Award & Book Lists for my Reading Log

Last week, I shared my new reading log and the printable pages I'm using to track my reading in 2018. I really enjoy sitting down with paper and pen to do this, so I'm quite happy with how it's working out so far. I still log some basics on my Goodreads account, but there's a lot more I can keep track of this way without spending extra time on my phone or computer -- so that's a win for me.

I already covered my book budget, book clubs, reading challenges, and tracking categories (book type, source, format, recommendations, etc.) in that last post, so today I just want to focus on my final two sections. I've made one section for awards lists and another for recommendation and "best of" lists that have caught my eye. I had a ton of links cluttering up my browser's bookmark folders -- and let's be honest, I hardly ever looked at them! So I did a big clean out, deleted a whole bunch, and just printed the ones I'm most interested in. 

Each person will have their own taste in book lists and awards, but below are a few of the ones I put in my binder if you want to check any of them out. Whatever type of list you like, I highly recommend printing them out if you are able. I think it's much more likely we will read more from these lists if we can actually see them, refer to them, and mark them up than to have them hidden away in a digital folder -- or maybe that's just me :)

Recommendation Lists:

Gretchin Rubin's 81 Favorite Children’s & Young-Adult Books (PDF available)

Scholastic Parent & Child 100 Greatest Books for Kids (PDF available)

Read-Aloud Revival's Booklists
(free registration to access PDF lists of lots of great categories!)

NPR's Top 100 Teen Books 

NPR's 100 Must-Reads For Kids 9-14

Brightly's Best 50 for 11- and 12-Year-Olds

Brightly's Best 50 for 9- and 10-Year-Olds
Brightly's Best 50 for 7- and 8-Year-Olds
Brightly's Best 50 for 5- and 6-Year-Olds

NCTE Notable Poetry Book and Verse Novels Lists

Award Lists:
Note: Most award links are to Wikipedia since they're the most streamlined for printing purposes

E.B. White Read Aloud Award + 2017 winners

National Book Award for Young People's Literature

Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction
(full-length novels by female authors, written in English, & published in the UK)

Jane Addams Children's Book Award
(children's books advance the causes of peace and social equality)

The 2018 winners for the following ALA awards will be announced soon, so I'm holding off on printing them for now!

Michael L. Printz Award
(YA book of literary merit)

Odyssey Award
(children's & YA audiobooks)

Alex Award
(adult books with appeal to YA audience)

Coretta Scott King Award
(outstanding African American authors & illustrators; books about the African-American experience)

* * * * *

Do you have any favorite awards or recommendations lists? Please share in the comments! I just might need to add a few more pages :)

Reading by Award List

Reader friends, I have a question for you today. Have you ever finished a really great book, realized it was the recipient of an award, and then felt the sudden desire to go read ALL THE BOOKS that have ever won that award? Most recently this happened when I read and loved A Northern Light which was my pick for our August book club meeting and it has won: a Printz Honor, a Carnegie Medal, and a Young Adult Literature Los Angeles Times Book Prize as well as several other lesser known awards. I must admit, it took a good bit of willpower to not promptly dump a truckload of new titles onto my TBR from the archives of those prizes.

So now I have a second question for you. Has anyone ever actually read (or attempted to read) through a prize list?! I am currently making my way through the Caldecott Medal and Honor books, and let me tell you, it is taking a LOT longer than I thought it would considering these are *just* picture books (with the odd graphic novel and longer illustrated work thrown in). The Caldecott stretches back to 1938, so we are talking a rather large quantity of books, even if the page count for each is relatively low.

First, I started with all the featured titles in Reading the Art in Caldecott Award Books. Then, I made a point of finding winning titles based on season and holidays throughout the year, as well as reading some of the newer winners once they were announced. For many months now, I've been browsing through the library stacks and tucking any books with a shiny Caldecott medal into my checkout pile whenever I spot them. And while it feels like I've read a TON of Caldecott books, there are still so many more remaining to be read! It is getting harder to locate those remaining ones, so I'm making a point to consult the master list and seek out (or place on hold) books that will fill in the gaps. As tempted as I am to try reading from other lists, I can hardly imagine doing this with novels -- especially with a well-established award. Still, one can dream, right?

Some other lists I have considered reading through:

CHILDREN

Newbery Medal/Honors

Most distinguished contribution to American literature for children (ALSC)

E.B. White Read Aloud Award

Picture books and books for older readers excellent for reading aloud (The Association of Booksellers for Children)

Charlotte Zolotow Award

Outstanding writing in a picture book published in the United States (Cooperative Children's Book Center)

Massachusetts Children's Book Award (MCBA)

4th, 5th, & 6th graders vote for their favorite books (found this one thanks to Top Shelf Text!)

Jane Addams Children's Book Award

Children's books of literary and aesthetic excellence that effectively engage children in thinking about peace, social justice, global community, and equity for all people.

Lee Bennett Hopkins Award for Poetry for Children

Honors an American poet or anthologist for the most outstanding new book of children's poetry (Pennsylvania Center for the Book)

NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children

Honors a living poet + curates lists of notable poetry books and verse novels

YOUNG ADULT

Alex Award

Books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults (YALSA)

Odyssey Award

Best audiobooks for children/young adults (YALSA)

Printz Award

Literary excellence in young adult literature (YALSA)

ADULT

Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction

Celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in writing in fiction written by women. Previously  named the Orange Prize for Fiction

There is certainly no dearth of award-winning books if you go looking for them! I am well aware a more rational approach is to use these lists as inspiration rather than a checklist, but don't we always want to read ALL THE BOOKS? Yes, yes we do.

* * * * *

Are there any other book awards you like to keep tabs on? Have you ever read from an award list yourself? Do you have a favorite award-winning title? Or a title you don't think deserved an award? I'd love to hear about it!