Youth Media Awards

The American Library Association (ALA) announced the 2013 youth media awards today.

Books that we have in our library are listed below.  See the complete list of winners here and check our catalog to see which ones are available or reserve them.

Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature:

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.
When Ivan, a gorilla who has lived for years in a down-and-out circus-themed mall, meets Ruby, a baby elephant that has been added to the mall, he decides that he must find her a better life.
Read about the real Ivan who inspired the story here.








Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished picture book for children:

This Is Not My Hat illustrated and written by Jon Klassen
A tiny minnow wearing a pale blue bowler hat has a thing or two up his fins in this underwater light-on-dark chase scene.






Caldecott Honor Books in our library:

Extra Yarn illustrated by Jon Klassen and written by Mac Barnett
Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for the most distinguished beginning reader book:

Up, Tall, and High! by Ethan Long
Through illustrations and simple text, birds demonstrate the meanings of the words up, tall, and high.









Geisel Honor Books in our library:

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin, created and illustrated by James Dean
Let's Go for A Drive (an Elephant and Piggie book) by Mo Willems


 Robert F. Sibert Medal for most distinguished informational book for children:

Bomb: The Race to Build - and Steal - the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

Recounts the scientific discoveries that enabled atom splitting, the military intelligence operations that occurred in rival countries, and the work of brilliant scientists hidden at Los Alamos.

Sibert Honor Books in our library:

Electric Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by Robert Byrd 
Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson

  

Laura Ingallls Wilder Award honors an author or illustrator whose books have made a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.  This year's winner is Katherine Paterson.  Her books in our library include Bridge to Terabithia and The Great Gilly Hopkins.


 Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults:

In Darkness by Nick Lake
In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, Shorty, a poor, fifteen-year-old gang member from the slums of Site Soleil, is trapped in the rubble of a hospital and as he grows weaker, he has visions and memories of his life of violence, his lost twin sister, and of Toussaint L'Ouverture, who liberated Haiti from French rule in 1804.

Printz Honor Book in our library:


Code Name Verity by  Elizabeth Wein
In 1943, a British fighter plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France and the survivor tells a tale of friendship, war, espionage, and great courage as she relates what she must do to survive while keeping secret all that she can.








Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience:

Teen award winner:

Somebody Please Tell Me Who I Am by Harry Mazer and Peter Lerangis
Wounded in Iraq while his Army unit is on convoy and treated for many months for traumatic brain injury, the first person Ben remembers from his earlier life is his autistic brother. 








Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults.  This year's winner is Tamora Pierce.  Her books in our library include the Song of the Lioness series and Protector of the Small series.

 
See additional award winners and honor books here. 

Chapter Books to Read Aloud

If your preschooler or early elementary aged child is interested in hearing longer books and you're looking for chapter books to read aloud, here are some suggestions.  These are chapter books to consider for reading aloud to your young child (4 - 8 years old) and are great for older children to listen to or read alone as well.  Some families enjoy reading a chapter or two together each day and talking about the story together.

Our library owns the books on the list below.  You can check our catalog to see if they are currently available, read summaries of each book, and reserve them.

Have you read any of these books with your children?  Do you have any other suggestions?  Leave a comment to let us know what you're reading and what you think of it.  

Chapter Books to Read Aloud

Beginning chapter books

located by the author's last name in the Early Reader section

Young Cam Jansen series by David Adler

Jennifer Jansen is nicknamed Cam (short for camera) for her photographic memory which helps her solve mysteries with her friends.

Mercy Watson series by Kate DiCamillo

This series features the adventures of a pig named Mercy and her human family.

Frog and Toad series by Arnold Lobel

This series features the adventures of two friends, Frog and Toad.

Henry and Mudge series by Cynthia Rylant

This series features the adventures of Henry and his large dog Mudge.

Not exactly a chapter book, but a longer book in which each “chapter” is a different story:

You Read to Me and I'll Read to You: 20^th Century Stories to Share

located in the E Nonfiction section: E 808.8 Schulman

Each chapter features a different story – sometimes a picture book, sometimes a selection from a chapter book.

Chapter books

located by the author's last name in the Juvenile Fiction section

Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater

A delivery of an Antarctic penguin leads to a house full of penguins and changes the lives of Mr. Popper and his family.

Berenstain Bears series by Stan and Jan Berenstain

This series features the adventures of the Berenstain bear family.

Freckle Juice by Judy Blume

Andrew wants freckles so badly that he buys Sharon's freckle recipe for fifty cents.

A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond

A very small bear found by Mr. and Mrs. Brown at Paddington station becomes one of the family.

Flat Stanley series by Jeff Brown

After a bulletin board falls on Stanley while he's sleeping, he finds that being flat has its advantages.

Arthur chapter books by Marc Brown

This series features the adventures of Arthur the aardvark and his friends.

The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling

A boy acquires a magical gift that turns everything his lips touch into chocolate.

Ralph series by Beverly Cleary

(Runaway Ralph, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, and Ralph S. Mouse)

The adventures of Ralph, the motorcycle riding mouse.

Ramona series by Beverly Cleary

The adventures of Ramona and her family.

My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett

trilogy included in Three Tales of my Father's Dragon

A young boy determines to rescue a poor baby dragon who is being used by a group of lazy wild animals to ferry them across the river on Wild Island.

Andrew Lost series by J. C. Greenburg

Andrew's inventions lead to interesting adventures. Each adventure last four books. In book one, Andrew and his friends are shrunk by one of his inventions, books one through four follow his escapades while small, and he returns to his normal size in book four. A new adventure begins in book five.

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

The escapades of a lucky little girl who lives with a horse and a monkey--but without any parents--at the edge of a Swedish village.

Winnie the Pooh books by A. A. Milne

Pooh and his friends Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Kanga, and others share adventures with Christopher Robin.

Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne

Siblings Annie and Jack travel to a different location and a different time in history via a magic tree house in each book of this series.

Clementine series by Sara Pennypacker

The adventures of eight year old Clementine, her family, and friends.

The Littles series by John Peterson

The Littles are a family of tiny creatures who live in the walls of a house owned by the Bigg family.

Mrs. Noodlekugel by Daniel Pinkwater

Nick and Maxine have a new babysitter--the eccentric Mrs. Noodlekugel who lives in the funny little house behind their drab high-rise apartment building along with her feline butler, Mr. Fuzzface, and three myopic mice.

Jigsaw Jones series by James Preller

Jigsaw Jones and his partner Mila solve mysteries.

Little House on the Prairie by Wilder

The day to day life of Laura Ingalls and her family in the late nineteenth century.

New Books

New books this week include the latest books in the Nancy Clancy, Captain Underpants, and Seekers series, Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms (a mystery mixed with magic), Who Was George Washington (a biography in the popular Who Was series), nonfiction books about space and stars, and more.

See our catalog to reserve these books or look for additional new books.