A! L! A! Awards Awards Awards!

Have I told you lately that I love award season? Because I do. I'm a gambler by nature, and this year's bets were surprisingly on the mark. Let's go through the major categories, and I'll tell you what I predicted and the actual outcome. (No cheating by doctoring my bets, I promise.)

Caldecott Medal - The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney.

Whereas last year's winner, The House in the Night, was an utter surprise - and let me tell you, there is nothing like teachers and librarians desperately racing to grab copies of a book that has just won a prestigious award, but that they did not, at present time, carry, especially when that book goes into temporary back order because its publishing company didn't expect it to win said prestigious award either... but that's another story - this year's winner, The Lion and the Mouse, was a near shoo-in. What it lacks in dialogue, it makes up for in illustrations that transport you to the locale, pictures that draw the eyes in, reading illustration, reading lines of color and depth. I had this book on the "New Picture Books" display for months, because, with its striking gold-touched cover of the titular lion, it never failed to grab the passerby's attention.

My bet: Truly, this was one that I predicted, because the ALA love folk stories told anew, and when its done with caliber of artistry, there's really not much else in the way of competition. Not to say that other picture book authors haven't been doing a great job of giving folk tales and stories new contemporary life (my personal favorite is Rachel Isadora's The Ugly Duckling). But Pinkney has made a picture book that feels like it should have been around forever. And there's a reason why books like that are around forever - because they stick with you from childhood into adulthood into parenthood and the hands and eyes of more children.

However, Caldecott Honor book, All the World by Marla Frazee (illus.) and Liz Garton Scanlon, was another one of my top picks for this year. I love Frazee's illustrations, where every natural and non-natural thing in the world is brought into vibrant realization, and Scanlon's text ties it into such a pure, simply beauty. The JB Kids teams overall loved this book, and despite it being a difficult storytime read, we all tried to force it onto our audiences.

Michael L. Printz Award: Going Bovine by Libba Bray.

Let me say that I was underwhelmed with this one, but I'm still happy that it was selected for the Printz award. The Printz Award has been kind of dodgy in the past, and while I do really enjoy a lot of the books previously honored in this category, I've been largely disappointed by the standard set. Last year's winner, Jellicoe Road, really didn't deliver to expectations, and for every book they choose that is more than a coming-of-age story, they pick a book that is really just another coming-of-age story...

So I'm satisfied by Going Bovine, where a unrepentant slacker discovers that he has Mad Cow disease and goes on a crazy, mystical journey to find the cure and save the world. I felt uneasy about the book by the end - it felt kind of like stuffing your face with every kind of awesome food at once. There was so much stuff there, mostly appealing ideas, but it was difficult to keep it all straight while the book raced to its inevitable stark conclusion. I felt like it unraveled a bit, and what Bray needed to do was keep it as tight as possible.

But you have to give her proper credit that she didn't just write another paranormal, fantastical romance. She could have followed up the Gemma Doyle Trilogy with something along the same lines, but she stepped outside of her own box, and for that, I am glad that she has been properly recognized.

My Bet: I wasn't surprised to see two of the National Book Award for Young Readers nominees on the Honored list. Claudette Colvin and Charles and Emma both rightly deserved their places, and I admit that Tales of the Madman Underground by John Barnes has long been on my to-be-read pile. And I'm always glad to see Adam Rapp get some proper attention, even if I didn't care to immediately pick up Punkzilla.

Still, I read a lot of YA this year that will never get recognized by the Printz Award, especially since it seems to ignore anything too fantastic or in the realm of sci-fi. Kristin Cashore, Suzanne Collins, Scott Westerfield, etc... they all wrote fantastic YA novels this year, and yet no credit given to the fantasy kids.

Also, didn't anyone else read A Brief History of Montmaray?!?!? Why am I the seemingly sole champion of this book?

And finally...

The John Newbery Medal: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.

I'm happy with this.

Seriously.

Look, my girl, Jacqueline Kelly, got a Newbery Honors, and that's no slight matter.

She's a terrific debut author who will have many accolades coming her way in the future.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate is bound to hit school reading lists, library reading lists, and be a longtime favorite of teachers, librarians, and fans of children's literature for decades to come.

So I'm not sad.

Although it would have been cool to have met the 2010 Newbery winner before she was the 2010 Newbery winner.

But enough of that. When You Reach Me is absolutely fantastic, and moreover, it's a book that kids are liable to want to read and read again. It's a coming-of-age story, a mystery, a time travel story, an ode to A Wrinkle in Time, and that rarest of era-specific novels, relevant and true for the kids it has been written for. In this slim novel, every word and character detail counts, from the seemingly tossaway dialogue between characters through the minute details of their streets and buildings and the beings that inhabit those surroundings. The nuance, the slight changes in voice and tone, and a narrator who is as full realized as she is likable.

Miranda's predicament is both absolutely common for kids her age - her best friend inexplicably stops talking to her, forcing her to find a new grounding amongst her sixth grade peers - and utterly fantastic - someone is sending her messages indicating that it is up to her to prevent a tragedy from happening, and that someone may or may not have traveled in time to do so. The book rewards its readers for their attention to detail, and on a second reading, the rewards are twice over.

I think it's a good step for the Newbery, and I'm glad that it has been given its due.

My Bet:

Oh, shut up.

Like I said, Newbery Honors! Come on! That's still fantastic!

On a personal note, I met Jacqueline Kelly last October, and she's fabulous. Her and her husband are the exact type of person I would like to be, once I've fully formed and gotten through this single-cell stage I seemed to be stagnated in. She was warm, funny, and her comments about her work were thought-provoking and introspective. It's wonderful to meet a fairly new author who has managed to strike gold in their own genius and talent.

Early on, when I had reviewed the book before it came out, I got a lovely email from her, thanking me for the kind words and offering to pay a visit to the store for an author event. If I could manage to get in touch with her now, I'd offer her my congratulations. Sadly, given the circumstances of my work redundancy, I did not have time to grab any of the email addresses for the wonderful array of authors, publishing reps, and children's book enthusiasts of all types that I had been fortunate to meet during my brief time running the Kids Department.

But, as multiple people have pointed out to me, there's no sense in crying over spilled milk or lost email addresses, especially not in a time where people are easy to access, through blogs, websites, other people's websites, professional profile websites, etc. And so, I will make a better effort.

But that does bring me to a greater point - It is high time we start interacting with our authors intellectually, and that is why I love the blogging community, because they seem to be dedicated to just that. Shortly before we were laid off, I had communicated to Maureen (our former marketing director) my wish to begin interviews for the Joseph-Beth blog and my own.

I need to begin this, because I do not wish my removal from bookstore life to mean that I am less engaged with the greater book life. I want the next stage of my life to be characterized by a proactive engagement with the books and authors that I adore.

And so... yeah... that's what I'm working on now.

For more information on the American Library Association 2010 Media Awards, just click the link.

Getting back into the swing... Friday Finds!

I relapsed into some bad habits, namely not blogging (not even feebly attempting to do so), so I'll include both last week's and this week's finds in this post.

I think what locks me down, at least some of the time, is that I get hung up on trying to cover everything I've been reading. In the last few weeks, I've had the great luck to read some incredible books, of varying genres and styles, but when I go to actually write about these books (whether in a formal or informal review), I realize there's a whole bunch of things I haven't caught up on as of late, and then I become convinced that I should write about this before that, devote time to this book before moving onto the next good read... etc. Excuses, all of it, but honest excuses.

In case I don't get to them in future posts - I fully intend to, but it seems that my intentions don't always play out the way they should - here are the following books that readers should take notice of:

- Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - The riveting and surprising follow-up to last Fall's The Hunger Games. This series is going to catch on even bigger now, so get to it before the hype wears you out.

- Candor by Pam Bachorz - Egmont USA's first title, and it's a doozy - A Stepford Wives-esque tale revolving around a small, affluent Florida community that is brainwashing its youth. Bachorz offers some small, but vital twists to her authoritarian nightmare, and the book doesn't quite take you where you think it's going to. Oscar, the son of the town's founder/chief manipulator, is an unlikely hero, a boy saving others for the benefits they bring to him (money, sex, favors...) until he meets the new girl in town... A quick, unsettling, and immensely satisfying read.

- Andromeda Klein by Frank Portman - This strange YA title is going to halt a lot of readers in their tracks by the first chapter. Plow through the extended references and intellectual musings on occult history and practice from the protagonist, and you'll end up falling in deep for the story of awkward and anti-social Andromeda Klein as she navigates mysterious occurrences following the death of her best friend, Daisy, the disappearance of her secret older boyfriend, and the sudden seizure of a collection of valuable and rare occult titles by the "Friends of the Library." It's hard to be very original when it comes to YA lit, but Portman has shown he has the ability to pull off one of the most difficult of voices - teenage girl - and make it sound not only convincing, but original and true.

- When You Reach Me Rebecca Stead - Random House is kicking butt going into Fall, but perhaps no title has had as much publicity impact as this one, a coming of age story masking a subtle fantasy involving a sixth grader, 1970's New York City, mystery notes, and time travel, all loosely wrapped around A Wrinkle in Time. One of those books that you fly through, only to re-read again and again, finding more clues and ties each time around. Stead has done a beautiful job melding two difficult genres - intermediate-level coming of age story and fantasy - and working it well into its background era. I really can't say enough good stuff about this book, partially because of how good it was, and partially because to elaborate thoroughly would give too much away.

- Shiver Maggie Stiefvater - With paranormal romance being all the rage in teen literature, it's hard to find a truly captivating tale amongst the rip-offs. Maybe it's just because I've never been into the vampire thing, but I find werewolves infinitely more interesting. Grace has watched for the wolf with the golden eyes since she was a child. Sam lives two lives, a human in the warm months, a wolf in the cold, but each half is wholly concerned with the girl whose life he saved years ago. I'm not really a crier with books, but this one left me with tears running down my face. It's not perfect - there are a few plot holes and a few moments that are a little too cute to match the tone - but it's definitely well written and offers a neat twist to the already well-tread mythology of werewolves.

Okay, that's a lot of YA, but I swear, I read adult books too! Three that I can absolutely stand by:
- The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery - A concierge masks her intellectualism with bland mediocrity, but cannot hide from the precocious girl living in the building, nor the sharply observing new resident who instantly senses a kindred spirit in the lonely middle-aged lady. A surprisingly affecting tale and perfect afternoon reading. The prose is clean but lovely, but most remarkably, Barbery doesn't write intellectualism as cold and aloof. Rather, her characters, in embracing those intellectual pursuits that they hide in public, become warmer, more gracious, more open selves.

- A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore - I could go on and on about how brilliant Lorrie Moore is, but if you even slightly care, you are probably well aware of how brilliant she is. It's been eleven years since she's published anything, eleven really long years, and now she gifts us with a novel of a college-aged woman, coming to terms with the changing terms of relationships amongst a country in crisis post 9/11. I feel weirdly attached to this book. Told from the distinct position of a Mid-Westerner, I could not relate with the stoic Tassie, who relates a period of heartbrokeness in a calm, controlled manner, with the detachment of an observer rather than the person suffering. If you're not familiar with Moore's work, start with Birds of America - this novel is not for the uninitiated, but it's a great follow-up for someone looking to further their Loorie Moore addiction. It certainly fed mine.

-The Magicians Lev Grossman - Holy crap. The worlds of JK Rowling and CS Lewis meet Jay McInerney. Quentin Coldwater is a Brooklyn teenager constantly fleeing real life for the fictional world of Fillory. Mysterious circumstances bring him to Brakebills, a college for the study of magic. Now Quentin can live out his fantasies... except that no reality is perfect, not even one where magic is real... Grossman divides his book into four distinct parts, each a perfect compliment to the other, and in some ways, more riveting than the last. It's cliche, but this is a magical literary fiction for adults. Any adult who enjoys indulging in the occasional children's fantasy read should pick this book up now.

As for the Friday Finds, I bought a ton of bargain books at work, so many that I can't remember all of them. Those I can remember:
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
- Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- We Tell Ourselves Stories... by Joan Didion (Score!)
- Carried Away: Stories by Alice Munro (Woot!)
- On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
And probably at least three or four other titles that I can't recall because I accumulate books at an inhuman level.

Also "found" the last two weeks:

The Magicians by Lev Grossman - Checked this out from work for the week, and I'm having trouble deciding if I want to buy it or just wait for the paperback. I loved it, but I don't know if I require the hardback now that I've read it through...

Epitaph Road by David Patneaude - Upcoming Egmont USA title, about a virus that wipes out virtually all males on the planet. I love the series Y: The Last Man, and the premise for this YA is similar, so I'm happy to give it a go.

Pop: The Genius of Andy Warhol by Tony Scherman and David Dalton - I'm not a worshiper of the Warhol altar, but I'm always game to read about the Factory scene and the debauched fabulousness of it all. I'm hoping that this book will be more dishy than its exterior presents, but even if it is, this one's probably one I'm going to pick up and put down a whole lot.

Cooking for Friends by Gordon Ramsay - Of the several Ramsay reality shows, the only one I've watched enjoyably is the British Kitchen Nightmares where Ramsay scolds, swears, and browbeats restauranteurs into improving their failing, mediocre (or worse) businesses. This hardback was left on my desk by my generous general manager. It marks a change from my normal cookbook of choice - inexpensive, black and white, utility cookbooks with little flash or pictures. This is a cookbook of a variety I don't bother buying, but would love to own - pretty, hardback, nice quality, beautifully photographed, and filled with recipes that probably aren't immensely challenging but still look a bit sophisticated for my rice and peanut butter sandwich self. Though the point is to cook this for friends, so...