Saturday, January 24, 2009

My take on the award-winners (like you need to hear one more)

Newbery - Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Cool that a fantasy won. Been meaning to read this, will someday.

Newbery Honors
Underneath by Kathi Appelt
I haven't read this b/c although the cover looks appealing, the reviews I've heard make it sound rather dark and harrowing. I don't really like dark and harrowing.

Savvy by Ingrid Law
I don't normally like spunky Southern heroines, but this was a sweet book.

I haven't read Surrender Tree or After Tupac and D Foster. I don't think either will be of much interest at my library so won't be purchasing them.

Caldecott - The house in the night ill. by Beth Krommes written by Susan Swanson
Somehow I totally missed this. I have never seen it and I don't remember anybody blogging it. I think I will get it for our library, as it looks good!

Caldecott honors
A couple of boys have the best week ever by Marla Frazee
SQUEE!! I love this book!! There are never enough funny books and this is an ultra-funny one!! Besides the cool illustrations, and the excellent story and so on.

How I learned geography by Uri Shulevitz
Our library has this one - it's ok, not a style of illustration I like, personally.

River of words: the story of William Carlos Williams ill. by Melissa Sweet, written by Jen Bryant
It's on my to-order-sometime-if-I-ever-get-enough-money-in-the-budget, but you can only have so many beautifully illustrated picturebook biographies, and this one is low on my list, I'm afraid.

I'm not familiar with most of the Belpre awards, except Francisco Jiminez. I'll be keeping the list by me for when I order more Spanish/bi-lingual books probably.

Geisel Award - Are you ready to play outside by Mo Willems
Yay Elephant and Piggy!

Geisel Honors
Chicken said Cluck by Judyann Grant, ill. by Sue Truesdale
This one has gone out several times already at our library (I only got it last month) and Sue Truesdale is one of my favorite funny illustrators, ever since I read the Golly Sisters when I was little.

One boy by Laura Seeger
I haven't really looked at this yet, but we've put it into picturebooks. May have to take another look. It looked intriguing.

Stinky by Eleanor Davis
Haven't got this one, but I have great faith in the Geisel and will order it right away.

Wolfsnail: a backyard predator by Sarah Campbell
Hadn't really thought of this as an easy reader, just put it in nonfiction. It's a great read-aloud; it's difficult to find good read-aloud nonfiction for the younger ages and this was perfect.

Sibert - We are the Ship by Kadir Nelson
I read this recently, as I only just got a copy for our library. I'm a little doubtful as to its appeal - it hasn't checked out yet. We shall see.

Sibert Honors

Bodies from the ice by James Deem
I'm not sure if we have this yet or not, but we will at some point since I am working on acquiring all the uber-excellent Scientists in the Field series. Can't wait to read it!

What to do about Alice by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham
I really liked the illustrations, but was less than happy with the story, as I said in my review

Printz - Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Might add this just for the pretty cover. Haven't read it and don't think our teens pay much attention to awards....

Printz Honors:
Astonishing life of Octavian Nothing II. The first wasn't really popular here, so I didn't bother with the second.

Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
I wasn't really excited about it, but I finally got it into (or out of) my budget and it seems to be circulating well. On the other hand, it wasn't stolen like my last batch of new YA so maybe it's not so popular after all...

Nation by Terry Pratchett
Haven't read it yet. I like Pratchett, but have a sneaking suspicion this is not as fun as his other books.

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
Umm...I just thought this sounded really, really weird. Not as freaky as Madapple but close. But as the good reviews mount, and I do have a group of girls who like really tragic/awful sort of family stories, it might be popular...

Random thoughts on the other awards

Very cool that Anthea Bell's translation of Tiger Moon won an award. She's an amazing translator!

Probably won't bother with the Odysseys. I usually go for audiobooks of really popular books, since I have such a small budget and they don't check out much.

3 comments:

Sally Murphy said...

I always read tehse awrad lists and tell myslef I will read them all. I must confess that I haven't read any of them, though many would be available in Australia.This time I must go and hunt out some of the winners. I am a big fan of Mo Willems and find his books always popular in classrooms.
.

Jennifer said...

Hah. I feel no such compunction *grins*. As you may have guessed from the tenor of my remarks, if I don't think a book will be popular with my patrons, I don't buy it. If it doesn't sound interesting, I don't read it. Awards aren't a big deal for me, but it's fun to look!

Jennifer said...

Although, as I said, I have faith in the Geisel. I was deeply scarred by a teacher in undergrad who tried to read Linda Sue Park's A Single Shard out loud. Boooring. Asides from it not being the type of book I found interesting, I was taking 18 credit hours and working two jobs and kept falling asleep...