Quill Nominations 2007

Poor misbegotten Quill Awards. I mean, they describe themselves as, "the only book awards to pair a populist sensibility with Hollywood-style glitz. They are the first literary prizes to reflect the tastes of all the groups that matter most in publishing--- readers, booksellers and librarians." Not actually true. The Cybils might have something to say in the matter. But in any case, the Quill Nominations were announced at BEA this year. We seem to have a nicer crop of titles than usual too. Observe (as I have lifted these wholesale from the website in question):

Graphic Novel

Making Comics
Written by Scott McCloud
Published by HarperCollins

Ode to Kirihito
Written by Osamu Tezuka
Published by Vertical

Alice in Sunderland
Written by Bryan Talbot
Published by Dark Horse

Exit Wounds
Written by Rutu Modan
Published by Drawn & Quarterly

Aya Written by Marguerite Abouet
Illustrated by Clement Oubrerie
Published by Drawn & Quarterly

Children's Picture Books

The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon
Written by Mini Grey
Published by Alfred A. Knopf

Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy
Written by Jane O'Connor
Illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser
Published by HarperCollins

Flotsam
Written by David Wiesner
Published by Clarion Books

Orange Pear Apple Bear
Written by Emily Gravett
Published by Simon and Schuster

Owen & Mzee: The Language of Friendship
Written by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff and Dr. Paula Kahumbu
Photos by Peter Greste
Published by Scholastic Press

Children's Chapter/Middle Grade

Clementine
Written by Sara Pennypacker
Illustrated by Marla Frazee
Published by Hyperion Books

Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Written by Jeff Kinney
Published by Abrams/Amulet

The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Written by Brian Selznick
Published Scholastic Press

Pick Me Up
Written by Jeremy Leslie and David Roberts
Published by DK Children's Books

The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 3)
Written by Rick Riordan
Published by Miramax Books

Young Adult/Teen

American Born Chinese
Written by Gene Luen Yang
Published by First Second Books

The Green Glass Sea
Written by Ellen Klages
Published by Viking

Incantation
Written by Alice Hoffman
Published by Little, Brown and Company

Life as We Knew It
Written by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Published by Harcourt Books

Sold
Written by Patricia McCormick
Published by Hyperion Books

I was rather fond of Ms. Pfeffer's thoughtful take on her chances. And as I recall, they changed the voting requirements this year.

The Voting Board
The Quills Voting Board, comprised of over 6,000 invited booksellers and librarians, will vote for the 19 category winners between June 18, 2007 and August 31, 2007.

Consumer Voting
Following the announcement of this year’s winners on September 10, 2007, readers will get to cast their online votes for The Book of The Year from September 10 to October 10, 2007. To cast your vote log on to www.quillsvote.com.

Fascinating stuff. I know where my votes lay. Yourself?

Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards Announced!!!

As found here:

Fiction and Poetry:

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party (Candlewick) by M. T. Anderson

Picture Book:

Dog and Bear: Two Friends, Three Stories (Porter/Roaring Brook) written and illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Nonfiction:

The Strongest Man in the World: Louis Cyr (Groundwood) written and illustrated by Nicolas Debon

The judges also selected two honor books in each category:

Fiction and Poetry:

Clementine (Hyperion) written by Sara Pennypacker, illustrated by Marla Frazee
Rex Zero and the End of the World (Kroupa/Farrar) by Tim Wynne-Jones

Picture Book:

365 Penguins (Abrams) written by Jean-Luc Fromental, illustrated by Joelle Jolivet
Wolves (Simon) written and illustrated by Emily Gravett

Nonfiction:

Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion (Houghton) by Loree Griffin Burns
Escape! (Greenwillow) by Sid Fleischman

Hey, man. We all have those favorites that didn't make the cut, but by and large this is a pretty out-and-out good list. It's also going to seriously affect the order in which I read and review books. I have Rex Zero, but I wasn't going to get to it for a while. What a difference an award makes, eh?