Yesterday the DC Kidlit Book Club met to discuss the ALA winners announced last week. One of our members, Susan Kusel, is a children's librarian and was in Denver at the conference so she shared with us the reactions of the audience as the winners were announced.
Similar to our awards discussion last year, there was a lot of disagreement about whether the "right" books got the big awards or were relegated to the position of Honor books. Particularly in the Caldecott category, where A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever was favored over The House in the Night. In the Printz category, Nation was highly praised as perhaps a smidge more Printz-y than Jellicoe Road. And in the Newbery category, we were (not surprisingly) all in agreement that The Graveyard Book was an excellent choice.
I still haven't read all the of the winners and honor books but that is my mission for the next few weeks. In March, our group meets again to discuss the Cybils winners which will be announced on the 14th. I love awards season!
*caroline hickey
PS- The darling baby in the picture is, sadly, not mine, but Amber Lough's son Henry. He is 10 weeks old. Fabulous, isn't he?
