Celeste's Harlem Renaissance

Celeste's Harlem Renaissance by Eleanora E. Tate : news hot off the author's website: "The North Carolina Literary and Historical Association has announced that it has selected Celeste's Harlem Renaissance to receive the 2007 North Carolina American Association of University Women Award for Juvenile Literature."

While this is on my TBR (to be read) pile, I can report back that my mother has read it and gives it a thumbs up. She picked it up because it was set in NYC, not far from where my mother grew up (tho quite a few years before she was born); enjoyed it because the story and ending were realistic; and she says this award is very well deserved, because it said so much about the culture both in Harlem and in North Carolina. "A good, good book."

Congratulations, Caridad Ferrer

Adios to My Old Life by Caridad Ferrer is the 2007 RITA Winner for Best Contemporary Single Title!

The RITA Awards are sponsored by the Romance Writers of America, and it is the romance-publishing industry's highest award of distinction.

And, Adios to My Old Life is a YA title. How cool is that?

Thanks to Smart Bitches, who posted about this book winning. And, apparently, in the Romance world there is a bit of discussion about whether a YA title should have won. I don't know the history of the award or the criteria, but I found the comments very interesting. A lot of discussion (most of it polite & respectful) about what is YA? and what is romance? And is it possible or impossible for a book to be both YA and romance?

I haven't read the book yet; but overall, I think yes, a book can be both YA and romance. I am disappointed by many YA books called "romance" because there is no HEA (that's a new acronym I just learned, it's the Happy Ever After. Love it!) and I think a romance needs HEA. I think YA is a big umbrella, and contains romance, science fiction, horror, etc. Any possible genre can be found in YA (which, btw, is why I don't like using the word "genre" for YA; I don't see it as a genre, but as an age range.)

So I'm looking forward to reading this book, especially since this win makes me strongly suspect I'll get my HEA!

Links
Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Novels review
Latina YA review
Little Willow/Bildungsroman review & interview

Nebula and Andre Norton Award Winners

Congrats to Justine Larbalestier!

Magic or Madness won the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy!

Links:

Justine's post about winning, including the acceptance speech given on her behalf
Scott Westerfeld's post about the award

Benjamin Franklin Award Finalists 2007 and Being an Amazon Affiliate

The Benjamin Franklin Award Finalists 2007; Wands and Worlds has the children's lit finalists, complete with handy Amazon links to find out more info about the book.

And now once again I'm using my own post to veer off on a tangent; the Amazon links issue. As anyone reading the blog knows, I link to Amazon both within reviews and on the sidebar and am an Amazon Affiliate. Why?

In no particular order:

-- cool techie stuff! You may hate it, but I really like the bit that zooms up and contains all the information on the book.

-- using the cover image. There is no definite law on whether or not use of a book or DVD cover is allowable under copyright; seriously, whatever page you link to in my comments saying it is OK is an interpretation of current copyright law. So, for my own peace of mind in not having to worry about it publisher by publisher, book by book, artist by artist, I figure if I'm an Amazon Associate I have the right to use the cover art on my site. This is the solution that works for me; you do the one that works for you. Apples, oranges, six of one, half a dozen of the other. Long time readers may remember how for a while I solved this dilemma by not using cover images at all.

-- my readers are grown-ups. No, seriously. I respect you all as intelligent people; you'll buy or borrow the book from wherever you want to.

-- Amazon does contain additional information about the book that I'm either unable or unwilling to include. Yep, so do other book sellers, to a point. What I couldn't include if I wanted to : the text of published reviews. In looking for published reviews, I like to check out multiple bookseller sites because no one site contains all the published reviews. And, of course, the original review source, if it's available online and is free. I also like that booksellers contain all the info like ISBNs that right now I don't want to include.

-- Why not make a few bucks? Basically, if someone clicks on one of those links and buys something, I make a few pennies. To date, having done this program for over a year, I have made less than fifty dollars. The money is not the reason I'm using the program; it's more for the reasons above. But is it nice when I do find out I've made a few dollars? Yes; it gives me an excuse to buy DVDs.

-- Well, you may ask, why not link to the library and promote that? Truthfully, I haven't looked into it at all. If you prefer to get your books from libraries, I suggest using this Library LookUp Bookmarklet. Basically, if you're in Amazon (or any entity that includes the item ISBN in its URL), you click the bookmarklet and it brings you into your local library catalog to see whether or not your library has the item.

Different people use Amazon Affiliates for different reasons. And guess what? It's all cool; because, as I said, we are all intelligent people who are well aware of the issues about booksellers, mega sellers, independents and big business; marketing, advertising, and promoting; as well as looking at our time, how it is spent, and what we want out of it. I believe that of bloggers; and I believe that of blog readers.

But What About the Old Books?

The Children's Literature Association selects a Phoenix Award each year:

"The Children's Literature Association, an organization of teachers, scholars, librarians, editors, writers, illustrators, and parents interested in encouraging the serious study of children's literature, created the Phoenix Award as an outgrowth of the Association's Touchstones Committee. The award, given to a book originally published in the English language, is intended to recognize books of high literary merit. The Phoenix Award is named after the fabled bird who rose from its ashes with renewed life and beauty. Phoenix books also rise from the ashes of neglect and obscurity and once again touch the imaginations and enrich the lives of those who read them." The ChLA website had full information.

The 2006 winner: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. The full list of past winners and honor books is here.

Awards that aren't awards

Colleen at Chasing Ray has been doing some musing about awards and their usefulness, including how they are limited to a certain year, how it's only one book, and some such stuff.

Anyhow, she's decided to start a sort of anti-award; she's picking a subject and asking for nominations. Colleen has guidelines posted about this year's topic, Coming of Age. Head over there to make nominations.

If you're a list lover, particularly of lists that aren't limited to a specific year, don't forget the ALA Popular Paperback lists; each year, the committee picks 4 topics, and then the members read books for that topic. Books can be fiction, nonfiction, poetry, anything -- as long as they are related to that particular topic. Only other rule is that the book must be available in paperback.

Little Willow has created an amazing number of lists. The books span a wide range of interests and topics.

Newbery Award

Newbery Award, with links to my reviews.

Winner: "The Higher Power of Lucky,” written by Susan Patron. I didn't read it; so I have to find it!

Honor Books:
“Penny from Heaven,” written by Jennifer L. Holm. I reviewed this for The Edge of the Forest; it's in those archives, and I just republished the post here at Tea Cozy.
“Hattie Big Sky,” by Kirby Larson. I read it, adored it, and the post is sitting in my drafts pile.
“Rules,” by Cynthia Lord. Didn't read it, have to find it.

Note: as I read & review, I will edit this post to add links.

Printz Award

Printz Award, with links to my reviews

Winner:
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. I have my review of this sitting in my drafts file.

Honor Books:
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; v. 1: The Pox Party by M. T. Anderson
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Surrender by Sonya Hartnett
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I'll edit this to add the link to my review of ABC once it's posted.

Carl Brandon Awards

I'm drafting my review of Stormwitch by Susan Vaught and just came across two awards that are new to me, and boy, they look good: The Carl Brandon Parallax Award and the Carl Brandon Kindred Award.

"The Carl Brandon Parallax Award is given to works of fiction created by a person of color. Nominees must provide a brief statement self-identifying as a person of color; creators unwilling to do so will not be considered for this award.
The Carl Brandon Kindred Award is given to any work of speculative fiction dealing with issues of race and ethnicity; nominees may be of any racial or ethnic group."

For 2006, Stormwitch won the Kindred award; 47 by Walter Mosley won the Parallax Award. (Yes, both winners are YA!)

Take a peek at the recommended reading lists for other books and short stories that are speculative fiction by or about people of color. Go here to nominate titles for 2007.