Cybils Nominations Are Open

The nomination period is under way for the 2009 Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards. Now through October 15, you can visit the main Cybils blog to learn about the awards and nominate your favorite titles in a number of categories (you can vote for one title per category).

As nominations keep rolling in, Round I judges are busy gathering initial selections, and they'll narrow the field over the next couple of months. This year I'm serving as a Round II judge for the Middle Grade/YA Nonfiction category — so later this year I'll help evaluate the Round I panel's "cream of the crop" short list of MG/YA nonfiction books published since October 16, 2008.

So . . . read any good kids' books lately? Of course you have. Now go add them to the list — we want to know which books you L-O-V-E LOVE!

Grammy Tie-In

Um, hello? What does this have to do with writing or freelancing or children's publishing?

Very little.

Except that I'm rooting for the only nominated music/artists I played in my office this past year: Raising Sand by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.

I'd say that 92 percent of the time I can't work with music playing. My brain is wired to engage with it too fully, so out of necessity Quiet is my preferred background for writing and editing.

But, the other 7 percent of the time (no, wait, 8 percent; see? I'm cranking the tunes right now!) — when I need some tuneful inspiration, manufactured calm/pep, a thinking break, or soundtrack for doing administrative tasks — I fire up some music.

Raising Sand has been a regular office buddy. It's so rich and creative, with — I think — a beautiful literary bent. So I hope it wins album of the year and also for the gorgeous "Please Read the Letter," which, incidentally, would be a perfect theme song for a YA novel idea I've outlined and hope to start writing sometime this year.

Award Winners' Circle

Has the weekend started yet? No? Dang.

While you wait, enjoy these articles about a few of this week's big kid-lit award winners:

ALA press release about Laura Ingalls Wilder winner Ashley Bryan

All Things Considered article and audio interview with Coretta Scott King Author winner Kadir Nelson

The Brown Bookshelf interview with CSK–John Steptoe winner Shadra Strickland

Just One More Book podcast interview with Newbery winner Neil Gaiman

NYT review of author-illustrator Uri Shulevitz's Caldecott Honor Book

PW interview with Neil Gaiman

PW piece on Caldecott winner Beth Krommes

Reading Rockets video interview with Kadir Nelson

SLJ interview with Newbery Honor Book author Kathi Appelt

Teenreads.com profile of Newbery Honor Book author Jacqueline Woodson

It's Newbery Day, 2009

The 2009 ALA Midwinter Conference is in full swing in Denver right now, and this morning was IT for ALA's Youth Media Awards, such as the Newbery, Caldecott, Geisel, and more.

Some of this year's distinguished honorees include:

Newbery Medal
Neil Gaiman for The Graveyard Book

Newbery Honor Books
The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle

Savvy by Ingrid Law

After Tupac & D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson

Caldecott Medal
Beth Krommes, illustrator of The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson

Caldecott Honor Books
A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee

How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz

A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, written by Jen Bryant

Coretta Scott King Author Award
Kadir Nelson for We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball

Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books
The Blacker the Berry by Joyce Carol Thomas, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Keeping the Night Watch by Hope Anita Smith, illustrated by E.B. Lewis

Becoming Billie Holiday by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Floyd Cooper **This was one of my absolute favorites this year. Stunning writing, stunning art.**

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award
Floyd Cooper for The Blacker the Berry, written by Joyce Carol Thomas

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Books
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Before John Was a Jazz Giant written by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Sean Qualls

The Moon Over Star by Dianna Hutts Aston, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

Michael L. Printz Award
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Theodor Suess Geisel Award
Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems

Laura Ingalls Wilder Award
Ashley Bryan

Congratulations to all the honorees! For a full list of the 2009 awards, check the ALA site for updates later today.

Fellow writer/blogger Darcy Pattison has put up a poll to see how interested writer-types have found today's news. Did you watch the webcast or track the awards on Facebook (that's what I did)? Or are you reading about the awards here? (Lucky you if you were in the room — I've witnessed the awards announcements with my own eyeballs once in the past, and that was exciting!) Click on over to Darcy's blog to take the poll.

Also, just for fun, here's a fresh AP piece with author Neil Gaiman's reaction to winning the Newbery this morning.

Bulwer-Lytton: 2008 Contest Winners Announced

Have you heard of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest? It's an unapologetic "bad writing" competition that San Jose State University's English Department has sponsored since 1982.

I own the 1984 book of BLFC entries It Was a Dark and Stormy Night, so named after the old-saw story-starter of the same words that inspired Professor Scott Rice to launch the contest. I recently wrote about the BLFC for a speech textbook I worked on and so remembered to look for results this month, probably for the first time in 20 years. It's still fun to read what contestants come up with!

Below are the winning entries in this year's Children's Literature category.

Winner
Joanne watched her fellow passengers — a wizened man reading about alchemy; an over-sized bearded man-child; a haunted, bespectacled young man with a scar; and a gaggle of private school children who chatted ceaselessly about Latin and flying around the hockey pitch and the two-faced teacher who they thought was a witch — there was a story here, she decided.

—Tim Ellis, Haslemere, U.K.

Runner-Up
Dorothy had reasons to be nervous: a young girl alone in a strange land, traveling with three weird, insecure males badly in need of psychiatric help; she tucked her feet under her skirt to keep the night's chill (and lewd stares) away and made sure one more time that the gun was secured in her yet-to-develop bosom.

—Domingo Pestano, Alto Prado, Caracas, Venezuela

Dishonorable Mention
I'm convinced that the Doc is dealing drugs to most of the mining crew because they either can't stay awake, constantly sneeze, grin like maniacs, or won't look you straight in the eye (not to mention behaving like a moron) and they wonder why a dwarf gets grumpy!

—Neil Prowd, Charnwood, ACT, Australia

What do you think? Are they bad enough for you?

You can read the other winning entries, including the winner of the 2008 Grand Prize, on the contest's official announcement page.

55,000 Young Readers Have Spoken!

The Children's Book Council announced the recipients of the first annual Children's Choice Book Awards yesterday. Around 55,000 children nationwide selected their favorite author, illustrator, and books:

Author of the Year
J. K. Rowling for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Illustrator of the Year
Ian Falconer for Olivia Helps with Christmas

Books of the Year
Grades K–2: Frankie Stein by Lola M. Schaefer and illustrated by Kevan Atteberry
Grades 3–4: Big Cats by Elaine Landau
Grades 5–6: Encyclopedia Horrifica by Joshua Gee

Congratulations to all the winners!

2008 Newbery Winners Announced

2008 Newbery Medal Winner
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz

See the 2008 Newbery Honor books here.

2008 Caldecott Winners Announced

2008 Caldecott Medal Winner
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

See the 2008 Caldecott Honor Books here.

2008 Coretta Scott King Awards Announced

This year's Coretta Scott King Awards for outstanding works of children's literature by African-American authors and illustrators were announced this morning at ALA's Midwinter meeting in Philadelphia.

The 2008 author award went to Christopher Paul Curtis for Elijah of Buxton. The 2008 illustrator award went to Ashley Bryan for Let It Shine.

The Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent went to author Sundee T. Frazier for Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It.

Additionally, two Illustrator Honor Books were named: The Secret Olivia Told Me by N. Joy/illustrated by Nancy Devard and Jazz on a Saturday Night by Leo and Diane Dillon.

See the ALA's press release for full details.

Congrats to all the winners!