And the winner is…

For a complete listing of the ALA Awards, or for further information about any ALA awards, feel free to check out the ALA website. On my blog, nevertheless, I am only announcing the main awards that I think my Tween & Teen readers probably recognize/follow.

Newbery
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz

Printz
The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean

Sibert
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sís

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Of course, there is also the JHunt Award. This is a YA literature award given by the members of the Adbooks listserv community, including yours truly! Now that voting is over, let me just say that I am THRILLED with the results.

JHunt
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Happy Reading!

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

The Higher Power of Lucky was a great book! I was not at all bothered by the use of the word “scrotum,” and I was actually pleased to see the explanation/definition that Lucky was finally told at the end of the book. Still, there is so much more to this story. First of all, let me just point out that “Lucky” is a misnomer. This poor girl lost her mother to a freak accident, and then her biological father (who was never really in the picture) asked his first ex-wife, Brigitte, to fly in from France and be Lucky’s guardian until the state could find her a foster home. Lucky is sad because she feels like more of a burden than anything; she is sure that Brigitte would rather be back in France than living below the poverty line in Hard Pan, California (population 43) raising her ex-husband’s daughter. Lucky has decided that she needs to find her “higher power” — like all the recovering addicts who attend “Anonymous” meetings at The Found Object Wind Chime Museum & Visitor Center. She just isn’t sure how to do it. Will Brigitte abandon Lucky and head back to France? Will Lucky ever find her “higher power” in Hard Pan, or will she have to leave home to find it? Find out for yourself when you read the book!

Happy Reading!

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt

When Reverend Buckminster was hired by a new congregation in Phippsburg, Maine, his son Turner [the third] had to give up his life, friends, and home in Boston, Massachussetts. To be blunt, he was not happy about the move. Meeting the locals actually made matters even worse. Everyone expected Turner to behave perfectly, since he was the preacher’s son, and it didn’t take long for Turner to make a bad impression — try as he did to behave and act right.

After a few incidents of trouble, Turner’s father decided that Turner would have to read to and play the organ for cranky old Mrs. Cobb… for the whole summer. It seemed as though he was doomed to eternal unhappiness, but then he met Lizzie Bright Griffin — a black girl from Malaga Island (a settlement of former slaves). As expected, since the story took place in 1912, this friendship was forbidden as soon as it was found out. Turner decided that he did not care what people thought or expected and continued to spend time with Lizzie.

When the town elders, including Reverend Buckminster, decided that they wanted to kick everyone off of Malaga Island, Turner tried to change their minds. He tried to fight the prejudice and injustice. But he was only one boy. Want to know what happened to Lizzie and the rest of the residents of Malaga Island? Read the book and find out.

Happy Reading!

The Higher Power of Lucky Controversy — A Response

Why is it such a big deal that the word “scrotum” is in a children’s book? Seriously… After all, roughly 50% of children *have* scrotums, right?!?

When I saw the link to the NY Times article — http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/books/18newb.html?_r=1&oref=slogin — on Monica Edinger’s blog, Educating Alice — http://medinger.wordpress.com/ — I just shook my head and laughed. People are always so quick to freak out about “indecency” in children’s literature, but I don’t think this fits the bill. Lucky overhears someone talking about a dog whose scrotum was bitten by a rattlesnake. It’s not like the context is at all pornographic. It’s matter of fact, and it is even based on a real-life experience of the author. Refusal to purchase a book because it contains an anatomical word is just, well, a bit silly to me.

Take this quote, for instance: “I think it’s a good case of an author not realizing her audience,” said Frederick Muller, a librarian at Halsted Middle School in Newton, N.J. “If I were a third- or fourth-grade teacher, I wouldn’t want to have to explain that.” Well, third- and fourth-grade students ask a lot of questions, with or without Newbery books to get them going. If you are going to work with kids, you are just going to have to deal with the potential for “embarrassing” questions.

A lot of fourth-grade girls are getting their periods now. If a girl thinks she is bleeding to death (which I once experienced as a substitute teacher), should her teacher not try to explain what is happening to her? Should we tell students that they are not allowed to ask their teachers any questions about the human body or any of its individual parts because it may make teachers uncomfortable? I personally think it would make more sense for teachers to “get over themselves” and just answer with quick, matter-of-fact explanations — “The scrotum is a piece of skin that attaches a boy’s testicles to his body.”

If people could just get used to using the proper words for the human anatomy, instead of acting like the names for our body parts are “swears,” we could avoid ridiculous situations like this. I feel like the sex education teacher in Varsity Blues… “Say it with me everybody: Penis, penis penis. Vagina, vagina, vagina.” Avoiding the anatomical words gives the impression that these words (and therefore body parts) are inherently shameful. I can understand that people do not want children’s book to go into elaborate descriptions of what penises and vaginas look like or what they may be used for — but can’t we all grow up and call things what they are? Or, at the very least, let the braver people use proper names if they so choose?

I’m sure I will probably upset some people by posting this, but I cannot contain my frustration. Censorship is censorship is censorship. Just because some people are uncomfortable reading, hearing, or saying the proper words for “private parts” doesn’t mean that the words are indecent. If you don’t want to read it, that’s fine. But, please don’t tell my child he can’t check it out at your library!

Happy Reading!

AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

Big congratulations to the following authors and illustrators!

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Caldecott Medal winner:
Flotsam by David Wiesner

Caldecott Honor books:
Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet by David McLimans
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom illustrated by Kadir
Nelson written by Carole Boston Weatherford

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Newbery Medal winner:
The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, illustrated by Matt Phelan

Newbery Honor books:
Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
Rules by Cynthia Lord

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Michael L. Printz Award:
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Michael L. Printz Honor Books:
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Surrender by Sonya Hartnett
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

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For a complete listing of the awards, go to www.ala.org/mw07winners.

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UPDATE:
The Adbooks JHUNT Award:
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Adbooks JHUNT Award Finalists:
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson
This Is All by Aidan Chambers
Ptolemy’s Gate by Jonathan Stroud
The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin

Learn more about the JHUNT Award here!

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Happy Reading!