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!

Congratulations!!!

ALA’s 2011 Youth Media Awards were announced this morning.  The complete list is not yet published, but you can view the titles here: http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/heavymedal/2011/01/10/youth-media-awards/.

Congratulations to Newbery Medalist Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool and Caldecott Medalist Erin E. Stead for A Sick Day for Amos McGee.

Congratulations also to Grace Lin’s Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same!, a Theodor Seuss Geisel honoree.  David Ezra Stein was a Caldecott honoree for Interrupting Chicken.

One Boy, one great book

One Boy by Laura Vaccaro Seeger; published by A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, New York; 2008.

The summary for this book states, “A boy creates ten paintings in this counting book that also explores the relationship of words within words.”  Seeger accomplishes all this with few words and strategically placed windows on every other page.  Yes, it is a counting book as the window only reveals the items being counted—one boy, for example.  When the page is turned, the whole picture is revealed (one boy, all alone, but with his art supplies) and the opposite page in the spread reveals that “one” from the previous page has been revealed as part of the word “alone.”  The progression of the book builds in vivid color and one boy’s imagination to reveal a string of 10 paintings and the word “one” again used in the final word: “done.”

This book works on so many levels it must be read to young children multiple times to explore all the possibilities.  I certainly would include it in a counting book collection.  I would also use it with early elementary students to explore the “word-within-a-word” theme.  An art teacher could also use this book to inspire her class.

Try Fly Guy

Hi! Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold; published by Cartwheel Books, an imprint of Scholastic, New York; 2005.

Easy readers are notorious for being bland; it’s difficult to create imagery with a limited vocabulary.  Hi! Fly Guy is not great literature, but when the story of a boy and his pet is combined with silly, sometimes sidesplitting (at least when you’re a child) illustrations, you get a book that won’t stay on the shelves.  The surreal cartoon images, like of Fly Guy flying with his tongue hanging out (picture a first grader coloring), enhance the story with the humor associated with other picture books by Tedd Arnold.  The metallic cover also garners attention for this Geisel Honor book.

Because of the humorous images, I would use Hi! Fly Guy to coax a book into the hands of a reluctant reader.

How tiny can a bat be?

Hello, Bumblebee Bat by Darrin Lunde, illustrated by Patricia J. Wynne; published by Charlesbridge, Watertown, Mass.; 2007.

Bumblebee Bats are very small; this point is told in the text and the illustrations.  In fact, most of the information that children will learn about the species is told in the pictures, which are realistic watercolor, ink and colored pencil images.  Dark tones, reminiscent of twilight, let the reader know that these creatures prefer nightime.  When the warm colors of sunrise peak through a cave opening, the bats are sleeping and the text reads, “Good night, Bumblebee Bat!”  More information about the bats is provided at the end of the story, and without that page, a child might not know that this is non-fiction.

I would use this in a couple of ways.  One, it would make a terrific buddy reader–a child could read the large type and a more proficient reader (parent, teacher, sibling) could read the more difficult information provided in a smaller font size.  Second, it would make a good supplement for the second grade curriculum on bats.