Listen List: Extraordinary Audiobook Listening Experiences

Couple listening to headphones. Photography. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 25 May 2016.
quest.eb.com/search/154_2884787/1/154_2884787/cite. Accessed 9 Nov 2017.

It's almost time for the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to announce the 2018 picks for their Listen List: Outstanding Audiobook Narration! What is the Listen List, you ask? It's an award which  "highlights extraordinary narrators and listening experiences that merit special attention by a general adult audience and the librarians who advise them." Since 2010, a committee has convened annually to listen to over 1,000 hours of audiobooks, over 200 titles, to find 12 winners. All the titles under consideration must be available to purchase for public libraries; winners are chosen "because the narration creates a new experience with an outstanding performance in terms of voice, accents, pitch, tone, inflection, rhythm and pace, offering listeners something they could not create by their own visual reading." Handily, each of the 12 titles also comes with three recommended listenalikes "not appearing on previous Listen Lists, which mirror the appeal, tone, or production style of the winners."

The 2017 Listen List included:

Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson [Playaway & eAudiobook]

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams: Stories by Stephen King [book on CD & eAudiobook]

Because of Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn [eAudiobook]

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick [eAudiobook]

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond [eAudiobook]

Julian Fellowes's Belgravia by Julian Fellowes [eAudiobook]

Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley [book on CD & eAudiobook]

News of the World by Paulette Jiles [book on CD]

Razor Girl by Carl Hiaasen [book on CD, Playaway, & eAudiobook]

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel [eAudiobook]

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead [book on CD & eAudiobook]

You can find the full list with listenalikes on the RUSA website.


Because we love being read to, we'd like to suggest other recent audiobooks of note, focusing specifically on those read by the author:

You Don't Have To Say You Love Me: A Memoir by Sherman Alexie [book on CD & eAudiobook]

The Art of Death: Writing the Final Story by Edwidge Danticat [eAudiobook & book on CD]

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay [eAudiobook]

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy [book on CD & eAudiobook]

Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death and Jazz Chickens by Eddie Izzard [eAudiobook]

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid [eAudiobook]

4321 by Paul Auster [eAudiobook & Playaway]

A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference In My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life by Ayelet Waldman [eAudiobook & book on CD]

Pulitzer Prize Challenge

 

"Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light." - Joseph Pulitzer

In case you've always wondered how it's pronounced, the correct pronunciation is "PULL-it-sir."  (That's straight from the Pulitzer Website FAQs.)

This year marks the centennial of the Pulitzer Prizes awarding. "We're celebrating by telling stories on the prize winners, finalists and their work, and by partnering with individuals and organizations to host events across the country." 

People all around New Mexico have joined the Pulitzer Prize Challenge and are reading five books in five months to commemorate the centennial of the Pulitzer Prize. The Pulitzer Prize Board announced the Campfires Initiative to ignite community engagement and discussion of the literary, journalistic and artistic values Pulitzer Prize winners represent. The New Mexico Humanities Council has been chosen, among other state councils, to participate in the initiative. Libraries across New Mexico have been holding book discussions on five chosen titles:

 
Beloved by Toni Morrison 

The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich 

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz 

The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever 

Lovely, Dark, Deep  by Joyce Carol Oates

If you missed most of the book discussions, you can still pick up one of the five titles at your library and challenge yourself to reading a distinctive Pulitzer winner or finalist. And you still have time to catch the last two group discussion at South Broadway Library: 

Lovely, Dark, Deep - November 19^th 
Beloved - December 17th ...and If 5 books is not enough of a challenge for you, download the Pulitzer Bookmark and read the fiction winners from the first 50 years: 1917-1966. 

Alex Awards: Recommended Adult Books for Young Adult Readers

Do you know a teen (ages 12-18) who is ready to read at an adult level, and is looking for titles? Are you an avid young adult book reader looking for a change of pace? Look no further than the Alex Awards, administrated by YALSA [Young Adult Library Services Organization].

The Alex Awards are named for Margaret Alexander Edwards (called Alex by her friends), who was the administrator of young adult programs at Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore for over thirty years. In the middle of the 20th century, she was one of the first librarians to recognize that "adolescence was...a distinct age different from both childhood and adulthood" and reached out to local young adults via "booktalks" in high schools to establish programs for teens and to make teens aware of services and materials available to them to them in the public library. She even rented a horse-drawn wagon to bring library collections to those who couldn't get to the library!  You can read excerpts from her book about her experiences, The Fair Garden and the Swarm of Beasts: The Library and the Young Adult, online.

The Alex Awards were born in 1986 as the "The School Library Journal Young Adult Author Award/Selected and Administered by the American Library Association's Young Adult Services Division". The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18, selected from the previous year's publishing. The award has been annual since 1998.

The purpose of the Alex Awards is to identify those adult titles that have the most interest and appeal to teens. The titles were selected by the YALSA Adult Books for Young Adults Task Force from the previous year's publishing and were  part of the Adult Books for Young Adults Project, which explored the role of adult books in the  reading lives of teenagers and was funded by the Margaret Alexander Edwards Trust. In 2002, the Alex Awards were approved as an official ALA award, and the Task Force was superseded by the Alex Awards Committee. The task force decided to select ten titles annually, and also decided to select a top ten list rather than a single title or a long list because of the popularity of the concept and because it parallels the Top Ten titles selected by the Best Books for Young Adults and Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers committees. The task force members also believed that selecting more than one book provided a greater variety of titles, whereas a longer list would be less selective than desired. A top ten list also allows for a more balanced list—fiction and nonfiction, as well as various genres.

According to Wikipedia, only one author, Neil Gaiman, has made the list twice. Here are the books that made the list for 2016!


All Involved by Ryan Gattis

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates 

Bones & All by Camille DeAngelis 

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong

Girl at War by Sara Nović

Half the World by Joe Abercrombie 

Humans of New York: Stories by Brandon Stanton 

Sacred Heart by Liz Suburbia 

Undocumented: A Dominican Boy's Odyssey From a Homeless Shelter to the Ivy League by Dan-el Padilla Peralta 

Unraveling of Mercy Louis by Keija Parssinen 

 

Links

Alex Awards on the YALSA website

Alex Awards on the ALA website 

YALSA's Teen Book Finder App for Android & iOS

Revealed: The Folio Prize Shortlist

On February 10, the literary world was abuzz over the release of the contenders for the newest literary fiction award on the block, the Folio Prize. Sponsored by the Folio Society (known as a UK publisher of beautiful books), the award is billed as the first major English language award open to writers of all nationalities. According to the Folio Prize's website: "Its aim is simple: to celebrate the best fiction of our time, regardless of form or genre, and to bring it to the attention of as many readers as possible."

Here at abcreads, we anticipate the annual release of the Man Booker Prize shortlist (which administrators recently announced will now include English language writers from around the globe beginning this year), and we are interested to see how the these changes will affect the literary award landscape. 

Here you can find selected list books from the Folio Prize shortlist!

Red Doc by Anne Carson

Schroder by Amity Gaige

Benediction by Kent Haruf (ebook)

A Naked Singularity by Sergio De La Pava

Tenth of December by George Saunders (ebook)


Related Links

"American, women authors dominate shortlist of new Folio Prize"

"Folio Prize announces inaugural shortlist of eight books"

Autumn's Literary Awards

Nobel Prize

On Thursday, October 9th, it was announced that Alice Munro, “master of the contemporary short story”, had won the 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature.  She is the 110th Nobel laureate and the thirteenth woman the win the prize - visit the Nobel website to find out more about the Literature prize. You can find many of her books in the library catalog.




Counting Down to the 2013 Man Booker Prize: The Winner!

Eleanor Catton's novel The Luminaries has won this year's Man Booker! Check our older posts to read about the Shortlist and the Longlist, or visit the Man Booker website for more information.



Other Noteworthy Awards

Agatha Awards are "given for materials first published in the United States by a living author during the calendar year, either in hardcover, as a paperback original, or e-published by an e-publishing firm. The Agatha Awards honor the 'traditional mystery'. That is to say, books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie as well as others." Check their website for the 2012 winners and nominees.

The winners of science fiction's most prestigious award, the Hugo, were announced on September 1st.

National Book Award finalists will be announced on October 16.

The 2012 Hammett Prize winners were announced on October 2nd. The Hammett Prize is awarded annual for "excellence in field of crime-writing" (adult fiction or narrative non-fiction).

The Crime Writers' Association Dagger Award released their last shortlists in August; the winners will be announced on October 24th. Some of the winners, such as the International Dagger and the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, have already been announced.

The World Fantasy Award winners will be announced during the World Fantasy Convention (10/31-11/3). You can see the nominees on their website.

Counting Down to the 2013 Man Booker Prize: The Shortlist

"The six books on the list could not be more diverse. There are examples from novelists from New Zealand, England, Canada, Ireland and Zimbabwe – each with its own highly distinctive taste. They range in size from the 832 pages of Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries to the 104-page The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín. The times represented stretch from the biblical Middle East (Tóibín) to contemporary Zimbabwe (NoViolet Bulawayo) by way of 19th-century New Zealand (Catton), 1960s India (Jumpha Lahiri), 18th-century rural England (Crace) and modern Tokyo (Ruth Ozeki). The oldest author on the list, Jim Crace, is 67, the youngest (indeed the youngest ever shortlistee), Eleanor Catton, is 28. Colm Tóibín has written more than 15 books, The Luminaries is only Catton's second."
~from the Man Booker website

I always look forward to this time of year - the countdown to the Man Booker Prize!  The Telegraph said the longlist, announced on July 23rd, "is an incitement to read...[it] is dominated by epic tales that criss-cross the globe" - what do you think of the shortlist, announced today? Your ABC Library catalog has these titles already...place your holds now!

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
 

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
 

The Harvest by Jim Crace
 

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
 

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
 

The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín

The winner of this year's Man Booker prize will be announced on October 15th.
 

Counting Down to the 2013 Man Booker Prize: The Longlist

I always look forward to this time of year - the announcement of the Man Booker Prize longlist!  Hailed as "The Man Booker dozen 2013", the prize website announces that these titles "comprise an eclectic list of 13 novels that will surprise and intrigue in equal measure". The Telegraph says "this longlist is an incitement to read...[it] is dominated by epic tales that criss-cross the globe." Your ABC Library catalog has quite a few of these titles already...place your holds now!


A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

Five-Star Billionaire by Tash Aw

Harvest by Jim Crace

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín

TransAtlantic by Colum McCann

We Need New Names by Noviolet Bulawayo


Keep watching for more Man Booker updates! The shortlist will be announced in September, and the winner in October. See the Man Booker website for a full list of nominees and other information.

Cat Writers' Association Communications Contest

Recently a piece in The Guardian asked, "Are cats top dogs in the world of literature?" The Cat Writers' Association, Inc. (CWA) certainly thinks so! The CWA is an organization of professionals writing, publishing and broadcasting about cats. Member authors include Clea Simon, Lesléa Newman, Shirley Rousseau Murphy, and Carole  Nelson Douglas.  Every year the CWA have a Communications Contest, open to anyone whose work qualifies (see their website for more information).  Winners include magazine articles, newspaper columns, poems, short stories, humor, health care, and DVDs.  Here are some of the winners you can find in the library catalog!


Cat Fancy [magazine]

Cat Telling Tales: A Joe Grey Mystery by Shirley Rousseau Murphy

Bambino and Mr. Twain by P.I. Maltbie

The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook by Joanne Rocklin

Defending the Defenseless: A Guide to Protecting and Advocating for Pets by Allie Phillips [eBook only in our catalog]


For more cat-related items in the library catalog, try a subject search of "Cats".

2012 Nebula Award Nominees: Novel

The Nebula Awards, founded in 1965, are given annually - voted on, and presented by, active members of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. The 48th Nebula Awards Weekend is happening in May 2013 - get started now checking out the books nominated for best science fiction or fantasy novel published in English or translated into English and released in the United States or on the internet during the past year! You can find a list of past winners on their website.

 

 

Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed
Three superheroes in the Crescent Moon Kingdoms bound together by a series of magical murders must work together in a race against time to prevent a sorcerer's plot from destroying the world.  For fans of Laurell K. Hamilton and Jim Butcher.

 

 

 

Ironskin by Tina Connolly
Connolly borrows freely from Jane Eyre in this compelling fantasy story of fey-cursed Jane Eliot, doomed to wear an iron mask or "ironskin".  Jane becomes governess to Dorie, whom she suspects carries the same curse, and falls in love with her father, Edward Rochart.  For fans of Kate Elliott and Karen Marie Moning.

 

 

The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin
In a city where Gatherers harvest the magic of the sleeping mind and use it to judge the corrupt, Ehiru, the most famous of the city's Gatherers, learns that he must protect the woman he was sent to kill or watch the city be devoured by forbidden magic.  For fans of Elizabeth Moon and Guy Gavriel Kay.
 

 

 

The Drowning Girl by Caitlín R. Kiernan
India Morgan Phelps-Imp to her friends-is schizophrenic. Struggling with her perceptions of reality, Imp must uncover the truth about her encounters with creatures out of myth-or from something far, far stranger. For fans of Patricia A. McKillip and Mercedes Lackey.

 

 

Glamour in Glass by Mary Robinette Kowal
Kowal's sequel to the first Jane Ellsworth novel, Shades of Milk and Honey, is set in a Regency England redolent with magic. Newly married Jane and her husband travel to Belgium on a trip to test Jane's skills as a glamourist, but the return of Napoleon and a hint of espionage get in the way. For fans of Patricia C. Wrede and Susan Krinard.

 

 

2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson

The year is 2312. Scientific and technological advances have opened gateways to an extraordinary future. Earth is no longer humanity's only home; new habitats have been created throughout the solar system on moons, planets, and in between. But in this year, 2312, a sequence of events will force humanity to confront its past, its present, and its future.  For fans of Poul Anderson and Orson Scott Card.

 

 

Some content, including readalikes, were suggested by the eResource NoveList Plus, which can help you find new books based and also can show you all the books in a series, all the books by a certain author, as well as brief biographies of authors. Access to this eResource is free with your valid library card!  Visit the Books and Literature subject guide to find links to NoveList Plus and more!

Wild Wild Westerns

Gunslingers, lawmen and outlaws, oh my! The western genre stands out as a favorite among many adventure readers today. Like fantasy novels, westerns create or re-create a world that none of us will every truly know. Unlike fantasy novels, many of the stories are based on actual historical events or people and take place in a world that did exist at one time.

The genre originated in the late 1800’s and many of the traditional authors are known to portray a more romanticized view of the wild, wild, west. This view served to perpetuate many stereotypes involving cowboys, Indians, nobles and savages. Aside from this outdated mindset, many still enjoy these stories as classic western literature.

On the other hand, many modern day western novels are characterized by presenting a more realistic and/or modern view of the days on the frontier. Some of the main differences include the treatment of women, perceptions of Native Americans, sexuality and morality overall.

Westerns also have their own literary awards presented by the Western Writers of America each year. Since 1953, the Spur Awards have been given to recognize exceptional western writing in various categories.

Check out these Spur Award winners:

Snowbound by Richard S. Wheeler – 2011 Best Western Short Novel

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool -2011 Best Western Juvenile Fiction

The Secret War in El Paso: Mexican Revolutionary Intrigue, 1906-1920 - by Charles H. Harris III and Louis R. Sadler- 2010 Best Western Nonfiction Contemporary

Shavetail:A Novel by Thomas Cobb- 2009 Best Western Long Novel

Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West by Hampton Sides- 2007 Best Western Nonfiction Historical

Children's Book Awards Winners!

It's that time of year again! The American Library Association has announced its 2012 award winners in children's literature.  Here's the scoop:


John Newbery Medal
For the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature.
Winner:
Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos


Randolph Caldecott Medal
For the most distinguished American picture book for children
Winner:
A Ball for Daisy illustrated and written by Chris Raschka


Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award
Recognizes an African-American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults.
Winner:
Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson


Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award
Winner:
Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom illustrated and written by Shane W. Evans


Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement
Winner: Ashley Bryan
“Storyteller, artist, author, poet and musician, Bryan created his first children’s book in first grade. He grew up in the Bronx and in 1962, he became the first African American to both write and illustrate a children’s book. After a successful teaching career, Bryan left academia to pursue creation of his own artwork. He has since garnered numerous awards for his significant and lasting literary contribution of poetry, spirituals and story.”


Schneider Family Book Award
For books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience.

• Children ages 0 – 8: “The Jury chose not to award a book in the category for because no submissions were deemed worthy of the award.”
• Middle school award (ages 9 – 13): Close to Famous written by Joan Bauer and Wonderstruck: A Novel in Words and Pictures written by Brian Selznick
• Teen (ages 14-18) award: The Running Dream written by Wendelin Van Draanen

Alex Awards
For the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences.

•Big Girl Small by Rachel DeWoskin
•In Zanesville by Jo Ann Beard
•The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan
•The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens by Brooke Hauser
•The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
•Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
•Robopocalypse: A Novel by Daniel H. Wilson
•Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
•The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures by Caroline Preston
•The Talk-Funny Girl by Roland Merullo


Andrew Carnegie Medal For Excellence in Children’s Video
Winner:
Paul R. Gagne and Melissa Reilly Ellard of Weston Woods Studios, Inc., producers of Children Make Terrible Pets. The video is based on the book written by Peter Brown, and is narrated by Emily Eiden, with music by Jack Sundrud and Rusty Young, and animation by Soup2Nuts.


Margaret A. Edwards Award
For lifetime achievement in writing for young adults.
Winner:
Susan Cooper, author of The Dark Is Rising Sequence: Over Sea, Under Stone; The Dark Is Rising; Greenwitch; The Grey King; and Silver on the Tree


May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award
Recognizes an author, critic, librarian, historian or teacher of children’s literature, who then presents a lecture at a winning host site.
Winner: Michael Morpurgo
“Born in England, Morpurgo was teaching when he discovered the magic of storytelling and began writing. His books are noted for their imagination, power and grace. In 1976, he and his wife established the charity Farms for City Children. He is an officer of the Order of the British Empire and served as Britain’s third Children’s Laureate. His novel, “War Horse,” has wowed theater audiences in London and New York and movie audiences all over.”


Mildred L. Batchelder Award
For an outstanding children’s book translated from a foreign language and subsequently published in the United States.
Winner:
Soldier Bear by Bibi Dumon Tak, illustrated by Philip Hopman, translated by Laura Watkinson


Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production
For best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults, available in English in the United States.
Winner:
Rotters by Daniel Kraus and narrated by Kirby Heyborne


Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Award
Honoring a Latino writer and illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience.
Winner:
Diego Rivera: His World and Ours illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh


Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award
For most distinguished informational book for children.
Winner:
Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade written by Melissa Sweet


Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature Book Award
Presented annually to English language books that have exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered experience.
Winner:
Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy written by Bil Wright


Theodor Seuss Geisel Award
For the most distinguished beginning reader book.
Winner:
Tales for Very Picky Eaters written and illustrated by Josh Schneider


William C. Morris Award
For a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens.
Winner:
Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley



Michael L. Printz Award
The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.
Winner:
Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley



For more information & to see past award & honor books, visit the ALA site.

Book Awards

Are you an awards groupie like I am?  My favorite prize is the Man Booker, which I glommed on to after a teenage reading of The Bone People, but I like to check out award-winners in multiple categories. There are several literary awards that have come up on the abcreads radar lately.  How about:

• The Story Prize: The Story Prize is an annual book award for short story collections written in English and published in the U.S. during a calendar year. This year's three finalists are all in the library catalog!  They are The Angel Esmeralda by Don DeLillo, We Others by Steven Millhauser, & Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlman.
• The National Jewish Book Awards: There are 18 categories to this prize, but The Jewish Book of the Year is Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore.
• The Man Asian Literary Prize: It is an annual literary award given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English, and published in the previous calendar year. This award usually only has 5 finalists, but this year it has 7.  Our library system has most of them!  Check out The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad (Pakistan); The Sly Company of People Who Care by Rahul Bhattacharya (India); River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh (India); Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin (South Korea); Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke (China); & The Lake by Banana Yoshimoto (Japan).
• The Costa Awards: The Costa Book Awards is one of the UK's most prestigious and popular literary prizes and recognises some of the most enjoyable books of the year by writers based in the UK and Ireland. It’s unique for having five categories: First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children's Book. We have their 2011 winner for Best First Novel, Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away by Christie Watson, & their Children's Book Award winner,  Blood Red Road by Moira Young-which, incidentally, looks like it might be a good readalike for Hunger Games fans.
• The Alex Awards: The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18.  2011 winners include: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender; Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok; The Radleys by Matt Haig; & Room by Emma Donoghue.

Exotica

Perhaps lists of book award winners and nominees intimidate you. Certainly, some of those literary works are less enjoyable and more, well, literary than you bargained for. There are a few in my reading past that I definitely don't understand the appeal, critically or otherwise. (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, I'm looking at you.) However, prize lists can be a great place to discover an author outside of your normal reading habits. They can be gold mines for first-time or foreign authors, many of whom won't show up at your local big-box book store.

I recently read Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch, which is on the Man Booker prize long list and the Orange prize long list. Carol Birch is not a first time author, but is a British novelist (one of the requirements for both prizes). Written in a deceptively simple style, the story drew me right in. The story has been compared to both Dickens and Melville's work, neither author being on my favorites list, though I think that the similarities are mainly superficial. It reminds me, and others as well, of Yann Martel's Life of Pi, with rather dreamy interludes, though at the end you are not left to muse about the nature of reality. Instead, the nature of friendship and sanity are examined, leaving the reader with both a sense of melancholy and relief. I won't say more about it, though I highly recommend it, with one caveat: squeamish readers need not apply.

Children's Lit with Adult Appeal

I was reading The Wikkeling, a new children's book that caught my eye, thoroughly enjoying myself, when I began to wonder about children's authors' intentionality in creating works with adult appeal. Some of the things that I find humorous in children's literature seem to be distinctly written to an adult audience, but do kids see the humor? I know there is a larger crossover audience than in the past, after the successes of Harry Potter and his ilk. I suppose the question is how much intent is there on the part of the author. Picture books are obviously ripe for this effort, as most of them are read (and purchased) by parents to children. However, I feel most children's authors of chaptered books will probably disclaim any purposeful attempt to appeal to adults beyond the merits of their general writing style.

As many readers do, I occasionally feel nostalgic for a childhood favorite and indulge in a reread. Some hold up better than others to an adult's scrutiny. I am sure much depends on how cynical I am feeling as well as how complicated adult life seems at the moment. I can say that I have less patience for obvious plot devices, plot holes, and formulaic story lines, making some rereads less enjoyable than anticipated. In some ways it is quite sad to realize that much of what I read as a child(which could be anything - I was a voracious reader), I would not recommend to a child today. But maybe that's just my peevishness showing; I also would not recommend many popular current books and series, since gross out humor has never appealed to me.

Without further ado, here are some lesser known children's books that stand up to an adult's more discriminating (we assume!) taste:

The True Meaning of Smek Day by Adam Rex

The Book Thief by Marcus Zuzak

The Gates by John Connolly

The Wikkeling by Steven Arntson

Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer

Uglies series by Scott Westerfield

Kiki Strike series by Kirsten Miller

Derby Girl by Shauna Cross

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter

A Long Way from Chicago series by Richard Peck

If you need more recommendations, try the Newbery Medal Award winners and Honor Books.

90-Second Newbery Film Festival

Blogger & YA fiction author James Kennedy (check out The Order of Odd-Fish in our catalog)has inaugurated the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival contest on his blog! Watch the video below to get a taste of what's to come.

"A Wrinkle In Time" In 90 Seconds from James Kennedy on Vimeo.

"That’s a lot of Newbery winners. Maybe too many? You can’t read all 90 books! But you do have 90 seconds to spare, right? So here’s our contest, open to anyone: make a video that compresses the story of a Newbery award-winning book into 90 seconds or less." ~from the blog

Also check for Newbery Awards in the library catalog.

Man Booker Prize for Fiction Longlist is Announced

I have probably mentioned this before, but I have been a follower of the Booker Prize since I read my first prizewinner, Keri Hulme's The Bone People, in high school. Every year I am on tenterhooks as first the longlist is announced, then the shortlist, & finally the winner!

This year's Man Booker Dozen (must be like a baker's dozen-there are 13 books) was announced on July 27th:

• Peter Carey, Parrot and Oliver in America
• Emma Donoghue, Room
• Helen Dunmore, The Betrayal
• Damon Galgut, In a Strange Room
• Howard Jacobson, The Finkler Question
• Andrea Levy, The Long Song
• Tom McCarthy, C
• David Mitchell, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
• Lisa Moore, February
• Paul Murray, Skippy Dies
• Rose Tremain, Trespass
• Christos Tsiolkas, The Slap
• Alan Warner, The Stars in the Bright Sky

For more information on the Man Booker Prize, head to their website. A shortlist of six will be announced on September 7th and the winner will be revealed on October 12th.

Jun 27, 1922: First Newbery Medal for children's literature

The John Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the American Library Association for the most distinguished American children's book published the previous year. Named for eighteenth-century English bookseller John Newbery, the purpose of the Newbery Medal was stated as follows: "To encourage original creative work in the field of books for children. To emphasize to the public that contributions to the literature for children deserve similar recognition to poetry, plays, or novels. To give those librarians, who make it their life work to serve children's reading interests, an opportunity to encourage good writing in this field."

History.com celebrates the Newbery

Newbery Medal Winners, 1922 - Present (list)


Our all-time favorite Newbery winners (& honored books) are The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink, The Grey King by Susan Cooper, Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell, The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo, Lily's Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff, Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey by Jamake Highwater & A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck. What are yours?

Spur Awards

Love Westerns? The Western Writers of America are meeting right now in Knoxville, Tennessee, to give out the Spur Awards, for distinguished writing about the American West. N. Scott Momaday has won the 2010 Owen Wister Award for lifetime contributions to the literature of the American West. Momaday, author of House Made of Dawn, is a graduate of the University of New Mexico who now lives in Santa Fe. Other prizewinners at this year's Spur Awards include Far Bright Star by Robert Olmstead & The Secret War in El Paso: Mexican Revolutionary Intrigue, 1906-1920 by Charles H. Harris III, & Louis R. Sadler.

Fun for Foodies!

Deemed “the Oscars of the food world,” by Time magazine, The James Beard Foundation Awards are the country’s most coveted honor for chefs; food and beverage professionals; broadcast media, journalists, and authors working on food; and restaurant architects and designers.
-from the JBF website

Awards are given for books, TV shows, restaurant design, journalism, &, of course, chefs! 2010 winners include:

• Love Soup: 160 All-New Vegetarian Recipes from the Author of The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas (book)
• Serious Eats (blog)
• Tom Colicchio (outstanding chef)

Local eatery Mary & Tito's won the America's Classics Award for restaurants with timeless appeal, beloved in their regions for quality food that reflects the character of their community. Establishments musthave been in existence at least 10 years and be locally owned.

For a full list of 2010 winners, visit the JBF website.

Hammett Prize Awarded

International Association of Crime Writers/North American Branch awards The Hammett Prize annually for literary excellence in the field of crime-writing, as reflected in a book published in the English language in the US and/or Canada. The winner receives a "Thin Man" trophy, designed by sculptor Peter Boiger.

This year's nominees were:

• Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott


• Devil's Garden by Ace Atkins (not in ABC Libraries' catalog)


• The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry


• The Long Fall by Walter Mosley


• The Way Home by George Pelecanos

Congratulations to the winner, Jedediah Berry's The Manual of Detection!