Various Awards Reactions

Today marks a week since the ALA Youth Media Awards were announced, which is more than enough time for everyone start the discussion. Here are some facets of that discussion:

• Esme Raji Codell posts about the contradiction of the Coretta Scott King Award being restricted to African-American authors and illustrators.
• The Guardian (a British newspaper!) ran an article about Neil Gaiman's win for The Graveyard Book, touting the difference between the reaction to his popular novel and quieter winners from the past years. However, someone on one of my lists pointed out that for all the discussion about The Graveyard Book's popularity, we seem to have forgotten that Neil Gaiman is already a mad popular adult author. Many of his fans well could have followed him into the wild realms of kids lit. How is this skewing our perception of kids reading it? Hmmmm.
• Lisa Chellman jotted down her first thoughts on the winners. Like me, she is not surprised.
• Over at the Cybils Blog, Brett crows that the kidlitosphere shares the ALA's opinion of many of the award winners, and notes which books made it onto both the ALA lists and the Cybils shortlists. So who's catching up to who, is my question?
• The Today Show had its traditional nod toward the world of children's lit on the morning after the awards, running a mini-interview with Neil Gaiman and Beth Krommes. Wish I could embed it, but follow the link instead.
• And I'm sure you all know that Just One More Book!! scored big, posting an interview with Neil Gaiman the day after his win. Wowzers, you guys. Check out the kidlitosphere's official podcast.
  

Of course, the discussion never really ends. Heck, we're still arguing about whether Secret of the Andes should have won over Charlotte's Web, and that was in 1953!