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

2014 Longlist of Contenders for Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction

So...many...books... Each year in the United States, hundreds of thousands of titles are published, in print and digital format (ebook and audio.) The magic of technology has enabled an explosion in self publishing as well, of which the major publishing houses pick up and republish a fraction.

How does one decide what to read next? Certainly word of mouth from friends and smart acquaintances can be helpful, especially if they share your literary taste. Belonging to a book club that meets monthly for social as well as intellectual sustenance can be useful to push one beyond their reading comfort zone. The New York Times Book Review and Publishers Weekly are also sources for hot-off-the-press suggestions, as well as the former's best seller lists. Since 1950, The National Book Foundation's annual awards have sought to "celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of great writing in America."  The ALA Youth Media Awards, including the prestigious Caldecott and Newbery (the former award recently celebrated its 75th anniversary; the latter is going on 100 years.)

There's a relatively new resource in town, an award born just a few years ago:

Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction

"...[E]stablished by Carnegie Corporation of New York and ALA in 2012 to recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books written for adult readers and published in the U.S. the previous year. The Medals and the lists leading up to the selection of the winners serve as a guide to selecting quality reading material.

The Andrew Carnegie Medals are the first single-book awards for adult titles given by the American Library Association and reflect the expert judgment and insight of library professionals who work closely with adult readers".

The purpose of the award is, in part, "recognition of Andrew Carnegie’s deep belief in the power of books and learning to change the world."

Check out the longlist of contenders for 2014, 44 titles selected for consideration by the super-stars of the library book review world (including the marvelous Nancy Pearl. 

Pew Research Center Report: E-Reading

Though the recent PEW report documents that e-reading is increasing along with e-reader ownership (kind of a no brainer) it also finds:

• Most American adults prefer print books over e-books.  
• 70 percent of Americans read print books last year, but only 4%read exclusively e-books. 
• The average number of books adults read or listened in 2013 was 12.
• The median/midpoint number of books read was 5 for 2013. 
• 3 in 10 adults adults read an e-book last year.
• Half of American adults now own an e-reader or tablet, a 7% increase from 2012.

January Exam Week and a Pleasantly Busy Library

Exam Week started off with a flood of researchers in the library.

7th and 8th graders have group projects which require finding sources and working collaboratively.

Every computer is in use. Extension cords snake through the room, powering laptops.

It is academic bedlam, in a really good way!

Kate DiCamillo, New National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature

 Kate DiCamillo was recently named the 2014-2015  National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. She's the author of award-winning novels such as Because of Winn-Dixie and The Tale of Despereaux, as well as picturebooks and early chapter books.

The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature is named by the Librarian of Congress. (Yes, there is a librarian in charge of the Library of Congress.)  Kate DiCamilla, like previous ambassadors, was chosen because of her contribution to young people’s literature and her ability to relate well to children. 

The position was created to raise national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education and the development and betterment of the lives of young people. 

During her time as ambassador, Kate DiCamilla will tour the country appearing at events with young people, encouraging them to make reading a central part of their lives.

Previous National Ambassadors for Young People’s Literature include Jon Scieska (from Flint, MI), Katherine Paterson, and Walter Dean Meyers.

Emily Dickinson Archives

Through the magic of technology, you too can peruse images of Emily Dickinson's handwritten poetry drafts from the comfort of your library, classroom or home sofa. Thanks to cooperation between such storied institutions as the Library of Congress, Harvard University, Amherst College, Yale, Smith, and the public libraries of Boston and New York City (along with other partners) the Emily Dickinson Archives is open online for all.

This is a draft of the poem with the opening line: I'm nobody! Who are you?

I'm nobody! Who are you? 

Are you nobody, too? 

Then there 's a pair of us don't tell! 

They 'd banish us, you know. 

How dreary to be somebody! 

How public, like a frog 

To tell your name the livelong day 

To an admiring bog! 

This image is from Harvard's Houghton Library.Visit this and other delights at:  http://www.edickinson.org/
One of the fabulous outcomes of the digital world of information is equitable access to far flung primary source documents such as Dickinson's handwritten manuscripts..



                                                                        Photo by Warrick Wynne

Chass Craze Overtakes the Library

It happened suddenly.
One day, a chess board appeared.

 

And the students started playing chess.

Other students gathered around, then asked for more chess boards. Some brought their own.

8th block in the library became lively with  multiples chess games going, and involved spectators.  

Those were crazy, sideways days, raucous with unwanted coaching and spontaneous cheers and jeers. Then...It was over. The storm of mass chess playing had passed.

Will it be back? I hope so.