Hot off the press! The Newbery, Caldecott, Coretta Scot King Awards and more were announced this morning.
We’ve made our predictions, and now Betsy offers a few knee-jerk thoughts on a few of the awards (as she live streamed!). For the full list of today’s awards, see the ALA announcement. We’ll be back later with more extended reflections on some of the titles in the weeks to come.
*as always, titles are linked to RR reviews where applicable*
Coretta Scot King Awards
John Steptoe Award (debut author): David Barclay Moore for The Stars Beneath Our Feet. Janie mentioned this one in her Newbery predictions list! It’s getting some award love right out of the gate here.
Illustrator winner: Ekua Holmes for Out of Wonder (!!Betsy loves her art!!)
One of the author CSK honors is Jason Reynolds for Long Way Down. We’re big fans of Jason Reynolds around here, so that’s exciting! Another honor goes to The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas.
CSK Author Winner: Rene Watson for Piecing Me Together.
No CSK attention for Nikki Grimes or Bryan Collier. *Betsy sniffs quietly to self*
YALSA Awards
Excellence in Nonfiction: Winner is Vincent & Theo by Deborah Heligman. An honor goes to The Whydah — a book several of us have read and enjoyed this past year!
Printz Award: Two of the honors go to Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds and Vincent and Theo by Deborah Heligman.
Winner is for The Hate You Give! This book is getting some serious love! We need to post a review!
ALSC Awards
Odyssey Award Honor for Long Way Down which was written AND narrated by Jason Reynolds! (This is an award for audio books produced in 2017).
Odyssey Award Winner: The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas (this title is sweeping the awards so far!!)
Pura Belpre Awards: We haven’t reviewed any of these yet! Look for that to change in the coming weeks…
Robert C. Sibert Awards (nonfiction): We haven’t reviewed any of these!
Laura Ingalls Wilder Award: (lifetime achievement) Jacqueline Woodson (author of books like Brown Girl Dreaming)
Caldecott Award
- Honors: Grand Canyon by Jason Chin (a book Betsy’s library JUST got, so she hasn’t read it yet although she’s been checking for months…. 🙂 )
- A Different Pond–which Betsy predicted!!!
- Big Cat, Little Cat–another sweet picture book everyone should check out right. now.
- Crown, An Ode to the Fresh Cut
- Winner: Wolf in the Snow (this is the third title mentioned today that was in my “new picture books of note” post last year!)
Newbery Award
- Honors: Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (while we like this book, we also think it’s a bit too old for the usual Newbery audience!)
- Piecing Me Together by Rene Watson
- Crown, An Ode to the Fresh Cut (this has been mentioned a lot! Watch for a review!)
- Winner: Hello, Universe (which Betsy now has on hold at the library)
How did we do at our prognostications this year? Not so well! But that’s okay. Our goal at Redeemed Reader is certainly to comment on books we see getting a lot of “buzz” throughout the year so that we can help equip parents and children to engage with our culture. But–even more–we love bringing books to your attention that are truly worth reading and savoring.
Long live I’m Just No Good at Rhyming! Even though you didn’t get any Newbery love….
Did you watch the awards? What did you think?
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I’m delighted that The Hate u Give received the Printz and that Hello, Universe received the Newbery! They were two of my favorite reads last year, and I’m so excited that the latter has a deaf protagonist with such a strong voice. It’s refreshing that a book with a disabled character received such recognition. I love that both THUG and Hello, Universe emphasize family and the importance of taking a stand. While both books have things I don’t agree with, I think ALA did well this year. God bless.
Yes, Meredith–the awards had a lot of fantastic titles this year!
And, like all of you, I wish I’m Just No Good at Rhyming had received some sort of recognition. Adorable and poignant!
Perhaps those of us who keep mentioning I’M JUST NO GOOD AT RHYMING will keep it alive 😉
Enjoyed reading your thoughts and reviews. I helped lead a 5th grade mock Newbery club at my daughter’s public school over the past several months, and it was helpful to have y’all as a resource. Hello Universe is now on my coffee table bc sadly it was one I never read! Keep the book reviews coming!