Kirkus has released their Best Children’s Books of 2006 list. It includes a lot of my favorites:
Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
The Braid by Helen Frost
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Duck & Goose by Tad Hills (I can’t believe that was this year! It seems like a classic already.)
Dairy Queen by Catherine Murdock
Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton
Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin
Flotsam by David WIesner
Dizzy by Jonah Winter

The 2007 longlist for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal has been announced. The Greenaway Medal is a UK award given for distinguished illustration in a children’s book.
I am happy to see Down the Back of the Chair on the list, but haven’t read any of the others. More books for my already-long list!

The longlist for the 2007 CILIP Carnegie Medal has been announced. The Carnegie Medal is a UK award, given each year to the author of an outstanding book for children. The short list will be published in April 2007 and the award is announced in June.

Just got an email in my box that announced the release of SLJ’s Best Books of 2006!  Hurrah!  I always love getting these lists of books and discovering what I missed out on through the year.  Enjoy!

National Book Awards have been announced and the winner of the Young People’s Literature award is M.T. Anderson for The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol I: The Pox Party. I have a copy at the top of my to-read pile and am looking forward to it!

Amazon has announced their Best of 2006: Books. Scroll all the way to the bottom past the adult fiction and nonfiction, and you will find the top picks for picture books, middle readers, and teens.
I agree with a handful of their choices, but other ones have me scratching my head. I think all of them are nice books, but top of the year? I’m just not sure.

Teens voted for their favorite young adult book during Teen Read Week. Here is the top ten:
1. “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” by J.K. Rowling
2. “Twilight” by Stephanie Meyer
3. “Eldest” by Christopher Paolini
4. “Rebel Angels” by Libba Bray
5. “Peeps” by Scott Westerfeld
6. “13 Little Blue Envelopes” by Maureen Johnson
7. “Poison” by Chris Wooding
8. “Captain Hook: The Adventures of a Notorious Youth” by J.V. Hart
9. “If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where’s My Prince?” by Melissa Kantor
10.”Elsewhere” by Gabrielle Zevin
Whoa! Some of my favorite teen novels! These teens have great taste. I too loved Peeps, Elsewhere, and Rebel Angels.

Bookheads has the shortlist for the Booktrust Teenage Prize:
* Siobhan Dowd – A Swift Pure Cry
* Ally Kennen – Beast
* Paul Magrs – Exchange
* Anthony McGowan – Henry Tumour
* Marcus Sedgwick – The Foreshadowing
* John Singleton – Angel Blood
And I haven’t read a single one of them! They have an author, school student, school librarian, two journalists and four teen judges on their panel. The winner will be announced in November.

Big A Little a has announced The First Annual Children’s Book Awards, Blog Edition. She has all of the rules and participation opportunities listed as well. Volunteer to be either on the nominating or judging committee for the age you are interested in.
They are also searching for a cool name for the awards. You can see I won’t be much competition in that regard from the title of my post!