YMA 2013: The Recap

It was pretty much the most awesome thing in quite some time to be able to actually be there for the YMAs. I tweeted as much of it as I could, but I thought I'd try to collate my thoughts in a bit more permanent of a place.

• Can't argue with The One and Only Ivan as the Newbery winner. It's a beautiful, powerful book that I think will look as good in a decade or five as it does now. Much as I was cheering for Twelve Kinds of Ice, and much as I adored Breathing Room and Wooden Bones, this was an excellent choice.
• Loved Bomb as an honor book! Glad to see one of the best of this year's excellent nonfiction titles honored.
• Even though it's not really my cup of tea, Splendors and Glooms was really well-done. With another Honor on her shelf, it also cements Laura Amy Schlitz's position as one of the leading children's authors working today.
• Sheila Turnage isn't exactly a first-time author (in addition to the picture book, Trout the Magnificent, she's also the author of Compass American Guide: North Carolina, Fifth Edition, and Haunted Inns of the Southeast), but this is her first foray into middle-grade fiction. I know she was already working on a sequel to Three Times Lucky, but now that she's got a Newbery Honor, I'm betting we'll continue to see more middle-grade work from her.
• Wonder was this year's Okay For Now, wasn't it? Tons of buzz, a huge fan-base, and then a complete shutout. (Actually, an even more complete shutout, given that the audiobook of Okay For Now did take an Odyssey Honor.) I thought it was a lock for the Schneider, but that's one reason I don't gamble.
• The Geisel awards are another reason. So surprised to see Kevin Henkes not take anything.
• The Sibert awards made me so happy. I'll have to find a copy of Electric Ben, but the well-deserved win for Bomb and the honors for Moonbird and Titanic brought joy to my heart.
• Need to read Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. I figured it was a YA title and didn't pick it up, but since the Stonewall, Belpré, and Printz committees thought so highly of it, I'd like to have a look.
• Speaking of the Printz, the surprise in the room when In Darkness won was palpable. I don't think I talked to a single person who wasn't predicting one of the trio of Seraphina, Code Name: Verity, or The Fault in Our Stars. But, given the award's history, trying to predict it may be the single biggest exercise in futility in any of the ALA medals.
• Jon Klassen! Winner and an Honor in the Caldecott! First time that's happened since 1947, when Leonard Weisgard pulled it off for The Little Island and Rain Drop Splash.
• Glad to see that Each Kindness did get some recognition. A well-earned Coretta Scott King Honor!
• And, as a side note, so nice to meet the awesome Travis Jonker of 100 Scope Notes, and the legendary Mr. Schu!