Award-winning Books!

Every January, the American Library Association gives awards to the best children’s and young adult books that were printed in the previous year.  The runners-up are given the title “Honor books”.

The Newbery medal, initiated in 1922, is the oldest children’s book award in the world.  Although it is named after an 18^th century British bookseller named John Newbery, this award is given to the most distinguished American children’s book of the year.  The 2013 winner is The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.  The Newbery honor books are BOMB: The race to build and steal the world's most dangerous weapon by Steve Sheinkin and Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage.

Recognizing that the illustrations are as important as the text in a picture book, in 1938 the ALA began awarding the Caldecott medal to the illustrator of the most outstanding picture book published in America.  The award is named after Randolph Caldecott, a 19^th century illustrator known for the action and humor of his illustrations, and is celebrating its 75^th anniversary this year.  The winner of the 2013 award is This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen.  Caldecott honor recipients are Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds, Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, and One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo.

These two time-honored awards have been joined by some more recent ones.  For example, the Theodor Seuss Geisel award has been given to the author and illustrator of the most outstanding Early Reader since 2006.  It is named after Dr. Seuss of course, who believed that even beginning children’s books should be fun.  This year’s winner is Up, Tall and High! by Ethan Long.  The honors award was received by the following books:  Let’s Go For a Drive! by Mo Willems, Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin, and Rabbit & Robot:  The Sleepover by Cece Bell.

The Michael J. Printz award is given to the best book written for teens.  It is named after a school librarian from Topeka Kansas who had a passion for finding the right book for the right student.  This year’s award went to In Darkness by Nick Lake.  Runners up include:  Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, and Dodger by Terry Pratchett.

Looking for some great reads? For descriptions of the winners and runners-up of these awards and many others, go to the Assn. for Library Service to Children and the Young Adult Library Services Assn websites.  Great books, audiobooks and videos await you!

Image courtesy of Google images

“When life gives you chicken… make soup.”

With the cold winter winds blowing, there is nothing like comfort foods to make you feel warm inside. Now that the bustle of the holidays is behind us, we can settle down into our routines again.  Once again we have a little more time to call our own.  What a perfect opportunity to do some home style cooking.

In her newest cookbook, Martha’s American Food, Martha Stewart celebrates all that is America.  This allows you to travel through America without ever leaving your kitchen.  The book is written according to regions and she has gathered the best recipes to represent foods enjoyed in that region.  A history has been written for each recipe.

I’ve always enjoyed the Cooks Illustrated Magazine with their great recipes and helpful hints.  They do all the work to perfect a recipe and you get the great results.  You can only imagine what their cookbook is like.  The Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook is not only filled with 2,000 recipes from the past 20 years of their magazine history, but it also explains why you have just made the most perfect Snickerdoodles, Farro Risotto, or Chicken Bouillabaise.  Do you like making great meals but don’t like using every pot and pan that you own to make it?  Then you would like The Best One Dish Suppers from Cook’s Illustrated.  Whether cooking for your family or entertaining guests, there are over 180 recipes for simple dinners fit for a king without all the mess.

For meat lovers, Michael Symon’s Carnivore has recipes for every type of domesticated meat (beef, pork, chicken, or lamb) and game meats (venison, pheasant, boar, duck, quail, rabbit, and elk) that you could imagine, as well as side dishes to compliment these dishes.  All the way from Britain, Mark Sargeant shows us in My Kind of Cooking  how to use cheaper cuts of meat and fish to give us results that are as “delicious and tender as prime cuts”.  Cutting back on cost doesn’t mean you have to cut back on flavor.  If you would prefer to concentrate just on fish, you might enjoy Fish: Recipes from the Sea.  A wide range of fish from white, oily, flat, freshwater fish and seafood are covered in this book and are used in 200 Italian home cooked recipes.  There are helpful hints as to how to choose and prepare fish for these simple and authentic recipes.

When you think Italian, one often thinks of pasta.  The cooks from America’s Test Kitchen have updated many standard pasta dishes and made them healthier and easier to make in Pasta Revolution.  Many of the 200 recipes contain only 6 ingredients.  Included in these recipes are ones for Asian noodle dishes.  Speaking of Italian cuisine, have you ever wondered if you could eat all these wonderful Italian dishes and lose weight?  In Now Eat This! Italian, 100 classic Italian recipes such as Cannoli, Mozzarella en Carozza, and Chicken Parmegiana have had their calories reduced, but have maintained their wonderful taste.  There’s nothing worse than when you’re told you have to restrict what you’re eating.  If Chicken Fettucine Alfredo, Sour Cream and Onion Smashed Potatoes, and Red Velvet Cupcakes are on your forbidden list, then you might want to consider Eat More of What You Love.  Each of their 200 recipes for the above mentioned dishes and others are all under 350 calories.

I love to prepare meals using a slow cooker.  Put all of your ingredients together in the morning, go on with the rest of your day, and come home to the smells of a mouth watering meal that’s ready to eat.  It doesn’t get any better than that.  You can either stick with more traditional meals like recipes found in Margaret Fulton Slow Cooking and Fix-It and Forget-It Pink Cookbook or travel the world with recipes from Mediterranean Slow Cooker Cookbook, The French Slow Cooker, The Mexican Slow cooker, and 150 Best Indian, Thai, Vietnamese and More Slow Cooker.

As long as we’re traveling through cooking, it wouldn’t hurt to see what’s new in the line of Jewish cookery.  As with so many other cookbooks these books, The Mile End Cookbook, Helen Nash’s New Kosher Cuisine, and Jerusalem-A Cookbook are a blending of the old with the new to make meals that are both tasty and healthy.  Sprinkled between recipes are tips, memories and traditions.

Up to this point, all of the above mentioned cookbooks have recipes for meat dishes.  We don’t want to forget those who would prefer meatless dishes.  Fix-It and Forget-It Vegetarian Cookbook, The Easy Vegan, Cornelia Guest’s Simple Pleasures, Herbivoracious, and Vegan Indian Cooking contain recipes that won’t disappoint you.  They contain recipes for appetizers, snacks, breakfast dishes, soups, main courses, pasta, salads, and desserts.  They also contain menus and substitution lists. 

For people that are diagnosed with gluten intolerance, cooking can be somewhat of a challenge.  From quick meals to slow cooked meals there are many new cookbooks to help meet this challenge with tasty recipes.  Small Plates and Sweet Treats, Allergy-Friendly Food For Families, The Autism Cookbook, Simply…Gluten-Free Quick Meals, The Gluten Free Table, Everyday Gluten-free Slow Cooking, and The Joy of Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking.

For this blog I wanted to list all of our new cookbooks.  As I was working on this I realized that I would not be able to do this.  So this is just a starter list.  You will have to come in and check out all the great new books that we have.  

Happy reading, happy cooking, and bon appétit!

***Pictures courtesy of Google images