For the second year in a row, Dav Pilkey’s series Captain Underpants topped the American Library Association’s list of most-challenged books. Pilkey commented that he was surprised “that a series with no sex, no nudity, no drugs, no profanity and no more violence than a Superman cartoon has caused such an uproar.” Other “vilified” books include, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, and E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey. You can see the complete list in this NPR article.
Laura
Are you a librarian? Are you faced with A Series of Unfortunate Events ? Have you handled them with integrity and dignity? You may just be the perfect candidate for a new award to be presented at the ALA (American Library Association) Midwinter conference. Children’s author David Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) who feels that “librarians have suffered enough” is establishing “The Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced With Adversity” – a $3,000 prize to be given annually to a deserving librarian from Snicket’s “disreputable gains, along with an odd, symbolic object from his private stash, as well as a certificate, which may or may not be suitable for framing.” Read more about this award here and nominate your favorite deserving librarian by visiting this ALA website.
Laura
Kate DiCamillo’s Flora & Ulysses won the Newbery medal for “the most distinguished American children’s book” of 2014. The story of a squirrel who is revived after being swallowed whole by a high-powered vacuum is illustrated in black and white by K. G. Campbell. Locomotive, by Brian Floca, was the winner of the Caldecott medal, “given to the artist who had created the most distinguished picture book of the year.” Both the Newberry and Caldecott medals were awarded by the American Library Association. Read more about the winners and the other honorees in today’s NPR article.
Laura
Richard Ford and Timothy Egan have won this year’s Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence for the best fiction and non-fiction works. Ford won for his novel Canada which is narrated by the teen son of bank robbers. Egan won for his biography of photographer Edward Curtis Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher. The medals were presented to the winners, who each won $5,000, by the American Library Association on Sunday. Both authors gave credit to libraries for making their work possible. You can read more here.
Laura
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