Newbery, Caldecott winners announced

ALA and ALSC announced the winners and honorees for the 2012 Youth Media Awards.  The most famous of these are the Newbery and Caldecott medals.  A complete list of winners, honorees, and descriptions of the criteria for all awards is available at the ALSC website: http://www.ala.org/alsc/2012-alsc-book-and-media-award-winners.

Newbery Medal:

Dead End in Norvelt written by Jack Gantos, published by Farrar Straus Giroux

Newbery Honor Books

Inside Out & Back Again written by Thanhha Lai, published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers

Breaking Stalin’s Nose written by Eugene Yelchin, published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC

Caldecott Medal:

A Ball for Daisy illustrated and written by Chris Raschka, published by Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Caldecott Honor Books

Blackout illustrated and written by John Rocco, published by Disney/Hyperion Books, an imprint of Disney Book Group

Grandpa Green illustrated and written by Lane Smith, published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing

Me…Jane illustrated and written by Patrick McDonnell, published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

2013 Arbuthnot Honor Lecture:

Michael Morpurgo

Batchelder Award:

Soldier Bear written by Bibi Dumon Tak, illustrated by Philip Hopman, translated by Laura Watkinson, published by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Batchelder Honor Book

The Lily Pond written by Annika Thor, translated by Linda Schenck, published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award:

Kadir Nelson, author and illustrator of Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans, is the King Author Book winner. The book is published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

King Author Honorees

Eloise Greenfield, author of The Great Migration: Journey to the North, illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist and published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; and Patricia C. McKissack, author of Never Forgotten, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon and published by Schwartz &Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

 Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award:

Shane W. Evans, illustrator and author of Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom, is the King Illustrator Book winner. The book is a Neal Porter Book, published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership.

King Illustrator Honoree  

Kadir Nelson, illustrator and author of Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans, published by Balzar + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement:

Ashley Bryan

Storyteller, artist, author, poet and musician, Bryan created his first children’s book in first grade. He grew up in the Bronx and in 1962, he became the first African American to both write and illustrate a children’s book. After a successful teaching career, Bryan left academia to pursue creation of his own artwork. He has since garnered numerous awards for his significant and lasting literary contribution of poetry, spirituals and story.

Pura Belpre (Illustrator) Award:

Diego Rivera: His World and Ours written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh, published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS

Belpre (Illustrator) Honor Books

The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred illustrated by Rafael López, written by Samantha R. Vamos, published by Charlesbridge

Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match/Marisol McDonald no combina illustrated by Sara Palacios, written by Monica Brown, published by Children’s Books Press, an imprint of Lee and Low Books Inc.

Pura Belpre (Author) Award:

Under the Mesquite written by Guadalupe Garcia McCall, published by Lee and Low Books Inc.

Belpre (Author) Honor Books

Maximilian and the Mystery of the Guardian Angel: A Bilingual Lucha Libre Thriller written and illustrated by Xavier Garza, published by Cinco Puntos Press

Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck written by Margarita Engle, published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC

Carnegie Award:

Children Make Terrible Pets produced by Paul R. Gagne and Melissa Reilly Ellard, Weston Woods Studios, Inc.

Theodore Seuss Geisel Award:

Tales for Very Picky Eaters written and illustrated by Josh Schneider, published by Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Geisel Honor Books

I Broke My Trunk written and illustrated by Mo Willems, published by Hyperion Books for Children, an imprint of Disney Book Group

I Want My Hat Back written and illustrated by Jon Klassen, published by Candlewick Press

See Me Run written and illustrated by Paul Meisel, published by Holiday House

Sibert Medal:

Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade written and illustrated by Melissa Sweet, published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Sibert Honor Books

Black & White: The Confrontation between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene “Bull” Connor written by Larry Dane Brimner, published by Calkins Creek, an imprint of Boyds Mills Press, Inc.

Drawing from Memory written and illustrated by Allen Say, published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.

The Elephant Scientist written by Caitlin O’Connell and Donna M. Jackson, illustrated by Caitlin O’Connell and Timothy Rodwell, published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Witches!: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem written and illustrated by Rosalyn Schanzer, published by National Geographic Society

Congratulations to all winners and honorees!

ALSC publishes 2011 Youth Media Award winners and honorees

ALSC has posted the winners of the 2011 Youth Media Awards (in the children’s categories) on their website: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/2011medawardwin.cfm

Congratulations to all winners and honorees!

My Abuelita is a great storyteller

My Abuelita, written by Tony Johnston, illustrated by Yuyi Morales; published by Harcourt Children’s Books, Boston; 2009.

The morning routine for Abuelita and her grandson is the same every morning.  The woman, with hair the color of salt and a body the shape of a pumpkin, gets ready for work with the help of her adoring grandson.  As the rhythm of the story progresses, we wonder what job requires the grandmother to yodel and dress is bright, billowing clothes?  You’ll have to read it to find out!

Johnston does a wonderful job of weaving Spanish words into the story; he also gently builds curiosity by making the morning’s routine a little more absurd with each page.  But the real gem of this book is Morales’ illustrations.  Each image was created with clay and wire and other realia, then photographed and digitally manipulated.  Her ingenuity is evident from the cover art: a hand-tooled silver frame around a portrait of grandmother and grandson.  Every image is injected with a bit of humor for readers to find.  I laughed and laughed at the round dimes flowing out of Abuelita’s mouth while she is “booming.”

Of course this would be an ideal multicultural book to read.  However, it would also be appropriate to add to a list of books for read-alouds, given that Abuelita’s career is storytelling; I would use it on the first day of story time or on a first visit to the school library.  Also, it would be wonderful to display for Grandparents’ Day because this relationship is so sweet.