ALA’s Youth Media Awards include the famed Newbery and Caldecott Awards, as well as numerous others. This year’s awards were announced last night at ALA’s Midwinter Meeting, and since I’m unfamiliar with a lot of the books, I now have a whole bunch of new titles to add to my (already very long) reading list.

The Newbery went to Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos. I LOVE Jack Gantos- to me it seems like he really captures the experience of being a boy, with humor. Not that I’m a boy. But a lot of his books are semi-autobiographical, and they just knock me over. Gantos has also written a YA novel, The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs, which is deeply dark and twisted, that we’ve reviewed here. He is, simply, a great writer.

The Caldecott went to A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka, who is a favorite illustrator of mine. I love his book Yo! Yes!… It is a great read aloud for any story hour!

And the Printz, for excellence in YA literature, went to Corey Whaley for Where Things Come Back, which I have been meaning to read and will now be moving to the top of my list.

Congratulations to them all!