Newbery & Caldecott Awards Surprise Again
They did it again — the Newbery and Caldecott committees outwitted prognosticators and gave their highest awards to unexpected titles. In both cases, they are debut titles.
Newbery
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The Newbery Medal was the biggest surprise, going to the debut Moon over Manifest, by Clare Vanderpool, Delacorte/Random. Currently out of stock, it also caught the publisher and wholesalers by surprise. Amazon, where it quickly shot up to #11 from #31,660 in sales rankings, is currently showing a week to 3 weeks for delivery. Of the 15 year-end best books lists, it appeared on only one, the Kirkus list.
The front-runner on many Mock Newbery‘s and the top title on best books lists, One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia (Amistad/HarperCollins) was named as one of four honor books and won the Coretta Scott King Author Award.
Caldecott
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The Caldecott Medal winner, A Sick Day for Amos McGee, illustrated by Erin E. Stead (Roaring Brook/Macmillan), was on just 4 of 15 best books lists. The top contenders for this award were considered to be City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems, illustrated by Jon Muth (Hyperion) and Art & Max, written and illustrated by David Wiesner (Clarion/HMH). Neither received a nod as an honor book.
Printz
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The Printz winner was less of a surprise. It went to Ship Breaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown/Hachette), a book that enjoyed a great deal of buzz at PLA this year. The award brings the book to its highest ranking yet on Amazon, from #7,884 before the announcement, to #233 yesterday.
Alex Awards
Among the Alex Awards, for the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences, are several titles we’ve written about extensively on EarlyWord,
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Aimee Bender, (Doubleday/Random); librarians embraced this book after it was presented in the PLA Buzz session in March; the publisher credits librarian support for making the book a NYT best seller.
Room, Emma Donoghue, (Little, Brown/ Hachette); librarians buzzed about this book at BEA back in May. It went on to be a finalist for the Booker Award and is still on the NYT best seller list after 10 weeks. It was also selected as a RUSA Notable Book.
The Radleys, Matt Haig, (Free Press/S&S); this comic twist on a vampire tale arrived in the U.S. less than a month ago. In the UK, it was published as both an adult and a YA title.
Girl in Translation, Jean Kwok, (Riverhead/ Penguin); The author appeared at the ALTAFF First Author, First Book program at ALA in June.
Link to the full ALA Youth Media Awards here.