Experts keep predicting that the fantasy genre has run its course, but, to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of fantasy are an exaggeration. Instead, the genre has grown and diversified, and today we have an incredibly varied menu to choose from. Science Fiction, while not as popular, has also matured into a deep, thought-provoking, literary genre. Fantasy and …

Picture Books can be funny, touching, beautiful, quirky, or just plain-ol’ breathtaking. Nominate your favorite 2006 picture book today, with one sentence explaining why this title is so very special. We’re looking for books that wow the kids, books they want to read just one more time. Keep in mind there’s a Poetry category, so no collections of verse for …

"Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein, is so popular with children, librarians and teachers insist it is the book most frequently stolen from their schools and libraries," Jim Trelease notes in The Read-Aloud Handbook. Silverstein’s collection, first published in 1974, certainly deserves its wild popularity, but many books of poetry for children have been issued this year. 2006! Let’s …

We want books that you can’t put down. Books that you lose yourself in. Books that make you say (in a good way): "how did this author think to phrase it that way?" For the purposes of nominating, we’ll consider Young Adult to be books suitable for ages 13 and up. If you aren’t sure if a book is Middle …

Middle grade fiction. Everybody loves it. They’re the books you read long after you’ve left the babyish picture books and easy readers of your youth behind. Middle grade fiction means chapters. Now since we already have a Fantasy/Sci-Fi category for this award, I won’t be needing anything along those lines. I want you to instead nominate those chapter books that …