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Interested in knowing which children's books received awards and medals, or
have been named on special "Best Book lists?
This page lists websites for many important awards, from
Florida's Sunshine State Young Reader's Program annual lists through the
Newbery and Caldecott Medals, to important awards given in Great Britain and
Canada.
The
Sunshine State Young Reader's Awards is a statewide reading motivation
program for students in grades 3-8. Over 101,000 students read enough
books to qualify
for voting in the statewide balloting for the favorite
book for the year.
The
Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century
English Illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the
Association for Library Services to Children, a division of the American
Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American
picture book for children. The 2009 winner is The House in the Night,
illustrated by Beth Krommes and written by Susan Marie Swanson, Houghton
Mifflin Co. Caldecott Honor Books include A Couple of Boys Have
the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee, How I Learned Geography
by Uri Shulevitz, and A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos
Williams, illustrated by Melissa Sweet and written by Jen Bryant.
The
Newbery Medal was named for the eighteenth-century British bookseller,
John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library
Services to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to
the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
The 2009 winner is The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman,
HarperCollins Children's Books. Newbery Honor Books include The
Underneath by Kathi Appelt, The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's
Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle, Savvy by Ingrid Law,
After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson
The
Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies
literary excellence in young adult literature. It is named for a
Topeka, Kansas school librarian who was a long-time active member of the
Young Adult Library Services Association. The 2009 winner is
Jellicoe Road
by Melina Marchetta. Haunted by the past,
Taylor Markham reluctantly leads the students of
the Jellicoe School in their secret territory
wars against the Townies and the Cadets.
Marchetta’s lyrical writing evokes the
Australian landscape in a suspenseful tale of
raw emotion, romance, humor and tragedy. Honors
for 2009 are The Astonishing Life of
Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume
II, The Kingdom on the Waves, by M.T.
Anderson; The Disreputable History
of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart;
Nation by Terry
Pratchett; Tender Morsels by
Margo Lanagan.
The
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award, established by the
Association for Library Services to Children in 2001, is awarded annually
to the author of the most distinguished informational book published in
English during the preceding year. The award is named in honor of
Robert F. Sibert, the long-time President of Bound to Stay Bound Books, Inc. of Jacksonville, Illinois, and is sponsored by the company.
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball written and
illustrated by Kadir Nelson.
Sibert Honor Books include Bodies from the Ice: Melting Glaciers and Rediscovery of the Past
written by James M. Deem, What to Do about Alice?: How Alice Roosevelt Broke the Rules, Charmed
the World, and Drove Her Father Teddy Crazy! written by Barbara Kerley.
The
Batchelder Award honors Mildred L. Batchelder, a former
executive director of the Association of Library Services to Children. This award, established in her honor in 1966, is a
citation awarded to an American publisher for a children's book considered
to be the most outstanding of those books
originally published in a
foreign language in a foreign country, and subsequently translated into
English and published in the United States. The 2009 winner is Arthur A.
Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc., publisher of Moribito:
Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi, translated from the Japanese
by Cathy Hirano.
Above all, before everything, Balsa is a fighter. She protects children and adults, the rich and the poor,
in a quest to redeem eight lives lost for her sake. She is a
master of the short spear and expert in the martial arts,
dazzling even her opponents with her fearlessness in combat. Honor Books
include
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing Co., publisher of Garmann's Summer written and illustrated
by Stian Hole, translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett, and
Amulet Books, an imprint of Harry N. Abrams, Inc., publisher of Tiger
Moon written by Antonia Michaelis, translated from the German by Anthea
Bell
The
Coretta Scott King Awards are
presented annually by the Coretta Scott
King Committee of the American Library Association's Ethnic Multicultural
Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT). The 2009 winner is Kadir Nelson,
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball. Author Honor
Books include Hope Anita Smith for Keeping the Night Watch, Joyce Carol Thomas for
The Blacker the Berry, and Carole Boston Weatherford for
Becoming Billie Holiday.
The Illustrator Award winner is Floyd Cooper for The Blacker the Berry. Illustrator Honor Books include Kadir Nelson for
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League
Baseball, Jerry Pinkney for The Moon Over Star, and Sean Qualls for
Before John Was a Jazz Giant. The John Steptoe New Talent Award
goes to Illustrator Shadra Strickland for Bird.
The
Pura Belpré Award is presented 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 and youth. The award is named after Pura
Belpré, the first Latina librarian from the New York Public Library.
Belpré Author Award for 2009 is The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom
by Margarita Engle.
Belpré Author Honor Books include Just in Case by Yuyi Morales,
Reaching Out by Francisco Jiménez, and The Storyteller's Candle/La velita de los cuentos
by Lucia Gonzalez.
Belpré Illustrator Award for this year goes to Just in Case by Yuyi
Morales.
Belpré Illustrator Honor Books include Papa and Me illustrated by
Rudy Gutierrez, The Storyteller's Candle/La velita de los cuentos illustrated by Lulu Delacre,
and What Can You Do with a Rebozo illustrated by Amy Cordova.
The
Geisel Award
is given annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most
distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English
in the United States during the preceding year. The award is named for
the world-renowned children’s author, Theodor Geisel. "A person’s a
person no matter how small," Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, would
say. "Children want the same things we want: to laugh, to be challenged,
to be entertained and delighted." The 2009 winner is Are You Ready to Play Outside? written and illustrated by Mo Willems
and the 2009
Geisel Honor Books include Chicken Said, "Cluck!" written by Judyann
Ackerman Grant, One Boy written and illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger,
Stinky written and illustrated by Eleanor Davis, and Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator
written by Sarah C. Campbell.
The
Edgar Allan Poe Awards® for Mystery/Suspense Fiction (the "Edgars®)
are named after the MWA's (Mystery Writer's Association) patron saint,
Edgar Allan Poe, and are awarded to authors of distinguished work in
various categories of the genre. The Best Children's Mystery Award
[2007 winner, right] is given to the best mystery book from Preschool
- age 11. The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh tells the story of Jack, a lonely 14-year-old
Classics prodigy, who travels to the New York City version of the Greek
mythological underworld to search for his dead mom. His guide is a
14-year-old ghost who calls herself Euri. The
Best Young Adult Mystery Award goes to the mystery book [2007 winner,
left] for young adult
readers (ages 12 - up) is Rat Life by Tedd Arnold. The dead body
found in the Chemanga River had nothing to do with Todd. He was busy
making beds at the family motel and writing alien stories to entertain
his friends. Then he met Rat. .
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British Awards
The
Greenaway Award is the British equivalent of the Caldecott Medal,
established by the Library Association in 1955, for distinguished
illustration in a book for children. [2007 winner l.] Named after the popular 19th century
artist, Kate Greenaway, known for her fine children's illustrations and
designs.
The
Carnegie Award is awarded annually to the writer of an outstanding
book for children. It was established by The Library Association in 1936,
in memory of the great Scottish-born philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie
(1835-1919) - a self-made industrialist who made his fortune in steel in
the U.S. The 2008 winner is
Paul R. Gagne and Melissa Reilly, Weston Woods Studios, producers of
March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World -- Describing the
1963 March on Washington, Farris, the older sister of Martin Luther King
Jr., maintains the deft touch and down-to-earth perspective that made My
Brother Martin so moving. Where most books on King approach him with a
sense of great occasion, Farris more effectively uses plain language and
well-chosen facts to explain her brother's extraordinary achievements.
Her description of his writing of the classic 'I have a dream' speech
typifies her style: Martin stays up all night, working and reworking his
draft. 'Not once did he stop to eat, or even lay his head down on his
pillow.... Even if he'd wanted to sleep, he couldn't — the words of his
speech kept him awake. His speech wouldn't let him rest.' As she
chronicles Martin's experiences of the march, Farris skillfully embeds
facts about its goals, the participants and the period.
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Canadian Awards
The
Canadian
Library Association Book of the Year for Children award for 2008
is Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis. In
selecting this title, the committee members stated Elijah of Buxton
is a “story of real strength.” The protagonist Elijah, who is the first
free-born black child in Buxton, Ontario in 1859, is “a wonderfully
developed sensitive soul with an engaging sense of life.”
The
Governor General's Literary Awards
[2007 winner Iain Lawrence, for Gemini Summer] Just as the
first appearance of a stray dog ignites “a little spark of happiness” in
nine-year-old Danny River, Gemini Summer kindles subtle yet
powerful emotions that linger well after one has turned the final page.
Lawrence’s story is brilliantly imagined, his prose clear and poetic,
his characters irresistible. |
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