Another Librarian Wins Newbery; Selznick Nabs Caldecott
By Debra Lau Whelan, Rick Margolis, Brian Kenney -- School Library Journal, 1/14/2008 9:37:00 AM
Librarians are on a streak. Laura Amy Schlitz’s Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village (Candlewick) is the 2008 Newbery Medal-winner, marking the second consecutive year that a librarian has nabbed the most distinguished award in American children’s literature.
Schlitz, a media specialist at the Park School in Baltimore, MD, offers a unique kind of storytelling: 22 brief interconnected monologues—intended to be performed by her students—that bring to life a prototypical English village in 1255. Accompanied with beautiful watercolor illustrations by Robert Byrd, the book follows last year’s Newbery winner, The Higher Power of Lucky (S & S/Atheneum/A Richard Jackson Bk.), written by another librarian, Susan Patron, who recently retired from the Los Angeles Public Library.
Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Scholastic)—which could have won a Newbery or the Caldecott this year —ended up with the award for the most distinguished American picture book. The 533-page novel artfully blends narrative and illustrations to tell the story of 12-year-old orphan Hugo, who lives in the walls of a Paris train station at the turn of the 20th century.
Several books received double recognition this year— Christopher Paul Curtis’s Elijah of Buxton(Scholastic) won the Coretta Scott King Book Award for an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books—and it was named a Newbery Honor; Mo Willems’s There Is a Bird on Your Head! won the Geisel Award for the most distinguished book for beginning readers and his Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity (both Hyperion) received a Caldecott honor; and Laura Vaccaro Seeger’s First the Egg (Roaring Brook) received a Caldecott Honor and a Geisel Honor.
What was clearly missing from today’s winners, announced today during the American Library Association’s midwinter meeting in Philadelphia? Sherman Alexie’s autobiographical The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, (Little, Brown), which beat four other finalists to win last year’s National Book Award for young people’s literature.
Here is a complete list of this year’s top children’s book awards.
John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature.
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village (Candlewick) by Laura Amy Schlitz. .
Newbery Honor Books
Elijah of Buxton (Scholastic) by Christopher Paul Curtis
The Wednesday Wars (Clarion) by Gary D. Schmidt
Feathers (Putnam) by Jacqueline Woodson.
Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Scholastic) by Brian Selznick
Caldecott Honor Books
Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad (Scholastic) illustrated by Kadir Nelson, written by Ellen Levine
First the Egg (Roaring Brook) illustrated and written by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain (Farrar/Frances Foster) illustrated and written by Peter Sís
Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity (Hyperion) illustrated and written by Mo Willems.
Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults.
The White Darkness (HarperTempest)” by Geraldine McCaughrean
Printz Honor Books
Dreamquake: Book Two of the Dreamhunter Duet (Frances Foster Bks.) by Elizabeth Knox
One Whole and Perfect Day (Front Street) by Judith Clarke
Repossessed (HarpetTeen) by A. M. Jenkins
Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath (Knopf) by Stephanie Hemphill
Coretta Scott King Book Award recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults.
Elijah of Buxton (Scholastic) by Christopher Paul Curtis.
King Author Honor Books
November Blues (Atheneum) by Sharon M. Draper
Twelve Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali (Candlewick) by Charles R. Smith Jr., illustrated by Bryan Collier
King Illustrator Book
Let it Shine (Atheneum) illustrated and written by Ashley Bryan
King Illustrator Honor Books
The Secret Olivia Told Me (Just Us) by N. Joy, illustrated by Nancy Devard
Jazz On A Saturday Night (Scholastic) by Leo and Diane Dillon
Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award
Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything in It (Delacorte) by Sundee T. Frazier
Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody the artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.
Kami and the Yaks (Bay Otter Press) by Andrea Stenn Stryer, illustrated by Bert Dodson (age 0 to 10 category).
Reaching for Sun (Bloomsbury) by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer (age 11-13 category).
Hurt Go Happy (Starscape) by Ginny Rorby (age 13-18 category).
Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for the most distinguished book for beginning readers.
There Is a Bird on Your Head! (Hyperion) written and illustrated by Mo Willems
Geisel Honor Books
First the Egg written and illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Hello, Bumblebee Bat (Charlesbridge) by Darrin Lunde, illustrated by Patricia J. Wynne
Jazz Baby (Harcourt) by Lisa Wheeler, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
Vulture View (Holt) by April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Steve Jenkins
Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults goes to Orson Scott Card for his novels Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow
The Pura Belpré Illustrator Award honoring Latino authors and illustrators whose work best portrays, affirms and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in children’s books. Yuyi Morales, illustrator of Los Gatos Black on Halloween (Holt) by Marisa Montes
Pura Belpré Author Award
Margarita Engle, author of The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano (Holt), illustrated by Sean Qualls
Pura Belpré Honro Books for illustration
My Name Is Gabito: The Life of Gabriel García Márquez/Me llamo gabito: La vida de Gabriel García Márquez (Luna Rising), illustrated by Raúl Colón, written by Monica Brown
My Colors, My World/Mis colores, mi mundo (Children’s Book Press) by Maya Christina Gonzalez
Pura Belpré Author Honor Books
Frida: ¡Viva la vida! Long Live Life! (Marshall Cavendish) by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand
Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale (Peachtree) retold by Carmen Agra Deedy, illustrated by Michael Austin
Los Gatos Black on Halloween (Holt) by Marisa Montes, illustrated by Yuyi Morales
Robert F. Sibert Medal for most distinguished informational book for children. The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain (Farrar/Frances Foster) by Peter Sís.
Sibert Honor Books
Lightship (S & S/Richard Jackson) by Brian Floca
Nic Bishop Spiders (Scholastic) by Nic Bishop
Andrew Carnegie Medal for excellence in children's video
Producer Kevin Lafferty along with executive producer John Davis, and co-producers, Amy Palmer Robertson and Danielle Sterling for the production of “Jump In!: Freestyle Edition.”
Mildred L. Batchelder Award for the most outstanding children’s book translated from a foreign language and subsequently published in the United States.
VIZ Media Brave Story, originally published in Japanese in 2003 as Bureibu Sutori. The book was written by Miyuki Miyabe and translated by Alexander O. Smith.
Batchelder Honor Books
The Cat: Or, How I Lost Eternity (Milkweed Editions), originally published in German as Die Katze
Nicholas and the Gang (Phaidon Press), originally published in French as “Le petit Nicolas et les copains.
The first-ever Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production
Live Oak Media for Jazz.
Honoro Titles
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.
Alex Awards for 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 (Penguin/Gotham) by Matthew Polly
Bad Monkeys (HarperCollins) by Matt Ruff
Essex County Volume 1: Tales from the Farm (TopShelf) by Jeff Lemire
Genghis: Birth of an Empire (Delacorte) by Conn Iggulden
The God of Animals, (Scribner) by Aryn Kyle
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (Farrar. Straus/Sarah Crichton Bks.) by Ishmael Beah
Mister Pip (Random/Dial) by Lloyd Jones
The Name of the Wind (DAW) by Patrick Rothfuss
The Night Birds (Soho) by Thomas Maltman
The Spellman Files (S & S) by Lisa Lutz.
May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture recognizing an individual of distinction in the field of children's literature, who then presents a lecture at a winning host site. Walter Dean Myers, widely acclaimed author of picture books, novels, poetry and non-fiction for children and young adults, will deliver the 2009 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture.
For more information on the ALA youth media awards and notables, please visit the ALA Web site at www.ala.org.
