The Margaret A. Edwards Award was also announced today. It is a lifetime achievement award for writing for teens. It went to one of my favorite YA authors, Francesca Lia Block, who writes with such love of language that turns her work into a playground for the mind. Her books are light and quick, but deep and breath-taking. Hurrah for such a wonderful artist getting the award!

The Michael L. Printz Award was announced today too. The Printz Award recognizes excellence in books for young adults. The winner is
Meg Rosoff for How I Live Now.
The three honor books are:
Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
Chandra’s Secrets by Allan Stratton
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt

ALA | 2005 Media Award Winners
The Newbery and Caldecott Awards were announced today.
Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata won the Newbery and Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes won the Caldecott. The link above with take you to the list of honor awards as well. The honors include two of my favorites of the year: Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko and Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems.

LitPlans
is a website offering lesson plans, teacher’s guides, and study guides for middle school and high school teachers. Authors are listed by last name, with the most popular authors pulled out and listed on the front page. The collection of items for each author is very impressive and will save teachers lots of time in searching for literature-related items. It will also be of help to librarians who conduct book discussion with teens or do book talks.

Family Fun comes through once again with a wonderful holiday page: Everything Valentine’s. It offers ideas for homemade cards, crafts, treats, parties, and games. All to make your Valentines Day even sweeter.

About Children’s Books has a great listing of Graphic Novels Anime Comic Books that includes articles on recommended graphic novels, the definition of what a graphic novel is, and booklists galore.

Cyberschoolbus from the United Nations is a global project to aid in learning and teaching. It offers information on the nations of the world, information on the UN, curriculum, events, children’s art, and recommended books.

Tolerance.org is a site from the Southern Poverty Law Center that fights against hate. It offers information for teachers, parents, kids and teens to help promote tolerance in schools.

IFILM has an online trailer for Wallace and Gromit, the new feature-length movie based on the popular and wonderful short films by Nick Park. The film is due out in theaters this fall.