LibLaura5

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Rooting for the Home Team

I am really looking forward to the award announcements from ALA on January 23rd.

I love to root for the home team, so here are a few books with Minnesota connections I am hoping will get some notice by awards committees.

Perfect Square
by Minnesotan Michael Hall

Blogged earlier this year here: http://liblaura5.blogspot.com/2011/06/perfect-square-by-michael-hall.html

Celebritrees
by Minnesotan Margi Preuss

What I love about this book:
The premise is fabulous, it's not just a book about types of trees, but specific trees that are celebrities among trees - 14 trees so beloved they have earned names for themselves, including:
Methuselah - the oldest tree (4,800 years old)
General Sherman - the biggest tree (the biggest living inhabitant of the earth by volume)
and my favorite... The Tree That Owns Itself!
Official Site for Celebritrees
Review from 100 Scope Notes

Sparrow Road
by Minnesotan Sheila O'Connor

What I love about this book:
I met Sheila O'Connor at Red Balloon Books last fall where she spoke about her 20 years of working with students as a poet in the schools through COMPAS. She explained that this book was her gift to the students, everything that she would want to say to them now that she was retiring.

There is so much more loveliness to to this book - wonderful characters, and rich setting...
The Lemme Library explains it wonderfully here in her spoiler free book talk.
Official Site for Sparrow Road

Luck of the Buttons
by Anne Ylvisaker, Raised in Minnesota

What I love about this book:
Luck of the Buttons reminded me a lot of one of my favorite musicals: The Music Man.
Also The town library and the fabulous librarian Miss Lucy play a wonderful part in Tugs' story.
Offical Site for Luck of the Buttons
Fuse #8 Review of the Day

Breadcrumbs
by Minnesotan Anne Ursu

Book trailer created by Julie hembree (@mrs_hembree), Librarian at AG Bell Elementary, Kirkland, WA

What I love about this book:
I love the enchanting magical realism, the allusions to so many other stories from Narnia to Star Wars, and the brave, beautiful character Hazel.
Listen to NPR's Backseat Book Club session on Breadcrumbs
Official Site for Breadcrumbs

I have high hopes for this year, due to Minnesota's strong showing last year.
Last year's ALA award winners with ties to Minnesota included:

Geisel Award Winner

Bink and Golly
by Alison McGhee and Kate DiCamillo

Newbery Honor winner
Heart of the Samurai
by Margi Preus

Newbery Honor Winner
Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night
by Joyce Sidman

Do you have any hometown favorites from 2011?

Sunday, January 8, 2012

The Forest Pool by Laura Adams Armer

Caldecott Honor (1939)

Interested in joining the Caldecott Medal and Honor Book Reading Challenge? Find out more here.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Caldecott Medal and Honors - 1938

More holds arrived for me at my local library, and I also brought home a few from my school library.

I now have almost all of the Medal and Honor books from the first decade of the award and am going as chronologically as I am able.

Since the early books, in particular the honor books, may be more difficult for those participating in the Caldecott Reading Challenge to find, I thought I would take a more in depth look at a few of them on the blog.

1938 - The first year the Caldecott Medal was awarded

Animals from the Bible
Caldecott Medal

Four and Twenty Blackbirds.
Caldecott Honor

Link to color photos of Under the Window by Kate Greenaway mentioned in the video

The Seven Simeons
Caldecott Honor

Were I on the the very first selection committee I would definitely have selected the Seven Simeons as the Medal winner.

Interested in joining us on the Caldecott Medal and Honor Book Reading Challenge? Find out more here.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

New Pile for the Caldecott Reading Challenge

This afternoon I celebrated my recovery from a very nasty stomach bug by heading to my local library where I had a pile of books on hold for me:

Interested in joining us on the Caldecott Medal and Honor Book Reading Challenge? Find out more here.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Exciting goals for 2012

Happy New Year!

It's 2012, and I am looking forward to...

The Caldecott Reading Challenge: Read every Caldecott Medal and Honor book from the start of the award in 1938 to the present.

Twitter: #nerdcott

2.
The Pura Belpré Challenge hosted by Amy B of classic6books.
I love this award since it is in honor of a librarian who truly connected with her community through library service.
I am planning to focus my reading for this challenge on the the picture books that have been awarded the Pura Belpré Award.
Twiter: #nerdabelpre

The Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge hosted by Alyson Beecher of Kid Lit Frenzy.

This is an area where I really would like to grow, and I know following along on this challenge will lead me to many fabulous new books.

Twitter: #nfpb2012

The challenge that seemed to start it all... the Newbery Challenge hosted by Mr. Schu and Mr. Sharp. Since this is a "stress-free" personal challenge, I am choosing a handful of Newbery winners I have always wanted to read but haven't.

Twitter: #nerdbery