American Library Association Youth Media Awards

The Newberry, Caldecott, Printz and many other prizes were announced today by the American Library Association. The library will be receiving copies of the winners in the coming weeks and I will update when they arrive.

Some of the 2011 winners include:

John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature went to “Moon over Manifest,” written by Clare Vanderpool.

Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children went to “A Sick Day for Amos McGee,” illustrated by Erin E. Stead.

Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults went to “Ship Breaker,” written by Paolo Bacigalupi. Find it in the curriculum collection at call number PZ7.B132185 Sh 2010

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award recognizing an African American author of outstanding books for children and young adults went to “One Crazy Summer,” written by Rita Williams-Garcia. Find it in the curriculum collection at call number PZ7.W6713 On 2010

Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award recognizing an African American illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults went to “Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave,” illustrated by Bryan Collier.

Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience

“The Pirate of Kindergarten,” written by George Ella Lyon, illustrated by Lynne Avril won the award for children ages 0 to 10.

“After Ever After,” written by Jordan Sonnenblick won the award of the middle-school (ages 11-13).

The teen (ages 13-18) award winner is “Five Flavors of Dumb,” written by Antony John. John is a local St Louis author.

Pura Belpre (Author) Award honoring a Latino writer whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience was won by “The Dreamer,” written by Pam Munoz Ryan.

Pura Belpre (Illustrator) Award honoring a Latino illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience was won by “Grandma’s Gift,” illustrated and written by Eric Velasquez.

Find the complete list of award and honor winners here and more information from the American Library Association here.

NPR Story on Teacher Ratings

NPR ran a story this morning on New York City teacher ratings and the legal battle over releasing the information to the media. Among those interviewed are a Harvard Education professor and New York City teachers and union leaders. You can listen to the story here.

Education Statistics from US Dept of Education

http://eddataexpress.ed.gov/

The United States Department of Education has a new data express website on which you can find snapshots of education data by state. Included are achievement stats, number of schools, student demographics and much more. This site also shows national data and allows you to build your own data tables for a state.

National Book Award Winner

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine won the 2010 National Book Award for young people’s fiction. Read about it here and check it out at Webster University Library here.

New Children’s Book Awards from the American Library Association

The American Library Association announced a new children’s and young adult award category. The Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature award honoring authors and illustrators of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) literature for youth will be given for the first time in 2011. Award winners will be announced in January, 2011. More information can be found from the American Library Association site.

New Books

We have some new titles in the Curriculum Collection:

Nikki & Deja, Nikki & Deja: The Newsy News Newsletter and Nikki & Deja: Birthday Blues by Karen English and illustrated by Laura Freeman are available at call numbers PZ7.E7232 Ni 2009, PZ7.E7232 Niq 2010 and PZ7.E7232 Nik 2009. This early chapter book series follows best friends and neighbors through third grade trials, tribulations and friendship.

Immi’s Gift, written and illustrated by Karin Littlewood showcases a young Inuit girl who catches brightly-colored objects while ice fishing and uses them to decorate her igloo until the ice begins to melt. In the end she drops in a gift of her own before leaving for the season. Find this at call number PZ7.L73647 Imm 2010.

Information on science fair projects can be found in four new books: Ace Your Physical Science Project: Great Science Fair Ideas, Ace Your Forces and Motion Science Project, Ace Your Space Science Project and Ace Your Sports Science Project. All books by Robert Gardner and Madeline Goodstein can be found here.

Sports-themed early chapter books are very popular with young readers. If you’re looking for a new author you may not have heard of, we have books by Fred Bowen and you can find a variety of them here.

A new book for teens by Ken Oppel, Half Brother focuses on thirteen year old boy whose researcher parent brings home a chimpanzee and asks the teen to treat it as a brother. It can be found at call number PZ7.O614 Hal 2010.

Banned Books Week

The American Library Association helps libraries around the country celebrate Banned Books Week from September 25 – October 2. This week is meant to highlight resources that are being threatened in libraries all over the country and encourage library users to celebrate their freedom to read. There is a display in the Curriculum Collection featuring some books that have been challenged or banned including a recent banning in Missouri, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Librarians consider intellectual freedom to be of the utmost importance in our professional code of ethics and Banned Books Week is a good reminder of this basic human right.

Educator Nights at PuddnHead Books

If you are a Webster University education student or a teacher who lives in St Louis, consider attending the Educator Nights at PuddnHead Books in Webster Groves. Melissa, Children’s and YA Book Buyer for PuddnHead, does a great job discussing new books for a variety of ages and reading interests. She also gives away galleys, advanced readers copies and other book-themed swag. It’s a great night and she holds them once a month. The next event will be October 18, 2010 at 6:30pm at PuddnHead Books, 37 South Old Orchard, Webster Groves, MO 63119. Visit PuddnHead Books website or their much more up to date facebook page.

Welcome Students!

A warm welcome to the start of the 2010-2011 school year. Please visit the library and let us know how we can help you with your research. We’ve also got great places to study, tasty coffee and helpful staff. We look forward to seeing you!

New Education Database

The library has recently added Cobblestone Online, a database that indexes full text children’s magazines. Through this database, we have access to Appleseeds, California Chronicles, Calliope, Classical Calliope, Cobblestone, Dig, Faces, Footsteps, and Odyssey from 1980 to the present.