ALA aftermath and awards!

Well, the attendees of the American Library Association midwinter meeting are packing their bags and heading back to their respective libraries, publishing houses, and writer's garrets -- some making a detour to the George on the way out of town -- and with them goes the gigantic-book-clubby feeling Boston had over the weekend. I attended the exhibit hall on Saturday and felt like Charlie in Wonka's factory; there were delicious books as far as the eye could see, and (if you asked nicely) you could even take some home with you. I now have more supernatural YA advance reader copies than you can shake a stake at!

Even more exciting than new ARCs, yesterday the ALA announced its annual Youth Media Awards, including the best known and most prestigious of their awards, the Caldecott and Newbery. And the winners are (cue suspenseful music)...

Caldecott Medal for Most Distinguished Picture Book
The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney
Caldecott Honors
- All the World, illustrated by Marla Frazee and written by Liz Garton Scanlon
- Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski and written by Joyce Sidman

Newbery Medal for Most Distinguished Children's Literature
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Newbery Honors
- Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
- The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
- Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, written and illustrated by Grace Lin
- The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick

Printz Award for Exemplary Young Adult Literature
Going Bovine by Libba Bray
Printz Honors
- Tales from the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance, 1973 by John Barnes
- Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman
- Punkzilla by Adam Rapp
- The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

Coretta Scott King Award for African American Author of Outstanding Children's Literature
Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, U.S. Marshal by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
Coretta Scott King Author Honor
- Mare's War by tanita s. davis

Coretta Scott King Award for African American Illustrator of Outstanding Children's Literature
My People, illustrated by Charles R. Smith and written by Langston Hughes
Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor
- The Negro Speaks of Rivers, illustrated by E.B. Lewis and written by Langston Hughes

Giesel Award for Most Distinguished Beginning Reader
Benny and Penny in the Big No-No!, written and illustrated by Geoffrey Hayes
Giesel Honors
- I Spy Fly Guy!, written and illustrated by Tedd Arnold
- Pearl and Wagner: One Funny Day, written by Kate McMullan and illustrated by R.W. Alley
- Little Mouse Gets Ready, written and illustrated by Jeff Smith
- Mouse and Mole: Fine Feathered Friends, written and illustrated by Wong Herbert Yee

Sibert Award for Most Distinguished Informational Book
Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone
Sibert Honors
- The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors, written by Chris Barton and illustrated by Tony Persiani
- Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 13, written and illustrated by Brian Floca
- Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose

YALSA Excellence in YA Nonfiction Award
Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman

Phew! You can access the full list (yes, there are more) and view highlights of the conference and ceremony at the ALA Award page. Congratulations to all the winners! Now on to commentary...

Book buyer Donna wants me to tell you that we have "lots and lots" of Caldecott winner The Lion and the Mouse. Not just lots, but lots and lots. As in stacks and stacks. I can also confirm that we have lots and lots of Newbery winner When You Reach Me. Don't forget the honor books! Curious George is your one-stop shop for award winning and honored books.

If you haven't already read Nikki Grimes's excellent essay "Speaking Out," about African American illustrators being passed over for the Caldecott, now is the time to do so. This year Jerry Pinkney is the first individual African American artist to win, despite his and many other black illustrators' essential contributions to the picture book canon.

We're especially happy for our friend and alum Grace Lin, who received a Newbery honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. Lovely in both story and illustration, this is a book I recommend frequently. I'm so glad to see it -- and wonderful Grace -- recognized! Hooray!

Finally, some savvy staff members knew what was up months ago -- Taylor recommended When You Reach Me in a staff pick:

When whip-smart, instantly likeable 12-year-old Miranda begins to receive mysterious notes with even more mysterious directives, she is catapulted into a mission — à la her favorite book, A Wrinkle in Time — to save someone she loves. You will quickly find yourself embroiled in the mystery along with her.

Rachel's been a fan of the Fly Guy series since the first book, Hi, Fly Guy! She wrote in her pick:

Buzz knows Fly Guy is the best pet ever—he can even say Buzz’s name! The judges at the Amazing Pet Show need a little convincing, though…. Be sure to check out the other Fly Guy books, including the latest installment, I Spy Fly Guy!

All this ALA talk is making me antsy to go finish reading Printz Honor The Monstrumologist, so this is your ALA special reporter Katie, signing off!

Fuzzy wuzzy had no hair...

Tragic news! The company that supplies us our plush Curious George, Russ, had unfortunately underestimated the demand on George and has run out of fabric. Right now we have only 16" George puppets and the dress up sets, which come with 10" George and two outfits. We had hoped to receive the other varieties of George before Christmas, but alas, it will not be. The new word is that George fur, and thus cuddly Georgies, will be back on hand in January. We're extremely sorry for the monkey fans who were hoping for a plushy this holiday season, but you can always call us to reserve your favorite style for next month.

A post of things completely unrelated...(gasp!)

Today's grouping of goodies has no underlying theme (I feel so...unsupervised!): these toys are hand-picked for their mere incredible awesomeness!

The Best of the Baby Room

Doreen Cronin writes humorous animal stories like none other: Diary of a Worm got toddlers and parents chuckling way before Jeff Kinney hit the epistolary scene. And what's better than a good book about funny farm critters? A good book about funny farm critters IN a barn with toy farm critters! That's right: Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type now comes in board book format with a play barn and disgruntled cardboard animals inside!

Is your tyke almost ready to mobilize? Alex's Learn to Crawl Tunnel is a silky soft play space that encourages exploration. As kids will make hideouts of anything, this crawling tunnel (or "crunnel", which is more fun to say) is perfect for the littlest pioneers - and it collapses into its own bag for easy storage.


I've extolled the adorableness of Miyim's organic baby plush before, but they have taken cute to a new level with Lil Neighbors stroller toys. These simple chic animals in basic pastels have a squeaker in the belly and crinkly ears, packing a lot of punch for their easy traveling size. For even more "green baby" cuteness, try Russ's Simply Natural line: their cuddly animal puppets are made from all natural cotton and colored with vegetable dye.

The Best of the Middle Ground (ages 4 - 7)

International Playthings knows how to please the toddler crowd with their wide variety of new and classic toys. We've been selling their Transparent Marble Run like Sweet's Red Velvet cupcakes! Kids can build a maze out of the clear, colorful tubes and watch the real marbles roll.

Nothing says a party quite like a pinata! In addition to our Curious George ribbon pinatas from Unique, we now carry dinosaur, flower, and donkey pinatas (the kind that need a whomping stick). And with all the various little gateaus we have (maybe those tiny Japanese erasers?) you can stuff your pinata with sugar-free goodness.

Whether this summer means day or sleep-away camp or picnics and running wild in the backyard, Crocodile Creek EcoKids Drinking Bottles are a handy and stylish way to stay hydrated and be ecologically responsible. The stainless steel bottles come in the myriad colorful designs that Crocodile Creek products are known for: trucks, dinosaurs, butterflies, space, jungle, and my personal favorite, animal footprints!

The Best of the Chapter Book Room

Our (petite) book-buyer, Donna, had been begging the merch-buyer, Ellen, to purchase this particular toy for ages...and now we finally have them: Walkaroo Stilts! These stilts are sturdy and adjustable, perfect for any adventurous child. One of my favorite books downstairs, The Wild Girls by Pat Murphy, has a great scene with the girls learning to walk in stilts (ahh, metaphors).

You love Twister. You love the Mr. Men and Little Miss books. Their powers combine in the Travel Mr Men & Little Miss Twister Tube from BasicFun! Not only does this twister mat have the famous Hargreaves characters as the color dots, but it can be easily toted anywhere in its tube with the spinner on the tube's cap. Extreme awesomeness, right??

Game genius Hasbro has miniaturized its most popular games: you can now take Connect 4, Boggle, and Etch-a-Sketch Travel Games anywhere - just attach the game's carabiner to your bag or belt and you're ready for a good trip!


Like I said, merely incredibly awesome. You can bet my nephews and cousins (and the younger, sprier uncles and aunts)are going to love that pinata and twister mat at our family's 4th of July cookout...

It's Snow Amazing!

While this 30 degree weather might feel a bit like a heat wave, now is the time to enjoy snow -- in a book! Here are our top picks of picture books, chapter books, and non-fiction for reading with a cozy blanket and cup of hot chocolate.

Our book buyer, Donna, is a big fan of the preschool-age picture book Footprints in the Snow by Mei Matsuoka, an adorable story about Mr. Wolf, who is frustrated by the portrayal of wolves as mean in storybooks. He sets out to write a true story of a nice wolf, and finds out most animals don't trust his niceness, and maybe with good reason! Observant readers will enjoy finding Mr. Nice Wolf's pencil "writing" this circular story within a story, and this particular reader got a little gleeful, mischievous sense of foreboding when the "Nice" disappeared from Mr. Wolf's name...But breathe easy, little readers, Matsuoka, like Liwska's Little Panda, lowers the potential scary factor with adorable cartoony scenes.

Addis Berner Bear Forgets by Joel Stewart is another new wintry animal picture book, but with a more traditional storyline. Addis Berner Bear goes to the city in the winter, and is so overwhelmed with all the loud and fast things, some scary, some exciting, that he forgets what he has come there for. It takes a friend and some creativity to find his way again, but once he does, he won't ever forget. The warm watercolor and ink illustrations reveal hints, carrying the spare text through multiple rereadings.

I'm hard pressed to pick just one penguin book, especially with our whole penguin window display to choose from, but Antoinette Portis's (remember Not a Box?) brand spanking new title A Penguin Story is also a wonderful tale about curiosity and individuality, in addition to featuring lots of skinny-legged penguins! (Skinny-legged animals is a phenomenon we will analyze someday.) In the land of snow and water, Edna is looking for something else, something more than black, blue, or white. Once she finds this "something else," all the penguins are intrigued in their own ways, and Edna changes her quest to What else could there be? I just love the endpapers in this, too, so simple and clever.

In terms of classics, no kid venturing into the winter wonderland could do without Ezra Jack Keats's Caldecott winner, The Snowy Day, about a little boy and the magic of the first snow. For a well-rounded gift, we carry a plush Peter doll, which was described in this post. Robert Munsch's Thomas' Snowsuit is a sillier story about a boy who just does not want to wear his snowsuit, and all the kerfuffle that the grownups get into trying to get him in it. Elementary schoolers will laugh loads to see the teacher and principal in one another's clothes.

Snow Amazing: Cool Facts and Warm Tales by Jane Drake and Ann Love is the epitome of winter-themed non-fiction. This book for 8 to 10-year-olds has it all, from facts about weather, ecology, and animals to legends and mini-biographies about famous scientists and artists fixated on snow. Sound like a lot? Humor, brevity and a mix of photographs and illustrations keep this book from mind-numbing fact-overload, great for attention spans of all lengths.

The incredibly gorgeous edition of Robert Frost's poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening illustrated by Susan Jeffers will appeal to poetry and animal lovers alike. The selectively colored illustrations add another layer of narrative to this quintessential American poem.

Down in the chapter book room, another Donna favorite has pride of place in the winter display: Moominland Midwinter. The Moomintroll series, by Finnish author and illustrator Tove Jansson, have been described by previous George staffers as "quirkier Winnie the Pooh." In this seasonal choice, Moomintroll wakes up from his hibernation to discover a strange white stuff coating the world, and decides to investigate this audacious thing, Winter.

Last year's Printz award winner, The White Darkness (ages 12 and up), by Geraldine McCaughrean, has just come out in paperback. This breathtaking adventure tale centers on Sym, in love with all things Antarctica, especially Captain Oates of a doomed South Pole expedition, journeying into that dangerous wilderness with her uncle. Far from civilizations, Sym must survive the challenges of ferocious frozen land as well as the frailty and deception of human nature.

On a lighter, and much pinker note, Jennifer and Matthew Holm's graphic novel Babymouse: Skater Girl (ages 6 and up) serves up yet another fun and daydream-filled episode in Babymouse's messy-whiskered life. Babymouse loves skating on the pond with Wilson Weasel so much that she signs up for ice skating lessons, with dreams of a trophy dancing in her head. But the lessons may be more than she's bargained for--can Babymouse give up cupcakes for first place?

In addition to books, we have snow-related merchandise! Our ear bands and mittens from Russ's Snowy Day collection feature chubby polar bear and penguin faces on blue and green pastel fleece--perfect for those Peter-like romps out in the snow. Once you and your munchkins are bundled appropriately, try out Best of Best's Sno Art: crayon-shaped tubes that spray colors to paint in the snow. They come individually in a range of colors, or a boxed set. Or, if you'd prefer to stay inside, test out some of the delicious recipes from our wide array of cookbooks. Renowned chef Paula Deen has recently come out with My First Cookbook, with recipes ranging in complexity from applewiches and ants on a log to porcupine balls and peanut butter cookies. Rae Grant's Cooking Fun may require more adult supervision and assistance, but with an old-fashioned design and recipes for tasty treats such as summer berry fruit cups and quick & thick barbecued drumsticks, this cookbook is perfect for the committed child cook.


And, since it's just not a round-up post without Sandra Boynton, head over here for Davy Jones of the Monkees singing "Your Personal Penguin," and other Boynton musical numbers. See, you can never have just one penguin per snow day!

Sure, it's a blog... but it's so much more.

You may have noticed that our latest blog posts have been even more linkeriffic than past ones. Our awesome receiver John has been holed up in the Vault making website magic; now you can order the books and products we recommend directly from the blog! Clicking these links will take you to our website where you can shop online. We ship world-wide at standard shipping rates (and John is super-speedy at getting packages ready to go). You can also always order by calling us at 617-498-0062 for the added bonus of our charming phone demeanors.

Speaking of orders... Did you know that you can special order just about any in-print book from us and it will usually arrive within a week? While we pride ourselves (and we're constantly complimented) on our huge selection of children's fiction and nonfiction, it's impossible to keep everyone's favorite on the shelf at all times. We're happy to order books especially for you at no extra cost, and most will arrive at the store in a matter of days.

Which Books Do You Think Are Essentials?

Alison Morris, author of the awesome Shelftalker children's bookseller blog, posed an interesting question just a few days ago -- what five books, in different age categories, should no self-respecting bookstore be without?

Every day this week she's posting her list for a different age group, and other booksellers and book readers are posting their top five in the comments section. Here's the first post -- check it out, leave a list of your own in our comments or Alison's, and you can even browse other folks' lists for holiday gift ideas!

Here are some chapter book picks from our fabulous book buyer, Donna (she wasn't able to keep to the five-book limit, but who can blame her?):
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (this year's fiction Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner)
Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
The BFG by Roald Dahl
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
the Joey Pigza series by Jack Gantos
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Holes by Louis Sachar
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak