*jumping up and down with unbridled elation*

WooHoo! Congratulations to all the winners and honorees of the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards!

It was so exciting watching the live webcast this morning, with everybody sitting on the edge of their seats, rooting for their favorite books. I was so so so happy when Marla Frazee’s, A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, won a Caldecott Honor!! Yes, I’m shamelessly partial to picture books, but this was definitely one of my faves from 2008 (see my review here, and my interview with Marla, here, where she discusses the genesis of this book).

I also leapt out of my seat when Laura Vaccaro Seeger’s One Boy won a Geisel Honor Medal. This woman is red hot — last year, she earned a Caldecott Honor for First the Egg (my interview with Laura is here).

And, one of the biggest thrills was hearing Laurie Halse Anderson’s name mentioned as the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement in Writing for Young Adults. What a year Laurie’s had — with Chains being named a finalist for the National Book Award, and then recently winning the 2009 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and now this!

Oh wow, now I have to calm down and get some work done.

Anyway, click here to see the full list of winners, which includes:

Newbery Medal: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.
Caldecott Medal: The House in the Night by Beth Krommes and Susan Marie Swanson.

Mountains of chocolate for everyone!!