This morning a few of my colleagues and I tuned in to the livestream of the Youth Media Awards and oh my goodness! So many fabulous books were honored, including a few books of my heart. And I look forward to reading the ones I haven’t yet read.
A few books of my heart were honored this year and it was so amazing to hear their titles called!
In particular, my colleagues knew that I was really rooting for Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo. Just last week, I suggested it for my library’s LGBTQ+ book discussion. I told our leader that I was going to go ahead and put in the ILL requests before it got bombarded with shiny stickers and no one would loan it to us for awhile. Yay for me that I did that because boy howdy did it get bombarded!
Another book of my heart that got some attention was Starfish by Indiana author Lisa Fipps. I honestly never would have called this one for Printz, but I definitely agree that it fits the lower end of the Printz age range (12-18). I’ve seen it on some Mock Newbery lists, so I was excited to see it honored, even if it wasn’t for the award I thought it might get. I was on a committee that honored one of those middle-grade-range books (The Crossover by Kwame Alexander). So I have a soft spot for books that might fall through the cracks. I’m glad this one didn’t!
Speaking of Newbery… there’s a book of my heart there, too…
Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff won a Newbery Honor and that makes my heart sing! This is a book that’s stuck with me since I read it early last year. I was really glad to see it on the list.
When it was time for the Coretta Scott King Awards, I told my colleagues “Okay, we’re looking for Unspeakable here…” I was not disappointed! In fact, I was thrilled that this powerful picture book took home both a CSK illustrator and author award (not to mention a Caldecott Honor). This is another book that’s among my very favorites of 2021 and I was so pleased to see it honored.
A few other random thoughts here…
I am absolutely awful at predicting Printz, so I am supremely proud of myself for having read FOUR out of the five Printz titles this year. I didn’t read a ton of YA, but apparently I picked pretty good YA when I did read some!
I am thrilled beyond measure at the number of books honored with the American Indian Youth Literature Awards. Publishing still has a long way to go, but we’re building the number of titles available each year. I’m particularly glad to have a new title about Indigenous Peoples’ Day on my radar. And of course I ordered it for my library this morning!
What did you think of the announcements??
Sarah Wethern
I have been out of the reading loop since it seems like the beginning of the pandemic so I definitely have quite a few new titles to add to my reading list. I’m most excited for The Last Cuentista which came out of nowhere for me.