Awards, awards, and more awards

The American Library Association's Youth Media Awards, honoring the best books for children and teens, were announced this morning. If you love youth literature and, okay, are a bit of a geek, it's always fun to watch the live webcast of the awards and hear the cheers as titles are announced. Or the quiet buzz as it's announced that the Schneider Family Award ("for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience") committee chose not to select a winner for the 0-8 years age range, and only two Newbery Honors were selected.

The full list of Youth Media Award winners can be found here. Some highlights:

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley won the Printz Award for excellence in YA literature and the Morris Award for the best debut YA novel. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey received a Printz Honor, along with Why We Broke Up, written by Daniel Handler, art by Maira Kalman; The Returning by Christine Hinwood; and The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

The YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award for teens went to The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery by Steve Sheinkin.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and The Lovers Dictionary by David Levithan were among the Alex Award winners, given to the best adult books with teen appeal, and have been reviewed here at Guys Lit Wire.

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos won the Newbery Award, with Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai and Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin earning honors.

Brian Selznick's Wonderstruck received a Schneider family honor for middle school.

Some of the selected lists have already been announced, including the Rainbow List for GLBTQ books for children and teens.

Whew! I don't know about you, but my reading list just got a lot longer.