2014 Winners!

National book awards were announced today!! I love this day! Every January, the American Library Association names the best children's and young adult books of the year and bookstores immediately sell out of those titles. That's how well-known the awards are! Fortunately for you, our library already has many of the books that won awards today - and you won't have to buy them to read them!

As you read about each award-winning book, click on the book's title for book trailers or reviews.

The Newbery Award is given to the best children's book published the year before and usually goes to a "chapter book". This years award winner is Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures, written by Kate DiCamillo (who also wrote Because of Winn Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux, and The Marvelous Adventures of Edward Tulane - you know who she is, right?) What an unusual book this is - part chapter book, part graphic novel! You can find Flora and Ulysses in the juvenile section of the Children's Room!

Runners-up for the Newbery Award are called Newbery Honor books. This year, four books were named Honor books and our library has two of them: Doll Bones written by Holly Black and Paperboy by Vince Vawter. They are also in the juvenile section of the library. 

The Prinz Award is for literature for Young Adults. We have this year's winner - Midwinterblood, by Marcus Sedgwick, as well as two of the Honor books: Eleanor & Park, a love story written by Rainbow Rowell, and Navigating Early written by Clare Vanderpool, who won the Newbery Award a few years ago. These books are in the Young Adult section of the library.

Finally, my favorite award is the Caldecott Medal - given for illustrations in a children's book! This year's winning book has been standing up on top of a shelf in the Children's Room for months! It's called Locomotive, illustrated by Brian Floca. Two Caldecott Honor books are also in the picture book section of the library: Journey written and beautifully illustrated by Aaron Becker and Mr. Wuffles! written and illustrated by David Wiesner, who already has three Caldecott Medals!  

So grab your card and get a ride to the Gordon-Nash, where we have great taste in books!