Newbery & Caldecott Winners

Today the Newbery and Caldecott Awards were announced. Here are the results:
John Newbery Medal Winner
Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
Randolph Caldecott Medal Winner
The Hello, Goodbye Window illustrated by Chris Raschka

Newbery Honor
Whittington by Alan Armstrong
Hitler Youth:Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson

Caldecott Honor
Rosa illustrated by Bryan Collier
Zen Shorts illustrated by Jon J. Muth
Hot Air:The (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride written & illustrated by Marjorie Priceman
Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems illustrated by Beckie Prange

Of all of these books, I've only read Princess Academy by Shannon Hale. There was recently a little online hoopla because Shannon googled herself, and read an unfavorable review of Princess Academy on somebody's blog which hurt her feelings, and there was a little back and forth, so I'd better be careful what I say in case she googles herself again. I really like Shannon Hale (see the link to your left), and I'm happy she's getting this kind of recognition. Having said that, I kind of agree with the unfavorable review in that I was not completely happy with the ending of Princess Academy, and I definitely think Goose Girl and Enna Burning are superior to it. You should just go ahead and read all three, not to mention River Secrets, a third Bayern story that will be coming out sometime in the near future.
I have already requested Criss Cross and The Hello, Goodbye Window from the library (I beat the rush, there were only a couple of holds on both of them), so I look forward to reading those as well.