In which I completely fail at predicting any awards, and this makes me very happy.

[rockinlibrarian]

So in my Books of the Year Roundup Post of the other week, I mentioned how I had been frantically trying to continue my streak of reading the Newbery before it won the Newbery, and how nothing I read that I LOVED seemed quite Newbery-worthy, and nothing I read that seemed Newbery-worthy did I LOVE, so I was quite prepared to be completely surprised this morning by the winners.

And I was even more surprised than I expected to be, because the Newbery Medalist, Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool, is a book I have heard next to NOTHING about. I can't even tell you what it's about. I can't even tell you what GENRE it is. And of the four Honor books-- FOUR of them-- I have still only actually read One Crazy Summer (which, if you were wondering, was one of the books I thought was definitely Newbery-worthy but which I just wasn't grabbed by personally). This is good news, in a way, because that means there are FOUR books here that have won that I JUST MIGHT LOVE MORE than all the other buzzy books I DID read and DIDN'T love.

Caldecott I was a little surprised by too, only because there were SOOOOO many contenders that I DID actually love, and there's only one Medalist and two Honors and it's like, Wow, what happened to [insert name of about twelve different books here]? And I WAS a little disappointed, then, because of all my favorite picture books of the year, only Interrupting Chicken got anything (an Honor). The Medalist was A Sick Day for Amos McGee, which I did like an awful lot though. I haven't seen the other Honor (Dave the Potter) in person at all though.

Printz (for YA)... well, I never thought I could predict THOSE, because I never CAN, even when I read more YA than MG (which is usually the case). As usual, I've heard very little about any of the winners! Except, actually, the Medalist, Ship Breaker, which is supposed to be very good. And I've heard OF Honor book Revolver, but nothing of the three others. And I am a little disappointed then that A Conspiracy of Kings was shut out of everything. I thought it was a little old for the Newbery myself, but maybe the Printz committee thought it was a little YOUNG for them. Or maybe the Printz committee never likes any good books (says the girl whose favorite book read last year was last year's Printz Medalist, and who ADORED two of the Honor books the year before...).

But the Geisel awards (for Easy Readers) are all happy making: Bink and Gollie got the Medal, We are In a Book! (by Mo Willems-- an Elephant and Piggie book) and Ling and Ting: Not Exactly the Same by Grace Lin (which I also enjoyed a lot even though it didn't make my Books of the Year post). So I think I'm giving my most love to the Geisels this year.

ALTHOUGH one of my favorite authors in the world, Sir Terry Pratchett, won the Edwards Award. But such is the nature of the Edwards Award that I didn't even know what it was and had to look it up. It's basically a Lifetime Achievement award for YA, but if you look at the official announcement page, the exact honor is a bit puzzling. It "honors an author, as well as a specific body of his or her work," and then goes on to identify this specific body of work as nine titles which would NOT be the nine titles that would first come to mind if I was picking the nine Pratchett titles which are significant contributions to Young Adult Literature. It's got Wee Free Men of course-- I'd be VERY disappointed, not just puzzled, if it didn't-- but it's also got several of the "adult" Discworld books, which are all well and good, but why them (and for gosh sakes why Colour of Magic?) and not, most of all, Nation, which is one of his most brilliant books EVER (and actually GOT a Printz Honor FOR YA LIT-- though maybe that's why not, because it was already honored), or not his other ACTUAL YA titles, like Wintersmith (which I loved much more than Hat full of Sky, which is on this list), or the Johnny Maxwell books? Or, if you're pulling from the adult stuff, you could at least put Night Watch in.... But this is all just me being puzzled, because hey, they gave Sir Terry an award, and that's all that really matters.

Nothing else I loved won anything (though the AUDIOBOOK of Alchemy and Meggy Swann got an Honor in audio), but not much I was ambivalent about won much either, so it's a sea of new titles, full of possibility, out there! Except that many of those titles I already decided I didn't feel like reading in the first place.... Anyway, the full list of Winners is HERE!

Comments

[beth-shulman.livejournal.com]

Except for Ship Breaker (which I was sure would at least get an honor, even though I haven't read it - ha), the entire Printz list was an absolute shock. They seem to get darker each year, don't they? And I think this is the first year John Green published a book that wasn't at least honored.

My personal miffs: A Conspiracy of Kings - I wanted it to get at least a Printz honor. Same with The Cardturner, by Louis Sachar - it's not very popular but since when has the Printz cared about that?

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Hee, yeah, Kate Coombs wrote something over at Book Aunt about reading the Printz winners if you LIKE dark and depressing books, and I laughed outright. They always are! There is such a variety of YA published, and it always seems to be the dreary stuff that gets the award notice. (The Morris Award, too. It's like the Morris and the Printz have the same dreary committees working together). Of course, I do LOVE Going Bovine, and it IS hilarious, even though it is dark. And the year before that had Frankie-Landau Banks, which is DEFINITELY not dreary by any means (also Nation, which is full of seriousness, but also often funny and also totally not realistic contemporary fiction, so it broke the mold there, too). And this year, it looks like that one about Vera somebody (not looking it up, my conscience is telling me to finish this and go make the phone call I'm supposed to be making right now) might be funny. But still, it's the first reaction I get looking at those lists, too.

[katecoombs.livejournal.com]

Oh hey, so you know what I mean about the Printz awards! Get this: some reviewer was saying that the Printz honor book, Nothing, is like Lord of the Flies, only DARKER! ('Cause, you know, Lord of the Flies is just far too lighthearted...)

And Amy, I really like your post title. The awards this year, well--it is for to shrug.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yeah, I don't think I'm up for a book about nihilism. Isn't there something in the "what makes YA vs Adult" general definition that YA has to offer hope? Um... maybe there is if you stretch it?