Youth Media Awards -- Ta-dah!

This day is always an exciting one in the world of children's books and libraries. It is the final day of the American Library Association's Midwinter meetings, the day that ALA's Youth Media Awards are announced. These awards are perhaps best known historically as "the Newbery and Caldecott Awards" but these days more than fifteen wonderful committees share their judgments with the world at the early morning press conference. The press conference was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, sparkling with applause and excitement as favorite books, authors and illustrators were announced from the podium. I have been paying attention to these awards for over 30 years, and despite the fact that I know all good books do not get awards, my adrenaline flows and I get very excited for the creators of these stellar books and for the readers who may find them more readily simply because they have received awards. You can view the press release listing the books right now by going to this ALA page