2009 National Book Award Winners

The National Book Foundation announced this year’s winner last Wednesday night.  I’ve always been interested in the award winners, but the announcement grew ever more suspenseful watching it on Twitter.  Waiting to pick up my daughter from a New Moon screening, I read each announcement from people attending the event, and then the reaction from the book community.  Prior to the fiction announcement several tweets hoped McCann would win (even people who admitted they hadn’t read the book), and then a cyberspace celebration began.   This years winners:

• Fiction: Let the Great World Spinby Colum McCann
• Nonfiction: The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T. J. Stiles
• Young people’s literature: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justiceby Phillip Hoose
• Poetry: Transcendental Studies: A Trilogyby Keith Waldrop

The Foundation honored Gore Vidal with the Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and Dave Eggers with the 2009 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.  Several of the recipients were previously published in The New Yorker magazine.

Over 10,000 people voted in the Best of National Book Awards Fiction and The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor won.  I was surprised, I thought Ralph Ellison would win, though I voted for John Cheever.  Flannery O’Connor certainly deserves the award, especially after she lost the year she published A Good Man is Hard to Find.

And Now to the Heart:  New Moon

Through a school charity event, I was able to purchase a ticket for my daughter to see a screening of New Moon last Wednesday.  The deal we made:  she could go to the teen screening as long as she agreed to see the movie with me this weekend.  A girlfriend e-mailed me last night asking to tag along, we both need Kelsey to provide cover for our attendance.

I picked up four girls from the screening and listened to surprisingly well reasoned arguments for Team Jacob and Team Edward.  My daughter won a Team Jacob t-shirt, her new favorite item of clothing.  I thought about telling them who won the National Book Awards (that I just learned on Twitter), but realized that would mortify my daughter.

The Washington Post article nailed the attraction of the Twilight  series for adult women, it isn’t about the writing or the story, but about being a teenager:

It’s a time capsule to the breathless period when the world could literally end depending on whether your lab partner touched your hand, when every conversation was so agonizing and so thrilling (and the border between the two emotions was so thin), and your heart was bigger and more delicate than it is now, and everything was just so much more.

It’s fun to watch my daughter experience that time of life and to re-visit it, just for a couple of hours, myself.

James Patterson’s ReadKiddoRead.com – James Patterson’s son didn’t enjoy reading, so James spent summers looking for books that his son would enjoy.  Then, being who he is, he started writing books his son would enjoy.  Now he’s sharing all that he’s learned on a website ReadKiddoRead.com.  This is a terrific website, it has lists of great books that kids will love by age.  There are even lesson plans for teachers.  Okay, how many parents out there take solace from the fact that James Patterson’s son didn’t like to read?  While my kids love to read, there are other things that I love that they can’t stand; I look and them and wonder how they could be my child.

readergirlz - I LOVE THIS SITE!  Claire is going to die when I send it to her.  readergirlz is an online community for teen girls that pairs up a YA novel with a community service project each month.  This month the book is Red Glass by Laura Resau.  The book is about illegal immigration and the activity is awareness of Dream Act and possible participation May Day marches.  readergirlz interviews the author (and asks about her favorite bookstore, the most important question) and this month is holding an online chat with Laura Resau. 

Fathers Bridging the Miles, a program of Read to Me International – The goal of Read to Me International is to have every child read to at least ten minutes a day.  Fathers Bridging the Miles is an opportunity for incarcerated men to send their children a book and a tape of them reading it.  The hope, which is frequently achieved, is that fathers will continue to read to their children when they return home and that the process will help the father and child grow closer.

Maricopa County Library District - After customer surveys relayed a desire for the library to be “browser friendly,” the staff redesigned it to look and feel like a bookstore, even dropping the Dewey decimal system.  The neighborhood loves the new feel and “Dewey-less” organization.

Robert Wilder – Robert Wilder said “[l]ike many other teachers and writers, I try to find myriad ways to get good books into other people’s hands. Whether it’s a kindergartner struggling over his first sentence, a high school student trying to find her voice in the wilderness of adolescence, or an intellectually starved friend at a dinner party, books are my gesture toward a better life for anyone willing to turn some pages.”  I couldn’t agree more, best way to improve your life, your mood, your conversation skills – pick up a book!

There are very impressive activities in the world of reading.  But really, next year, I want a bookstore to win.