Children’s Book Awards

This week at the library:

luckiest girl aliveJoin us for Library and Lunch on Tuesday at noon, where we will discuss The Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll. Bilingual Storytime launches this month on Thursday at 6 pm. Kids and their parents can come enjoy Spanish and English stories and songs, followed by a craft. And don’t forget our normal storytimes, Tuesdays at 6 pm and Thursdays at 11:15 am. We will also have a Lego Build Day on Wednesday at 4 pm in the Cooper-Clark Room. There will be treats, Legos, the Minecraft card game, and Minecraft crafts. Fun for builders of all ages!

Newberys, Caldecotts, and other Children’s Book Awards
Tomorrow is a very exciting day for all who love Children’s literature. Tomorrow morning at the American Library Association’s Midwinter Conference (held this year in Boston), the winners of the Newbery Medal, Caldecott Medal, and several other children’s book awards will be announced. I’m excited to see what the committees have picked as the best of the best for 2015! With these medals on the verge of being announced, I thought I’d revisit some of my favorite past Newbery Medal winners, all available for checkout at the library:

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool (2011 Newbery winner): The author of this book lives in Wichita, Kansas! From the book description: “Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is the daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of 1936, sends her to stay with an old friend in Manifest, Kansas, where he grew up, and where she hopes to find out some things about his past.”

Holes by Louis Sachar (1999 Newbery winner): From the book description: “Stanley Yelnats has been unjustly sent to a boys’ detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment—and redemption.” There is also a good movie adaptation of the same name, starring Shia LaBeouf, Sigourney Weaver, and Jon Voight.

The Giver by Lois Lowry (1994 Newbery winner): From the book description: “Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.”

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (1963 Newbery winner): From the book description: “Meg Murry, her savant younger brother Charles Wallace, and her friend Calvin become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg’s father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government.”

And, as a long-time Dr. Seuss fan, I can’t forget about the Geisel Awards, given to “the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers.”

There is a Bird on Your Head by Mo Willems (2008 Geisel winner): From the book description:
“Gerald the elephant discovers that there is something worse than a bird on your head– two birds on your head! Piggie will try to help her best friend.” Mo Willems’s book, Are You Ready to Play Outside?, also featuring Gerald and Piggie, won the Geisel in 2009.

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