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By Lindsey, January 31, 2013

The Library Academy Awards (Youth Media Awards) were announced at the American Library Association’s Midwinter Meeting on  January 28^th.  Children’s Librarians from around the country (and world) donned their finest broom skirts, wooden jewelry, comfortable shoes, and sweeping up-do’s (buns) and waited anxiously while the winners were announced.

Your own Nashville Public Library’s Children’s Librarians had a little pool going to see who could pick the winner this year.  At stake?  Some of my delicious homemade chocolate chip hazelnut cookies to the librarian(s) who pegged the winner.  We only focused on the Caldecott (picture books) and Newbery (chapter books.)

Our picks for Caldecott were as follows:

Ms. Phyllis at Main: Georgia In Hawaii: When Georgia O’Keeffe Painted What She Pleased by Amy Novesky
Ms. Lindsey at Main: This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen*
Miss Terri at Green Hills: I Have a Dream Words by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Illustrated by Kadir Nelson.
Ms. Angela at Edmondson Pike and Ms. Joy at Thompson Lane: Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger**
Ms. Ellen at Bordeaux: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce
Ms. Lin at Madison: Oh no, George! By Chris Haughton
Ms. Klem-Mari At Bringing Books to Life: Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett; illustrated by Jon Klassen**
Ms. Elaine at Donelson: And Then It’s Spring by Julie Fogliano, illustrated by Erin E Stead
Ms. Sarah at Donelson: A Home for Bird by Philip C. Stead
Ms. Tori at Edmondson Pike: Happy by Miles van Hout

And the 2013 Caldecott winner is:

This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen

*  okay, so I might have changed my mind at the last minute in our official pool, however, I stated publicly here that this was my pick for Caldecott and my love for Jon Klassen is unparalleled, so I’m counting it!  I’m making the cookies afterall!

** these titles were 2013 Caldecott Honor Books

Our picks for the 2013 Newbery:

Ms. Phyllis at Main, Miss Terri at Green Hills, and Ms. Tori at Edmondson Pike: Wonder by R. J. Palacio
Ms. Lindsey at Main: See You At Harry’s by Johanna Knowles*
Ms. Angela at Edmondson Pike: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
Ms. Ellen at Bordeaux: The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech
Ms. Lin at Madison: I Funny by James Patterson
Ms. Joy at Thompson Lane: Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage**
Ms. Elaine at Donelson: Splendors and Glooms by Laura Schlitz**

And the 2013 Newbery winner is:

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate:  I am about 1/3 of the way in and so far it is a lovely, if not a bit forlorn, quick read.  I have heard people call it “our generation’s Charlotte’s Web.” Those are some big pages to fill, so I won’t speak to the correctness of that description, yet.

* Again, I changed my mind at the last minute, but Wonder was getting plenty of love and I wanted to recognize See You at Harry’s, a heart-wrenchingly great book I will review here soon.

** These titles were Newbery Honor Books.

Kudos to ME! and Ms. Angela at Edmondson Pike for picking the winners (even if I cheated a little)

You can see the full list of the 2013 Youth Media Awards here.  All of which are available at Nashville Public Library (or will be soon!).

-Lindsey

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By Lindsey, December 6, 2012

In my attempt to be the best children’s librarian ever, I pretty much only read children’s book.  My friends and family find this frustrating and have stopped asking me if I have read the latest piece of adult fiction/non-fiction/memoir/etc.   My nieces and nephews find it thrilling. I am trying to balance recent books with timeless classics.   Both of these “classic” books would make great holiday purchases for boys in your life and often appear on “Books for boys who don’t like to read” lists.  Girls will, of course, like them, too, but are often easier to please in the area of reading.

My Side of the Mountain
by Jean Craighead George
The world said goodbye to Jean Craighead George in 2012, but we have fortunately been left with a long list of titles to keep us remembering why we love her so.  My Side of the Mountain is about Sam Gribley, a young teenage boy who is dissatisfied with his crowded life in New York City.  So, he runs away to his family’s land in the Catskill Mountains.  Sam is knowledgeable about survival skills and doesn’t run away out of petulance or a misunderstanding of what he will face living off of the land. As a result, the reader learns survival skills and gains Sam’s appreciation and respect for nature.  Plus, there is a cool falcon in it.

Stay with me for this metaphor, but I felt like Sam when reading this book.  If current children’s fiction is Sam’s New York City, then reading this book is a departure.  In a good way.  And I can appreciate nature with the best of them, but I am not a camper or hiker.  I frankly expected to be bored by this book, being used to reading modern children’s books with magic, robots, suspense and the like.  But I wasn’t bored.  I was engaged and wanted to know how – HOW – Sam was going solve the mystery of creating a wood stove from river clay. My 7 and 10 year old nephews listened to the audiobook after I did and I’m happy to report that they enjoyed it even more than I.

Hatchet
by Gary Paulsen 
Hatchet was written almost 30 years after My Side of the Mountain and it contains more of the elements we have become accustomed to in modern children’s literature – suspense, plane crash, family drama…you get the idea. 

Unlike Sam, Brian does NOT wish to survive off the land and is not prepared to do so.  Unfortunately, he has little choice when he is the sole survivor of a plane crash and all he has to help him is the hatchet his mother gave him right before he boarded the plane.  This book has some pretty frightening situations and does not shy away from some of the more gory details.  Which, again, kids will love.

 Both of these books are riveting in their own right, hold up well despite being written in the late fifties and eighties, and best of all, have sequels so young readers can keep up with these characters’ stories.

-Lindsey

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By Lindsey, August 23, 2012

 Wonder
By R.J. Palacio

I fall in love with books pretty easily.  It’s kind of my job, after all.  So, it isn’t uncommon to hear me saying, “I love this book.”  But, I. Love. This. Book. It tells the story of Auggie who was born with an unimaginable facial deformity that has prevented him from entering school for medical reasons until now….5^th grade.  The reader follows Auggie and a number of people in his life through his first year of middle school.  Alternately told from different perspectives, including Auggie and his sister and two of his friends, the book’s strong anti-bullying message of acceptance is overt without being forced. This is the author’s first novel and is appropriate for ages 8 and up. 

The audiobook version is wonderful, with different narrators for the different points of view. I’m going to put it out there that this is my pick for the Newbery this year (it should also be noted that I have never once chosen a Newbery correctly and rarely agree with the choice.)

Here’s the book trailer, if you’re in to that sort of thing…

- Lindsey

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By Amanda, March 17, 2012

Stuck
By Oliver Jeffers

It’s happened to the best of us. You get a nice sunny spring day where the temperature is warm enough that you don’t need a coat. The wind is blowing, which gives off a nice breeze and you think, “Hey, I’ll go fly my kite.” But what happens when the gently wafting breeze becomes an errant gust? That’s right – your kite gets Stuck in a tree.

Meet Floyd. Floyd’s kite is stuck in a tree, too. Oliver Jeffers latest book chronicles Floyd’s exploits to get his kite out of that tree. Throw your shoe at it? Nope, that doesn’t work. Maybe the policeman can help? Aw, man. Now he got stuck. How in the world is Floyd going to get his kite back?

Jeffers’ book is targeted for children, but it is a fun read for kids of any age. Not since Mo Willems and his Pigeon (who I would totally let drive the bus, by the way) have I so enjoyed a kiddie book. You won’t believe the plans that Floyd concocts to get his kite out of the tree.

You’ll probably wonder why you didn’t think to try that yourself.

Happy reading…

Amanda