Awards Galore: sources for finding your next great read

One of the highlights of the American Library Association's yearly midwinter meeting; where thousands of hardcore committed librarians from academic, public and school libraries across the country and around the world gather; is the Monday morning Youth Media Award announcements. Librarians, after several days of committee meetings and local restaurant meals, haul themselves out of their hotel beds, and gather to cheer on the winners and honorees of the well know and prestigious awards such as the Newbery medal and the Caldecott medal.




The Roeper M/U library currently has copies of the 2014 Newbery winner on hand: Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo, as well as one of the honor books: One Came Home by Amy Timberlake 




There are several other well-less-known awards that are good sources for finding great books to read. These include:

• The Belpre Award 

 "...presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth."

 The provocatively titled Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina won this year's medal. 

One of the honor books is The Lightening Dreamer by Margarita Engle.           

• The Batchelder Award 

"... given to the most outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States."

Mister Orange by Truus Matti is the 2014 award winner. 

• The Schneider Family Award

"...honor[s] an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences."

This year's winner: Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wei

All the aforementioned titles are available at the Roeper M/U Library (unless someone else got to them first!)

Happy reading!  - aae