This morning I woke up to a foot-ish of snow and the cold, hard reality that my employer was expecting me to show up at work. Also, a post-Super Bowl Too Much Food&Drink Not Enough Sleep situation. Read: grumpy as hell.

I did, however, make it into the office in time to watch the webcast of  the ALA Youth Media Awards. And wow, what a crazy set of awards. There were upsets! Some well-deserving sleepers! Some books I really disliked taking home gold medals! An arguably YA graphic novel on the Caldecott list, a graphic novel on the Newbery list, and six (SIX!!) Caldecott honors that still somehow managed to skip some of my 2014 favorites. Definitely a wild ride.

Now, because I am having such a crummy day, I am going to divert your attention from the authors and illustrators who put forth such an amazing crop of children’s and young adult literature this past year and brag SHAMELESSLY about how many of these freaking award books I have read. Seriously. Reader, I killed it.

• I read the Newbery Medal winner – The Crossover by Kwame Alexander – and both honor books.

• I did not read the Caldecott Medal winner – The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat – but I read all six honor books!

• I read the Coretta Scott King Author Award winner – Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson – and one honor.

• I read the Coretta Scott King Illustrator winner – Firebird by Christopher Myers and Misty Copeland – and one honor.

• I read the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent award – When I Was the Greatest by Jason Reynolds (during my 48 hour book challenge!)

• I read the Michael L. Printz winner – I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson – and two of the four honors.

• I read the Schneider Family Book Award for middle school readers – Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin.

• I read the Pura Belpre Illustrator Award – Viva Frida by Yuyi Morales.

• I read the Sibert Award winner – The Right Word: Roget and his Thesaurus by Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet – and three of the five honor books.

• I did not read the Stonewall Book Award winner – This Day in June by Gayle E. Pittman – but I did read two of the three honor books.

• I did not read the Geisel Winner – You Are (Not) Small by Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant – but I did read one of the two honor books.

• I read the William C. Morris award winner – Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero – and one other honor book.

• I read the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction award winner – Popular: Vintage Wisdom for the Modern Geek – and three of the four honor books.

 

The only categories I completely whiffed on were the Pura Belpre Author Award and my beloved Alex List. Brag, braggity brag brag BRAG… but this is likely the only year this will happen, so thank you for indulging my self-indulgence and CHEERS to another great year of books!