Start Putting on the Stickers: Caldecotts, Newberys, etc.

The Golden Globes and the National Book Critics Circle nominees weren't the only award news this weekend: the American Library Association also announced the big ones in kids' books: the Newbery and Caldecott medals, which carry a guarantee of immortality not even the major grownup awards can offer. It's remarkable how aware my 8-year-old is of what those shiny stickers mean. And he'll be happy to hear that one of his favorite books last year, The Invention of Hugo Cabret ("The longest book I've ever read!" he'll tell you), is going to get a gold seal of its own. Here are the Medalists (the winners) and the Honor Books (the runners-up) for the Caldecott and Newbery as well as the winners of the other ALA awards:

Newbery (for "most outstanding contribution to children's literature"):

• Medal: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz, illustrated by Robert Byrd (a collection of 23 monologues that Schlitz, a Baltimore school librarian, originally wrote for her students to perform)
• Honor: Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Honor: The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
• Honor: Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson

Caldecott ("the most distinguished American picture book for children")

• Medal: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (the first novel to win the award)
• Honor: Henry's Freedom Box, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, written by Ellen Levine
• Honor: First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
• Honor: The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis
• Honor: Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems

Michael L. Printz Award for Teen Literature:

• Medal: The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean
• Honor: Dreamquake by Elizabeth Knox
• Honor: One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke
• Honor: Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins
• Honor: Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill

Coretta Scott King Awards ("recognizing African American authors and illustrators of outstanding books for children and young adults"):

• Author: Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Illustrator: Let It Shine by Ashley Bryan

Mildred L. Batchelder Award ("outstanding children's book translated from a foreign language")

• Brave Story by Mikuyi Miyabe

Pura Belpre Awards ("to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children"):

• Author: The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Marzano by Margarita Engle
• Illustrator: Los Gatos Black on Halloween, illustrated by Yuyi Morales, written by Marisa Montes

Theodore Seuss Geisel Award ("the most distinguished American book for beginning readers")

• There Is a Bird on Your Head by Mo Willems

Odyssey Award ("the best audiobook produced for children or young adults"--the first time it's been awarded):

• Jazz by Walter Dean Myers, illustrated by Christopher Myers, produced by Arnie Cardillo

Sibert Medal ("the most distinguised informational book for children"):

• The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis

And always one of best ideas for a prize list: the Alex Awards ("the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences"):

• American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China by Matthew Polly
• Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff
• Essex County, Vol. 1: Tales from the Farm by Jeff Lemire
• Ghengis: Birth of an Empire by Conn Iggulden
• The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle
• A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
• Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
• The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
• The Night Birds by Thomas Maltman
• The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz

See previous winners of many of the ALA awards on our Award Winners page. --Tom

Comments

[Mary Burkey on January 14, 2008 at 02:54 PM]

And here are the Odyssey Award Honor Audiobooks:

Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary 'Jacky' Faber, Ship's Boy, produced by Listen & Live Audio

Dooby Dooby Moo, produced by Scholastic/Weston Woods

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, produced by Listening Library

Skulduggery Pleasant, produced by HarperChildren's Audio

Treasure Island, produced by Listening Library

Mary Burkey
Chair, 2008 Odyssey Award
mburkey@columbus.rr.com
http://audiobooker.blogspot.com/