Katherine Paterson has been named the new National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. She will succeed the first ambassador, Jon Scieszka. The two-year position was created by the Library of Congress, the Children’s Book Council, and the Library of Congress’ Center for the Book.

Paterson is a two-time winner of the Newbery Medal for Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved, a two-time winner of the National Book Award for The Great Gilly Hopkins and The Master Puppeteer, and has written numerous other books for children. She has also received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award and the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in Vermont, in addition to being named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress.

Publishers Weekly reports:

Scieszka’s platform was reaching reluctant readers. Paterson’s will be “read for your life.” With books, she said, kids (and adults) use their “powers of intellect and imagination” and experience “delight.” Stories also teach children about people from other religions, races, and countries, she said. “Books help us make friends who are different from ourselves.”

Paterson is already heavily involved in promoting literary across the country, particularly to young people.

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Category winners for the 2009 Costa Book Awards have been announced:

Costa Novel Award – Colm Tóibin – Brooklyn
First Novel Award – Raphael Selbourn – Beauty
Biography Award – Graham Farmelo – The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius
Poetry Award – Christopher Reid – A Scattering
Children’s Book Award – Patrick Ness – The Ask and the Answer

The awards are presented by Costa Coffee, a coffee shop chain based in the United Kingdom. Each category winner receives £5,000. A final judging panel will select the overall Costa Book of the Year from the five category winners listed above. That prize will be announced on January 26 and the winner will receive £25,000.

The Costa Book Awards began in 1971 as the Whitbread Literary Awards, and then later as the Whitbread Book Awards before Costa Coffee took over sponsorship in 2006.

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Other publishing industry news:

* Sam’s Club is launching its very own book club on January 12. The retail chain will select titles quarterly to promote on endcap displays inside of the stores and through “direct mail pieces, in club communications, and online outreach.” Beth Hoffman’s debut novel Saving CeeCee Honeycutt will be the first featured book.

* The 50 remaining B. Dalton Bookseller stores will close by the end of January. The bookstore chain, purchased by Barnes & Noble in 1986, once had as many as 800 locations.