Looking for Good Read-Alouds?

Are you looking for good read-alouds for children? You should check out the nominees for the 2009 E.B. White Read Aloud Awards. These awards, established in 2004, honor books that reflect the universal read-aloud standards that were created by the work of the author E.B. White in his classic books for children--Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan. There are two categories: Picture Books and Older Readers.

Books are nominated for their universal appeal as a “terrific” book to read aloud. The Association of Booksellers for Children (ABC) receives a list of book nominations, which is pared down to a short list of four books in each category. A committee of booksellers, chaired by an ABC board member, then decides the winners. Here are the winners and honor books chosen this year:

E.B. White Read Aloud Award for Picture Books:
A Visitor for Bear
By Bonny Becker
Bear's efforts to keep out visitors to his house are undermined by a very persistent mouse.

E.B. White Read Aloud Picture Book Honors:
Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken
By Kate DiCamillo
Longing for adventure, intrepid Louise leaves her comfortable nest and goes to sea.

One
By Kathryn Otoshi
A number/color book that reminds us that it just takes one to make everyone count.

Too Many Toys
By David Shannon
Although he finally agrees that he has too many toys and needs to give them away, there is one toy that Spencer absolutely cannot part with.

E.B. White Read Aloud Award for Older Readers:
Masterpiece
By Elise Broach
After Marvin, who is a beetle, makes a miniature drawing as an eleventh birthday gift for James, a human with whom he shares a house, the two new friends work together to help recover a Durer drawing stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

E.B. White Read Aloud Older Reader Honors:
The Magic Thief
By Sarah Prineas
A young thief is drawn into a life of magic and adventure after picking the pocket of the powerful wizard Nevery Flinglas, who has returned from exile to try to reverse the troubling decline of magic in Wellmet City.

The Willoughbys
By Lois Lowry
In this tongue-in-cheek take on classic themes in children's literature, the four Willoughby children set about to become "deserving orphans" after their neglectful parents embark on a treacherous around-the-world adventure, leaving them in the care of an odious nanny.

Zorgamazoo
By Robert Paul Weston
Imaginative and adventurous Katrina eludes her maniacal guardian to help Morty, a member of a vanishing breed of zorgles, with his quest to uncover the fate of the fabled zorgles of Zorgmazoo as well as of other creatures that seem to have disappeared from the earth.

2009 Children's Book Award Winners

The American Library Association (ALA) has announced the top books, videos and audiobooks for children and young adults--including the Caldecott, Newbery, Printz and Coretta Scott King awards and others. The following is a partial list of award winners and honors. A complete list of awards and honors can be found at http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2009/january2009/ymawrap.cfm.

CALDECOTT MEDAL WINNER (best American picture book for children):
The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson

CALDECOTT MEDAL HONOR:
A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee
How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz
A River of Words by Jen Bryant

NEWBERY MEDAL WINNER (most distinguished contribution to children's literature):
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

NEWBERY HONOR:
The Underneath by Kathi Appelt
The Surrender Tree by Margarita Engle
Savvy by Ingrid Law
After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson

MICHAEL L. PRINTZ AWARD WINNER (excellence in literature for young adults):
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

MICHAEL L. PRINTZ AWARD HONORS:
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation by M.T. Anderson
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Nation by Terry Pratchett
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

CORETTA SCOTT KING AUTHOR AWARD WINNER (outstanding book by an African-American author):
We Are the Ship by Kadir Nelson

CORETTA SCOTT KING AUTHOR AWARD HONOR:
Keeping the Night Watch by Hope Anita Smith
The Blacker the Berry by Joyce Carol Thomas
Becoming Billie Holiday by Carole Weatherford