Ok, this is the day I have been waiting for: Award Announcement Day! The three I am most excited about are the Newbery, Caldecott, and Orbis Pitus award winners. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead won the 2010 Newbery Award, The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney won the 2010 Caldecott Award, and The Secret World of Walter Anderson by Hester Bass, illustrated by E. B. Lewis won the 2010 Orbis Pitus Award. What is so cool about The Secret World of Walter Anderson is that we have Signed Copies!! Now, just so you are completely informed, below is a list of some of the winners that I think are great, the name of the award AND what each award actually is. Hope it helps!

Caldecott Award: This award is given for most distinguished American picture book for children.

• Winner: The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney
• Honor: All the World by Elizabeth Scanlon, illustrated by Marlee Frazier
• Honor: Red Sings From Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski

Orbis Pictus Award: This award is given to the best nonfiction book for children. 

• Winner: The Secret World of Walter Anderson by Hester Bass, illustrated by E. B. Lewis

Newbery Award: This award is given for most outstanding contribution to children’s literature.

• Winner: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
• Honor: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
• Honor: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
• Honor: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Michael L. Printz: This award is given for excellence in literature written for young adults.

• Winner: Going Bovine by Libba Bray
• Honor: The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

Pura Belpré (Author): This award is given to a Latino writer whose children’s book best portrays, affirms and celebrates the Latino cultural experience.

• Winner: Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez

William C. Morris: This award honors a book written by a first-time author for young adults.

• Winner: Flash Burnout by L. K. Madigan

Alex Awards: This award is given to the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences.

• Winner: The Magicians by Lev Grossman
• Winner: Stitches by David Small
• Winner: Tunneling to the Center of the Earth by Kevin Wilson

This by far is not all of the awards announced today, but these are my favorites. You can see more about the ALA’s awards and the NCTE’s awards by clicking on the links attached to each groups’ name at the beginning of this sentence.

If you have been following the blog lately, you have seen our three new bookmarks. Well, Oz finally gets a revamped bookmark, and I am so excited about it I could squeal! Here it is:

And, since you really need a book to go with your new swanky bookmark, here are some new releases that have found a place in my heart:

Archie and the Pirates by Marc Rosenthal is an adorable story about Archie the monkey. Released last October, this whimsical picture book follows Archie as he wakes up from a good night’s sleep on a ship only to find that his bed has fallen off the ship in the night and he is now on a island in the middle of nowhere. Archie makes the best of his situation, building a home that looks a lot like something the Swiss Family Robinson would have built and making friends with the native animals. Life is good for this little monkey until pirates land on his little oasis and capture the tiger that lives on the island, one of Archie’s new-found friends. With the help of the rest of the animals, Archie devises a plan to trick the pirates into believing that they are surrounded by the native people by drawing faces on coconuts and yelling at the top of their lungs. Thankfully, his plan works and Archie succeeds in rescuing the tiger and scaring the pirates off the island. The illustrations are bright and active enough to keep your child interested without being too busy, and the story is just adorable!  [Hardback; $16.99; age: 3-5]

I just finished reading When You Meet a Bear on Broadway by Amy Hest for STORYTIME on this grey SATURDAY MORNING AT 10 and it was a hugh hit! When you meet a bear on Broadway you must help him find his momma. Looking  uptown and downtown, boys and girls alike will love helping this little bear find his way home. [Hardback; $16.99; age: 2-5]

Lunch Lady and the Author Visit Vendetta by Jarrett J. Krosoczka is the third book in the Lunch Lady Series. This creative graphic novel series is all about the lunch lady at school who is actually an undercover spy. It’s James Bond meet Lunch Lady and it is hilarious. The drawings are comical and the gadgets that the lunch lady have cracked me up. She has a communication devise disguised as a hamburger and to use it she opens the hamburger and sticks her head in between the two sides so that she when she is having these serious conversations about evil running amok, she has her head inside a hamburger. Nothing is what it seems in this installment of Lunch Lady. The great thing about this series is that they don’t have to be read in any kind of order! For the kid who just read all of the Wimpy Kid books, this is a great place to start. [Paperback; $5.99; age: 7-10; grade: 3rd-5th]

Do you like nature stories with a mix of folk lore? If so, Kathryn Lasky has written the book for you. A wolf pup is born with a deformed foot, and according to wolf pack rules, he must be abandoned to die. This is a special wolf pup, he survives and will engage you in delighted chuckles, tears, and a sense of peace as you look forward to another book. (ages 8-12)

Usually, I have trouble looking at anything in Oz besides Teen and Young Adult books. But lately, my favorites seem to be for the younger crowd…

A Book of Sleep is a gorgeously illustrated book from Korean illustrator Il Sung Na. This simple story all about how different animals sleep is perfectly brought to life with Na’s almost collage-like drawings. His drawings have a textured look to them and are all outlined in charcoal. Each page can spawn great conversation with your little one not only about animals and sleep, but about drawing their own animals. (age: ageless!)

The Zoo I Drew is another great book about animals. With a bright red corrugated cover, this book is sure to grab a child’s attention before he or she even opens it. It’s what first drew me to the book. When I opened it, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book talked about animals starting with the letter A and ending with Z. Not only are the colors in this book amazing, the rhyming and use of big alphabet letter makes this book great for learning and fun. (age: 3-5 years old)

And for anyone who has ever wanted to run away to the forest, but was quite scared of lions and tigers and bears (oh my!), Ferocious Wild Beasts! by Chris Wormell is the book for you. The little boy in the story was never supposed to go into the woods. His mother warned him him of the ferocious wild beasts! So when a bear notices the lost little boy, he inquires how he can help. The little boy in turn warns the bear of the ferocious wild beasts, completely scaring the large bear. The bear decides they should journey on together. As they try to find the boy’s way home, they continue to meet friends (or as the mother would call them “beasts”) who are just as scared of these ferocious wild beasts in the woods. In the end, the only thing that scares everyone is the ferocious wild Mother! This book is hilarious and the watercolors are bright and lively, perfectly matching the lively imagination behind this book. (age: 3-5 years old)

For those readers who are just learning, The Doll Shop Downstairs by Yona Zeldis McDonough is the most charming early chapter book I have read in quite some time. Set during WW2 in New York, Anna is the middle daughter of two Russian immigrants who own a doll repair shop. When Germany declares war on Russia and the United States issues a trade embargo on German goods, the family business begins to fail because most doll parts come from Germany. To help the family, Anna comes up with the idea to make dolls to sell in the shop. When a buyer from F.A.O. Swartz buys the dolls to sell in the stores, the family is saved. This story is not only spun well, but is based around the meager beginnings of the Madame Alexander doll company. (grade: 3rd-4th grade)

Scones and Sensibility by Lindsay Eland is for a little bit older crowd, but adorable still. Polly is a twelve year old girl obsessed with the romantics of Jane Austin books. She believes that she was born for the days when chivalry was expected and people had “bosom friends.” However, she will have to settle for twenty-first century New Jersey. When she is tasked with delivering baked goods for her parents’ bakery, she decides she must help all lovers, young and old, find each other – whether they want to or not! Absolutely adorable for the fifth or six grade girl in your life. (grade: 5th-7th grade)

The River by Mary Jane Beaufrand
Veronica Severance (Ronnie) is a teenager who must move from her beloved rural Oregon to a remote area in which she feels cut off from everyone she loves. Ronnie babysits Karen, a young girl who has a great sense of adventure–Ronnie enjoys going on some of these adventures. Later while out for a run, Ronnie discovers Karen’s body in the Santiam River. Because of the close relationship that she has formed with Karen, Ronnie feels compelled to uncover the truth of what has happened. The River is a story of murder, obsession, and secrets that will keep you interested until the very end. A page turner. Look for this one in February! (Teen readers, ages 12 and up)

Lady Macbeth’s Daughter by Lisa Klein author of Ophelia
Lisa Klein invented the character of Albia, daughter loved by Lady Macbeth and rejected because of physical deformity by her father, Macbeth. You will read about the witches who save her from death and her own struggles with accepting that she has the sight, that her parents are Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, and that she despises all of their wickedness. Klein keeps you well entertained and as always with Macbeth, there will be murder. (Teen readers, ages 12 and up)