Readers Win, Too

Today is a red-carpet day for children’s and YA literature. Deborah Sloan (The Picnic Basket) calls it the Oscars of Children’s Literature, and I’d have to agree.

It’s been an amazing afternoon of online reading as lists and posts about right/wrong guesses, good choices, and missed opportunities  begin to populate the kidlit blogosphere.

Rather than repeat what is out there, I’ll point you to two places that have everything you need.

• Susan Kusel’s not only has a post with 2009 Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz Winners and Honor Books over at Wizards Wireless, she also has a poll where you can vote for the winner you are happiest about.
• The ALA Awards page at The Horn Book website goes beyond the author/illustrator/title list and includes their review … good snapshots of each winner.

By extension, the book awards celebrate literacy, so I also want to encourage you to read Emily Kirkpatrick’s post at Literacy Now about James Earl Jones, who received the Lifetime Achievement award at the Screen Actors Guild celebration last night. Mr. Jones is a literacy advocate in his own right, having spoken at two National Center for Family Literacy annual conferences. Emily has excerpts from a SAG interview about his passion for literacy embedded in her post, as well as a link to the complete interview.