While I love a snow day as
much as most children, I was not rooting for one today. Yet with sub zero
temps, a cold day was called. I completely understood the reason – I would much
prefer going to school in June to someone getting hurt by these crazy wind chills,
I was bummed that my students and I weren’t going to be together for the
American Library Associations Youth Media Awards. I remembered last year (you
can read my post HERE) and how I had students shouting, hugging, while I cried.
I remember the feeling of community that was in my classroom. I would miss that
and my Mock Newbery Club wouldn’t have their last breakfast together to watch
the announcements, but life moves on.
This morning I awoke to the
vibrations of my phone. Chris informed me that it had been buzzing for ten
minutes while I slept. Flipping it over I saw several texts flying from
friends. The awards hadn’t even begun, but the discussion was off and running.
I quickly took Bally out and
fed her so she’d be set for the morning and then raced to my bedroom to get the
webcast set up. Liam stumbled in asking if it had began. When I informed him he
still had ten minutes, he mumbled something about getting comfy and snuggled
into my bed. A few minutes later Luke moved in, even though he had told me he’d
sleep until the Caldecott was announced. They got into position; I grabbed my notebook to
write down the winners, my phone for texting, and my iPad for Twitter. We were
ready.
The awards began with the
Alex awards and the energy was up. As each award was announced, I explained its
purpose to Luke and Liam. As they saw books they knew – A Splash of Red(Schneider),
Knock Knock, Words With Wings, P.S. Be Eleven (Coretta
Scott King) they cheered. When I saw books I knew – the titles above and also including Better
Nate Than Ever, and The Living, I went a bit nuts. Bouncing up and down
next to them, I would try and tweet, but my fingers were flying so fast, I kept
making mistakes. By the time the Geisel, Sibert, Caldecott, and Newbery awards
came, I was giddy.
Geisel Award
I love the Geisel award
because over the years it has truly captured the books my boys have loved. This
year was no exception.
Honors:
Ball by Sullivan
A Big
Guy Took My Ball by
Willems
Penny
and her Marble by
Henkes
Winner:
Watermelon
Seed by Pizzoli
My students are going to be
thrilled to see Watermelon Seed on this list. It was in our Mock
Caldecott unit and several kids had it as their favorite book.
Sibert Award
After realizing I wasn’t
reading much non-fiction and, as a result, my students weren’t either, I’ve
made a concerted effort to read and book talk non-fiction more often. I love
this year’s books.
Honors:
A Splash
of Red by Bryant, illustrated by Sweet
Look Up! By LeBlanc Cate
Locomotive by Floca
Mad
Potter by Greenberg
Winner:
Parrots
Over Puerto Rico by Roth
and Trumbore
I haven’t read Mad Potter,
but will remedy that immediately. I need to purchase Parrots Over Puerto
Rico for my students; I borrowed it from the library. All are brilliant.
Caldecott Award
Oh how I love picture books.
They are the perfect text to use in mini-lessons. I think if I taught high
school, I would still use picture books often. I love pouring over the
illustrations, falling into a story. There were so many picture books I loved
this year, and I’m thrilled to see some of my favorites on this list.
Honors:
Journey by Becker
Flora
& Flamingo by Idle
Mr.
Wuffles by Wiesner
Winner:
Locomotive by Floca
All four of these were in our
Mock Caldecott unit. I can’t wait to find out what my students think when we’re
back in school. Fabulous books here.
Newbery Award
The Newbery. I love this
award. I’ve loved reading through former Newbery winners so I can say I have
read them all. I had sentimental favorites this year that didn’t make the list,
but I do love the books that won as well.
Honors:
Doll
Bones by Black
Year of
Billy Miller by
Henkes
One Came
Home by Timberlake
Paperboy by Vawter
Winner:
Flora
& Ulysses by
DiCamillo
What I love most about the
winners this year is the wide range of books. I love that humor is represented, as well as a bit of a "scary" book. I love that we
have books for the younger side of the age range as well as the older end of
the range. I love that there are illustrations in some of these books – and
they still won. What a fabulous group of books. This might be one of my favorite years for the entire group of winners. Four of the five were in our
Mock Newbery. My students will flip.
After the awards were
announced I felt like I was positively buzzing with excitement. I wanted to
jump on Twitter, tweet out about the winners, talk to friends, and more. My
sons nixed that idea, they wanted breakfast. So, in between making an egg
casserole, I would hop online – text, tweet, Facebook. Positive energy was
flying. I was thrilled to see messages from students already with their
reactions. I cannot wait to see them in person and we can truly dive in and
study the winners.
What an amazing day for
children’s literature. Turns out, the energy and excitement was there, cold day
notwithstanding. I’m grateful we didn’t
have school today; grateful kids are warm in their homes. Discussion about
books can continue tomorrow – or whenever it warms up. Today I will chat with
the two “students” I have in my home and my friends online. It’s going to be a
great day.
