CMIS Evaluation Fiction Focus

Here is the last of the Printz Award speeches, and the biggie: Melina Marchetta’s acceptance speech for winning the 2009 Michael L. Printz Award for [On the] Jellicoe Road, courtesy of BookList Online and YALSA.

Our other posts about this award, including links to other 2009 acceptance speeches, can be found here.

The video is up. Here. At last! Only Melina to go now.

(Or, to put into context – Margo Lanagan’s Tender Morsels was a Printz Honor Book at the ALA Awards. Here is her acceptance speech. We seem to have been waiting forever to see it, even though we have been able to read it for a while.)

This time it’s E. Lockhart for The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, which was a Printz Honor Book in 2009. Although we have been hearing about this title for a long time, it inexplicably has not been released in Australia.

Lockhart’s speech, in which she discusses the influences that shaped the novel, can be viewed here. And as we can’t bring you a local review, here’s one from the New York Times. Sounds good – any Australian publishers interested? For all we know it might already be in the pipeline.

There will be another Printz speech soon – the only ones remaining are the vision of speeches by Margo and Melina. We’ll let you know – about a fortnight to wait for the first of these, we’re guessing.

Curioser and curioser, said Alice.

Earlier today we posted about the latest of the Printz Award speeches available from the Booklist blog. This time it’s M.T. Anderson’s turn. That’s for The Astonishing Adventures of Octavius Nothing. Volume II. The Kingdom on the Waves.

But somewhere, somehow the post disappeared. We know it was out there because there are [dead] links back to the post in cyberspace. Where it’s gone, who knows?

The Printz speeches will be popping up regularly on the Booklist blog. We’ll keep you posted. If cyberspace will let us.

We’ve been waiting and waiting for the vision, particularly of Melina’s acceptance speech for winning the Michael L. Printz Award for [On the] Jellicoe Road.

But, up till now, no show. Queries to YALSA have gone unanswered.

At last, a glimmer. It appears that YALSA is restricting access to the video files, but has given permission for Booklist Online to screen all? some?

Terry Pratchett’s touching, humble speech for his Printz Honour Book Nation can now be viewed on the Booklist blog. It will be worth watching this space. Just in case.*

*For some exciting news, read the comment below.

We have been waiting for the award speeches in Chicago to go online, but nothing yet. Until they do (and watch this space) we can’t wait any longer to congratulate all winners, but special celebrations are reserved for the Aussies who have been on the podium in the last few hours:

• Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award for 2009 – Melina Marchetta ([Onthe] Jellicoe Road)
• Honour Book – Margo Lanagan (Tender Morsels)

Via Twitter we know the speeches have been made (and fine ones too) but we can’t yet access them. Patience. Melina’s was apparently particularly moving, and Neil Gaiman’s Newbery acceptance speech was pretty special too.

The first literature awards of the year have been announced. The American Library Association presents a number of prestigious awards each January, notably the Newbery Medal and the Caldecott Medal. The Young Adult section of ALA (YALSA) presents the Michael L. Printz Award for the outstanding Young Adult novel of the year.

Winners for 2008 were:

• Newbery Medal : Laura Amy Schlitz (a school librarian) for Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village.
  Honor Books: Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
  The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
  Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson
• Caldecott Medal: Brian Selznick for The Invention of Hugo Cabret
  [See the video interview with Brian Selznick, courtesy of the AdLit site]
• Honor Books: Henry’s Freedom Box : a true Story from the Underground Railroad, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, written by Ellen Levine
• First the Egg, written and illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
• The Wall : Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain, written and
  illustrated by Peter Sis
  
• Michael L. Printz Award: Geraldine McCaughrean for The White Darkness
  Honor Books: One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke (Australia)
  Dreamquake by Elizabeth Knox (NZ)
  Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins
  Your Own, Sylvia : a Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill