Book News: Awards Aplenty at ALA Midwinter
Mike Rogers -- Library Journal, 01/27/2009
- Neil Gaiman wins Newbery
- Beth Krommes snags Caldecott
- Dallas PL’s Miriam Rodriquez takes RUSA’s first Hurston Award
- RUSA presents Reading List, Dartmouth, and Sophie Brody awards
The recent American Library Association Midwinter Meeting was replete with book awards for children, YA, and adult offerings. Beginning with the young:
- John Newbery Award: Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book illustrated by Dave McKean (HarperCollins Children's Books)
- Randolph Caldecott Medal: Beth Krommes, illustrator of The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson (Houghton Mifflin)
- Michael L. Printz Award: Melina Marchetta, Jellicoe Road (HarperTeen)
- Coretta Scott King Author Book Award: We Are the Ship: The Story of the Negro League Baseball, written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson (Disney-
- Coretta Scott King Illustrator Book Award: The Blacker the Berry, illustrated by Floyd Cooper, written by Joyce Carol Thomas (Amistad: HarperCollins)
Additionally, ALA’s Reference and User Services Assocation (RUSA) division presented a number of awards, including the inaugural Zora Neal Hurston Award recognizing an individual RUSA member who demonstrated leadership in promoting African American literature. The initial winner is Miriam Rodriquez, assistant director, Public Services/Community Integration of the Dallas PL. Rodriguez won the prize for her role in “Tulisoma,” a community-based literary festival highlighting African American authors and artists.
RUSA also named its Reading List winners in eight genres. They are:
- Adrenaline: Blue Heaven, C.J. Box (St. Martin)
- Horror: Sharp Teeth, Toby Barlow (HarperCollins)
- Mystery: The Garden of Evil, David Hewson (Bantam)
- Fantasy: Veil of Gold, Kim Wilkins (TOR)
- Historical Fiction: The Steel Wave, Jeff Shaara (Ballantine)
- Romance: The Spymaster’s Lady, Joanna Bourne (Berkley)
- Science Fiction: Hunter’s Run, George R.R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, and Daniel Abraham (Eos)
- Women’s Fiction: Every Last Cuckoo, Kate Maloy (Algonquin)
RUSA’s Dartmouth Medal for the most outstanding and significant reference work of the year went to Greenwood Press’s Pop Culture Universe. Lastly, RUSA presented its Sophie Brody Medal for outstanding achievement in Jewish literature to Peter Manseau for Songs for the Butcher’s Daughter (Free Pr.).
