The effect of the Newbery and Caldecott awards on book sales is seen in the Feb 12 NYT Best Seller list; both the medalists and one of the honor books make their debuts.

Sales are for the week ending Saturday, January 28, the week of the awards, which were announced that Monday.

NYT Children’s Picture Books

#3 – Caldecott Medal

A Ball for Daisy, by Chris Raschka

RH/Schwartz & Wade – (2011-05-10)

ISBN/EAN: 037585861X/9780375858611

NYT Description: Daisy’s favorite ball is destroyed by a bigger dog; a 2012 Caldecott winner.
 

#8 – Caldecott Honor

Grandpa Green, by Lane Smith,

Macmillan/Roaring Brook, 8/30/11

ISBN/EAN: 1596436077/9781596436077

NYT Description: In a topiary garden, a boy narrates the story of his great-grandfather’s life.

NYT Children’s Chapter Books

#6 — Newbery Medal

 Dead End in Norvelt, by Jack Gantos

Macmillan/FSG, 9/13/11

ISBN / EAN: 0374379939 / 9780374379933

NYT Description: Typing obituaries for a neighbor lands Jack in a string of comic adventures; a 2012 Newbery winner.

A long-standing tradition was broken last year. The winners of the Newbery and Caldecott Awards were not invited to appear on the Today Show the day after the announcements. They were snubbed again this year, despite ALA’s efforts to reach out to the shows, as reported by Publishers Weekly.

It’s beginning to seem that the 2009 appearance, below, will be the last one.

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The winners were not overlooked by NPR, however, which featured an interview with Caldecott medalist Chris Raschka on All Things Considered. Newbery medalist Jack Gantos appeared on NPR’s comedy show, Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! on Saturday.

As for the Today Show, it did feature a children’s title this week. On Wednesday, Henry Winkler talked about the debut of Zero to Hero, (Scholastic, Jan 1), the first book in his new Ghost Buddy series. Despite the attention, it currently falls far below the Newbery and Caldecott medalists on Amazon sales rankings.

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Following up on our previous story about the sales impact of the major ALA Youth Media Awards, we tracked Amazon sales rankings from the day of the award through today, using Publishers Marketplace‘s Book Tracker tool.

For each title, we’ve shown the lowest and highest rankings the day of the award announcements, followed by the highest rankings for each day since (Amazon updates its rankings daily); several titles have reached new highs.

This is our first tracking of the honor books; every one of those titles has also risen in the rankings.

Newbery Awards

NEWBERY MEDAL

Dead End in Norvelt, Jack Gantos (Macmillan/FSG, 9/13/11)

1/23/12
Lowest — #27,842
Highest — #18

1/24/12 — #11
1/25/12 — #10
1/26/12 — #13

NEWBERY HONOR BOOKS

Inside Out and Back Again, Thanhha Lai, (HarperCollins, 2/22/11) – also won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature

1/23/12
Lowest — #3,859
Highest — #108

1/24/12 — #55
1/25/12 — #92
1/26/12 — #131

Breaking Stalin’s Nose, Eugene Yelchin (Macmillan/Holt, 9/27/11)

1/23/12
Lowest — #294,522
Highest — #67

1/24/12 — #76
1/25/12 — #107
1/26/12 — #183
 

Caldecott Awards

CALDECOTT MEDAL

A Ball for Daisy, Chris Raschka (RH/ Schwartz & Wade, 5/10/11) — also a NYT Best Illus. Book

1/23/12
Lowest — #22,059
Highest — #16

1/24/12 — #9
1/25/12 — #9
1/26/12 — #17

Tracking for the Caldecott Honor Books, the Printz and  Coretta Scott King Awards after the jump:

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The number of Oscar Best Picture nominees adapted from books (6 of 9) has piqued the interest of Entertainment Weekly‘s “Shelf Life” blog. As a result, through the upcoming weeks, they will compare the books to the movies in a series called, “Reading the Oscars.”

First up is a look at The Descendants, a debut novel that had limited success before the release of the movie. In this case, says EW, the movie follows the book closely, and manages to improve upon it.

It’s well-known that ALA’s Youth Media Awards have an impact on sales. To track how much of an impact, we checked the Newbery, Caldecott and Printz winners on Amazon sales rankings before and two hours after they were announced (UPDATE: we checked again the day after; see updated figures below). As expected, each experienced a swift rise. The Newbery winner rose to the highest level, while the dark horse of the group, the Printz showed the most dramatic rise.

Newbery Medal

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos. The response to this win was a pleasant surprise. Gantos is no stranger to awards; he has won two Newbery Honors, a Printz Honor, and a Silbert Honor, but this is his first Medal. The book was on three major best books lists we tracked this year. By contrast, Brian Selznick’s Wonderstruck (Scholastic), also considered a contender, was on seven. Before the award, Dead End in Norvelt, was at #27,051 on Amazon sales rankings. Two hours later, it rose to #192. UPDATE: The day after the announcements, it rose to #11.

Four large library systems own a total of 96 copies (those same libraries own 536 copies of Wonderstruck).

Dead End in Norvelt Jack Gantos Retail Price: $15.99 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Macmillan/FSG (BYR) – (2011-09-13) ISBN / EAN: 0374379939 / 9780374379933

Macmillan Audio, 9781427213563

The cover of the book bears some resemblance to another title that was considered a strong candidate for the award:

Okay for Now Gary D. Schmidt Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Clarion Books – (2011-04-05) ISBN / EAN: 0547152604 / 9780547152608

Caldecott Medal

A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka, appeared on two best books lists (SLJ and NYT Best Illustrated Books). It was at #22,059 on Amazon sales rankings before the award, rising to #304 two hours later. UPDATE: The day after the announcements, it rose to #9.

The four major libraries we checked own a total of 86 copies.

A Ball for Daisy Chris Raschka Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 32 pages Publisher: RH/Schwartz & Wade – (2011-05-10) ISBN / EAN: 037585861X / 9780375858611

Printz Medal

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley. The dark horse of the awards, this title appeared only on the PW Best Books list. At the time of the pick, it was at #97,910 on Amazon sales rankings and rose to #328 two hours later. UPDATE: Later in the day, it rose to #76, settling back down to #117 the day after the announcements.

The four libraries we checked own 43 copies.

Where Things Come Back John Corey Whaley Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: S&S/Atheneum BYR – (2011-05-03) ISBN 9781442413337

Trade Paperback, S&S/Atheneum, 9781442413344

The kids at the Bank Street College of Education School for Children have decided which book they think should win the upcoming Printz Award. Forty-Two twelve and thirteen-year olds read, reviewed, discussed and voted on titles from a shortlist of 17 titles and the winner is:

Blood Red Road Moira Young Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 466 pages Publisher: S&S/McElderry – (2011-06-07) ISBN 9781442429987

S&S Audio

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In addition, they chose three honor books:

Between Shades of Gray Ruta Sepetys Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 355 pages Publisher: Penguin/Philomel - (2011-03-22) ISBN 9780399254123

Penguin Audio; Large Print, Thorndike; OverDrive, ebook and audio

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Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917 Sally M Walker Retail Price: $18.99 Hardcover: 160 pages Publisher: Macmillan/Holt (BYR) – (2011-11-22) ISBN / EAN: 0805089454 / 9780805089455

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My Big Mouth: 10 Songs I Wrote That Almost Got Me Killed Peter Hannan Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: Scholastic Press – (2011-07-01) ISBN / EAN: 0545162106 / 9780545162104

Following the jump, the rest of the titles from the short list:

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Many of us are eagerly awaiting the announcement of the Newbery winner and honor books at the upcoming ALA Midwinter meeting. So, too are the kids at the Bank Street College of Education School for Children. They have already voiced their opinion in the annual Bank Street Mock Newbery Awards. Seventy-seven kids, ages ten to twelve, read, discussed and voted on a short list of titles.

And, the winner is:

Wonderstruck Brian Selznick Retail Price: $29.99 Hardcover: 608 pages Publisher: Scholastic – (2011-09-13) ISBN / EAN: 0545027896 / 9780545027892

Honor Books

Divergent Veronica Roth Retail Price: $13.99 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: HarperCollins/Tegen Books – (2011-05-03) ISBN :  9780062024022

Bird in a Box Andrea Pinkney Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Hachette/LBYR – (2011-04-12) ISBN / EAN: 0316074039 / 9780316074032 Audio: Listening Library Okay for Now Gary D. Schmidt Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: HMH/Clarion – (2011-04-05) ISBN / EAN: 0547152604 / 9780547152608 RH/Listening Library; OverDrive The rest of the titles on the short list, after the jump: (more…)

Tina Fey may add a Grammy to her many awards. Her best selling audio recording of Bossypants (Hachette Audio) was announced as a nominee in the Best Spoken Word category at last night’s Grammy Nomination Concert (full list of nominees here). Winners will be named on Feb. 12.

It has already been selected as one of the year’s best audios by AudioFile magazine. For our money, it’s already won the Most Disturbing Cover of the year.

The other nominees are:

Fab Fan Memories – The Beatles Bond; Nathan Burbank, Bryan Cumming, Dennis Scott & David Toledo, producers, WannaBeats Records

Hamlet, William Shakespeare; Dan Donohue & Various Artists – Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Blackstone Audio

If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won’t), Betty White, Penguin Audio

The Mark Of Zorro, Val Kilmer & Cast, Blackstone Audio

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (Bloomsbury) got a boost on Amazon’s sales rankings after winning the National Book Award for fiction on Wednesday, rising to #260.

But a book that received earlier recognition is having greater success with U.S. buyers.

Julian Barnes’s The Sense of an Ending, (Knopf) which won Britain’s Booker Award last month, is at #23, even though USA Today called it, “the longest, dreariest 163 pages in recent memory…pretentious philosophical musings masquerading as a novel.” The not-always-kind NYT critic Michiko Kakutani put it more diplomatically, saying it is “dense with philosophical ideas and more clever than emotionally satisfying.”

After winning the Booker (10/19), it rose to #5 and slowly drifted down, still remaining in the top 50 for the next few weeks. It got another bump from NPR on Saturday, moving up to #27. Library holds are also much heavier on it than on Salvage the Bones.

As described by Ron Charles in the Washington Post, Salvage the Bones is the more accessible title; “Without a hint of pretension, in the simple lives of these poor people living among chickens and abandoned cars, [the author] evokes the tenacious love and desperation of classical tragedy.” It is also about a specifically American experience, a family struggling and surviving through hurricane Katrina.

Both are in hardcover, are similar prices and both are short books. This year, it’s especially difficult to explain why Americans seem to say, “Make mine a Booker.”

Below are videos of the National Book Awards, presented last night, with time notations.

Host John Lithgow said of Nikky Finney’s electrifying acceptance of the poetry award (Part Two, beginning at 17:30), “That was the best acceptance speech for anything I’ve ever heard in my life,”  He worried that the winners who followed her would be intimidated, but by the end, marveled, “You people are good at this.”

Introducing the award for Young People’s Literature, Panel Chair Marc Aronson noted, ”It was a bad year for muffled phone conversations with disastrous consequences.” (Part Two, 10:00)

Part One:

Intro by host, John Lithgow

(7:50) – Walter Mosley presents the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community to bookseller Mitchell Kaplan, Books & Books.

(24:50) – Ann Lauterbach presents the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters to poet John Ashberry.

Part Two:

(1:20) — Introduction by David Steinberger, President and CEO Perseus Books Group and Chairman of the National Book Foundation Board of Directors.

(10:00) – Marc Aronson, chair of the Young People’s Literature Award Panel presents the award to Thanhha Lai, Inside Out & Back Again, (Harper, 1/21/11).

(13:40) – Elizabeth Alexander chair of the Poetry Award Panel presents the award to Nikky Finney, Head Off & Split, (TriQuarterly/Northwestern University Press).

(23:40) – Alice Kaplan, Nonfiction Award Panel Chair presents the award to Stephen Greenblatt, for The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
(Norton, 9/26/11)  – consumer review links.

(32:00) – Deirdre McNamer Fiction Panel Chair, presents the award to  Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones, (Bloomsbury USA,  8/30/11); consumer review links.

The National Book Awards will be Webcast live tomorrow evening, 8 p.m., ET. Below are the finalists, with links to consumer reviews, where available:

Fiction

Andrew Krivak, The Sojourn, (Bellevue Literary Press); review links

Téa Obreht, The Tiger’s Wife, (Random House) – reviewed the most widely of all the finalists – links and excerpts here

Julie Otsuka, The Buddha in the Attic, (Knopf/ Random House) – review links

Edith Pearlman, Binocular Vision, (Lookout Books/Department of Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington) – review links

Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones, (Bloomsbury USA) – review links

Nonfiction

Deborah Baker, The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism, (Graywolf Press) - review links

Mary Gabriel, Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution, (Little, Brown/Hachette) – review links

Stephen Greenblatt, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, (Norton) - review links

Manning Marable, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, (Viking/Penguin) – review links

Lauren Redniss, Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie, A Tale of Love and Fallout, (It Books/HarperCollins) – review links

Young People’s Literature

Franny Billingsley, Chime, (Dial/Penguin)

Debby Dahl Edwardson, My Name Is Not Easy, (Marshall Cavendish)

Thanhha Lai, Inside Out and Back Again, (Harper)

Albert Marrin, Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy, (Knopf/Random House Children’s Books)

Gary D. Schmidt, Okay for Now, (Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) –  NYT Book Review

Poetry 

Nikky Finney, Head Off & Split, (TriQuarterly/Northwestern University Press) - Interview

Yusef Komunyakaa, The Chameleon Couch, (FSG/Macmillan)

Carl Phillips, Double Shadow, (FSG/Macmillan) - Chicago Tribune review

Adrienne Rich, Tonight No Poetry Will Serve: Poems 2007-2010, (Norton) – San Francisco Chronicle review

Bruce Smith, Devotions, (University of Chicago Press) – review, NYT BR 

The National Book Awards debacle, as seen through the eyes of Xtranormal (via Entertainment Weekly‘s blog, “Shelf Life“).

The story of the National Book Foundation’s flip-flops on whether Lauren Myracle’s Shine (Amulet/Abrams, 9780810984172) would be included on the list of finalists for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature is being called everything from a “mix-up” to a “debacle” and has been covered in a wide range of publications, from the author’s hometown paper, The Denver Post, to the Hindustan Times.

Myracle spoke to NPR’s All Things Considered last night and, earlier, to Vanity Fair. While she says the NBA’a request that she withdraw Shine from consideration made her feel like “the rug had been pulled out” from under her feet, one good thing has come from it. The National Book Foundation agreed to her suggestion that they donate $5,000 to the Matthew Shepard Foundation, which fights against hate crimes.

Fellow YA author Libba Bray posted a self-described “rant” on her blog, saying, ”a classy, kind, wonderful person and writer was subjected to a week of anguish in full view of the world in order to preserve somebody’s overweening ego.” She urged readers to “order Shine from your local bookstore or request it from your local library today. And if you’re tweeting this, please use the hashtag #ISupportShine.”

On Twitter, an additional hashtag, #BuyShine has also emerged.

The book has risen to #534 on Amazon’s sales rankings, higher than any of the titles on the official list:

• # 1,936    Gary D. Schmidt  - Okay for Now - Clarion/HMH, 9780547152608
• #2,326    Debby Dahl Edwardson  - My Name is Not Easy - Marshall Cavendish, 9780761459804
• #3,981    Franny Billingsley - Chime - Dial Books, 9780803735521
• #3,987    Thanhha Lai - Inside Out & Back Again - Harper, 9780061962783
• # 5,899    Albert Marrin -  Flesh & Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy - Alfred A. Knopf, 9780375868894

After being short-listed four times, Julian Barnes has finally won the Booker Prize, an honor he once dismissed as “posh bingo,” for The Sense of an Ending. The news sent the book to #8 on Amazon’s sales rankings.

Originally scheduled for publication in January, the book was recently moved up to the beginning of October.

Earlier this year, the head of the judging committee, spy novelist Stella Rimington, said  she wanted people “to buy [the titles on the shortlist] and read them, not buy them and admire them,” setting off a round of controversy and launching a new, competing prize, pointedly named the Literature Prize.

Even so, The Sense of an Ending leans more towards “Literature” than towards what is commonly considered “readable.” Michiko Kakutani, reviewing it in the New York Times found it, “…dense with philosophical ideas and more clever than emotionally satisfying. Still, it manages to create genuine suspense as a sort of psychological detective story” and the San Francisco Chronicle said, “At 163 pages, Julian Barnes’ latest novel…is the longest book I have ever read,” although it invites and rewards rereading.

Other U.S reviews:

Entertainment Weekly, by Stephan Lee (Oct. 11, 2011)

Washington Post, by Jeff Turrentine (Oct. 11, 2011)

Cleveland Plain Dealer, by John Freeman (Oct. 13, 2011)

Wall Street Journal, by Sam Sacks (Oct. 17, 2011)

The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes Retail Price: $23.95 Hardcover: 176 pages Publisher: Knopf – (2011-10-05) ISBN / EAN: 0307957128 / 9780307957122

After learning that she was a nominee for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature for her book Shine, Lauren Myracle got the disappointing news that the announcement was a mistake. The nominee was supposed to be the sound alike Chime by Franny Billingsley, but the committee decided to go ahead and include both books.

Now, according to a report by the Associated Press, the committee has changed their minds again and Myracle has complied with a request from NBA to withdraw Shine from consideration.