'Tis the Season - for Winners!

February is always an exciting time in the world of Children's Literature.  For 2013, the Caldecott and Newbery went to The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate and This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen, respectively.

A host of other books were of course given honors by the Caldecott and Newbery judges.

Wander on over to TeachingBooks.net to hear what these winning authors and others have to say about their craft.

A Caldecott Fall

Can you feel it?  Fall is definitely finding its way here ...  finally!

And there is nothing like the hint of chill in the air to conjure up images of snuggling under a blanket by the fire with a good book, but what book?  Sometimes the sheer number of choices at the library can be a bit too overwhelming, so this fall, we've decided to check out the best of the best -- year by year.

Reading is Fundamental offers a great place to start: Their handy lists of 10 years of Caldecott Winners and 10 Years of Newbery Winners.  Each of the lists includes the winners for the year as well as the three books that received honors mention.

There are plenty of books we've heard of before, but in reviewing the lists, there are tons that will be brand new.  We can't wait to dig in and see how long it will take us to make our way through ten years of excellence in children's literature.

If you're feeling even more ambitious, check out Librarian Laura's Caldecott Challenge 1938 - present or Mr. Schu's Newbery Medal Challenge 1922 - present.

Lots of fantastic books to read.  Join us, won't you?

Mock Caldecott: See What's Hot for 2012

Over on Goodreads Listopia, I stumbled across a great list today: 2012 Mock Caldecott.  It is a fun little list where all of the children's literature aficionados cast their votes for the books that they think will run away with the Caldecott Award this coming year.  While it is ambitious to think that I could read all of the books listed and cast my vote, I think it could be a good place to start looking for the books that are causing a buzz this year.  You can check it out too!

The top vote getter so far is "Me ... Jane" by Patrick McDonnell.
 Second place is "Perfect Square" by Michael Hall.

Sign up to be friends with LP Reads on Goodreads by opening your own account and you will have access to Listopia (a huge collection of lists for book lovers) as well as the LP Reads bookshelves (which have more than 2,500 books sorted into easy to use categories).