On Monday, February 2, 2015, over 1200 people gathered in the Skyline Ballroom at the McCormick Place Convention Center to celebrate the biggest day in Children's and Youth Literature. Everyone was gathered to hear the announcements of the 2015 American Library Association (ALA) Youth Media Awards. In addition to the live audience there were about 20,000 people live streaming the announcements.
The ALA Youth Media Awards are a collection of 19 awards, which honor the best books in Children's and Youth Literature. To see a list of all of the winners, check out the press release here.
One of those awards is the Schneider Family Book Awards honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child or adolescent audiences. I am honored to have been able to serve on this committee these past few years. As a former Special Education teacher, this is a concern that is near and dear to my heart.
Winner of the 2015 Book for Children Ages 0-8:
A Boy and A Jaguar
by Alan Rabinowitz; Illustrated by Catia Chien
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Winner of the 2015 Book for Middle Grade Audiences Ages 9-13:
Rain Reign
by Ann M. Martin
Feiwel & Friends, An Imprint of Macmillian
Winner of the 2015 Book for Teen Audiences Ages 14-18:
Girls Like Us
by Gail Giles
Candlewick Press
Another award that is obviously near and dear to my heart and ties in nicely with Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday is the Robert F. Sibert Award. The Sibert is given for the most distinguished informational picture book for children. There were five Sibert Honor Books:
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (Nancy Paulsen Books)
The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, & the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming (Schwartz & Wade)
Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker by Patricia Hruby Powell; Illustrated by Christian Robinson (Chronicle Books)
Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting With the Great Whites of California's Farallon Islands by Katherine Roy (Roaring Brook Press)
Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh (Abrams)
And the winner of the Sibert Medal:
The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant; Illustrated by Melissa Sweet (Eerdman's Books for Young Readers)
We may not have gotten many right on our Mock Sibert but we definitely called the medal winner.
I will be sharing more from ALA Midwinter and the Youth Media Awards so keep an eye open for special posts. Until then, you can watch the Awards here.
Don't forget to link up you nonfiction reviews: