NEWS: Awards Round-up

Book awards season is in full swing. So, here we go: It's round up time!

ALA Awards/ Lists
On the 23rd, the American Library Association's Children's and Young Adult Services announced the winners for the coveted Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz Awards—plus several other annual awards and lists that they oversee. The winners of the major awards were as follows:

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
2012 PRINTZ WINNER/2012 MORRIS DEBUT WINNER

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
2012 NEWBERY MEDAL WINNER

A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka
2012 CALDECOTT MEDAL WINNER

Whaley's debut was certainly an impressive one, and easily made my list of top teen books of the year. In my recent Book Picks list, I mentioned that the book reminded me of Flannery O'Connor. I am not a bit surprised that it swiped not one—but two!—YALSA awards. I was also pleased to see Inside Out & Back Again listed as a Newbery honor book. On the other hand, I was somewhat shocked to see no love for Patrick Ness's A Monster Calls. Possibly, the intended audience skewed a little too old for Newbery and a bit young for the Printz.You can visit the ALSC website to see the full list of this year's award winners and honorees for children's and teen literature. (The Best Books for Young Adults list hasn't been updated yet.)
Edited to Note: The 2012 list is now up! The Top 10 List is at follows:

• Carson, Rae. The Girl of Fire and Thorns.
• Cohen, Joshua C. Leverage.
• King, A.S. Everybody Sees the Ants.
• McCall, Guadalupe Garcia. Under the Mesquite.
• Myracle, Lauren. Shine.
• Ness, Patrick. A Monster Calls.
• Sepetys, Ruta. Between Shades of Gray. 
• Stiefvater, Maggie. The Scorpio Races. 
• Taylor, Laini. Daughter of Smoke and Bone. 
• Zarr, Sara. How to Save a Life.

Several of our 2011 favorites made the top 10—A Monster Calls, Between Shades of Gray, The Scorpio Races, and Daughter of Smoke and Bone.



Edgar Nominees
The American Mystery Writers of America's Edgar nominees were also recently announced. There are multiple Adult Fiction categories, as well as categories for Juvenile and Teen literature. Martha Grimes was was named the newest MWA Grand Master.


Academy Awards
Last but not least, Oscar nominations were announced yesterday and it is interesting to note how many of the Best Picture nominees are based on books.

That's five out of nine! Other book-based films garnering nominations include The Adventures of TinTin, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, The Ides of March, The Iron Lady, Jane Eyre, My Week with Marilyn, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and War Horse.

If you are interested in more book-to-movie adaptations, see the Read It. Watch It. page on our library website.