The Sydney Taylor Book Awards honor the best new books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience.  Here are this year’s winners followed by the honor books:

Younger Readers Gold Medal

The Longest Night: A Passover Story by Laurel Snyder, illustrated by Catia Chien

Older Readers Gold Medal

The Blessing Cup by Patricia Polacco

Teen Readers Gold Medal

The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World’s Most Notorious Nazi by Neal Bascomb

 

Honor Books for Younger Readers

Stones for Grandpa by Renee Londoner, illustrated by Martha Avilles

Rifka Takes a Bow by Betty Rosenberg Perlov, illustrated by Cosei Kawa

Honor Books for Older Readers

The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson

Dear Canada: Pieces of the Past by Carol Matas

Honor Books for Teen Readers

Dancing in the Dark by Robyn Bavati

The War Within These Walls by Aline Sax, illustrated by Caryl Strzelecki

The 2013 Costa Award category winners have been announced.  The winner for the children’s book category is Chris Riddell for Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse.  All category winners now go on to compete for the overall prize.

The 2013 finalists have been announced for the Cybils Awards which are given to the best books in a variety of categories.  Great reads that are usually very unique and don’t match other award lists, so the result are books that are often fresh and always lots of fun. 

I will be serving on the final judging of the YA Speculative Fiction category.  I’m surprised to see I’ve only read one of them, so I have lots of reading ahead!

New York Public Library has released their 2013 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing on a great dynamic page that offers ways to limit the list by age, subject or format.  They also offer a pdf download of the list.  Click any cover image and you can see the full recommendation for that title.  Plenty to love here!

Thanks to Fuse #8 for sharing the link.

NPR has a very dynamic page for their best books list and it’s amazingly lovely.  They have sections so you can just view the Kids’ Books or the Young Adult Books.  Or feel free to browse them all!

Booklist magazine has announced the winners of their Top of the List for 2013.  The titles are selected from the Editor’s Choice picks in several categories.  Here are the winners for the youth categories:

YOUTH FICTION

Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang

 

YOUTH NONFICTION

Becoming Ben Franklin: How a Candle-Maker’s Son Helped Light the Flame of Liberty by Russell Freedman

 

YOUTH PICTURE BOOK

Locomotive by Brian Floca

 

YOUTH AUDIO

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black, read by Christine Lakin (links to the print version)

Thanks to Mr. Schu for pointing out that this list was released!  He is keeping a wonderful collection of the best books lists being produced this year.  Here are the ten books that made the 2013 Best Books list from Parents Magazine. 

  

Alphablock by Christopher Fracenschelli and Peskimo

Animal Opposites: A Pop-Up Book by Petr Horacek

Awesome Dawson by Chris Gall

  

The Big Wet Balloon by Liniers

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein

Pinwheel by Salina Yoon

  

Starring Jules (As Herself) by Beth Ain

Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great by Bob Shea

 

Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors?: The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell by Tanya Lee Stone and Marjorie Priceman

The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes

YALSA has announced that five books have been selected as finalists for the 2014 William C. Morris Award which is given to a book for teens written by a debut author.  The winner will be announced on January 27th at the Youth Media Awards program at ALA Midwinter.

Here are the finalists:

  

Belle Epoque by Elizabeth Ross

Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn

Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos

 

In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters

Sex & Violence by Carrie Mesrobian