ALA Youth Media Awards announced this morning

Every year, the American Library Association (ALA) gives awards for a variety of literature, including their Youth Media Awards that cover books whose target audiences range from preschoolers through teens.

The Printz Award is "an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature," and there are traditionally several Printz Honor books as well. Books considered for the 2009 award were published in the United States in 2008.

2009 Printz Award winner

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

2009 Printz Honor books

The astonishing life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the nation volume 2: Kingdom on the waves by M. T. Anderson

Nation by Terry Pratchett

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

Previous Printz Award winners in the PRHS library collection include Looking for Alaska by John Green, Monster by Walter Dean Myers, American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, and How I live now by Meg Rosoff.

The ALA also gives out the Newbery Medal for excellence in children's literature ("children" being under the age of 14 in this case). Although I haven't read it quite yet, word on the street is that this year's winner is definitely closer to the upper limit of the regulations.

2009 Newbery Medal winner
The graveyard book by Neil Gaiman

2009 Newbery Honor books
The underneath by Kathi Appelt
After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson
Savvy by Ingrid Law
The surrender tree: poems of Cuba's struggle for freedom by Margarita Engle

The PRHS library has a number of recent Newbery award and honor winners in the collection, such as Good masters! Sweet ladies! Voices from a Medieval village by Laura Amy Schlitz, Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis, and Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata.

Full lists and/or links to all the Youth Media Awards will be posted at the ALA YMA site.