CILIP Award Winners Announced

The winners of the prestigious CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, the UK’s oldest book awards for children and young people, have recently been revealed at a ceremony at The British Library, hosted by broadcaster and writer Konnie Huq.

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo (Electric Monkey) scoops the Carnegie Medal for writing, whilst The Lost Words illustrated by Jackie Morris and written by Robert Macfarlane (Hamish Hamilton) takes the Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration. They have been chosen by 14 volunteer Youth Librarians, from over 254 nominations this year, as the very best in children’s writing and illustration published in the UK.

Find out more HERE.

2018 Teens' Top Ten

The Teens' Top Ten is a "teen choice" list, where teens nominate and choose their favorite books of the previous year! Nominators are members of teen book groups in fifteen school and public libraries around the country. Nominations are posted on the Thursday of National Library Week, and teens across the country vote on their favorite titles each year. Readers ages twelve to eighteen will vote online between August 15 and Teen Read Week™ (October 7-13, 2018) here on the Teens' Top Ten site.

1. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green. Dutton/Penguin. 9780525555360.
2. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus. Delacorte/Random House. 9781524714680. 
3. Warcross by Marie Lu. G. P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin. 9780399547966.
4. Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo. Random House. 9780399549731. ​​​​​​​
5. Caraval by Stephanie Garber. Flatiron. 9781250095251.
6. Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds. Caitlyn Dlouhy Books/Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster. 9781481438254. 
7. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez. Knopf/Random House. 9781524700485.
8. Paper Hearts by Ali Novak. Sourcebooks Fire. 9781492653363.
9. Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. Little, Brown and Company. 9780316341684.
10. Once and For All by Sarah Dessen. Viking/Penguin. 9780425290330.

Leah Langby is 2017 WI Librarian of the Year

A hearty congratulations to Leah Langby, the newly announced winner of the WLA  Librarian of the Year Award. Her nominator wrote:

Leah Langby is the heart of youth services and library development in northwestern Wisconsin.  Leah’s many accomplishments include maintaining the youth services blog, “Keeping up with Kids” for seven years and being an active and vocal proponent of economically disadvantaged populations through her many collaborations. Care, commitment, passion and humility were frequent refrains in Leah’s nomination. Libraries all over the state are better because of Leah Langby, the 2017 WLA Librarian of the Year! 

YSS sends our very best congratulations to a wonderful friend, leader and peer!

Please come and celebrate her honor at WLA at the Dells Thursday Oct 19 evening at the Awards and Honors Reception 5:30-7pm!

Click here to read about all the other amazing WLA honorees!

It's not to late to apply for a WLA Award

WLA/Highsmith Award

Libraries of any size or type are eligible for the Highsmith Award, which "recognizes a library's achievement in planning and implementing an exemplary program or service that has had a measurable impact upon its users. The purpose is to encourage innovation by highlighting collective efforts within a library, wherein staff, administration and volunteers have successfully marshaled the library's resources to benefit its users." The program or service upon which the award is based shall meet the following criteria:

• Significant contribution to its institution, organization, school or community;
  
  
• Creative or innovative program development and implementation;
  
  
• Ease of replication in other libraries, demonstrated by a clear and concise outline or plan;
  
  
• Minimal funds required for program execution;
  
  
• Program initiated within five years prior to date of information.
  

Recent winners include The Ruff Readers Program of the Racine Public Library, Carthage College's Hedberg Library's Family Fun Night, and South Madison Branch's Game Night.

More info including nomination papers may be found at http://www.wla.lib.wi.us/awards/awards.htm. Nominations are due to the WLA office June 1, 2011.

Announcing Penworthy’s 17th Annual WLA-YSS Travel Award!

The Penworthy Company is happy to announce our 17^th annual sponsorship for a Wisconsin children’s librarian to attend the WLA conference in October.

At Penworthy, we work hard to make buying children's books the pleasure it ought to be®. We've been based in Milwaukee for over 25 years and our proud to support the librarians in our home state. All Wisconsin youth librarians will be automatically entered into a random drawing for the $400 sponsorship to attend the WLA conference. You don’t need to do anything to win this award! We’ll notify the winner in early September and present the award at the YSS board meeting at the WLA conference in October. Good luck!

Announcing The Penworthy Company's 16th Annual WLA-YSS Travel Award!

A Wisconsin-based company for over 25 years, The Penworthy Company provides the highest quality children's books with personal service that makes buying children's books the pleasure it ought to be. Every year, we award a Wisconsin youth librarian with a $400 sponsorship to attend the WLA annual conference. We make it easy by automatically entering all Wisconsin youth librarians into a random drawing for the sponsorship winner. You don't need to do a thing! We'll simply announce the winner in August and present the award at the WLA conference in November. Good luck!