ALA Awards

The winners of the children’s book awards were announced by the American Library Association on Monday and as with other years there were big surprises as well as satisfying acknowledgement of many of my favorites.  

image via ala.org

Each year there are a few winners that I strongly disagree with and it reminds me that one of the things I love about books is that there is always something for everyone.  Some of my favorite book group discussions have been when opinions were the most polarized and vehement.  

This year’s Newbery winner, “The One and Only Ivan,” was not one of my top ten.  Although I have enjoyed the author, Katherine Applegate, the same K.A. Applegate who authored the Animorph series, and have felt for years that she deserved more attention. 

“Three Times Lucky” by Sheila Turnage, one of three honor books was one of my favorites of the year.  

“This is Not My Hat,” illustrated and written by Jon Klassen is the Caldecott winner and I think won on the merits of the preceding book, “I Want My Hat Back.”

I do enjoy both books but I think the first is the strongest.  Five is an unusually large number of Caldecott Honor Books but I found “Extra Yarn,” written by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen to be charming. “Creepy Carrots,” illustrated by Peter Brown, written by Aaron Reynolds has been a huge hit with children.  

“Sleep Like a Tiger,” illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski, written by Mary Logue, another Caldecott Honor Book is a gentle, simile filled bedtime book that elicits the warm, snuggly feelings perfect for falling into sweet dreams.

I won’t try to list all the award winners but if you are interested take time to log onto the ALA website and check them out:

http://www.ala.org/news/mediapresscenter/presskits/youthmediaawards/alayouthmediaawards

What are your favorites?

-Anita

See the Movie, Read the Books

Rise of the Guardians is a 2012 American 3D computer-animated fantasy-adventure film based on William Joyce's The Guardians of Childhood book series and The Man in the Moon short film by Joyce.

Read the Series:

Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King (Guardians of Childhood Chapter Books (Hardcover) #01)

E. Aster Bunnymund and the Warrior Eggs at the Earth's Core! (Guardians of Childhood Chapter Books (Hardcover) #02)

Toothiana, Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies (Guardians of Childhood (Hardcover) #03)

And the Picture Books:

The Man in the Moon (Guardians of Childhood (Hardcover) #1)

The Sandman: The Story of Sanderson Mansnoozie (Guardians of Childhood (Hardcover))

William Joyce has been a favorite of mine for years.  I love his Christmas Story Santa Calls.  It is very non-traditional but a wonderful adventure story of a girl whose dearest Christmas wish is the good will of her brother.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore won an Oscar for Short Film and the picture book that was released July 2012 lives up to that stellar introduction. “The idea for the film was inspired by a dear friend and mentor, Bill Morris, a lover of books and a grand old gentleman of children's book publishing,” said William Joyce.

Joyce is creative and refreshingly original. He never delivers a reworked and improved upon idea.  The art and the stories always delight.  He has authored over fifty children’s books. A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, his illustrations have appeared on many New Yorker front covers and his paintings hang in galleries and museums.  He has been involved in many notable films including Toy Story, Meet the Robinsons, and Robots.

-Anita

The Hobbit

Mary Wright Layton is a Senior studying English language with a writing minor at BYU. Mary loves reading fantasy novels and hopes to become a creative writer.

In an apartment in Provo there lived a student – a student who dearly loved The Hobbit, the classic fantasy novel by J.R.R. Tolkien. Bilbo, the hobbit, is the small creature who inhabits the world of Middle Earth and the hearts of numerous avid fans like me.

I first fell in love with The Hobbit in 5^th grade. Perhaps 11 is a bit young for trudging through the overly descriptive forests of Mirkwood, wandering aimlessly through the goblin tunnels of the Misty Mountains, and braving the fiery wrath of Smaug the dragon. I admit I wasn’t always enchanted by every word of elven poetry nor enthralled by each of Tolkien’s tedious geographic descriptions. But nonetheless, a mysterious force compelled me to read the literary masterpiece again and again. Maybe it was the ring. It had taken hold.

The mysterious force turned out to be simply the fantastic storyline of adventure, bravery, loyalty, and good versus evil. Bilbo is an ordinary hobbit, content with his life of peace and quiet in the Shire. But when the wizened wizard, Gandalf, knocks on his door, there is no going back. Bilbo discovers strengths within himself he never knew existed. His transformation is a part of the book I really love. In a way, everyone is a Bilbo Baggins.  They wish an unexpected and exciting journey would come knocking on their door, waiting to whisk them off to unknown lands for the adventure of a lifetime. Well, maybe not everyone wishes that, but I did.

Soon I will be able to revisit all the joys of The Hobbit when it is brought to life on the big screen. I’m sure it comes as no surprise that I have tickets for Thursday’s midnight showing! I can’t wait to watch Bilbo, Gandalf, and all 13 dwarves battle trolls, goblins. wargs, giant spiders, and make their way to the Lonely Mountain. But for now, the road goes ever on and on . . . studying for finals goes ever on and on.

-Mary Wright Layton

Weathering the Wuthering Heights

I recently watched the BBC production of "Wuthering Heights" with my roommate last week and found it incredibly enjoyable.

This is funny because I read the book before and didn’t feel the same sentiment. It was really difficult to read! What was funnier though was my English-major roommate felt more reluctant to watch this movie. She knows the Bronte sisters frontwards and backwards. But by the time part one was over, she was insisting we continued watching into crazy hours of the night.

We both discovered a new appreciation for Wuthering Heights thanks to a fantastic artistic take to this notorious 1800's novel.

What was so compelling to draw me back to Wuthering Heights? I recall hitting the middle of the book where the plot shifts to different characters and I wanted to quit.

The passion Heathcliff and Catherine is so twisted and compelling because their emotion overrides all the circumstances around them, and affects every person around them in the book. The book shows how un-changeable love and passion is destructive in nature, with Heathcliff and Catherine as the example of destruction and the younger generation Catherine and Hareton as the positive example that restores balance back to Wuthering Heights.

Perhaps the movie helps put faces to the characters and helps me understand the emotion that didn’t translate before as I struggled to understand the old-school text.

I heard once that Wuthering Heights gets better with age, five years later has helped validate this statement. And who knows, maybe I will like it more in even five years.

-Hillary