Totally Unscientific and Random N/C Predictions

For your entertainment pleasure, and drawing liberally from various reviews, industry gossip, and bloggy friends, I present my utterly random, probably obvious, and mostly meaningless predictions for the Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, and Sibert awards in 2010. This is not, clearly, a comprehensive list. Or a comprehensible one, for that matter.

Newbery Picks:

• When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (Lamb/Random). Duh. It's awesome and has gotten eleventy billion starred reviews. If this doesn't get recognized -- nay, if it doesn't WIN -- I will eat my hat. (Note to self: buy hat.)
• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (Little, Brown). Beautiful storytelling, librarian-friendly hooks (folktale, multicultural, girl power), gorgeous package.
• A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck (Dial). It's good. And he's Richard Peck.
• The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (Holt). Lots of good attention. And did you read this woman's bio? She's a doctor and a lawyer and a writer and probably a rocket scientist to boot.

Caldecott Picks:

• The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown). Could this be the year?
• Red Sings from Treetops by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski (HMCo). Haven't pored over it myself, but lots of folks seem to be talking about it.
• The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan (Candlewick). Graphicy goodness -- would the committee go for it again after Hugo?

Printz Picks:

• Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork (Levine/Scholastic). Really, if you haven't read this by now, what is wrong with you?
• Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (Viking). And again I say, duh.
• Going Bovine by Libba Bray (Delacorte). An acceptance speech made entirely of tweets, maybe?

Sibert Picks:

• Charles and Emma by Deborah Heiligman (Holt). Surely at least one Darwin book pub'd in 2009 will get attention? (Er, two. Forgot about you, Callie Vee.)
• The Day-Glo Brothers by Chris Barton (Charlesbridge). Oh please oh please? (And no, it's not mine -- it's just that good.)

Predicted Snubs:

• Catching Fire and Fire, starred reviews be damned. There, I said it.
• The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick). Tulane fatigue, maybe.

Book Everyone Else Will Love and I Will Just Not Get and Find Annoying (aka the King Dork award):

• Andromeda Klein by Frank Portman (Delacorte)

That is all. Tune in four and a half months from now to compare notes.