Posted by Anne W on Tuesday, Jan 7, 2020
Forget the Oscars - ICPL children's librarians are getting pumped for the Youth Media Awards!
There are many literary medals awarded by the American Library Association each year at their Midwinter Conference - this year it's on January 27 - but the two heavyweights in children's lit are the Caldecott and Newbery.
The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published in the previous year. The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children published in the previous year. In other words, the Caldecott is for the best illustrations and the Newbery is for the best writing. See past winners here: Caldecott and Newbery.
ICPL, like many public and school libraries across the country, participates in a Mock Awards cycle leading up to the big official announcement of the winners. We choose the books we think ought to win the title of "most distinguished" - and you help us decide on one ultimate winner!
Here are this year's nominees, selected by ICPL children's librarians:
Here's where you come in: visit icpl.org/kids before January 23 to vote for your favorite! ICPL will tabulate the votes and announce the winners of our Mock Caldecott and Mock Newbery just before the American Library Association announces theirs - and we'll see if ICPL predicts the winner...
About the Author
Anne W. works in Children's Services and Collection Services. She loves to read, go on low-budget road trips (especially to camp and hike in national parks), and drink craft beer on a patio. Anne W. enjoys visiting thrift stores, but is also a minimalist. Anne W. has two daughters, a husband, and three cats. Anne W. divides her reading...
This is a slow-burn but powerful coming-of-age novel about a girl who goes to the wilderness to find herself. Ginny is doing all the "right things" - getting straight A's, playing competitive tennis, pleasing her parents, etc. But when she finds out how urgent climate change is and what might be lost if the adults in charge don't act immediately, she can't understand why no one else seems to feel as upset as she does about it. She ends up attending a wilderness camp that is sort of a therapeutic program for "troubled" youth, where she is the only girl among some strange boys and exhaustingly upbeat yet nitpicky counselors. But as she gets to know what motivates her fellow campers and experiences the Montana mountain setting, she begins to find her way and figures some stuff out. This is a sophisticated, nuanced, slow-paced book best for upper-elementary-readers. It has a great message without being preachy or on-the-nose. The dialogue and Ginny's struggles are rendered realistically and empathetically. -Anne W