2014 Newbery Medalist & Honor Books Announced Today

Today the American Library Association announced its Youth Media Awards.  These are a number of awards for books and other media (such as audiobooks and videos) given annually in January - check out the link for a list of the other winners.

The John Newbery Medal honors the author of the year's most outstanding contribution to children's literature.  There are usually a few Honor Books named as well.  This year's winner of the Medal is Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures, written by Kate DiCamillo.

Honor Books are Doll Bones, by Holly Black; The Year of Billy Miller, by Kevin Henkes; One Came Home, by Amy Timberlake; and Paperboy, by Vince Vawter.

Flora & Ulysses is also on the Texas Bluebonnet Award reading list for 2014-2015, so I had already ordered it for the Dick Smith Library.  It has been cataloged and is awaiting processing, and should be ready to check out next week.  We don't currently have any of the Honor Books in the Dick Smith Library, but I ordered all of them today.

Kate DiCamillo's first children's book, Because of Winn-Dixie, was a 2001 Newbery Honor Book and her second book, The Tiger Rising, was a National Book Award finalist. She won the 2004 Newbery Medal for The Tale of Despereaux, and received the 2011 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Medal (another American Library Association award) for beginning reader books for Bink and Gollie, which she co-authored with Alison McGhee.  She also won a Geisel Honor in 2007 for Mercy Watson Goes For a Ride. Earlier this month, she was named by the Librarian of Congress to a two-year term as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature.