The National Book Award Finalists for Young People's Literature 2010

The National Book Award finalists for young people's literature for 2010 have been announced. They are:

Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker (Little, Brown & Co.)

Kathryn Erskine, Mockingbird (Philomel Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group)

Laura McNeal, Dark Water (Alfred A. Knopf)

Walter Dean Myers, Lockdown (Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)

Rita Williams-Garcia, One Crazy Summer (Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)

Young People's Literature Finalists Walter Dean Myers and Rita Williams-Garcia have both been Finalists in the category in previous years, the former in 1999 and 2005, and the latter just last year. The other three Finalists are Paolo Bacigalupi, a Nebula and Hugo Award nominee for his adult science-fiction writing (Ship Breaker is his first book for young readers); former attorney Kathryn Erskine for her second book for young adults; and Laura McNeal, a former teacher who co-authored her three previous books with her husband.

The judges for this category were: Laban Carrick Hill, Kelly Link,Tor Seidler, Hope Anita Smith, Sara Zarr

The winner of the award will be announced on November 17th at the National Book Awards ceremony in New York City. You can find more information about the finalists on the National Book Foundation website 

Please consider supporting me in the 2010 Portland Race for the Cure

I know that this is a blog about children's books, but it also a blog about children and their families. Thousands of children's lives are touched when members of their families get breast cancer. This Sunday I will be running in the Race for the Cure in Portland. My ten-year-old daughter and my husband will be walking in the 5k walk. Please consider sponsoring me in this race. Your support would be greatly appreciated.

by clicking here. 

My family and I before the race in 2009

The Nominations for the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Awards

The nominations for the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Awards are in. The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are presented every two years by IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) to "an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important and lasting contribution to children's literature" The nominations are:

Argentina: Author: Liliana Bodoc; Illustrator: Luis Scafati
Austria: Author: Heinz Janisch; Illustrator: Linda Wolfsgruber
Belgium: Author: Pierre Coran; Illustrator: Carll Cneut
Brazil: Author: Bartolomeu Campos de Queirós; Illustrator: Roger Mello
Canada: Author: Brian Doyle; Illustrator: Marie-Louise Gay
China: Author: Liu Xianping
Croatia: Illustrator: Svjetlan Junakóvić
Cyprus: Author: Maria Pyliotou
Czech Republic: Author: Pavel Šrut; Illustrator: Jiří Šalamoun
Denmark: Author: Louis Jensen; Illustrator: Lilian Brøgger
Finland: Author: Hannu Mäkelä; Illustrator: Salla Savolainen
France: Author: Jean-Claude Mourlevat; Illustrator: Grégoire Solotareff
Germany: Author: Peter Härtling; Illustrator: Jutta Bauer
Greece: Author: Loty Petrovits-Andrutsopulou; Illustrator: Diatsenta Parissi
Iran: Author: Ahmad Reza Ahmadi
Ireland: Author: Eoin Colfer; Illustrator: P.J. Lynch
Japan: Author: Shuntaro Tanikawa; Illustrator: Akiko Hayashi
Lithuania: Illustrator: Kęstutis Kasparavičius
Mexico: Author: Alberto Blanco; Illustrator: Fabricio Vanden Broeck
Mongolia: Author: Dashdondog Jamba
Netherlands: Author: Peter van Gestel; Illustrator: Harrie Geelen
Norway: Author: Bjørn Sortland; Illustrator: Thore Hansen
Russia: Illustrator: Nickolay Popov
Serbia: Author: Zoran Božović
Slovak Republic: Author: Ján Uličiansky Illustrator: Peter Uchnár
Slovenia: Author: Tone Pavček; Illustrator: Ančka Gošnik Godec
Spain: Author: Jordi Sierra i Fabra; Illustrator: Xan López Domínguez
Sweden: Lennart Hellsing; Illustrator: Anna-Clara Tidholm
Switzerland: Illustrator: Etienne Delessert
Turkey: Author: Muzaffer İzgü; Illustrator: Can Göknil
Uganda: Author: Evangeline Ledi Barongo
United Kingdom: Author: David Almond; Illustrator: Michael Foreman
USA: Author: Walter Dean Myers; Illustrator: Eric Carle

I am thrilled that Cyprus, the island where I mostly grew up, has nominated someone.

The winners of the 2008 Hans Christian Andersen Award were:

Author: Jurg Schubiger - a Swiss writer

Illustrator: Roberto Innocenti - an Italian illustrator who has given the world of children's literature many stunningly beautiful books.

You can see a complete list of past winners on the IBBY website.