Guessing the odds

The award season for children's books is upon us. In a few days the Newbery and Caldecott winners will be announced at the American Library Association's meeting in Boston. Librarians around the country have been talking about which of the hundreds of books published in 2009 will will the coveted awards. For those who want an early peek at how the odds are going, Publisher's Weekly has prepared an article based on many of the popular children's book blogs. Choices vary widely, but some predictions look quite firm. The busy award committees will be meeting long hours in Boston, but it's quite likely they will come up with the same winners predicted on blogs. If you want to prepare for the award announcements on Monday, you might want to spend the weekend reading some of the titles mentioned in the PW roundup.