Paige's "Page" wins 2009 PPA Gold Award

While I've won writing and editing awards in the past, I'm certainly aware that the "value" of an award, the merit of it, can vary greatly. When my first-rights editor submitted "A Page in a Book" to the Parenting Publications of America (PPA) awards competition for the first time in 2006, I wasn't even aware of its entry until I got a call from the annual conference in Philadelphia. I remember my editor's husband phoning me late at night and saying "I have somthing to tell you...Are you sitting down?". My knees turned to water as I imagined him telling me that my friend had been suddenly stricken with some terrible illness, or worse...was my 'late' friend. Why else should I be sitting down? I sat.

When he revealed I had won the PPA Gold Award for Reviews, I didn't quite know what to say. I had no idea what the PPA was, what a Gold Award entailed or how my column had ended up 'in the running'. He seemed to think the Gold Award was really a big deal, though. What I said was "Wow! That's great!" What I wanted to say was "Thank God! I thought Carol was dead!"

I learned later that the Parenting Publications of America is a professional organization for the nation's best parenting and family magazines. And I also learned that the awards competition between these magazines at the PPA annual conference is a serious. The categories are judged by respected authorities within the field and the criteria is pretty exacting. Since discovering that the PPA award isn't some generic pat-on-the-back, I distinctly appreciate the honor.

I've just learned that "A Page in a Book"(as published in Birmingham Parent magazine) received its third Gold Award for Reviews at the 2009 PPA convention in New Orleans. I'm very excited about the news and so pleased that APB has been recognized and honored again. This development has definitely inspired me to be more diligent about presenting more reviews through my blog this year. If I'm going to meet my mission of helping young readers, teens and their families find the best titles to try on, I must work harder to present the latest great reads (and audio) into this venue.

Consider me renewed and recommitted - and grateful for the opportunity...

"The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman

It's been so long since I've heard a really good ghost story. You know, the kind you tell at a slumber party or campout. I wonder if really good haunting stories are even spoken anymore outside of the realm of movie screens and video games. Naturally, 'jump out and scare the bejesus' moments are artfully crafted and terrifying when you're experiencing CGI special effects that are supported by tension building sound effects. But for younger readers who are neither ready for "Silent Hill" (is anybody?) nor inclined to watch "The Sixth Sense", the written realm is still a grand place to seek spooky thrills and chilling moments. The latest crop of ghostly stories for teen readers this fall include some outstanding titles that seep into the bones with frightening clarity and dead-on spookiness.

Here is the first of my ghostly favorites:

"The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins) has been a long time coming. I first encountered a taste of this graveyard in Gaiman's short story "The Witch's Headstone" which was collected and published in "Dark Alchemy"an outstanding anthology of magical tales from the fantasy genre's A-team of writers. The story felt like there was so much more to be revealed about Bod (short for Nobody), a boy who is being raised by ghosts in a crumbling graveyard for reasons that aren't plain in the short story. I sorely wanted more.

I wasn't the only one, it seems. Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book" opens with an eighteen-month-old baby (It's Bod!) wandering away from the scene of his family's murder and toddling into a graveyard, one baby step away from his own extinction at the hands of the killer. The ghostly denizens of the ancient burial ground, who typically shun human contact, find themselves pressed into service to take responsibility for the endangered child. The tot is tagged by his new family with the name 'Nobody' or 'Bod' for short, and he seems destined to live his life among the dead. There are certainly unique challenges that his ghostly caretakers face; feeding and clothing a child, educating him, and most importantly...keeping him hidden from the curious, and sometimes dangerous outsiders.

Gaiman's deft skill as a wordsmith and storyteller keep the reader buried chin-deep in a rich graveyard world that is at once gothic and funny, frightening and romantic. His enviable talent with an 'economy of words', means that the story never drags with too much explanation and coloration - Gaiman uses perfectly selected words or phrases to communicate volumes.

"The Jack called Ketch saw the boy in front of him. He pulled his black silk cord tight between his hands. It had been stretched around many necks, over the years, and had been the end of every one of the people it had embraced. It was very soft and very strong and invisible to x-rays."

Volumes, dude.

"The Witch's Headstone" reappears as chapter four in this expanded graveyard world, bridging the satisfying backstory of Bod and his hanuted home with the uncertain fate and certain dangers he faces as he grows into a young man moving into the living world. Illustrated by Dave McKean, the sketchy drawings remind me of those that punctuated favorite ghost story collections read during my youth (1970's YA horror collections rocked!). The illustration hints of horror and mood, leaving your eyes and imagination to fill in the misty gaps and empty spaces.

Highly recommended for capable young readers as young as eight and certainly for adults as well, "The Graveyard Book" is an ideal read for any young fan seeking a story that is wonderfully spooky and masterfully told.

SEE ALSO:
"M is for Magic" by Neil Gaiman (HarperTrophy) Also available as unabridged audio
"Coraline" (graphic novel) by Neil Gaiman, Illustrated by P. Craig Russell
"Coraline" (novel) by Neil Gaiman, Illustrated by Dave McKean Also available as unabridged audio

Disclaimer: I'm a huge Gaiman fan and will tell anyone who asks. I tell most who don't ask as well. See? I did it again.