It’s well-known that ALA’s Youth Media Awards have an impact on sales. To track how much of an impact, we checked the Newbery, Caldecott and Printz winners on Amazon sales rankings before and two hours after they were announced (UPDATE: we checked again the day after; see updated figures below). As expected, each experienced a swift rise. The Newbery winner rose to the highest level, while the dark horse of the group, the Printz showed the most dramatic rise.

Newbery Medal

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos. The response to this win was a pleasant surprise. Gantos is no stranger to awards; he has won two Newbery Honors, a Printz Honor, and a Silbert Honor, but this is his first Medal. The book was on three major best books lists we tracked this year. By contrast, Brian Selznick’s Wonderstruck (Scholastic), also considered a contender, was on seven. Before the award, Dead End in Norvelt, was at #27,051 on Amazon sales rankings. Two hours later, it rose to #192. UPDATE: The day after the announcements, it rose to #11.

Four large library systems own a total of 96 copies (those same libraries own 536 copies of Wonderstruck).

Dead End in Norvelt Jack Gantos Retail Price: $15.99 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Macmillan/FSG (BYR) – (2011-09-13) ISBN / EAN: 0374379939 / 9780374379933

Macmillan Audio, 9781427213563

The cover of the book bears some resemblance to another title that was considered a strong candidate for the award:

Okay for Now Gary D. Schmidt Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Clarion Books – (2011-04-05) ISBN / EAN: 0547152604 / 9780547152608

Caldecott Medal

A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka, appeared on two best books lists (SLJ and NYT Best Illustrated Books). It was at #22,059 on Amazon sales rankings before the award, rising to #304 two hours later. UPDATE: The day after the announcements, it rose to #9.

The four major libraries we checked own a total of 86 copies.

A Ball for Daisy Chris Raschka Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 32 pages Publisher: RH/Schwartz & Wade – (2011-05-10) ISBN / EAN: 037585861X / 9780375858611

Printz Medal

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley. The dark horse of the awards, this title appeared only on the PW Best Books list. At the time of the pick, it was at #97,910 on Amazon sales rankings and rose to #328 two hours later. UPDATE: Later in the day, it rose to #76, settling back down to #117 the day after the announcements.

The four libraries we checked own 43 copies.

Where Things Come Back John Corey Whaley Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: S&S/Atheneum BYR – (2011-05-03) ISBN 9781442413337

Trade Paperback, S&S/Atheneum, 9781442413344

 

This entry was posted on Monday, January 23rd, 2012 at 1:18 pm and is filed under Awards, Childrens and YA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.