The ALA awards for excellence in literature and media for teens and children have been announced! Here’s the list–it’s LONG. If you’ve read any of them, comment in the comment box about what you think! Any you thought you’d see on this list that aren’t here?
Note: Even more awards will be featured next time! If you don’t own these titles, you’ll want to consider purchasing them.
John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature.
Moon over Manifest, written by Clare Vanderpool. Delacorte/Random House.
Newbery Honor Books
Turtle in Paradise, by Jennifer L. Holm. Random House
Heart of a Samurai, written by Margi Preus. Amulet Books/ABRAMS.
Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night, written by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia. Amistad/HarperCollins.
Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children.
A Sick Day for Amos McGee, illustrated by Erin E. Stead, written by Phillip C. Stead. Neal Porter Book/Roaring Brook Press.
Caldecott Honor Books:
Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave, illustrated by Bryan Collier, written by Laban Carrick Hill. Little, Brown and Company.
Interrupting Chicken, written and illustrated by David Ezra Stein. Candlewick Press.
Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults
Ship Breaker, written by Paolo Bacigalupi. Little, Brown and Company.
Printz Honor Books:
Stolen, by Lucy Christopher. Chicken House/Scholastic Inc.
Please Ignore Vera Dietz, by A.S. King. Alfred A. Knopf/Random House Inc.
Revolver, by Marcus Sedgwick. Roaring Brook Press
Nothing, by Janne Teller. Atheneum Books/Simon & Schuster.
Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award recognizing an African American author of an outstanding book for children and young adults.
One Crazy Summer, written by Rita Williams-Garcia. Amistad/HarperCollins.
King Author Honor Books:
Lockdown, by Walter Dean Myers. Amistad/HarperCollins.
Ninth Ward, by Jewell Parker Rhodes. Little, Brown and Company.
Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty, written by G. Neri, illustrated by Randy DuBurke. Lee & Low Books Inc.
Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award recognizing an African American illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults
Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave, illustrated by Bryan Collier, written by Laban Carrick Hill. Little, Brown and Company.
King Illustrator Honor Book:
Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix, illustrated by Javaka Steptoe, written by Gary Golio. Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Robert F. Sibert Medal for most distinguished informational book for children
Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot, written by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Nic Bishop. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Sibert Honor Books:
Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring, written by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, illustrated by Brian Floca. Neal Porter/Flash Point/Roaring Brook Press.
Lafayette and the American Revolution, written by Russell Freedman and published by Holiday House.
Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for the most distinguished beginning reader book.
Bink and Gollie, written by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee and illustrated by Tony Fucile. Candlewick Press.
Geisel Honor Books:
Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same! written and illustrated by Grace Lin. Little, Brown and Company.
We Are in a Book! written and illustrated by Mo Willems. Hyperion/Disney.
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults during a November 1 – October 31 publishing year.
Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing, written by Ann Angel.Amulet/Abrams.
Nonfiction Finalists:
They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement, by Rick Bowers. National Geographic Society.
The Dark Game: True Spy Stories, by Paul Janeczko. Candlewick Press.
Every Bone Tells a Story: Hominin Discoveries, Deductions, and Debates, by Jill Rubalcaba and Peter Robertshaw. Charlesbridge
Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience
Ages 0-10: The Pirate of Kindergarten, written by George Ella Lyon, illustrated by Lynne Avril. Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster.
Ages 11-13 After Ever After, written by Jordan Sonnenblick. Scholastic Press.
Teens Ages 13-18 Five Flavors of Dumb, written by Antony John and published by Dial Books/Penguin Group.
Mildred L. Batchelder Award for an outstanding children’s book translated from a language other than English and subsequently published in the United States
A Time of Miracles. Originally published in French in 2009, written by Anne-Laure Bondoux, translated by Y. Maudet. Delacorte Press/Random House.
Batchelder Honor Books:
Departure Time, written by Truus Matti and translated by Nancy Forest-Flier. Namelos.
Nothing, written by Janne Teller and translated by Martin Aitken. Atheneum/Simon & Schuster .
Pura Belpré (Author) Award honoring a Latino writer whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience.
The Dreamer, written by Pam Muñoz Ryan, illustrated by Peter Sís. Scholastic.
Belpré Author Honor Books:
¡Olé! Flamenco, written and illustrated by George Ancona. Lee & Low Books Inc.
The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette’s Journey to Cuba, written by Margarita Engle. Henry Holt.
90 Miles to Havana, written by Enrique Flores-Galbis. Roaring Brook Press.
Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Award honoring a Latino illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience
Grandma’s Gift, illustrated and written by Eric Velasquez. Walker/Bloomsbury.
Belpré Illustrator Honor Books:
Fiesta Babies, illustrated by Amy Córdova, written by Carmen Tafolla. Tricycle/Crown /Random House.
Me, Frida, illustrated by David Diaz, written by Amy Novesky. Abrams.
Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin, illustrated and written by Duncan Tonatiuh. Abrams.
Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award, given annually to English-language children’s and young adult books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered experience.
Almost Perfect, written by Brian Katcher. Delacorte Press/Random House.
Stonewall Honor Books:
will grayson, will grayson, written by John Green and David Levithan. Dutton Books/Penguin Group.
Love Drugged, written by James Klise. Flux/Llewellyn.
Freaks and Revelations, written by Davida Willis Hurwin. Little, Brown and Company.
The Boy in the Dress, written by David Walliams, illustrated by Quentin Blake. Penguin.
William C. Morris Award for a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens
The Freak Observer, written by Blythe Woolston. Carolrhoda/Lerner.
Morris Finalists:
Hush, by Eishes Chayil. Walker/Bloomsbury.
Guardian of the Dead, by Karen Healey. Little, Brown and Company.
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, by Lish McBride. Henry Holt.
Crossing the Tracks, by Barbara Stuber. Margaret McElderry/Simon & Schuster .
Andrew Carnegie Medal for excellence in children’s video
Paul R. Gagne and Melissa Reilly Ellard of Weston Woods, producers of The Curious Garden. Based on the book of the same name, written and illustrated by Peter Brown, and is narrated by Katherine Kellgren, with music by David Mansfield.
Odyssey Award for best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults, available in English in the United States
The True Meaning of Smekday, written by Adam Rex and narrated by Bahni Turpin. Listening Library.
Odyssey Honor Recordings:
Alchemy and Meggy Swann, written by Karen Cushman and narrated by Katherine Kellgren. Listening Library.
The Knife of Never Letting Go, written by Patrick Ness and narrated by Nick Podehl. Brilliance Audio.
Revolution, written by Jennifer Donnelly and narrated by Emily Janice Card and Emma Bering. Listening Library.
will grayson, will grayson, written by John Green and David Levithan, and narrated by MacLeod Andrews and Nick Podehl. Listening Library.
For more information on the ALA youth media awards and notables, please visit the ALA website at http://www.ala.org/