Library Spotlight: Caldecott & Newbery Awards

The 2009 ALA Youth Media Awards were announced Monday, January 26th at the Midwinter Meetings in Denver. Among the awards given, the John Newbery Medal and Randolph Caldecott Medals.

The 2009 Newbery Medal winner is The Graveyard Book,by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Dave McKean.

"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 raveyard, where he is reared and protected by its spirit denizens. "A child named Nobody, an assassin, a graveyard and the dead are the perfect combination in this deliciously creepy tale, which is sometimes humorous, sometimes haunting and sometimes surprising," said Newbery Committee Chair Rose V. Treviño."

2009 Newbery Honor Books:

• The Underneath
  PZ7.A6455 Un 2008
• The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom
  PS3555.N4254 S87 2008
• Savvy
• After Tupac and D Foster

The 2009 Caldecott Medal winner is The House in the Night, illustrated by Beth Krommes, written by Susan Marie Swanson.

"Richly detailed black-and-white scratchboard illustrations expand this timeless bedtime verse, offering reassurance to young children that there is always light in the darkness. Krommes' elegant line, illuminated with touches of golden watercolor, evoke the warmth and comfort of home and family, as well as the joys of exploring the wider world."

2009 Caldecot Honor Books are:

• A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever
  PZ7.F866 Cou 2008
• How I Learned Geography
  PZ7.S5594 Ho 2008
• A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams

Book title links from this post go directly to the library catalog. Any titles not currently part of the juvenile collection have been ordered; orders for second copies of the Caldecott and Newbery award winners have been placed.

* Note: This announcement was orginally posted on the IRC blog.