LQ takes 6 awards at ALA's Youth Media Awards—all awarded to debuts
Four of LQ’s debut authors, took home honors at the YMA’s in New Orleans this week:
Sacha Lamb receives the Michael L. Printz Honor Award, the Stonewall Book Award, and the Sydney Taylor Medal for When the Angels Left the Old Country
Mari Lowe wins a Sydney Taylor Medal for Aviva vs the Dybbuk
Paula Cohen wins a Sydney Taylor Honor for Big Dreams Small Fish
Camille Gomera-Tavarez wins a Pura Belpré Honor for High Spirits
HOBOKEN—Thursday, February 2—Independent children’s book publisher Levine Querido (LQ), received six awards at ALA’s Youth Media Awards Ceremony including the Michael L. Printz Honor for When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb. The Printz Medal honors excellence in literature written for young adults.
Quick stats:
This marks the third time the Printz committee has recognized LQ in three years.
LQ has received Pura Belpré recognition for three years in a row.
In 2022, Donna Barba Higuera, was the first author to win both the Newbery Medal and the Pura Belpré Medal in the same year.
This year, Sacha Lamb is the first author to win both the Stonewall and the Sydney Taylor in the same year
When the Angels Left the Old Country also received the Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children’s and Young Adult Literature Stonewall Book Award—a first for LQ—given annually to English-language works of exceptional merit for children or teens relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience, as well as the Sydney Taylor Award—another first for LQ—which is presented annually to outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience.
In a Tweet with +18.3K views, Sacha Lamb—who uses they/them pronouns—wrote:
The Tweet was picked up by SLJ, who posted it on Instagram as well as Twitter.
In an interview with Shelf-Awareness, Sacha went on to say:
The queer and Jewish elements of the book are intertwined quite closely, and that was a deliberate effort that I made, to make sure that Judaism and queerness weren't in opposition to each other within the story. The goal with that is to help readers who have felt conflict between those sides of their identities--queer people who've felt rejected by elements of Judaism, Jewish people who've faced antisemitism in the queer community--to find a place where their whole self belongs. This isn't the only queer Jewish YA by any means….But it's a message that bears repeating. You don't have to give up any part of yourself if you don't want to. There is a place for you, and it is even possible to imagine that others like you existed in the past.
Likewise, debut author, Camille Gomera-Tavarez, also expressed her gratitude in a Tweet that has racked up 11.5K views and hundreds of Likes:
Led by Arthur A. Levine, LQ launched in 2019 with a mission to spotlight previously underrepresented authors and artists from the United States and abroad. Levine shared his reaction to the Youth Media Awards news:
"All of these awards were given to authors and artists making their debut to readers. That’s a lot to celebrate! Our mission at LQ is to support a variety of authors and artists whose genders, races, religions, sexual identities and abilities are as varied as we are. And that ‘we’ is a personal we, a community ‘we,’ a national and international ‘we.’ We are grateful to the YMA awards for proving that “excellence” can be represented equally by an author telling lyrical tales drawn from her the Dominican diaspora, a novel woven from Yiddishkeit that deeply explores the nature of gender and how that can color the experience of love, told along a journey from the old country to the new, a picture book about a family grocery store in 1940’s America, where only a clever girl can figure out how to share unfamiliar foods with her diverse neighbors, or the journey of a middle school girl in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, haunted by a Dybbuk and the grief of a family tragedy.”
“With unflinching love and bewitching prose, Camille Gomera-Tavarez wove together the unforgettable tapestry of family, history, and diaspora that is High Spirits,” Executive Editor Nick Thomas said. “I’m overjoyed for it to be recognized as a special achievement by the Pura Belpré committee, and hope young readers will be falling in love with it too for years to come.”
“The ethos at LQ is to bring new voices to the forefront. We want to reimagine the children’s literature canon,“ explained Antonio Cerna, Marketing Director. “When debut voices are recognized in this way, our mission is vindicated.”
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When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb
OSD: October 18, 2022
Price: $19.99
Hardcover ISBN: 9781646141760
Audio ISBN: 9781705082171
When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb (Printz Honor, Stonewall Award, Sydney Taylor Award) was named a Best Book of the Year by NPR and Kirkus — and has received 7 starred reviews.
When the Angels Left the Old Country is a queer immigrant fairytale about individual purpose, the fluid nature of identity, and the power of love to change and endure. Uriel the angel and Little Ash (short for Ashmedai) are the only two supernatural creatures in their shtetl. The angel and the demon have been studying together for centuries, but pogroms and the search for a new life have drawn all the young people from their village to America. When one of those young emigrants goes missing, Uriel and Little Ash set off to find her. Along the way the angel and demon encounter humans in need of their help, including Rose Cohen, whose best friend (and the love of her life) has abandoned her to marry a man, and Malke Shulman, whose father died mysteriously on his way to America. But there are obstacles ahead of them as difficult as what they’ve left behind.
Aviva vs the Dybbuk by Mari Lowe
OSD: March 1, 2022
Price: $18.99
Hardcover ISBN: 9781646141258
Audio ISBN: 9781705064139
Aviva vs the Dybbuk by Mari Lowe (Sydney Taylor Award) was named a Best Book of the Year by NPR and Kirkus—and received 3 starred reviews—and received critical praise from Betsy Bird at SLJ.
Aviva seems to have lost everything, including her best friend Kayla, and a mother who was once vibrant and popular, but who now can’t always get out of bed in the morning. On top of it all, she’s menaced by a ghostly dybbuk that no one but Aviva can see. As tensions escalate in the Jewish community of Beacon with incidents of vandalism and a swastika carved into new concrete poured near the synagogue…so does the tension grow between Aviva the girls at her school, and so do the actions of the dybbuk grow worse. Could real harm be coming Aviva’s way? And is it somehow related to the “accident” that took her father years ago? The New York Times noted that Aviva vs the Dybbuk is “a rare, sensitive portrayal of a contemporary Orthodox Jewish community.”
Big Dreams, Small Fish by Paula Cohen
OSD: March 1, 2022
Price: $18.99
Hardcover ISBN: 9781646141265
Audio ISBN: 9781705064191
Big Dreams, Small Fish by Paula Cohen (Sydney Taylor Honor) was Paula Cohen’s debut picture book. Tragically, she passed away just a week before her book came out.
In the new country, Shirley and her family all have big dreams. Take the family store: Shirley has great ideas about how to make it more modern! She even thinks she can sell the one specialty no one seems to want to try: Mama’s homemade gefilte fish. But her parents think she’s too young to help. This doesn’t stop Shirley’s ideas, of course. And one day, when the rest of the family has to rush out leaving her in the store with sleepy Mrs. Gottlieb…Shirley seizes her chance. The Wall Street Journal noted that “Paula Cohen tells an all-American tale of the Yiddish diaspora in “Big Dreams, Small Fish,” a charming picture book for 4- to 8-year-olds.”
High Spirits by Camille Gomera-Tavarez
OSD: April 12, 2022
Price: $19.99
Hardcover ISBN: 9781646141296
Audio ISBN: 9781705066126
High Spirits by Camille Gomera-Tavarez (Pura Belpré Honor) was named a Best Book of the Year by the Los Angeles Public Library, the Chicago Review of Books, Kirkus — and garnered 3 starred reviews.
High Spirits is a collection of eleven interconnected short stories from the Dominican diaspora, from debut author Camille Gomera-Tavarez. It is a book centered on one extended family – the Beléns – across multiple generations. Set in the fictional small town of Hidalpa, the book traverses the Dominican diaspora, from Santo Domingo to Paterson, San Juan to Washington Heights. It is told in a style both utterly real and distinctly magical – and its stories explore machismo, mental health, family, and identity.
Buenos Espíritus by Camille Gomera-Tavarez, translated by Lorraine Avila
OSD: September 20, 2022
Price: $12.99
Paperback ISBN: 9781646143009
Audio ISBN: 9781705082119
About Levine Querido
Arthur A. Levine founded the independent publisher Levine Querido on April 1, 2019. Previously he led an eponymous imprint at Scholastic, and was editor-in-chief of Alfred A. Knopf books for young readers, and G.P.Putnam’s Sons books for young readers. Visit www.levinequerido.com for a full archive of the imprint’s awards, honors, and publications. LQ is distributed by Chronicle Books.
About Chronicle:
Chronicle Books was founded in 1967 and over the years has developed a reputation for award-winning, innovative books. Recognized as one of the 50 best small companies to work for in the U.S., Chronicle Books’ objective is to create and distribute exceptional publishing that’s instantly recognizable for its spirit, creativity, and value. www.chroniclebooks.com