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Let the “Best of 2009″ deluge commence. As a librarian, I naturally have an unhealthy obsession for annotated lists of all kinds. Seriously, if someone put an annotated list of the best manhole covers of 2009 in front of me, I’d be delighted. Delighted, folks.
If you’re interested in staying on top of all things “best of” in the children’s lit world, be sure to keep an eye on The List of Lists over at Chicken Spaghetti. She’ll be keeping track as everyone names their aught nine favorites. Let’s take a look at a few:
New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2009
I like the variety of this list. The surprises are Tales from Outer Suburbia (since it’s a book for those older than the typical picture book audience) and White Noise (as it is a pop-up book). While there are certainly books I would like to add to the mix, I can’t find much fault with their picks. I was pleasantly surprised with the inclusion of A Penguin Story, a nice title that I think might get overlooked by other “best of” lists.
Amazon Top 10 Picture Books of 2009
An interesting group. The biggest surprise for me was The Very Hungry Caterpillar Pop-Up Book. I don’t know, it seems akin to putting the digitally remastered version of The Beatles’ Rubber Soul on the top albums of 2009 list. A classic in a new format doesn’t seem to fit.
Amazon Top 10 Middle Readers of 2009
Be prepared to see When You Reach Me and The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate on just about every “best of” list that makes it to print – these two outstanding Newbery contenders deserve it. I was happy to see Toby Alone included among this group – a uniquely pleasing book.
(Thanks to EarlyWord and Chicken Spaghetti for the links)
(Top Image: ‘Rainy Day / é¨ã®æ¥‘
www.flickr.com/photos/84988327@N00/200615055)
It’s never too early to bookmark, right? I found out via One-Minute Book Reviews that The American Library Association will continue the best idea ever to happen to their Youth Media Awards: the live webcast. From the ALA site:
The American Library Association (ALA) will provide a free live webcast of its Youth Media Awards, a national announcement of the top books and media for children and young adults, on Jan. 18, at 7:45 a.m. EST. The award announcements are made as part of the ALA Midwinter Meeting, which will bring together librarians, publishers, authors and guests to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center from Jan. 15 to 19.
I’ve watched the last two announcement webcasts and I highly recommend taking part. Bookmark this site to get in on the action on January 18.
To avoid being uni-technologied when it comes to getting the word out, ALA will also announce the winners via Twitter. Click here to subscribe to the feed.
(Thanks to One-Minute Book Reviews for the links)
(Top Image: ‘Me back in 1984 with my Commodore Vic 20‘
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27315689@N00/459020985)
This has to be the longest setup for a link ever.
Earlier this week, the 2009 National Book Award finalists were announced. In case you haven’t seen the Young People’s Literature finalists, here they are:
The shocker of the group was the inclusion of the seemingly adult graphic novel Stitches by David Small. The debate has been fun to follow:
Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
A Chair, A Fireplace & a Tea Cozy
I read Stitches, loved it, reviewed it, called it a *Best New Book*, and think that it’s certainly a title for older teens and adults. I hope it gets the attention it deserves, but “Young People’s Literature” is pushing it. The hullabaloo reminded me that Small lives just south of Kalamazoo, Michigan – a mere jaunt from where I call home – and was recently featured in my (almost) local newspaper, the Grand Rapids Press. It’s a profile that is absolutely worth your time. Some revealing stuff, to be sure. Click the image below to read.
Do you enjoy prognosticating the winner of the annual Newbery medal? Do you love engaging in some good ol’ thought provoking argumentation? Could you care less about children’s lit, but have an unhealthy obsession with the word “distinguished”? You need to read Heavy Medal, A Mock Newbery Blog at the School Library Journal website. Children’s lit luminaries Nina Lindsay and Jonathan Hunt debate the Newbery potential of some of this year’s best books. It scores very high on the interesting scale. If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to it.
A sample of the books being discussed:
To witness 2009’s best and brightest held under the microscope, click the image below.
The silver screen version of Where the Wild Things Are hits theaters on October 16, and the internet action has been heavy. In preparation, here’s a sample of Wild Things-related links for your perusal.
Where the Wild Things Are tattoos.
Is there anything more fascinating than a large, full color, permanent tribute to a kid’s book on someone’s arm? Okay, maybe just to a children’s librarian. Anyway, click the image below to see what I mean.
Stuff White People Like: Where the Wild Things Are.
A satirical (and, uh, kinda accurate) assessment of the appeal of Where the Wild Things Are.
Listen to Where the Wild Things Are Soundtrack.
How can you not like the title “Food Is Still Hot”? I’m listening to this soundtrack as I write and I’m digging a large portion of it. Let me know if you feel the same way.
Have a Wild Things Halloween.
Likely reactions to this costume:
(If you’re at a gathering w/ children’s lit fans) “Nice! Max!”
(If you’re at a gathering w/o children’s lit fans) “Nice! Wolf!”
Either way, I think you’re alright.
*Update* Monsters Ink: How Maurice Sendak made the world safe for monsters, and vice-versa.
This article in the Boston Globe takes a closer look at the creation and impact of Sendak’s Wild Things.
Normally, I reserve this post for the latest video of a chimp reading a children’s book or some similar bit of nonsense. Today, however, our Sunday Link Du Jour is actually helpful.
As a school librarian, I’m frequently deciding where to shelve new books we add to the collection. Most of the time these judgments are pretty clear, but gray areas certainly exist. Sometimes a book crosses my desk that I could use a second opinion on. OCLC Classify is perfect for this. I found out about this one at Neverendingsearch, who describes the service as such:
Search by ISBN, ISSN, UPC, OCLC number, or author/title. The service offers access to more than 36 million WorldCat records containing Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), Library of Congress Classification (LCC), or National Library of Medicine (NLM) Classification numbers. It shares the most frequent and most recent class numbers, and it links to DeweyBrowser for further cataloging information.
Keep this site handy. Click here to head over to Neverendingsearch and take a look.
Oh, and uh, here’s a video of a chimp reading a book:
There comes a moment when you realize that a song/book/movie has really crossed over. When I saw that music magazine Filter was coming out with a Where the Wild Things Are issue next week, that moment occurred. Click here to head over to Pop Candy and read more.
When I stumble upon old children’s book covers, my eyes have a tendency to glaze over and there is a nearly reflexive loss of interest. I am uncontrollably new-school in this way. It’s embarrassing.
However, there is something about this Flickr set of children’s books from 1860-1920 that did the opposite. Some of these titles and covers I could see coming out today (Chicken World), and others which are showing their age (uh, see above).
Click the image below to view the entire set of 20.
I really don’t get tired of these. Artist M. S. Corley, the man behind the recent redesign of the Harry Potter and His Dark Materials covers strikes again. This time he bestows the classic Penguin treatment on The Chronicles of Narnia. These covers won’t be coming to a shelf near you, but fun to take a gander at nonetheless. How do you think the overlay style would fly with young readers?
