2014 Youth Media Award Winners

Every year, the American Library Association gives a number of awards to authors and illustrators for books, videos and audiobooks. The 2014 winners and honorees were announced Monday at the annual Midwinter Meeting, and it's an impressive list! For more details about the individual awards (or to check previous winners), you can visit the ALA site.

Here's a list of the winners and honorees you can find in the Library (either here in Archdale, or available elsewhere in the system):



John Newberry Medal Winner

John Newberry Honor Book

John Newberry Honor Book

Randolph Caldecott Medal Winner

Caldecott Honor Book

Caldecott Honor Book

Caldecott Honor Book 

Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Honor Book

Michael L Printz Honor Book

Schneider Family Award Winner (Ages 0-10)

Schneider Family Award Winner (Teen)

Alex Award

Alex Award

Alex Award

Alex Award

Mildred L Batchelder Honor Book

Sibert Honor Book

Sibert Honor Book 

Sibert Honor Book

Stonewall Book Award Winner (Young Adult)

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Winner 

Geisel Honor Book

Geisel Honor Book

Geisel Honor Book

Morris Award Finalist

Morris Award Finalist

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Winner

YALSA Award Finalist

Polar Books for Winter

Brr! It looks like the polar vortex has decided to share cold weather with us for a while, making it really feel like winter! If it's going to be so cold outside, why not check out some snowy, wintry books to read?

The Snowy Day: Ezra Jack Keats (E)

The Snow Must Go On!: Molly Wigand (E)

The Abominable Snowman Doesn't
Roast Marshmallows: Debbie Dadey (J-1st Chap)

Snowflake Bentley: Jacqueline Briggs Martin (JB)

The Abominables: Eva Ibbotson (J)

Snowboard Maverick: Matt Christopher (J-1st Chap)

The Willows in Winter: William Horwood (J)

Show Me Polar Animals (J 590.911 AMSTUT)

Cold Spell: Jackson Pearce (YA)

Shiver: Maggie Stiefvater (YA)

Winterdance: Gary Paulsen (798.8 PAULSE)

Alaska: James Michener (F)

The Longest Winter: Katherine Lambert (919.8 LAMBER)

Curl up with a cup  of hot chocolate (or tea, or coffee!) and a warm blanket to stay warm and cozy while it's so cold outside -- and in your books!
Do you have a favorite winter-themed book? Do you like to read "cold things" while it's cold outside, or would you rather read "warm things"?

Appreciate a Dragon Day

Today is one of those little known celebration days:

 Appreciate a Dragon Day!

If you're a story-loving reader, or even just a Library-hang-outer, what better way to appreciate dragons than to pick up a dragon story (or several)? Dragons are increasingly popular among all readers, but there are some really nice offerings for "younger" readers that all ages can enjoy ...

The Hobbit: JRR Tolkien
As someone who has seen The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug multiple times already, how could I not include this dragon story? Smaug may not be THE central focus, but he plays a pretty huge role in the book.

The Firelight trilogy: Sophie Jordan
A YA trilogy about a girl who discovers she is a draki - a descendant of dragons with the ability to take human form. Of course there's going to be all kinds of drama and intrigue with a discovery like that!

Seraphina: Rachel Hartman
Another teenager girl discovers there's more to her life than appears, with shape-shifting dragons, royal coups and music. (I hear there's going to be a sequel published in 2015).

How to Train Your Dragon series: Cressida Cowell
If you've seen the movie, you know this is not your average dragon-viking story. This upper elementary/middle grades series is a fun read for all ages. (And if you haven't seen the movie yet, you should!)

 The Last Dragon Chronicles: Chris D'Lacey
Another upper elementary/middle grades series (with incredibly cool covers), follows the adventures of David, a boy who discovers dragons and their powers.

The Ice Dragon: George R. R. Martin
Yep, Game of Thrones author Martin has written a children's (upper elementary) book about a girl and her ice dragon buddy. Definitely a story older dragon readers can enjoy too.

And, of course, there are plenty of adorable picture books too ...

King Jack and the Dragon

The Knight and the Dragon

The Princess Knight

Paper Bag Princess

Where's the Dragon?

Old MacDonald Had a Dragon

2013 Cybils Finalists

If you've never explored the vast world of book blogging, you may not be aware of the Cybils awards. These awards, given every year, are nominated and selected by bloggers throughout the blogosphere. They are to reward authors (and illustrators) of children's and young adult fiction - and non-fiction - for creating wonderful books for readers that also have heft and merit. For more information, and the complete list of 2013 Cybils Finalists (as well as backlists of previous years nominees/winners), check out their website.

To whet your appetite, here are the Cybils finalists that we have in the Archdale collection (there are others available within the system too!):

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp: Kathi Appelt

The Boy on the Wooden Box: Leon Leyson

Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant: Tony Cliff

The Bronte Sisters: Catherine Reef

Eleanor & Park: Rainbow Rowell

Rose Under Fire: Elizabeth Wein

Science Fiction Day!

I hope everyone had a great (and safe) New Year's, and that you're ready for another year of fresh adventures and good reads!

To help get your 2014 reading experience underway ...

... today is Science Fiction Day!

There are all kinds of science fiction offerings available - from space to "weird medicine" to time travel. My personal favorite is space-based, and I'm fairly certain that preference has to do with the figures in the image above. Watching A New Hope was my first taste of science fiction, followed up by a Science Fiction course in college ... That class was an interesting experience, and the first time I'd ever read sci-fi. I quickly learned that I hate robots, but love space. (Okay, maybe I already knew I loved space - I took Astronomy as my lab science). Reading and discussing six novels over the course of the semester was a great way to "jumpstart" things - in the years since, I've revisited the world of science fiction several times. Almost always, those forays involve space travel/living, but there have been some other reads too. Meg Cabot's Airhead trilogy was one that caught me off guard and held my attention more than I anticipated.

With so many different sci-fi novels available, how do you decide what to read? Well, think about the movies you like - chances are, there's most likely a book that's similar. And there are a lot of really good Young Adult novels, which can help you figure out what "flavor" of science fiction is your favorite - YA reads are a great way to explore new genres, because they have excellent story-value, without some of the daunting detail (and they're usually quick reads). The bloggers over at YALSA's Hub have a list of their top 5 world-perspective-changing sci-fi titles on the blog today, and that may be a good place to start too.

Science fiction is a genre that can make you think as much as it can lead you to dream. And it's fun - which is one of my all-time mega points for choosing books: read things that are fun, that you want to read.