by Barbara C. Thompson Book, Indiana University Southeast
While those of us living in the United States eagerly await a Monday in January for the announcement of the various American Library Association Awards, book lovers all over the world have their own days of wondering “who will win?” This week I will explore a variety of awards given in countries where English is the dominate language. Each country has its equivalent of a children’s writing award and an illustration award. However in most countries the award is given to books which have been pre-generated on a “short list” much like the National Book Awards in this country.
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Recently the American Library Association gave out its awards for books for Youth and Young Adults at its Mid-Winter Convention in Dallas, TX. In the age of Twitter and other social networks, those of us not able to be in Dallas were able to participate in the announcements in real time. These awards are considered the Oscars of Children’s Literature in the United States, with the Caldecott winner (this year Chris Rascha) and the Newbery winner (this year Jack Gantos) appearing on the Today show the next day. There are so many children’s literature geeks in this country that the event “trended” on Twitter.