ALA Book Award Winners Announced

The American Library Association announced today the winners of many prestigious awards for children's and young adult literature, including the Printz and the Newbery Awards.  To see a complete list of all of the awards given out today check out the ALA website. 

Some of the winners that may be of special interest to teens are as follows:

Michael L. Printz Award (for excellence in literature written for young adults)
“Going Bovine” written by Libba Bray

Four Printz Honor Books also were named
“Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith” by Deborah Heiligman
“The Monstrumologist” by Rick Yancey
“Punkzilla” by Adam Rapp
“Tales of the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance, 1973” by John Barnes

YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award
“Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith,” written by Deborah Heiligman

John Newbery Medal (for most outstanding contribution to children’s literature)
“When You Reach Me,” written by Rebecca Stead

Four Newbery Honor Books also were named

“Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice” by Phillip Hoose
“The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate” by Jacqueline Kelly
“Where the Mountain Meets the Moon” by Grace Lin
“The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg” by Rodman Philbrick

Schneider Family Book Award (for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience)
“Anything but Typical” written by Nora Raleigh Baskin, is the winner for middle grades (ages 11-13).
 “Marcelo in the Real World” written by Francisco X. Stork, is the teen (ages 13-18) award winner.


William C. Morris Award (honors a book written by a first-time author for young adults)
“Flash Burnout” written by L.K. Madigan

Alex Awards (for the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences)
“The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope” by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
“The Bride’s Farewell” by Meg Rosoff
“Everything Matters!” by Ron Currie, Jr.
“The Good Soldiers” by David Finkel
“The Kids Are All Right: A Memoir” by Diana Welch and Liz Welch with Amanda Welch and Dan Welch
“The Magicians” by Lev Grossman
“My Abandonment” by Peter Rock
“Soulless: An Alexia Tarabotti Novel” by Gail Carriger
“Stitches: A Memoir” by David Small
“Tunneling to the Center of the Earth” by Kevin Wilson

Some of these titles may seem familiar to you if you've been taking advantage of two of the Hauppauge Public Library's volunteer opportunities recently (The Printz Award reading list and the Great Graphic Novels reading list.)  Although the Graphic Novel Project is over (thank you to all who participated), the Printz Award Project is still in action until March.

Just because we now know the winner of the 2010 Printz Award, doesn't mean the project is over.  Instead of predicting the winner from our list of nominees, you can just shift your focus to whether or not you agree with the choice for the Printz winner.  There are many good books on the list of nominees- do you think one of them deserved an award of excellence?  Did you read the official winner or one of the books of honor?  Was it worthy of a prestigious award?   Let us know. 

For every book you read and evaluate from our list of nominees, you will get four hours of community service.  If you haven't already taken advantage of this community service opportunity, you should!  See a librarian for complete details!

Teen Winter Reading Club: sign-up and read!

Winter is a great time to catch up on your reading.  Think about it: most people stay inside during the cold temperature months, so outdoor events are limited; and daylight is minimal, so relaxing in your pj's with a book is a common occurrence; and TV shows are on hiatus, so often there's "nothing good on TV" anyway.   All the signs point to picking up a good book at the library! 

At the moment, we have 18 teens participating in the Winter Reading Club... and we'd like to get more!  Let me explain just how easy it is. 

1. All you have to do is sign-up and you'll receive a free book (yours to keep) from a special cart of giveaway books. 

2. Then you read... you can read anything you'd like (the free book you just chose, a book from home, a book you had to read anyway for school, a book that you checked out of the library, etc.)  Any book you'd like! 

3. When you finish the book, stop by the Youth and Family Services desk and tell a librarian about it.  There's no catch, honestly.  We won't quiz you about it.  We won't make you write an essay.  Just tell us about it:  What was the story about?  Was it good?  Would you recommend it to others?  Easy.  (And if you haven't already noticed, librarians absolutely love to talk about books with people... we're an eager audience!) 

4. You get a raffle entry each time you do this.  There will be one randomly chosen winner at the end of January and one winner at the end of February.  (See prizes in the picture above.) 

It's not too late to join! 

Winter Scrapbooking for Teens

There's still room left in our Winter Scrapbooking class on Tuesday, January 19th from 7:00- 8:30pm.  Bring with you a handful of photos and create a two-page spread with a winter theme.  If you've never been to a scrapbooking class here at the library, you're missing out... Terri (the wonderful woman who runs the program) always brings with her lots of materials and loads of inspiration  If you'd like to sign up for this program, call us at 979-1600 or stop by the library.  *Don't forget that the library is closed on Monday, January 18th for Martin Luther King Jr.Day. 

Middle School Book Chat- February 24, 2010

I just received word that the February 24th Middle School Book Chat titles have been announced. Check them out!  No really, come to the library and check them out!   Then go to the Middle School to talk about it with your friends!  (If our copies are checked out already, we can place a hold on the title and call you when we get a copy... many times you only have to wait a few days.) 

Schooled by Gordon Korman
Homeschooled by his hippie grandmother, Capricorn (Cap) Anderson has never watched television, tasted a pizza, or even heard of a wedgie. But when his grandmother lands in the hospital, Cap is forced to move in with a guidance counselor and attend the local middle school. While Cap knows a lot about tie-dyeing and Zen Buddhism, no education could prepare him for the politics of public school.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Suddenly able to see demons and the Darkhunters who are dedicated to returning them to their own dimension, fifteen-year-old Clary Fray is drawn into this bizzare world when her mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a monster.

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

After fifteen-year-old Liz Hall is hit by a taxi and killed, she finds herself in a place that is both like and unlike Earth, where she must adjust to her new status and figure out how to "live."

Meet the author: Richelle Mead at Borders in Westbury

This exciting info was just brought to our attention: if you're a fan of the Vampire Academy book series by Richelle Mead head on over to Borders Bookstore in Westbury next Tuesday, January 19th at 7:00pm for a reading and signing.  Thanks Erika for passing on this info to us! 

Keeping with a theme...

In keeping with the "creepy and artistic" theme, here is a video that is NOT by Tim Burton, but is honestly just as awesome as something he would do. It's creepy though, so bewarned if you're easily creeped. It's been called "equal parts Pixar and The Twilight Zone." Here is Alma, by Rodrigo Blaas.

Tim Burton Exhibit

I don't mean to be an advertisement for the Museum of Modern of Art or anything, but last week I saw the Tim Burton exhibit there and it was AWESOME.

From the MoMA website:

"This exhibition explores the full range of [Tim Burton's] creative work, tracing the current of his visual imagination from early childhood drawings through his mature work in film. It brings together over seven hundred examples of rarely or never-before-seen drawings, paintings, photographs, moving image works, concept art, storyboards, puppets, maquettes, costumes, and cinematic ephemera from such films as Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Batman, Mars Attacks!, Ed Wood, and Beetlejuice, and from unrealized and little-known personal projects that reveal his talent as an artist, illustrator, photographer, and writer working in the spirit of Pop Surrealism."

The exhibit is there until April 26, and is totally worth the short wait in line if you don't have a timed ticket (which I didn't). Apparently they are required on weekends, and you can buy them with your ticket, which you can buy online here.

Seriously I'm not trying to advertise MoMA but this exhibit was just so good.