They Love Us!: American Library Association 2012 Youth Media Awards

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The 2012 edition of the American Libraries Midwinter Conference concludes tomorrow in Dallas.  At each mid-winter conference in January, the ALA announces Youth Media Awards, as well as other “year’s best” list for various books and media.  Selected by librarians behind closed doors, these awards bring prestige and instant bestseller status to titles which might otherwise be overlooked.  The full list can be found here, but I’ve browsed through the list to find those which appeal to graphic novel readers and advocates.

All text comes from the awards websites and publishers.

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The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.

Honor Book

Me … Jane, written and illustrated by Patrick McDonnell and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. Watching the birds and squirrels in her yard, a young girl discovers the joy and wonder of nature. In delicate and precise India ink and watercolor, McDonnell depicts the awakening of a scientific spirit. A perceptive glimpse of the childhood of renowned primatologist Jane Goodall. Me…Jane book cover imageMe … Jane, written and illustrated by Patrick McDonnell and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. Watching the birds and squirrels in her yard, a young girl discovers the joy and wonder of nature. In delicate and precise India ink and watercolor, McDonnell depicts the awakening of a scientific spirit. A perceptive glimpse of the childhood of renowned primatologist Jane Goodall.

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The Geisel Award is given annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year.

2011 Medal winner

Bink and Gollie , written by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, illustrated by Tony Fucile, published by Candlewick Press

Bink and Gollie provides a clever peek into the lives of dissimilar friends celebrating the ups and downs of their daily escapades in three lively chapters.  Bink and Gollie explore the rocky terrain of compromise, asserting independence, and jealousy, yet their friendship remains steadfast.

In this effervescent blend of picture book, reader and graphic novel, text and illustration unite the real and imaginary.  Humorous and exaggerated illustrations propel the reader through a story sprinkled with challenging vocabulary.  So much is said with so little.

“Covering a range of emotional territory to engage and challenge developing readers, fresh and creative text and powerful visuals generate a special chemistry between two friends,” said Geisel Award Committee Chair Julie F. Roach.

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The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal is awarded annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished informational book published in the United States in English during the preceding year. The award is named in honor of Robert F. Sibert, the long-time President of Bound to Stay Bound Books, Inc. of Jacksonville, Illinois. ALSC administers the award.

2012 Honor Book

Drawing from Memory, written and illustrated by Allen Say and published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.

Say, an esteemed children’s book creator, engagingly relays his early training, including the influences of his family and his artistic sensei, by filling his distinct scrapbook format with captivating text and dynamic illustrative styles, from watercolors to comics, which exudes enthusiasm and talent.

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The Schneider Family Book Award is a new addition to the American Library Association’s Media Youth Awards. The award is donated by Dr. Katherine Schneider, and honors an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences. Three annual awards are presented for the best Teen, Middle School and Children’s Book. The American Library Association administers the Awards, and each recipient receives $5000 and a framed plaque. Winners are announced at the ALA Midwinter Meeting.

Middle School 2012 Winner

Wonderstruck: A Novel in Words and Pictures written by Brian Selznick and published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic
Rose and Ben are deaf children living 50 years and worlds apart, yet both marvel and connect with the world around them. The American Museum of Natural History links their separate stories – one narrated in text, the other through cinematic illustrations.
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The first and most enduring award for GLBT books is the Stonewall Book Awards, sponsored by the American Library Association’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table. Since Isabel Miller’s Patience and Sarah received the first award in 1971, many other books have been honored for exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience.

The Stonewall Book Award-Barbara Gittings Literature Award, the Stonewall Book Award-Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award and the Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award are presented to English language works published the year prior to the announcement date. The award is announced in January and presented to the winning authors or editors at the American Library Association Annual Conference in June or July. The award winners each receive a commemorative plaque and $1,000.

Honor Book

a + e 4ever written by Ilike Merey and published by Lethe Press

Asher Machnik is a teenage boy cursed with a beautiful androgynous face. Guys punch him, girls slag him and by high school he’s developed an intense fear of being touched. Art remains his only escape from an otherwise emotionally empty life. Eulalie Mason is the lonely, tough-talking dyke from school who befriends Ash. The only one to see and accept all of his sides as a loner, a fellow artist and a best friend, she’s starting to wonder if ash is ever going to see all of her…. a + e 4EVER is a graphic novel set in that ambiguous crossroads where love and friendship, boy and girl, straight and gay meet. It goes where few books have ventured, into genderqueer life, where affections aren’t black and white.

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