The 2019 ALA Youth Media Awards are almost here, and as title experts and book lovers, this is one of our favorite times of the year! The ALA Awards honor the best in children’s literature, and include prestigious awards and medals like the Caldecott, Newbery, Coretta Scott King Book, Pura Belpre and Printz. Past winners and honorees include popular classroom titles like Last Stop on Market Street, Long Way Down, Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, Piecing Me Together, Hello, Universe, The First Rule of Punk and many, many more.

For the first time this year, in an effort to help all children see themselves reflected in the books they read and encourage more diversity in children’s literature, the ALA will also highlight titles selected by the American Indian Library Association (AILA), Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) and the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) during the awards. 

Our 2019 ALA Awards Predictions

Every year once the new winners are announced, Booksource creates collections of Award Winners so that educators can easily purchase award-winning titles for their classrooms. We also love to predict the titles that will be recognized BEFORE the new winners are revealed! The 2019 ALA Youth Media Awards will be announced live at 8 AM (PST) on January 28, 2019, so members of our Collection Development team (the in-house librarians who hand-select the titles in every collection we carry) recently made their 2019 picks. Here are some titles they think (or hope) will win: 

Drawn Together by Minh Le, Illustrated by Dan Santat

Potential Award(s): Caldecott

The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson

Potential Award(s): Coretta Scott King Author Award, Pura Belpre Illustrator Award

Merci Suarez Changes Gears by Meg Medina

Potential Award(s): Pura Belpre Author Award

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Potential Award(s): Printz

Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson

Potential Award(s): Newbery

Love by Matt de la Pena, Illustrated by Loren Long

Potential Award(s): Caldecott

Children of Blood and Bone by Toni Adeyemi

Potential Award(s): Printz

Betty Before X by Ilyasah Shabazz with Renee Watson

Potential Award(s): Coretta Scott King Author Award

Martin Rising by Andrea Davis Pinkney & Brian Pinkney

Potential Award(s): Coretta Scoot King Author and/or Illustrator Award

Mommy’s Khimar by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, Illustrated by Ebony Glenn

Potential Award(s): Coretta Scott King Author and/or Illustrator Award

Julian Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love

Potential Award(s): Caldecott

The Cardboard Kingdom by Chad Sell

Potential Award(s): Newbery

Will you be watching the ALA Awards on Monday? We will! We’ll also be live tweeting the winners as they are announced. Follow us on Twitter @thebooksource and use the hashtag #ALAYMA to join the conversation.