SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE POST
In the Room Where the Livestream Happens
Whew! The MTA was determined to thwart me this morning, but I made it in just before Julie Todaro took the stage, and I’ve got my livestream running.
(I didn’t mind being #alaleftbehind until this morning, when I felt so frustrated that the world outside ALA doesn’t stop everything for the YMAs!)
Sarah and Joy are still en route to their workplaces, watching while commuting, but they’ll chime in if possible, and I’ll be writing while we watch. YAY YMAs!
(tl; dr: Comments are open so let’s debrief togther! The complete press release can be accessed here.)
Schneiders first, and I am sad to say this one [When We Collided, by Emery Lord] wasn’t on our radar at all; I would swear I’ve never seen this book before! Agh. Well, the to-read list only had 900 books, so now we’ll make it 901.
(Note, we only tend to share our reactions to YA, unless it’s an MG or picture book we read, which isn’t too common. But we aren’t skipping the younger stuff out of disrespect!)
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Stonewall now (how is the order determined, does anyone know?), which is always a must purchase when it’s YA and not already in my collection.
Honors:
When the Moon Was Ours
Unbecoming
Pride
(So, two I had some real issues with and one nonfiction. Well, good thing we aren’t doing speculation for the Stonewall. (I th.ink a womp womp sound effect goes here.) Given the mission of the Stonewall, these are excellent choices; my issues were all Printz-specific)
Winners:
Magnus Chase! YES. Rick Riordan consistently writes excellent, diverse, awesome books that I and my readers love. So glad to see him getting an award, and a gender fluid character in something this commercial and highly read by middle graders and teens is so important.
If I Was Your Girl: YES YES YES. Couldn’t be more deserving, and more buzz for this great read is a win for all of us, adults and teens alike!
CSK:
Virginia Hamilton lifetime achievement: Dr. Bishop! Good golly, I remember reading and loving M.C. Higgins the Great! That’s a throwback. Obviously the scholarly work is important too (smiley face) but the books that are seminal in our childhoods never leave us, do they?
Ugh, the lag on the images and printed titles in the livestream. Makes it so much harder to keep up.
AHHHH! Radiant Child! Javaka Steptoe! He visited our LS this winter, so exciting!
Ok, author honors.
As Brave as You — Oh, I wanted Ghost, although never sad to see Jason Reynolds get accolades.
John Lewis! Even via the feed the sound is deafening! I stood up at my desk! March is such an important and powerful book, now more than ever, and it’s told really well. Definitely deserving!
YALSA AWARDS
(After this, I’ll be able to calm down again!)
I know the Alex awards aren’t technically YALSA awards, but I really wish they wouldn’t shove them in at the start when no one is paying attention.
Margaret A. Edwards first. I am always delighted and surprised with this one, because I never know who’s eligible and the committee always picks someone awesome.
Sarah Dessen! That’s a fantastic recognition of romantic contemporary fiction. Dessen has been a go to and must buy for so long, one of our strongest backlist circulation authors. This is so great!
Odyssey:
Ghost! Well, I’m still hoping for Newbery love, but I’ll take this. I really loved Ghost, can you tell?
And NIMONA? An audio award for a graphic novel? I think this is unprecedented!
And for the win: Anna and the Swallow Man. Whoa. Such a tough book, I can’t even imagine the audio. It’s a book that’s stuck with me all year, though, so I’m glad to see some recognition for it.
Morris!
We already knew the finalists, so no surprises here…
The Serpent King!
Excellence in Nonfiction:
Again, the finalists are a known quantity, so it’s just a question of the winner. I think we’re all pulling for March to continue raking in the awards here, but I know a few people really rooting for Samurai Rising.
We got our wish! I’m starting to revise my “March will never get the Printz because it already got the NBA” statement.
Ok, here we go, the moment we’ve all been waiting for!
PRINTZ
Honors – all FOUR.
Asking for It, Louise O’Neill: this was briefly on our longlist and none of us wanted to read it, for purely topical reasons, and there wasn’t that much buzz so we let it go. We failed. Sorry, folks. (However, Joy predicted that a book with similar thematic content would win, so she gets the prize for being most prescient.)
The Passion of Dolssa: YES YES YES! I wanted this for the win but I can live with an honor. Because it’s just so darn good.
Scythe: Can you hear us cheering from here? We didn’t really dare to hope, so this is a delightful surprise!
The Sun is Also a Star: so many of you called for this one!
And the winner is MARCH. So glad I called that 30 seconds ago!
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
(Three of the five made our Pyrite, which means we — not Sarah, Joy, and I, but the collective we — are getting better and better as critical readers! Go us!)
ALSC
(Ok, Joy and I were too busy talking to catch the first few. It’s the Batchelder now, which only sometimes includes YA, although I have high hopes for Maresi for 2018.)
Sibert now, and we actually know some of these! It’s so not on our usual radar, but Giant Squid was awesome. And Uprooted! Great choice!
MARCH again for the win! I think we officially have a sweep.
CALDECOTT! My colleague and friend Stacy Dillon is on this committee and I can’t wait to see what they chose! (I’d be excited anyway, but that connection just makes it that much more exciting!)
Joy is cheering for Leave Me Alone! And I am thrilled for Du Iz Tak!
And another win for Radiant Child!
Ooooh, only three Newbery honors?
Freedom over Me, The Inquistor’s Tale, and Wolf Hollow were all on our Printzbery mock slate!
AND The Girl Who Drank the Moon for the WIN! It was on our Printzbery slate and won our mock, and I pulled hard for it, so I’m pretty darn ecstatic right now.
Whew! So that’s it, and the season is officially over! Debrief in the comments, and in a day or two we’ll start talking 2017 reading lists.
Filed under: Books to look for
About Karyn Silverman
Karyn Silverman is the High School Librarian and Educational Technology Department Chair at LREI, Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School (say that ten times fast!). Karyn has served on YALSA’s Quick Picks and Best Books committees and was a member of the 2009 Printz committee. She has reviewed for Kirkus and School Library Journal. She has a lot of opinions about almost everything, as long as all the things are books. Said opinions do not reflect the attitudes or opinions of SLJ, LREI, YALSA or any other institutions with which she is affiliated. Find her on Twitter @InfoWitch or e-mail her at karynsilverman at gmail dot com.
ADVERTISEMENT
SLJ Blog Network
2024 Books from Pura Belpré Winners
In Memorium: The Great Étienne Delessert Passes Away
Winnie-The-Pooh | Review
Finding My Own Team Canteen, a cover reveal and guest post by Amalie Jahn
The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT