I haven't read that one, Betsy (although I did like Counting By Sevens!). It's hard to say what books I've read and loved that qualify (ie that came out this year or are that type of book). Some that *might* show up for middle grade are A Snicker of Magic, Saving Lucas Biggs, The Boundless, My Friend the Enemy, He Laughed with his Other Mouths (yes, it's silly satire, but there's some pathos in that book, too, and satire or not, MT Anderson can write), Greenglass House, The Fourteenth Goldfish, and Egg and Spoon. But I think I'm terrible at picking award books. The books I really love rarely get awards (although sometimes they do, which is always nice!)
I have Brown Girl Dreaming on hold at the library and thus haven't read it yet, but I'm betting that one gets a ton of love.
I don't know if The Cracks in the Kingdom qualifies for a Printz (Australian author, AAL is the US publisher), but I sure did enjoy that book. (It's the second in a trilogy, and I enjoyed it quite a bit more than the first, which I liked to start out with.)
Unrelated to all of this, a book I recently read and loved was Rien Poortvliet's book Noah's Ark. He's a fabulous Dutch animal painter, and his paintings make you want to climb inside. I hadn't read this book before, and was at the library one day, escaping the plumbing pains of my 100YO house, and ran into it. Sometimes you just need the comfort of Good Art, you know? It definitely hit the spot. I think he's also known for gnome pictures, but if you ever get the chance to look at his animal art, do it! It's beautiful.
