One of the first things I did when I got to the computer this morning was to check recent news on Google so I could find out who won the Newbery and Caldecott awards. I was actually a few minutes early the first time I checked (beating the announcement in Philadelphia by about half an hour) but a couple refreshes of the page later brought me to the news.
I haven't read any of this year's winners yet, but they look like unusual and interesting choices.
The ALA website has now been updated with the full list of 2008 winners. The Newbery Medal book and honor books can be found here. The winner is Good Voices! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz (a school librarian herself in Baltimore). It's apparently 21 dramatic narratives/monologues that she originally wrote for students in her school to perform. Looks like a very creative way to learn about medieval times!
The Caldecott Medal book and honor books can be found here. The winner is, interestingly, not a picture book but a graphic novel of over 500 pages. It's called The Invention of Hugo Cabret and is written and illustrated by Brian Selznick. The story is set in a train station in 1931 Paris. The official description intrigues me no end: "In a work of more than 500 pages, the suspenseful text and wordless double-page spreads narrate the tale in turns. Neither words nor pictures alone tell this story, which is filled with cinematic intrigue. Black & white pencil illustrations evoke the flickering images of the silent films to which the book pays homage."
So there you have it...another year's worth of recommended reads. I've already begun reading at least one book I found on several "short lists" before the awards came out, and now I've got more books to add to my reading list!
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