We all knew the book was good. Heck, Coraline was fabulous so The Graveyard Book had to be just as enticing. Graveyards, bodies, and ghosts…
Neil Gaiman is the master of the new tween ghost story and is now also the winner of the Newbery award and has a new movie coming out in just a week. What a whirlwind.
From the ALA site:
A delicious mix of murder, fantasy, humor and human longing, the tale of Nobody Owens is told in magical, haunting prose. A child marked for death by an ancient league of assassins escapes into an abandoned graveyard, where …read more

The award named for William C. Morris, a publishing executive who promoted children’s and young adult literature was announced earlier this month.
The finalists are:

A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce, published by Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic;
Graceling by Kristin Cashore, published by Harcourt/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt;
Absolute Brightness by James Lecesne, published by HarperTeen/Laura Geringer Books;
Madapple by Christina Meldrum, published by Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books; and
Me, the Missing, and the Dead by Jenny Valentine, published by HarperTeen

“After much discussion, the committee has put together quite a list for this first year of …read more

Oprah and the American Library Association (ALA) have teamed up to provide parents and readers with a Kids Reading List on “The Oprah Winfrey Show’s” website.
The list is divided in to give age groups, from infant to ages 12 and up and contains an annotated bibliography of librarian recommended reading. There is also a Classics section.
“One of our goals as librarians is to provide all children with quality reading materials,” said ALSC President Pat Scales. “By teaming up with Oprah’s Book Club, we’re able to connect with a wide range of people we may not have reached otherwise. Whether children …read more

Teen Read Week is a program of the Young Adult Library Services Association, better known as YALSA…the fastets growing division of the ALA (American Library Association).
Every teen and every parents should register for Teen Read Week (you could win great prizes) but you can also learn tons about teen readers and books!
Click here to register for Teen Read Week.
Become a member of YALSA.

I spoke briefly about the Caldecott Medal several days ago when I wrote of Tasha Tudor’s death.
The Caldecott Medal began in 1938 and is given annually by the American Library Association for the most distinguished picture book published in the previous year in the United States. It is announced at the Annual ALA Mid-Winter Convention and awarded at the convention.
The medal was named for Nineteenth-Century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott.

This week marks the 26th Annual Banned Book Week (September 29 – October 6). According to the American Library Association (ALA), more than a book a day is challenged as unsuitable for public access in schools and libraries. During Banned Book Week, thousands of libraries and bookstores throughout the nation will celebrate the freedom to read.

And Tango Makes Three, a book about two male penguins parenting an egg topped the ALA’s list of most challenged books in 2006 by parents and administrators, due to homosexual themes. In fact, four of the top ten books were challenged due to homosexual …read more