The 2010 ALA Youth Media Awards

Well, everyone, they are finally up! I was, in fact, far far FAR too lazy to get up at six in the godforsaken morning to haul myself out of bed to be down there in person-- hell, I was even too tired to watch them IN BED on my laptop-- but I couldn't be happier with the results!

When You Reach Me winning the Newbery comes as a surprise to no one and is so wonderfully well deserved. I really adored this book and I feel immediately confident that kids who pick it up because of this medal will simply fall in love with it.

Likewise, I am absolutely thrilled for Libba Bray! It's a bit of a switch-up for me to have a horse I'm rooting for in the Newbery race, but no idea what's going to win the Printz, but that's definitely how it was this year. Going Bovine's win is entirely unexpected-- and I'm not the only one surprised. According to the compendium made over at Youth Services Corner blog, it made it onto 3 Mock Printz lists, and it won honors in none of them. Marcelo in the Real World, on the other hand, was considered in 15 different mock competitions, and received honors in many of them, but didn't even get an honor from the ALA. Meanwhile, I don't know that I've heard of any of the other books that were awarded. Selfishly, I find this very exciting-- it means I can still get Marcelo from the lirbary easily, and it means maybe I have even more YA books to check out. In an especially lucky turn of events, I even OWN an ARC of Going Bovine and can start it immediately. By which I mean right after I finish Will Grayson, Will Grayson :)

Beyond these two major awards, I found a host of smaller things to be excited about. Primary among them was the inclusion of Soulless by Gail Carriger as one of the 10 best books published for adults with teen audience appeal. As I am essentially a teen myself in my reading habits, I thoroughly enjoyed this particular book published for adults and think many other teens will as well.

What about you guys? What do you think of the major awards? Were there any smaller wins that you're excited about? Anything overlooked that you're heartbroken by?

Question for ALA Locals!

Hi lovely people! So, I'm a little vague about the part of Boston ALA is in, and am not having much luck with the ALA website or the MBTA website. You know how when you look up how to get places on the MBTA website, it tells you how to get practically to the *door*, when actually it might, at times, be easier to take the subway to the closest stop and then walk for 10 minutes? So I'm wondering if anyone has a sense of what T stops might be closest to the convention center.

I'll be on the floor on Saturday, I believe, but that will probably be the sum of my involvement. Hope to see some of you there!

ALA

The American Library Association 2010 Youth Media Awards will be announced on Monday, January 18th, at 7:45 a.m Eastern time. You can stream the awards live here or see them posted on ALA's Twitter. I also read somewhere that they (ALA) should have the winners posted on their website by 9:30 a.m Eastern time.

Who will be at ALA?

Any predictions for winners?

Going Bovine

I just finished reading Libba Bray's Going Bovine. It was an absolutely spectacular read. It was hilarious and thoughtful and brilliant and absurd. I don't really want to write anything about it, because I don't want to spoil anything, but I highly recommend picking it up when you feel like reading something really mind-bendingly out there. If Tom Robbins and Douglas Adams collaborated on a novel, I think this would be the result. Here's one small paragraph from the book that sort of sums up a bit of what it's about:

As a kid, I imagined lots of different scenarios for my life. I would be an astronaut. Maybe a cartoonist. A famous explorer or rock star. Never once did I see myself standing under the window of a house belonging to some druggie named Carbine, waiting for his yard gnome to steal his stash so I could get a cab back to a cheap motel where my friend, a neurotic, death-obsessed dwarf, was waiting for me so we could get on the road to an undefined place and a mysterious Dr. X, who would cure me of mad cow disease and stop a band of dark energy from destroying the universe. (pg 257)

What a unique and engrossing read this was. Has anyone else read it?