Episode #335: Cultivating Joy in Other's Success's
Grace Lin and Alvina Ling talk about some recent news, including the snow storm, the announcements of the ALA Youth Media Awards, and recent events in Minnesota. They do the Fortune Cookie Segment first and list the Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz Award winners and honor books, and Alvina shares the books awarded from LBYR. And then they talk about professional jealousy and how to cultivate pure joy and happiness in other people's successes (sometimes called "freudenfreude" or "mudita"), including some concrete tips--including practicing "bragitude". And they end as always with what they're grateful for.
How have you been?
Grace and Alvina recap the big snow and all the cold weather recently! Two books that Alvina edited won ALA awards: The Invisible Parade by Leigh Bardugo and John Picacio won a Belpré Illustration Honor award. Jewel Parker Rhodes won The Coretta Scott King Author Award for Will’s Race For Home.
Grace and Alvina talk about current events in Minnesota. It’s also Girl Scout Cookie Time! If you’d like to support Hazel and the Girl Scouts….check out this link for cookies!
SAVE THE DATE!: Alvina is giving the BERL lecture at the Eric Carle Museum on April 18th 2026 from 1-2pm.
AWARDS:
Newbury Honor Awards: The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli by Karina Yan Glaser, A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez, written by María Dolores Águila, The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story, written by Daniel Nayeri, and The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest, written by Aubrey Hartman, illustrated by Marcin Minor and published by Little Brown.
Newbury Honor Award: All the Blues in the Sky, written by Renée Watson
Caldecott Honor Awards: Every Monday Mabel, illustrated and written by Jashar Awan, Our Lake, illustrated and written by Angie Kang, Stalactite & Stalagmite: A Big Tale from a Little Cave, illustrated and written by Drew Beckmeyer, and Sundust, illustrated and written by Zeke Peña.
Caldecott Award: Fireworks, illustrated by Cátia Chien, written by Matthew Burgess
Printz Honor Books: Cope Field, written by T.L. Simpson, The House No One Sees, written by Adina King, Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley, Song of a Blackbird, written and illustrated by Maria van Lieshout.
Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature: Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories, edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith.
Other winners from Little Brown: Two graphic novels… Hello Sunshine by Keezy Young and The Snips: A Bad Buzz Day, by Raul the Third. Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer by Quartez Harris and Gordon C James won the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor Award. Stonewall Honor Awards: The Ink Witch, written by Steph Cherrywell
Kadir Nelson won Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement Award. Little Brown published his book, Basketball. Kwame Alexander will deliver the 2027 ALSC Children’s Literature Lecture.
Cultivating Joy for Others’ Successes:
Grace and Alvina talk about how they feel during awards season.
Thank You
Thank you to Hachette Audio, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, and Alex at Pacyworks Studio for producing and editing this podcast. Be sure to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and tell a friend about us. Tag us on social media using the hashtag #bookfriendsforever OR send us a message via Instagram at @bookfriendsforever_podcast or via our website at Bookfriendsforever.com.
See info about Grace's new book "The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon": https://linktr.ee/gracelinauthor.
You can find Alvina @planetalvina on TikTok and @alvinaling on Instagram , Bluesky, and Threads.
You can find Grace @pacylin on Instagram and Threads, @authorgracelin on Facebook, @gracelinauthor on Tik Tok.
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