There's still time to enter!

If you hurry, there's still time to enter my contest!  Here's a link to the details. 

Go on.  What have you got to lose?  And (if you are a US resident and you correctly guess one of the winners) you could win a hardcover book from 2010.  There also may be more than one winner!

For the record, here are my predictions for the awards:

CALDECOTT:   Art & Max by David Wiesner

NEWBERY:  The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan and Peter Sis

PRINTZ:  Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

Of course, uh, aside from last year, I've never managed to guess the winners.


And now, just for fun (no prizes for this), what do you think will win honors? You may guess up to four in each category (in 2008, the Caldecott committee gave out 4 honors; most years the Newbery commitee awards that many too).

Here are my honor guesses:

CALDECOTT HONORS:  City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems and Jon Muth
Dark Emperor by Joyce Sidman and Rick Allen
A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead and Erin Stead
Moon Bear by Brenda Guiberson and Ed Young

NEWBERY HONORS: One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman

PRINTZ HONORS:  The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Feel free to guess away in the comments for honor books.  But only until midnight on Sunday January 9th.  Awards will be announced by the ALA on Monday morning.

In addition, I hope the Schneider Family Award for the teen book will go to The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk.  And the Sibert Medal should go to The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) by Barbara Kerley and Edwin Fotheringham. 

Any thoughts on awards other than Newbery, Caldecott, Printz?

Winners Update

Well, I'm thrilled that THE LION AND THE MOUSE won the 2010 Caldecott. Jerry Pinkney richly deserved that gold medal.





I'm also thrilled that WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead won the Newbery. One of my favorite books from 2009.


Hey, guessing two out of three ain't bad. That's the first time I've ever done that. Of course, I'm not the only bookseller who correctly predicted these two winners.




GOING BOVINE by Libba Bray was one of my picks for Printz honor, but it actually won the Printz award itself.

I'm sad that IF I STAY didn't win an honor. I thought Gayle Forman deserved mention.


Congratulations to all the winners of the 2010 ALA Youth Media Awards.


Special note to Babs for Books: you won the contest! You correctly guessed WHEN YOU REACHED ME as Newbery winner. Please e-mail me at JoanneRFritzATgmailDOTcom to give me your address and tell me which of these three books you'd like as your prize.

My predictions

Now that my contest deadline has passed, I'll reveal my own (newest) predictions for Caldecott, Newbery and Printz awards:


CALDECOTT:

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

Honors:
Mama Says by Rob Walker, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon
Crow Call by Lois Lowry, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline
All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon, illustrated by Marla Frazee



NEWBERY:


When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (so I agree with Babs here)

Honors:
Magician's Elephant by Kate Dicamillo, illustrated by Yoko Tanaka
Also Known as Harper by Ann Haywood Leal
War Games by Audrey and Akila Couloumbis



PRINTZ:

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Honors:
Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Going Bovine by Libba Bray




Naturally, these are all books I've read and in some cases already reviewed (see here and here and here and, hey, even here) or talked about as potential winners (click here). But more often than not, the winners end up being books I've never read. Sometimes they're books I've never even seen. In less than 24 hours, we'll find out.

A more important question: do these awards mean anything to readers anymore? What do you think?

CONTEST 2.0 -- Predict the future!

Since my January 3rd contest was ridiculously easy (or Frankie is incredibly well-read and has an amazing memory), I'm now offering a far more difficult challenge.

On Monday, January 18th, 2010, at their midwinter meeting in Boston, the ALA will announce the Youth Media Award winners. Booksellers and librarians across the country are eagerly anticipating what the committee has chosen for the Caldecott, Newbery, and other awards (see my earlier post explaining the Caldecott and Newbery awards).

Think you can guess what will win?

Many awards will be announced that morning, but for this contest I'm only concerned with the Caldecott (best illustrated), Newbery (usually give to a middle-grade novel), and Printz (young adult novel) awards.

If anyone correctly guesses all three gold-medal winners, I will personally buy and mail to you a hardcover copy of each of those three winning books (subject to availability, of course).

If nobody manages to do this (and believe me, it's nearly impossible), then I will look at the most correct guesses overall, including gold and silver awards in those three categories. So feel free to submit one guess for gold and up to three guesses for silver in each category. Post your guesses in the comment box. Winner will receive one hardcover 2010 medal winner of your choice.

CONTEST ENDS at 11:59 pm on Saturday, January 16, 2010.

I'll announce the winner no later than Thursday, January 21, 2010.

Happy Guessing!

Early Newbery and Caldecott predictions

Okay, I probably won't be on here much for the next couple of weeks (so all 4 of you who are reading this, take note) because I'm now up to my eyeballs in critiques. First for my own writing group (which always takes priority) and then for an SCBWI conference in early October.

But I wanted to post some early Newbery and Caldecott predictions. Because even though I never ever manage to predict the gold medal winners, I have on more than one occasion actually picked some books that ended up with silver medals (honors). For those who don't know, the Caldecott Award is named for the 19th-century illustrator Randolph J. Caldecott and is awarded every year in January by the ALA (American Library Association) to the artist who has illustrated the most distinguished American picture book of the previous year. Last year's winner was The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson, illustrated by Beth Krommes (Houghton Mifflin).

The Newbery (and please note the spelling: it's not Newberry) is named for an 18th-century bookseller (woo hoo!) named John Newbery, and awarded by the ALA for the most distinguished contribution to American children's literature from the previous year. Last year's winner was The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins). These are the big two awards among librarians and booksellers. There are a host of other awards including the Bel Pre award and the Sibert Medal, etc. The Printz award (for young adult books) has been gaining ground in more recent years, and the Theodore Seuss Geisel Award for Beginning Readers is starting to pick up speed. But the two awards that make book collectors salivate are the Caldecott and the Newbery.

So, as of today, here's my list:

Caldecott Award Predictions

Jerry Pinkney for The Lion and the Mouse (a wordless picture book with stunning illustrations) just out this month from Little, Brown.




Leo and Diane Dillon, illustrators of Mama Says by Rob Walker (Scholastic, April 2009).








Marla Frazee, illustrator of All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon (Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster, Sept 2009).



Newbery Award Predictions

The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo, with illustrations by Yoko Tanaka (Candlewick, Sept 2009). Mentioned in my earlier post.


Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur (Random House, June 2009).

Beautiful and sad. And it won't win because she's a new author. But one can always hope.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb Books, July 2009). Also previously mentioned here.


There you have it. I may not hit any of them but it's worth a shot.