It’s fun to see the list servs alive with results of library’s Mock Newbery, Caldecott, Printz (and other) Award Discussions.  It would be fun to do that sometime in our system, wouldn’t it?  Maybe some day. In the meantime, someone posted a  Pinterest board with books that have been chosen for Mock Newbery Awards this year from around the country.  Has anyone tried this sort of activity with kids?  I’d love to hear about it, and I bet your colleagues would, too.The Real Awards will all be announced at 8 am on Monday, February 2 (one week from today).  If you are super-excited to find out, there is a live webcast of the press conference or follow I Love Libraries on Twitter and Facebook to be among the first to know the 2015 winners. The official hashtag for the 2015 Youth Media Awards is  #ALAyma.  

In the meantime, read up for the Reading Goals project!  January’s category:  Picture Books!  I’m reading as many of the books from the Cooperative Children’s Book Center’s Charlotte Zolotow Award as possible in the next few days.  If you read a picture book (good or bad, new or old) by January 31, please take a minute to fill out this form so we can all benefit from your reading.  Book lists to follow in early February.

Here’s the schedule for the whole year:

January:  Picture Books
February:  Realistic Fiction
March:  Humorous books
April:  Transitional chapter books (stand-alone)
May:  Fantasy
June:  Historical Fiction
July:  Readers’ Choice
August:  Transitional chapter books (series)
September:  Diverse books
October:  Mystery/scary
November:  Science Fiction
December:  Nonfiction

Remember, you can read books for children or teens or both, graphic novels, nonfiction, diverse book–all fine to read for any of the months as long as they fit the theme!