The major international prize for books written by women, the UK’s Orange Prize For Fiction announced their long list of 20 nominees yesterday. Much is being made of the fact that Téa Obreht, whose novel The Tiger’s Wife was released last week to lavish attention, is, at 25, the youngest person on the list.

The prize was created in 1996 by a group of reviewers, librarians, and others in the U.K. book world, who felt that book prizes were disproportionately awarded to men. The Guardian‘s “Books Blog” yesterday addressed the question of whether the Orange Prize is still needed, pointing to recent research that women are still under-represented in literary magazines and criticism.

The full list of nominees is presented in the Guardian slide show, with annotations and  links to reviews. Viewing it can be a bit disconcerting for Americans; the British covers are often quite different from the ones we are familiar with. The UK jacket for The Tiger’s Wife, for instance, actually includes the wife (right, below).

Why is it called the “Orange Prize”? It has nothing to do with Scotland or a the female love of that color; it’s named for the UK mobile network company that funded the launch.

After the jump, the full list of 20 titles, with links to more information about them.

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The Edgar Nominees have just been announced. We’re cheering to see one of our favorites of the year, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin as one of the six nominees for Best Novel.

Sherlock Holmes for Dummies is one of the nominees for “Best Critical/Biographical.”

The full list is here. The awards will be presented on 4/28/11.

Sherlock Holmes For Dummies Steven Doyle, David A. Crowder Retail Price: $19.99 Paperback: 384 pages Publisher: Wiley/For Dummies – (2010-03-22) ISBN / EAN: 0470484446 / 9780470484449

It’s become a tradition. The Tuesday after the Newbery/Caldecott Awards are announced, the winners, along with the YALSA or ALA president, are guests on the Today Show.

But the only author on the show this Tuesday was MTV Jersey Shore star Snooki, for her debut novel, A Shore Thing.

Publishers Weekly reports that, in response to inquiries, the Today show said they turned down the segment this year because of a a “lack of interest and scheduling problems,” but asserted that the show “does more book segments in a given year than any other television show,” and “supports the publishing industry with initiatives like Al’s Book Club for Kids and Read for the Record.”

Below is last year’s show:

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And, here’s Snooki:

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The Today Show missed an opportinity; in libraries that own copies of A Shore Thing, holds are much lower than for Moon Over Manifest or for A Sick Day for Amos McGee.

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

Moon Over Manifest Clare Vanderpool Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers – (2010-10-12) ISBN / EAN: 0385738838 / 9780385738835

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

A Sick Day for Amos McGee Philip Christian Stead Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 32 pages Publisher: Roaring Brook Press – (2010-05-25) ISBN / EAN: 1596434023 / 9781596434028

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

Ship Breaker Paolo Bacigalupi Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers – (2010-05-01) ISBN / EAN: 0316056219 / 9780316056212

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.

USA Today’s “Book Buzz” column reports that the majority of Mock Newbery’s are going to Rita Williams-Garcia’s One Crazy Summer.

Going against the tide, the Banks Street College kids (96 fifth and sixth graders), discussed and voted on a list of titles and picked Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper as the winner of their Mock Newbery.

Out of My Mind Sharon M. Draper Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Atheneum – (2010-03-09) ISBN / EAN: 141697170X / 9781416971702

Sam, 10 – liked that the story came out of the main character’s mind…that was interesting.

Alexandra, 10 – the story was touching and pulled you in and you wanted to read it all at once

Adam, 10 – you really saw how mean people can be to people who are different. Being disabled is not being stupid.

Carly, 10 – even though she went through tough stuff, she kept trying

Ayra, 10 – because I heard her story from her, it was like being in her shoes

Allie, 10 – I have never read a book like this

Jenna, 11 – it was really detailed and I felt a lot of emotion

Hazel, 12 – …dramatic- felt like a light read…I read fast…It was real.

Casy, 11 -…it touched me deep down. I felt real emotion. My heart was bursting for her.

Francesca, 11– it was cool how that over the time I could see her change and do things

Emily, 11 – I could not let this book go.

Ava, 11 – really realistic and unique. I liked that we could see inside her head. It was bittersweet.

Jules, 11 – there was a mix of emotions, I burst out laughing. The language was juicy.

Evie, 11 – it was great. I felt like I was reading her mind.

Eliana, 11 – it was a fantastic book.

Ghopal, 11 – I disagree. It was perfectly long

Maggie, 12 – draws you in fast. I liked the flashbacks. You really felt her frustration and wanted to scream with her.

Lauren, 12 – really good…I made a connection with her. Her thoughts were just regular.

Joshua, 11 – Original…great first person

Honor Books

Belly Up Stuart Gibbs Retail Price: $15.99 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing – (2010-05-18) ISBN / EAN: 1416987312 / 9781416987314

Casy, 11 – fantabulous mystery – funny, cliffhangers…didn’t want it to end.

Imani, 10 – good interesting mystery. Cliffhanging a lot.

Ava, 10 – better than other mystery books. Characters were real

Adam, 10 – Kept you on your toes. A fun read.
…………………………

The Search for WondLa Tony DiTerlizzi Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing – (2010-09-21) ISBN / EAN: 1416983104 / 9781416983101

Dax, 10 – long, unexpected , good descriptions

Sam, 10 – it was a mystery and a fantasy. Satisfying and had many characters and places you wouldn’t expect.

Laura 12 – a whole made up world. Plot was good and characters weren’t human but you could relate to them.

Adrian 12 – I really enjoyed the references and connections to other children’s books.

Patrick 12 – took me awhile to get into it but I stuck with it and now can’t wait for the next book.

…………………………

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda Tom Angleberger Retail Price: $12.95 Hardcover: 160 pages Publisher: Amulet Books – (2010-03-01) ISBN / EAN: 0810984253 / 9780810984257

Bobby, 12 – Different than all the other books we read this year

Ali, 12 – I didn’t think I would like this book that seemed random about a finger puppet but I did.

Kerem, 12 – something any student around my age would relate to. It was wack and crazy

Louis, 11 – Everything comes together in the end

Irene, 11 – Funny to boys and girls

…………………………

A Whole Nother Story Dr. Cuthbert Soup Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books – (2009-12-22) ISBN / EAN: 1599904357/9781599904351

Anya, 11 – really funny, not predictable

Adrien – Had a little bit of everything – adventure , fantasy, from the first moment draws you in – liked the dark grim humor.

Eric – made you want to keep reading

…………………………

Half Upon a Time James Riley Retail Price: $15.99 Hardcover: 400 pages Publisher: Aladdin – (2010-09-07) ISBN / EAN: 1416995935 / 9781416995937

Donnie, 11 – Most fairy tales are boring. This one was different. Didn’t have a happily ever after ending.

Hazel, 12 – I stayed up all night reading

Evie, 12– well done. I didn’t get bored.

Sophie, 10 – I was entertained…a new creative story from old stories

Raymond, 11 – Funny , creative with a big twist

Ghopal, 12 – I enjoyed the writing style especially the humorous asides

Josua, 11 – Corny, but funny and creative.

In a profile for the Jan. 15 issue of Library Journal, John Berry says it well, “No one other than Nancy Pearl has so convinced Americans that libraries, books, and reading are critical to our communities.”

We can only add that we particularly love Nancy’s sense of humor. She enjoys making fun of the retro vision of librarians via her action figure’s “amazing shushing action,”  a gesture she’s never used in real life.

May this award help her bring even more attention to the importance of libraries, books and reading.

Forty seventh graders (12 and 13 year-olds) at the Bank Street School discussed and voted on a list of candidates for the Mock Printz, 2011. Below are the winner and the three honor books, with comments from the kids.

The Bank Street School 2011 Mock Printz Winner

Half Brother Kenneth Oppel Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Scholastic Press – (2010-09-01) ISBN / EAN: 0545229251 / 9780545229258

Student comments:

Andre — Everything you want in a book…drama…sadness…action.

Emma — I felt a lot of compassion for the character. I really got fed up with his parents.

Ana — This was the first book that I couldn’t stop reading. My mom made me stop. It was a page turner.

Katie — Interesting, unique plot

Ben — Unpredictable, in a good way

Josh — Entertaining, good story

Nicole — Interesting plot. Fresh

The Bank Street School 2011 Mock Printz Honor Books

Will Grayson, Will Grayson John Green, David Levithan Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Dutton Juvenile – (2010-04-06) ISBN / EAN: 0525421580 / 9780525421580

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Student comments:

Maya — Some people think this book should be older but a lot of us in this age group know situations and people like this already. It was great to read a book where we get to know the characters in this special way that we have not met before.

Nicole — Interesting how the two Will Graysons met and the relationships that formed around them

Emma — It was really funny and realistic.

Josh — I liked that it was realistic and I could relate to the characters. I enjoyed the themes of friendship and acceptance.

Emily — It was easy to read, easy to relate to. I found myself laughing aloud.

Josh – I laughed out loud too. It is everything I want in a book.

The Search for WondLa Tony DiTerlizzi Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing – (2010-09-21) ISBN / EAN: 1416983104 / 9781416983101

Student comments:

Simon — Interesting story, very satisfying

Steven — Good descriptions but also an adventure mystery

Noni — Good because there was always something happening

Josh — I don’t generally like fantasy but this one had a lot that I could relate to.

Steven — The author really was able to make the very different world real.

White Cat (Curse Workers, Book 1) Holly Black Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry/ S&S – (2010-05-04) ISBN / EAN: 1416963960 / 9781416963967

Student comments:

Lincoln — The characters were well-written. Less of a fantasy to me … more like a book about gangsters or mafia.

Nick — When you pick it up , you can’t stop reading.

Julia — I normally don’t like fantasy but this book had a very real element. The characters develop over time

The Seattle Times looks at the crowded field of contenders for the Newbery/Caldecott Awards, to be announced a week from Monday at MidWinter.

The reporter comments, “Some years, there are obvious winners. This year, however, there are really no sure bets.” To that, we would add, “some years the ‘obvious winners’ don’t take home the medals.”

Nevertheless, the book that comes out as the leader for the Newbery is One Crazy Summer, by Rita William-Garcia (Amistad/HarperCollins). It also garnered the most picks on the year’s best books lists.

For the Caldecott, the top contenders are  are 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).

The Seattle Times did not look at the Printz Awards, but you can check out Lisa Von Drasek’s list of candidates for the Bank Street School’s Mock Printz Awards (also see their Mock Newbery Awards list).

Nearly a month after her book was named the winner of the National Book Award, Jaimy Gordon is profiled in the New York Times. It’s just as well that media attention is coming late to Lord of Misrule, since the publisher, McPherson, has struggled to get copies into the pipeline.

McPherson is not only a small press, it’s tiny; a one-man operation, with an owner that is, as the NYT puts it, “…the kind of publisher who sometimes seems more concerned with how his books look than how they sell. Lord of Misrule, for example, has a full cloth cover and a stitched binding, which is practically unheard of these days.”

The paperback, however, will be coming from a much larger publisher. It was acquired by Knopf’s Vintage division along with the rights to Gordon’s next hardcover to be published by Knopf/Pantheon. No news yet on when it will appear.

Lord of Misrule Jaimy Gordon Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 296 pages Publisher: McPherson – (2010-11-15) ISBN / EAN: 0929701836 / 9780929701837

The winner of the Booker Prize, Howard Jacobson, got more attention from NPR on last night’s All Things Considered. This is the second time he’s been featured on the show.

The Finkler Question Howard Jacobson Retail Price: $15.00 Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Bloomsbury USA – (2010-10-12) ISBN / EAN: 1608196119 / 9781608196111

The winner of the National Book Award, Jaimy Gordon hasn’t received much attention from NPR so far. However, her book, Lord of Misrule, is beginning to catch up in reviews; it was reviewed admiringly by the Susan Salter Reynolds in the L.A. Times.

Lord of Misrule Jaimy Gordon Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 296 pages Publisher: McPherson – (2010-11-15) ISBN / EAN: 0929701836 / 9780929701837

For the winner of one of the country’s major book awards, Jaimy Gordon’s Lord of Misrule has received remarkably little attention. Remedying that a bit, Janet Maslin reviews it in today’s New York Times, following the Washington Post review by Jane Smiley, and those in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and The Daily Racing Form.

The latter publication is the only one (with the exception of the prepub review media; Booklist gave it a star and Kirkus called it “an engagaing read”) that is completely enthusiastic about the book. Maslin, too, is drawn by the writing and the characters, but finds the Lord of Misrule to be, “more of a short-story cycle than a full-fledged novel.”

A few libraries have received their initial orders, but most are still waiting for copies (the book’s publisher, McPherson, is very small. As Maslin says, it’s “a company with a post office box for a mailing address.”)

Holds, while greater than the number of copies in libraries, still lag significantly behind the Booker Prize winner, The Finkler Question.

Lord of Misrule Jaimy Gordon Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 296 pages Publisher: McPherson – (2010-11-15) ISBN / EAN: 0929701836 / 9780929701837

The good news: you published the winner of the National Book Award in fiction.

The bad news: you only printed 8,000 copies

Publisher Bruce McPherson tells the Wall Street Journal that another printing of Jaimy Gordon’s Lord of Misrule should be available by Dec. 3.

So far, however, library demand is not going through the roof. At four large library systems we checked, the number of holds for this year’s Booker winner, The Finkler Question, is seven times those for Lord of Misrule.

We’re willing to bet that this is the first National Book Award winner to be reviewed by The Daily Racing Form.

Congrats to Gordon’s home town public library, Kalamazoo P.L. They nabbed the author for a program on Dec. 3rd.

If you haven’t read the National Book Award winner in fiction, you have lots of company. Jaimy Gordon’s Lord of Misrule was just published this week, in what may be the smallest original print run in the award’s history (just 2,000 copies, with a reprint of 6,000 more ordered after the finalists were announced). However, this is the largest print run ever for McPherson, the indie that published the book. The first consumer review (unless you count the one in The Daily Racing Form) appeared yesterday, by Jane Smiley in the Washington Post. The winner is literally a dark horse; Lord of Misrule is the name of the rundown, black race horse featured in the book.

For a taste of Lord of Misrule, the author reads a selection here and an excerpt is here.

While the national press did not give author Jaimy Gordon attention in advance of the award, her local paper, The Kalamazoo Gazette, profiled her on Sunday.

The back story for the nonfiction winner is quite different. Patti Smith has already received fame in another line of work. Her memoir Just Kids hit the NYT Best Seller List in hardcover and is currently on the extended list in trade paperback and is on year-end best books lists. Nevertheless, Smith seemed genuinely moved, giving a teary acceptance speech.

In Young People’s Literature, Kathryn Erskine’s Mockingbird, won over Paolo Bacigalupi’s well-received YA futuristic thriller, Ship Breaker, Walter Dean Myer’s Lockdown, Laura McNeal’s Dark Water and Rita Williams-Garcia’s One Crazy Summer (the only one of the group to appear on School Library Journal‘s Best Books list).

In a reversal of the fiction category, the poetry winner is published by a large trade house. Terrance Hayes’s Lighthead (Penguin Books) won out over books published by indie presses and one university press.

The National Book Awards will be announced tomorrow night and the excitement in the press is less than overwhelming, in a marked contrast to the comparative frenzy that greeted the lead-up to the Bookers in the UK (is it legalized betting that makes that race seem more interesting?)

Just a reminder; although it’s accepted wisdom that the NBA has little effect on sales, last year’s winner went on the the NYT Trade Paperback Best Seller list and remained there for most of the year, occasionally slipping to the extended list (where it is now, at #29).

Among the national newspaper critics, only Ron Charles, in the guise of the “Totally Hip Book Reviewer,” makes predictions. He looks at  the fiction nominees, satirizing several of the selections, but coming down on the side of Lionel Shriver’s So Much for That (Harper, March).

For a more serious look at the field, turn to the The Barnes & Noble Review, which offers passages from each book, along with intelligent analyses of each one’s chances (the author, Tom LeClair, was a judge the year that William Vollmann’s Europe Central won). LeClair wants to see Karen Tei Yamashita win for  I, Hotel (Coffee House Press, June), because it “is the most ambitious in its cultural range, the most diverse in character, the most ingenious in form, and the most idiosyncratic in style.” However, the book may be “too off-putting” to get the necessary votes, so he predicts Nicole Krauss will win for Great House (Norton, Oct).

What about the other categories? Looks like they will have to wait until tomorrow to get press attention.

Coming next week are the National Book Awards. We were going to write about them, but the Washington Post‘s critic Ron Charles says nearly all that needs to be said about them:

Like Charles, I am rooting for Lionel Shriver’s So Much for That, a book I’ve been thinking about ever since reading it in galley. I disagree with his description of the book, however. It isn’t really about how the cost of health care can devastate a family, or the ravages of cancer treatment. Shriver uses those issues to get to a deeper one; how much should you trust authorities, even doctors, and when is it time to have the courage to take your destiny in to your own hands?

We hope Shriver wins and that reading groups adopt it in droves when it comes out in trade paperback in March (with an intriguing change of  cover).

So Much for That: A Novel (P.S.) Lionel Shriver Retail Price: $14.99 Paperback: 480 pages Publisher: Harper Perennial – (2011-03-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061458597 / 9780061458590

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