Neil Gaiman talks about The Graveyard Book, etc.

Border's Media has a five minute video of Neil Gaiman talking about his Newbery winner, The Graveyard Book. (Remember, Borders is a book store, so they are trying to sell you stuff; you've been warned!)

If you're interested in Neil Gaiman, he regularly tweets on twitter under the name neilhimself.

Newbery and other awards and lists!

The American Library Association recently picked this year's Newbery Award winner. The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman, is about a young boy, orphaned and raised by ghosts and werewolves in a graveyard. The book will be here in August with the new school year!

The ALA has many other awards and lists, check out these:
Best Books for Young Adults 2009
2009 Great Graphic Novels
2009 Quick Picks (books just for the fun of it)
2009 Fabulous Films for Young Adults

Check out these lists. If any of the titles sound interesting, please recommend them to the librarian to order for next year!

National Book Award winners announced

The National Book Award winners were announced yesterdy in New York. The National Book Award is given to the best American book in the categories of fiction, non-fiction, young people's literature and poetry. The winners are:

Fiction: Peter Matthiessen, Shadow Country
Nonfiction: Annette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family
Young People's Literature: Judy Blundell, What I Saw and How I Lied
Poetry: Mark Doty, Fire to Fire: New and Collected Poems

These books will all be ordered for the library for next year!

Video games and stories?!

The Writer's Guild of America has decided to add video games to its list of awards this year. (The original press release is here.)

And, here are the nominees:

Crash of the Titans (Sierra Entertainment)
Written by Christopher Mitchell

Dead Head Fred (D3 Publisher)
Written by Dave Ellis and Adam Cogan

The Simpsons Game (EA)
Lead writer Matt Selman; written by Tim Long and Matt Warburton; dialogue by Jeff Poliquin

The Witcher (Atari)
Lead story designer Artur Ganszyniec; dialogue Sebastian Stepien; additional dialogue Marcin Blacha; writers Sande Chen and Anne Toole

World In Conflict (Sierra Entertainment)
Story design Christofer Emgard; story consultant Larry Bond; script consultant Ed Zuckerman

Are any of these games your favorite? Do you enjoy the storyline in the games you play?

Newbery and Caldecott announced!

The ALA just announced the Newbery and Caldecott winners!

The John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature was awarded to Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village, written by Laura Amy Schlitz.

The Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children was awarded to The Invention of Hugo Cabret, illustrated by Brian Selznick.

These books will be available at the SCCS library in August 2008. For the full list of this year's American Library Association awards and nominees, check out their press release.