Congrats to the Edgar and Agatha Award Winners in #YALit and #MGLit!

I'm emerging from my winter writing cave to announce the Edgar winners and Agatha winners! For this blog (since we're YA Sleuth and all), I'll post the YA and Kid winners below:

The Edgars:

Best Juvenile

Audacity Jones Steals the Show by Kirby Larson (Scholastic — Scholastic Press)
Vanished! by James Ponti (Simon & Schuster — Aladdin)
The Assassin's Curse by Kevin Sands (Simon & Schuster — Aladdin)
First Class Murder by Robin Stevens (Simon & Schuster — Simon & Schuster BFYR)
NewsPrints by Ru Xu (Scholastic — Graphix)

Young Adult

The Cruelty by Scott Bergstrom (Macmillan Children's Publishing Group — Feiwel & Friends)
Grit by Gillian French (HarperCollins Publishers — HarperTeen)
The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak (Simon & Schuster)
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (Simon & Schuster — Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (HarperCollins Publishers — Balzer + Bray)

Agatha:

Best Children’s/Young Adult

City of Angels by Kristi Belcamino  (Polis Books)
**Sydney Mackenzie Knocks ‘Em Dead by Cindy Callaghan  (Aladdin)
The World’s Greatest Detective by Caroline Carlson  (HarperCollins)
Audacity Jones Steals the Show by Kirby Larson  (Scholastic Press)
The Harlem Charade by Natasha Tarpley  (Scholastic Press)

You can find the Edgars winners for all categories and Agatha winners (announced at Malice Domestic) at their respective websites.

CONGRATS TO ALL NOMINEES AND WINNERS!!!

Wednesday Picture Book Review: The Funeral by Matt James

Publication Date: 3 Apr. 2018

From the Publisher:

Norma and her parents are going to her great-uncle Frank’s funeral, and Norma is more excited than sad. She is looking forward to playing with her favorite cousin, Ray, but when she arrives at the church, she is confronted with rituals and ideas that have never occurred to her before. While not all questions can be answered, when the day is over Norma is certain of one thing — Uncle Frank would have enjoyed his funeral.

This sensitive and life-affirming story will lead young readers to ask their own questions about life, death and how we remember those who have gone before us.

My Thoughts:

Such an unusual concept: a Fun-eral (get it? it's fun). I was surprised by the unique concept when I saw this picture book at ALA, and picked up a copy.

Great illustrations, and the text was just right. This book shows the remarkable perspective kids have on a day, and how we could all stand to be a little more child-like in our perspective.

One of those books that becomes part of your permanent collection of picture books.