOOD MASTERS, SWEET LADIES

For more information on the YALSA awards, go to www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists. YALSA’s 2008 selected lists will be posted on that page as well by Wednesday January 16th.
Posted by Teri Lesesne

I can’t help it. I am like a kid the night before Christmas. Tomorrow morning is when the awards will be announced here in Philadelphia. Tonight, some of the committees made phone calls to winners. Among those committees was my own, the Odyssey. It is an experience like no other: to call someone and let them know they will receive an award from ALA/YALSA is thrilling for all involved. From outside the Press Room, you can hear the cheers of the committee as a connection is made.

Perhaps that is an apt allusion for YALSA. So many connections made here, so many reasons to cheer.

Be sure to link in to the live web cast tomorrow. Root for your favorites, of course, but join in a cheer for all the winners, too!

Posted by Teri Lesesne

I guess I am a little spoiled and maybe a tad complacent. In November, I had the chance to sit for two days at the ALAN conference and listen to the best and the brightest in the field of YA literature talk about books and reading. Chris Crutcher, Sherman Alexie, E Lockhart, and Laurie Halse Anderson and dozens of others spoke about their own writing. Breakout sessions focused on reading motivation and the use of YA literature in classroom and libraries. Several YALSA leaders were in attendance and on the program including Bonnie Kunzel, Mary Arnold, Ed Sullivan, and Michael Cart.

Why am I waxing nostalgic now? Well, it seems that YA literature takes a back seat sometimes within ALA. As I prepare to attend the Midwinter meeting, I am reading all about the awards press conference in the recent news releases and online newsletters (AL Direct, January, 2007, and the latest issue of American Libraries, for instance), Newbery and Caldecott get top billing. I understand that. They have been around since 1922 and 1938 respectively. However, not to mention the Printz, ALEX, and Edwards awards as part of the ceremony seems to me to consign the YALSA awards to a less important category. Maybe I am guilty of assisting this slight. I will occasionally define the Printz as the YA Newbery. That’s wrong, and one of my New Year’s resolutions is to promote the YALSA award winners even more in presentations, articles, and speeches.

Adolescent literacy is at the forefront of our attention in education right now. It seems to me that ALA should be hyping what it does to keep teens immersed in books and reading. Instead, it elects to focus on the past and is, therefore, ignoring a golden opportunity to promote one of its prime initiatives in the battle against aliteracy. Highlighting YALSA awards would bring some national attention to the field of YA literature which (IMHO) is the best hope we have of creating teens who read for pleasure and who become lifelong readers and learners.

However, this does not help remedy the slight within my own professional organization. YALSA is one of the fastest growing groups within ALA and yet we take a back seat at the awards ceremony. Our winners do not appear on The Today Show (according to the ALA PIO, the show is not interested in adding the Printz winners). Last year we were encouraged by YALSA to show up Tuesday morning in New York and carry signs about the Printz. We need to do more this year. What can we do to bring this to the attention of our leadership in the organization? Why is our leadership not interested in making a moe concerted effort to get Printz winners on the show?

First, as many of us as possible need to communicate our displeasure to those in charge. Send letters to ALA Direct, American Libraries, and to the leadership of ALA. At Midwinter, be sure to talk to our leaders about the need to make YALSA awards visible. Here are some key email addresses for you: the email address for letters to the editor of American Libraries: americanlibraries@ala.org. The Director of ALA’s Public Information Office (PIO) is Mark Gould, mgould@ala.org and the CEO of ALA is Keith Fiels, kfiels@ala.org Attend the press conference and make some noise for the YALSA winners if you are planning to be in Philly.

Letters are one place to begin. We need to go further. The psters for Printz did not generate a great deal of sales. Show your support this year with a purchase of the bookmarks and ask one of your library vendors if they will produce a poster each year with cumulative lists of Printz winners. How about some professional books about using the Printz winners in school and public library settings? (and we do have one coming: the Official Guide to YALSA Awards is scheduled to be published by YALSA with Neal-Schuman in June 2008. It’s been edited by Tina Frolund and has sections on Alex, Edwards and Printz). How about using our votes to speak as well? Look at the candidates running for ALA Board. Think about endorsing those who are YALSA members and/or who support YALSA’s initiatives. Dora Ho, the 2008 local arrangements chair for our annual conference, is one of the YALSA people running for ALA Executive Board.

YALSA should share the spotlight with ALSC when it comes to the awards presentation. Make your voices heard. It is time to demand more from our professional home. Instead of sitting us at a separate table, ALA needs to invite us to sit at the head table at the banquet.

Posted by Teri Lesesne

There is a buzz in this room. Mixed with cries of “Hello” and “long time no see,” is the whisper of titles and authors we hope to hear announced from the podium shortly.

This is my favorite time at Midwinter: the press conference that tells us all what books were deemed the best of 2006.

I am going to try to blog as the announcements are made for those of you who could not log in to the web cast. Stay tuned…

I am back because I just saw that the web cast is already full. So, sorry for those of you who got shut out. The chairs have gathered on the stage and we should be underway momentarily.

ALEX awards were announced first.

BOOK OF LOST THINGS
THE WHISTLING SEASON
EAGLE BLUE
WATER FOR ELEPHANTS

COLOR OF THE SEA
FLOOR OF THE SKY
BLIND SIDE: THE EVOLUTION OF A GAME
BLACK SWAN GREEN
THE WORLD MADE STRAIGHT
THE THIRTEENTH TALE

Schneider Family Awards:

Deaf Musicians (children)

Rules (middle school)
Small Steps (teen)

Coretta Scott King:

Steptoe: Traci Jones for STANDING AGAINST THE WIND

Illustrator honor:

JAZZ
POETRY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE: LANGSTON HUGHES

WINNER: MOSES

Book Honor:

The Road to Paris

Winner:

COPPER SUN by Draper

MARGARET EDWARDS: LOIS LOWRY

PRINTZ:

honor: OCTAVIAN NOTHING, ABUNDANCE OF KATHERINES, SURRENDER, BOOK THIEF

winner: AMERICAN BORN CHINESE

ARBUTHNOT LECTURE: DAVID MACAULAY

BATCHELDER:

honor: LAST DRAGON, KILLER’S TEARS

winner PULL OF THE OCEAN

SIBERT:

honor: FREEDOM RIDERS, QUEST FOR THE TREE KANGAROO, TO DANCE
winner: TEAM MOON

Wilder: James Marshall

Carnegie: Knufflebunny

Geisel:

honor: MOVE OVER ROVER, MERCY WATSON GOES FOR A RIDE, NOT A BOX
winner: ZELDA AND VIY: THE RUNAWAYS

CALDECOTT:

HONOR: GONE WILD, MOSES

WINNER: FLOTSAM

NEWBERY:

honor: PENNY FROM HEAVEN, HATTIE BIG SKY, RULES

winner: HIGHER POWER OF LUCKY

I have posted some candid snapshots from the All Committee Meeting and from the Awards Press Conference to my Flickr account. Go see YALSA and its members in action.

Posted by Teri Lesesne

Posted by Teri Lesesne

There was a palpable thrill in the air of Hall C as Pam Spencer Holley opened the first ever live web cast of the awards ceremony known as the Oscars of the juvenile literature world. Librarians and publishers mingled before being called to order with lots of us getting in our last picks for winning titles before the actual announcements.

After viewing footage from the forthcoming Pura Belpre video that celebrates the 10th anniversary of this award, President Michael Gorman opened the ceremonies by announcing the winners of the Schneider Family Award. (for a full list of awards: http://news.ala.org/releases/announce.html). ALEX Awards were announced and then it was time for what all the YALSA folks had been anticipating since the beginning of conference: the winners of the Margaret A. Edwards Award and the Printz winners.

Pam Spencer Holley’s announcement of Jacqueline Woodson as the recipient of the 2006 MAE Award we met with much enthusiasm. Printz winners came next, again to thunderous applause. (List of Winners.)

After announcements for all the awards were made, we scurried off to call friends and colleagues. Immediately, the listservs lit up with the post announcement discussion also known as Monday morning quarterbacking. It was an incredibly exciting way to start a day here in San Antonio.