Friday Top 5 - ALA Award Winners 2011

The prestigious American Library Association awards were announced earlier this week, so this weeks Top 5 looks at five of the winners.

1. John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature goes to Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool. Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is the daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of 1936, sends her to stay with an old friend in Manifest, Kansas, where he grew up, and where she hopes to find out some things about his past.
2. Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children is awarded to A Sick Day for Amos McGee illustrated by Erin E. Stead and written by Philip C. Stead. Amos McGee, a friendly zookeeper, always made time to visit his good friends: the elephant, the tortoise, the penguin, the rhinoceros, and the owl. But one day--'Ah-choo!'--he woke with the sniffles and the sneezes. Though he didn't make it into the zoo that day, he did receive some unexpected guests.
3. Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults goes to Ship Breaker written by Paolo Bacigalupi. In a futuristic world, teenaged Nailer scavenges copper wiring from grounded oil tankers for a living, but when he finds a beached clipper ship with a girl in the wreckage, he has to decide if he should strip the ship for its wealth or rescue the girl. This book is also available as an audio book (including as downloadable media).
4. Laura Ingalls Wilder Award honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children. The 2011 winner is Tomie dePaola, author and illustrator of over 200 books.
5. Margaret A. Edwards Award honors an author, as well as a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature. This year it was awarded to the profilic and incredibly popular author Sir Terry Pratchett.

These were not the only awards that were announced. For the full list go to this ALA Press Release. Sounds like a couple more books here that I will be adding to the infamous TBR (To Be Read) list.