2008 ALA Awards
Many of you can identify with our giddy sense of anticipation as we awaited the award announcements from ALA Midwinter. Here at Tandem we gathered in the office at 6:30 a.m. to watch the live webcast from Philadelphia. All the lists of winners and honor books can be found at our website.
Some of our predictions came true; other winners were total surprises. We felt certain that an Elephant & Piggie book would get a Geisel, since these are a pretty unanimous choice for the best early reader books of all time. The Newbery winner is a nice surprise from an author who is a school librarian: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices From a Medieval Village is a series of monologues that depict village life, along with some well-researched nonfiction narrative. We were shocked but pleased that The Invention of Hugo Cabret won the Caldecott this year. It's a major departure from the traditional picture book format winner, and we think Brian Selznick is utterly deserving for his imaginitive, compelling illustrated novel.
Did one of your favorite books from 2007 get honored? Click here to see all the 2008 ALA award lists. Need to know which book was the ultimate winner in each category? Read on...
- 2008 Caldecott: The Invention of Hugo Cabret
- 2008 Newbery: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!
- 2008 Printz: The White Darkness
- 2008 Geisel: There Is a Bird On Your Head!
- 2008 CSK Steptoe Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything In It
- 2008 CSK Author: Christopher Paul Curtis, Elijah of Buxton
- 2008 CSK Illustrator: Ashley Bryan, Let It Shine
- 2008 Sibert: The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain
- 2008 Pura Belpre Author: Margarita Engle, The Poet Slave of Cuba
- 2008 Pura Belpre Illustrator: Marisa Montes, Los Gatos Black on Halloween
- 2008 Batchelder: Brave Story
- 2008 Edwards Award for lifetime achievement: Orson Scott Card
