Happy Gerbilhog Day!

As we dictate this blog to our librarians, our hardy weekend maintenance crew is hard a-shovelin' outside... it's a winter wonderland outside! We decided though, to stay in our tank today rather than go outside & see about our shadows... it looks cold! We'll let Punxsutawney Phil take care of everything. (Did you know Phil has been to our library before as part of an animal program? He has.)

Robyn told the Tri-Con preschoolers last week in storytime that if the said the word "snow" over and over enough they could make it snow. Do not get on Robyn's bad side!

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Rec Center for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. We had a great time making bags for the North Shore Health Center.

Facebook Features

Do you "Like" us on Facebook? We've started featuring books we hope you have been enjoying our new features. Mystery Mondays preview a small portion of a book cover - try to guess what the book is! Terrible Tuesdays celebrate great books with awful covers. Wistful Wednesdays feature different staff member's beloved childhood book and the reason the staff member loves it so. Feature Fridays share a title from our department that is currently in high demand. We decided to switch things up a bit on Thursdays. Watch for our Tell Us Thursday polls and be sure to give us your opinions.

ALA Youth Media Awards

Last week was a huge day in children's literature, the American Library Association's Youth Media Awards Ceremony. Some call it the Oscars for kids' books!

The Newbery Award, given each year to the most distinguished contribution to children's literature, was awarded to The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate. Ivan tells the story of a downtrodden, has-been silverback gorilla living in a small, unkempt domain in a shopping mall - and the promise he makes to a dying elephant. Narrated by Ivan himself, Applegate's novel is an honest, painful, and heartbreaking insight into captive animal life, and is not one to miss. Three Newbery Honors were given: Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz, Bomb: The Race to Build - And Steal - The World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin, and Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage. You may remember that Bomb was the winner of our department's Mock Newbery this year - yea for our librarians' good prediction!

The Caldecott Award, given each year to the most distinguished picture book for children, was awarded to This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen - a follow-up to last year's Geisel Winner, I Want My Hat Back. Who would have thought hat stories would be so awesome? Five Caldecott Honors were named: Creepy Carrots illustrated by Peter Brown and written by Aaron Reynolds; Extra Yarn illustrated by Jon Klassen and written by Mac Barnett; Green illustrated and written by Laura Vaccaro Seeger; One Cool Friend illustrated by David Small and written by Tony Buzzeo; and Sleep Like a Tiger illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski and written by Mary Logue.

The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award, given to the most distinguished book for beginning readers, was awarded to Up, Tall and High by Ethan Long, a simple fun exploration of the three title words. Three Geisel Honors were given, to Let's Go for a Drive! by Mo Willems, Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin, and Rabbit & Robot: the Sleepover by Cece Bell.

The Printz Award, for excellence in literature written for young adults, was awarded to In Darkness by Nick Lake, a survival story about a fifteen year-old boy trapped in the rubble of a hospital destroyed during the 2010 Haitian earthquake. Four Printz Honors were given to Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, Dodger by Terry Pratchett, and The White Bicycle by Beverley Brenna.

The Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award recognizes an African American author. This year's award was given to Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America by Andrea Davis Pinkney, which presents the stories of ten African-American men from different eras in American history, organized chronologically to provide a scope from slavery to the modern day. Two Coretta Scott King (Author) Honors were awarded to Each Kindness by Jacqueline Wilson and No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson.

The Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Award was given to I, Too, Am America illustrated by Bryan Collier and written by Langston Hughes. This picture book presentation of a famous Hughes poem is striking. Collier has previously won a Caldecott Honor for Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave (written by Laban Carrick Hill.) Three Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Honors were awarded to H.O.R.S.E.: A Game of Basketball and Imagination by Christopher Myers, Ellen's Broom illustrated by Daniel Minter and written by Kelly Starling Lyons, and I Have a Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr. written by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and illustrated by Kadir Nelson.

The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award for most distinguished informational book for children was given to Bomb: the Race to Build - and Steal - the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin. Three Siebert Honors were awarded to Electric Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by Robert Byrd, Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 by Phillip M. Hoose, and Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson.

The YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults was given to Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon written by Steve Sheinkin. Four other books were finalists for the award: Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different written by Karen Blumenthal, Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 written by Phillip Hoose, Titanic: Voices from the Disaster written by Deborah Hopkinson, and We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March written by Cynthia Levinson.

The Schneider Family Book Award is given to books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience. This year's winner for children is Back to Front and Upside Down by Claire Alexander, a story that reminds us that patience and practice pay off. The Schneider winner for middle school is A Dog Called Homeless by Sarah Lean, about a girl's silent struggle to deal with her mother's death. The award for teens was given to Somebody, Please Tell Me Who I Am by Harry Mazer and Peter Lerangis, a harrowing story about a brain-damaged Iraq veteran remembering his autistic brother.

The Stonewall Book Award for young adult books of exceptional merit relating to the GLBT experience was given to Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz. Four Stonewall Honors were given to Drama by Raina Telgemeier, Gone, Gone, Gone by Hannah Moskowitz, October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard by Leslea Newman, and Sparks: the Epic, Completely True Blue, (Almost) Holy Quest of Debbie by S. J. Adams.

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award honors an author or illustrator whose books have made a lasting and substantial contribution to children's literature. This year's award was given to Katherine Paterson.

The Margaret A. Edwards Award is given to an author honoring lifetime achievement in writing for young adults. This year, the award was given to Tamora Pierce.

The Mildred L. Batchelder Award is given for an outstanding children's book originally published in a language other than English. This year's winner is My Family for the War by Anne C. Voorhoeve, translated from the German by Tammi Reichel. Two Batchelder Honors were given to A Game for Swallows: To Die, to Leave, to Return by Zeina Abirached, translated from French by Edward Gauvin, and Son of a Gun written and translated from Dutch by Anne de Graaf.

The William C. Morris Award for a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens was given to Rachel Hartman for Seraphina. Four other books were finalists for the award: Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby, Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo, After the Snow by S.D. Crockett, and The Miseducation of Cameron Post by emily m. danforth.

The Pura Belpre (Illustrator) Award honoring a Latino illustrator was given to Martin de Porres: the Rose in the Desert illustrated by David Diaz and written by Gary D. Schmidt.

The Pura Belpre (Author) Award was given to Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz. One Pura Belpre (Author) Honor was given to The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano.

The Odyssey Award for best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults went to The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and narrated by Kate Rudd. Three Odyssey Honor Audiobooks also were selected: Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian written by Eoin Colfer and narrated by Nathaniel Parker; Ghost Knight written by Cornelia Funke and narrated by Elliot Hill; and Monstrous Beauty written by Elizabeth Fama and narrated by Katherine Kellgren.

Ten Alex Awards are given each year to the best adult books that appeal to a teen audience. This year's winners are Caring Is Creepy by David Zimmerman, Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman, Juvenile in Justice by Richard Ross, Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan, My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf, One Shot at Forever: A Small Town, An Unlikely Coach, and A Magical Baseball Season by Chris Ballard, Pure by Julianna Baggott, The Round House by Louise Erdrich, Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt, and Where'd You Go Bernadette? by Maria Semple.

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