Award Info

The Carnegie Medal shortlist has been announced. Here it is:

• Gatty's Tale, by Kevin Crossley-Holland
• Ruby Red, by Linzi Glass
• Apache, by Tanya Lindman
• Crusade, by Elizabeth Laird
• Here Lies Arthur, by Philip Reeve
• What I Was, by Meg Rosoff (I recently read this one and hope to post a review this weekend. It's a novel that stays with you, even if Rosoff's titles are ones you tend to forget.)
• Finding Violet Park, by Jenny Valentine

I love the Carnegie. My favorite award other than the Cybils, of course.

The Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award (for books written and illustrated by Canadians) shortlists have also been announced. Here they are:

Picture Book:

• Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend, by Melanie Watt
• Grumpy Bird, by Jeremy Tankard
• The Aunts Come Marching, by Bill Richardson and illustrated by Cynthia Nugent
  
• The Boy from the Sun, by Duncan Weller
• The Painted Circus: P.T. Vermin Presents a Mesmerizing Menagerie of Trickery and Illusion Guaranteed to Beguile and Bamboozle the Beholder, by Wallace Edwards
  

MG/YA

• Dancing Through the Snow, by Jean Little
• Darkwing, by Kenneth Oppel
• Elijah of Buxton, by Christopher Paul Curtis
  
• A Perfect Gentle Knight, by Kit Pearson
• Rex Zero, King of Nothing, by Tim Wynne-Jones
  

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards

All week I've been reading about the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and the fact that Justin Timberlake will be hosting them. Normally I wouldn't pay much attention to these news items, but the category "books" keeps coming up in the press releases. When you read the reports more closely, however, said books are never mentioned. So, this evening, I took a look at the Nickelodeon site to find out, exactly, which books have been nominated.

Curious?

Here's the category:

Favorite Book

Harry Potter (series)
How to Eat Fried Worms
Island of the Blue Dolphins
A Series of Unfortunate Events (series)

I love how "movies," "games," "tv shows" all feature titles from this year. What about this list of books? Was there a movie of Island of the Blue Dolphins I missed? What is up with this list? Seriously.

I know your fingers are just itchin' to cast your vote.

Waterstone's Children's Book Prize

First-time author Tom Becker has won the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize for his Middle Grade fantasy Darkside.

Here's what Richard Lea has to say for the Guardian:

• "The novel, inspired by film noir, fantasy and a fascination with the seamier side of the 19th century, is aimed at children between the ages of nine and 12. It tells the story of a boy, Jonathan Stirling, who discovers a parallel world filled with vampires and werewolves. This alternative reality has a distinctly Victorian air, and is ruled by a descendant of Jack the Ripper. Soon bounty hunters from the other side begin searching for Jonathan, who finds himself driven into their world."

Shortlisted titles include:

• Jake Cake, by Michael Broad
• Sebastian Darke, by Philip Caveney
• A Swift Pure Cry, by Siobhan Dowd

Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children's Books

The BBC reports the results of the Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children's Books.

0-7 years: Little Lost Cowboy, by Simon Puttock and Caroline Jayne Church

8-12 years: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by You Know Who

13-16 years: Roxy's Baby by Catherine MacPhail

The Royal Mail Awards are decided partly by popular vote. Shortlists were created by "by a panel of literature and education experts." Kids then voted for their favorite books in each category.

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On a totally unrelated note, I can only say ewww to this newsreport. The author, of course, said he wrote his book because he, " didn't like a lot of the children's literature that [he'd] seen...."

The Cybils

The First Annual Children's Book Awards, Blog Edition, finally have a name. The Cybils. Head on over to Book Buds to find out how we decided on this name.

This means that, by the end of the week, we'll be seeking book nominations!

A Message for Bloggers

The First Annual Children’s Book Awards, Blog Edition

This month we’ve seen a spate of book awards, some of which have left us wondering: couldn’t we, the intelligent, savvy members of the kidlitosphere do better? Or, at least, differently?

So, we’re inaugurating our own book awards, honoring books published in English for children in 2006. Anne Boles Levy, of Book Buds, will launch a site this week and administer the awards process. What we need first is a name for this award, so we can get the award site up asap. One suggested name is The Belugas. Okay, that was my suggestion, but I suspect it’s a little weird. Anyone have a better idea? Head on over to Book Buds and make your contest name suggestion.

How will these awards work?

• We will be accepting nominations for the best books of 2006 through November 20, 2006. Books will be judged in the following categories: Picture Book, Middle Grade Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy/Sci Fi, Picture Book Non Fiction, Non Fiction (Middle Grade/Young Adult), Graphic Novel, Poetry.
• Nominating committees of five members from the children’s literature blogs* will narrow the recommendations down to a shortlist of five books per category. The shortlists will be announced January 1, 2007.
• Committees of five members, different from those serving on the nominating committees, will decide which title per category will win the Children’s Book Award, Blog edition. The winners will be announced January 15, 2007.
• This is meant to be as democratic and open a process as possible. Ask any questions you may have.

What does this mean for me?

• If you run a blog about children’s literature* and would like to serve on a nominating committee or on a judging committee, then head on over to an administrating blog (organized by category and listed below) and nominate yourself .
• Consider nominating yourself in two different genres, so that if the committee for one of your favorites fills up, you'll have a back-up option.
• Suggest a name by heading over to Book Buds

As soon as we have a name and committees, we can begin soliciting nominations.

Administrating Blogs

• Picture Books, Big A little a (e-mail)
• Middle Grade Fiction, A Fuse #8 Production (e-mail)
• Young Adult Fiction, Jen Robinson’s Book Page (e-mail)
• Fantasy/Sci Fi, Wands and Worlds (e-mail)
• Non Fiction (Picture Book), Bartography (e-mail)
• Non Fiction (MG/YA), propernoun.net (e-mail)
• Graphic Novel, A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy (e-mail)
• Poetry, Chicken Spaghetti (e-mail)

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*Children’s writers who blog, or bloggers who run general literature blogs are also eligible to serve on either committee

Picture Book Award Committees

If you'd like to serve on the judging or nominating committees for the Picture Book category, please shoot me a comment or an e-mail. Please let me know what your second choice category would be as well.