The announcements happened, and all of our to-read shelves exploded. Now comes the equally fun part: dissecting the choices and discussing amongst ourselves what they all mean. I’m going to touch on just a few titles honored and blurt out a few thoughts about each – please discuss at will in the comments.
Printz Award
I haven’t read a single one of these books. Nary a one. But I’m psyched that of the five books honored, three are SFF books: Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal, Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner, and Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick. Interestingly this year, I don’t think any of the titles (including the two non-SFF titles, Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool and Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell) were huge surprises. I’d seen all of the selections discussed as Printz possibilities in a few different places by many different people. The exception is perhaps Navigating Early, which I think was a bit of a shock for several viewers who weren’t expecting a book on the younger side of YALSA’s spectrum to be honored.
Odyssey
I love this award so, so much, given to Scowler this year. This is the second year that the team of Daniel Kraus and Kirby Heyborne have won the gold seal, which is remarkable to me. (They previously won for Rotters in 2012). There is clearly something magical going on there. The ten-second clip the committee chose to showcase the audiobook gave the whole audience a collective shudder – and they loved every moment of it.
Edwards
I don’t think I was expecting Markus Zusak to take the prize, perhaps because he’s only written five books, and Edwards winners tend to have a larger oeuvre. But there’s no denying his books have made a significant and lasting contribution to youth literature. I have a copy of Getting the Girl that I’ve been meaning to read for years – perhaps now is the right time.
Overall Thoughts
This was a good year for girls named Flora, for balls and marbles and other round things, for Candlewick, for Brian Floca and Tim Federle. It was also a good year for genre fiction, which had representation in nearly every award category. The Morris honored a ghost story (In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters), the middle grade Schneider was awarded to a fantasy about dragons (Handbook for Dragon Slayers by Merrie Haskell), the Belpre honored an apocalyptic story (The Living by Matt de la Pena), the Odyssey awarded a truly creepy horror audiobook (Scowler by Daniel Kraus, read by Kirby Heyborne), a Newbery honor went to a ghost/horror story (Doll Bones by Holly Black), and as I mentioned above, over half of the Printz titles were SFF.
I loved what Angie Manfredi (@misskubelik) had to say about a couple of these choices on Twitter yesterday morning. She said it in a few 140-character tweets better than I could. About Matt de la Pena’s The Living and Merrie Haskell’s Handbook for Dragon Slayers:
Because there’s no getting away from it: @mattdelapena makes it clear that even during the apocalypse, race is going to be a factor.
— Angie Manfredi (@misskubelik) January 27, 2014
For this book to win a literary honor like this is SIGNIFICANT BUSINESS – because it says doing genre well can be real art. #alayma
— Angie Manfredi (@misskubelik) January 27, 2014
AND LET’S TALK ABOUT GENRE FICTION IN THE SCHNEIDER! The MG winner is a book about dragons and princesses … AND disability. YES. #alayma
— Angie Manfredi (@misskubelik) January 27, 2014
& if you are a publisher/writer? THIS is what diversity looks like: here’s my dragon book/disaster book…AND DIVERSITY IS HERE. #alayma
— Angie Manfredi (@misskubelik) January 27, 2014
I’m sad I couldn’t be in Philadelphia in person, but I certainly felt like I was there in spirit. Hearing the tremendous cheers after each title was announced via the livestream was magical. I’m looking forward to pulling out my copy of Midwinterblood and preparing myself for awesomeness. I’m also looking forward to listening to Scowler – but definitely with the lights on.
The biggest surprise to me — that I LOVED — was that two books won the Stonewall award, rather than just one. Plus a nice slate of honors.
I thought of you when I heard Beautiful Music for Ugly Children announced!
If you haven't see my critique of LOCOMOTIVE, please do. In recent years, the uttering of the word 'diversity' seems to have been lip service. Floca responded to my review, and I responded back yesterday. Betsy Bird referenced it in her pre-game show event. http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2014/01/about-diverse-books-and-inclusivity-in.html
Second thing–Matt de la Pena's LIVING. When I read the part about the pandemic and how it came to be, the thought that emerged most clearly was how it is a parallel to the prisons being built in Arizona, followed by passage of laws that made it easy for those prisons to be filled. And that parallel came from Matt–his MEXICAN WHITE BOY was a key piece in the shut-down of the Mexican American Studies courses in Tucson public schools. It struck me that he was incorporated that kind of bullshit into his new novel.
Debbie, thanks for your comments. I hadn't read any of the Caldecott winners/honors aside from Journey, so your post on Locomotive provides a welcome perspective. While I haven't read The Living, I think your general assessment is spot on: great genre fiction always reflects our own world.
I'm shocked by many things this year, but was so glad to see Scowler win. The sample, short as it was, was ear-shatteringly brilliant. An already amazing book converted into something even better? Win-win.