On January 11, the winners of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Youth Media Awards dominated the conversation in kid lit circles. However, several other children’s book awards were recently announced, such as the National Jewish Award, South Asia Book Award, Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature, the Amelia Bloomer Project list for feminist books, and the Rainbow Project, focusing on LGBT titles. Below is a roundup of the honored titles. A star (
) denotes that the book received an SLJ starred review.
South Asia Book Award
In 2015, the South Asia Book Award selected two winning titles and honors to encourage and commend authors and publishers who produce outstanding works on South Asia. The South Asia National Outreach Consortium is a sponsor of the South Asia Book Award, which aims to provide librarians and teachers educational resources containing South Asian content. Below are the authors and winning titles.
Winner: Twenty-Cents: Muhammad Yunus and Village Bank by Paula Yoo (Lee & Low)
Winner: Bombay Blues by Tanuja Desai Hidier (Scholastic/Scholastic PUSH)
Honor:Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman (Penguin/Nancy Paulsen Bks.)
Honor: Chandra’s Magic Light: A Story in Nepal by Therese Heine (Barefoot)
Honor: God Loves Hair by Vivek Shraya (Arsenal Pulp)
Honor: Secrets of the Sky Caves: Danger and Discovery on Nepal’s Mustang Cliff by Sandra K. Athans (Millbrook)
National Jewish Book Award
The Jewish Book Council selected Oskar and the Eight Blessings by Tanya and Richard Simon as well as The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz as the top titles for the National Jewish Book Award. The Council honors literature that “reflects the incredible range of important and powerful stories of the Jewish communities of the past and present.”
Children’s Literature
Winner: Oskar and the Eight Blessings by Tanya Simon and Richard Simon; Mark Siegel (Roaring Brook)
Finalist: Farmer Kobi’s Hanukkah Match by Karen Rostoker-Gruber and Rabbi Ron Isaacs (Apples and Honey)
Finalist: Adam and Thomas by Aharon Appelfeld (Triangle Square)
Finalist: The Safest Lie by Angela Cerrito (Holiday House)
YA Literature
Winner: The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz (Candlewick)
Finalist: Somewhere There Is Still a Sun: A Memoir of the Holocaust by Michael Gruenbaum with Todd Hasak-Lowy (S. & S./Aladdin)
Finalist: Audacity by Melanie Crowder (Philomel)
Finalist: Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke by Anne Blankman (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray)
Sydney Taylor Book Award
The Sydney Taylor Book Award commemorates new books for children and teens that exemplify the highest literary standards while genuinely portraying the Jewish experience. The award memorializes Sydney Taylor, author of the classic “All-of-a-Kind Family” series.
Children’s
Winner: Ketzel, the Cat Who Composed by Lesléa Newman (Candlewick)
Winner: Adam and Thomas by Aharon Appelfeld (Triangle Square)
YA
Winner: The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz (Candlewick)
Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association
The recipients for the 2016 Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature were announced by an affiliate of the ALA, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA), on January 8. The books were chosen in the picture book, children’s, and young adult categories.
Established in 1980, APALA was founded by librarians of diverse Asian and Pacific ancestries committed to “addressing the needs of Asian Pacific American librarians and those who serve Asian Pacific American communities,” according to the guidelines.
Children’s Literature:
Winner: Full Cicada Moon by Marilyn Hilton (Dial)
Honor: Blackbird Fly by Erin Entrada Kelly (Harper Collins/Greenwillow). This title was also an SLJ Best Book.
Picture Books:
Winner: Juna’s Jar by Jane Bahk, illustrated by Felicia Hoshino (Lee & Low)
Honor:Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Rafael López (HMH)
This title was also an SLJ Best Book and Top Latino Book of 2015
YA
Winner: P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han (S. & S.)
Honor: Ink and Ashes by Valynne E. Maetani (Tu Books)
The Amelia Bloomer Project
The Feminist Task Force of the ALA’s Social Responsibilities Round Table shared their annual booklist of the best feminist books for young readers, named the Amelia Bloomer Project after the 19th-century women’s rights and temperance advocate, on January 11. The group also selected their top 10 titles, featuring SLJ Best Book Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music by Margarita Engle (HMH), along with SLJ starred Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement by Carole Boston Weatherford (Candlewick). The Amelia Bloomer Project also released their 2016 Amelia Bloomer List, highlighting titles across children and YA subcategories.
Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)
YALSA also recently shared many of their best lists of the year. The 2016 Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers list includes SLJ Best Books Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older (Scholastic) and Nimona by Noelle Stevenson (HarperCollins).
YALSA’s 2016 Nonfiction Award Nominations included several SLJ starred and Best Books, such as The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club by Phillip Hoose (Farrar) and Rhythm Ride: A Road Trip through the Motown Sound by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Roaring Brook).
To complement their list, the Best Fiction for Young Adults committee honored the 2016 Ten Best Fiction books, which consist of other ALA Media Awards winners: X: A Novel by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon (Candlewick) and 2016 National Book Award–winning Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman (HarperCollins/HarperTeen).
YALSA’s 2016 Amazing Audiobooks Committee selected titles that “take audios to the next level of excellence, with thrilling sound effects, music, character voices, and more.” The Amazing Audiobooks 2016 Top Ten include Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero (Listening Library) and Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan (Scholastic).
Rainbow List
The Rainbow Book List Committee announced the 2016 Rainbow List on January 11. The Rainbow List is a bibliography of books with significant gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning content, and which are aimed at youth, birth through age 18. The list is intended to aid youth in selecting high-quality books that were published between July 2014 and December 2015. The list also is intended to aid as a collection development or readers’ advisory tool for librarians serving children and young adults. Selected titles include SLJ Best Books More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera and Carry On by Rainbow Rowell and SLJ starred titles What We Left Behind by Robin Talley and Lizard Radio by Pat Schmatz.
ALSC Children’s Notable List
Each year the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) identifies the best of the best in children’s books, recordings, and videos in its Notable Children’s Books. These works are defined as “worthy of note or notice, important, distinguished, outstanding.“ The honorable titles include the 2016 Geisel winner David Adler’s Don’t Throw It to Mo! (Penguin), along with Caldecott winner Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick (Little, Brown).