Quad-City Times Newspaper Online has an article on an Iowa book challenge where parents are turning the tables on a school district that is restricting access to James Howe’s The Misfits.
“Two Pleasant Valley parents are challenging the decision to restrict the use of a book with a gay character in the district’s elementary schools, saying the decision violates constitutional protections for teachers and students, the process was not as open as it should have been, and the board violated its own policies.”
Woo hoo!
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The Crutcher Book Challenges page has information on the attempt this month to remove Crutcher’s Whale Talk from the curriculum in a South Carolina school district. The final decision will be made soon by the superintendent and as always, I hope that a book is retained.

YALSO has selected the ten books for the 2004 Alex Awards The Alex Award is given to adult fiction and nonfiction that will “intrigue and challenge the diverse audience of teen readers.”
The award winners are:
Davis, Amanda. Wonder When You’ll Miss Me. William Morrow/HarperCollins, $24.95 (0-688-16781-0).
Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Doubleday, $22.95 (0-385-50945-6).
Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. Riverhead, $24.95 (1-57322-245-3).
Niffenegger, Audrey. The Time Traveler’s Wife. MacAdam Cage, $25.00 (1-931561-46-X)
Packer, Z.Z. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere. Riverhead, $24.95 (1-57322-234-8).
Roach, Mary. Stiff. Norton, $23.95 (0-393-05093-9).
Salzman, Mark. True Notebooks. Knopf, $24.00 (0-375-41308-1).
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. Pantheon, $17.95 (0-375-42230-7)
Winspear, Jacqueline. Maisie Dobbs. Soho, $24.00 (1-56947-330-7).
Yates, Bart. Leave Myself Behind. Kensington, $23.00 (0-7582-1348-9).

Schneider Family Book Award recipients named
The Schneider Award is a new award from ALA that honors an author or illustrator for a book that “embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.”
The 2005 winner for picture book is My Pal, Victor/Mi Amigo, Victor by Diane Gonzales Bertrand, illustrated by Robert L. Sweetland.
The winnter for middle-school level is Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Munoz Ryan.
And the teen award goes to My Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir by Samantha Abeel.

The 2005 Best Books for Young Adults is now available online! Yippee! Even more books to add to my library reserve list.

Woo hoo! The Current Notable Children’s Books List is now available online. I love this list because there are always incredible books on it that I have missed through the year. Enjoy!
The YALSA website doesn’t have the YA list up yet, but I hope to have the link posted later today or definitely tomorrow.

e-Grants is a portal from the U.S. Department of Education for web-based grants.

Laurence Yep has been awarded the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for his “substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.” Yep has written picture books and juvenile fiction that represent Chinese Americans in history and today. He is a perfect choice for the award.

JS Online: Kevin Henkes ‘Takes Five’
This interview with Kevin Henkes includes his reaction to winning the Caldecott Medal this week. Plus a wonderful testimonial to the power of books and reading.