Awards

Children's-book awards from hither to yon.

In which I reveal a taste for trash

PearlHarbor

I mean, beyond all the Judith Krantz I’ve been quoting from memory over on Twitter. Wendy at Six Boxes of Books interviews me about the Scott O’Dell Award.

Caldecott post mortem

watchingawards_crop

Or, as Roger Sutton said in his blog post today, “Tuesday-morning quarterbacking.” Robin and I will each write one more post this week, then Roger will tie up the first Calling Caldecott season with a guest post. Unlike Robin who went to the actual press conference at 7:45 a.m. Dallas time, I just had to [...]

Reviews of the 2012 Belpre Illustrator Award winners

tonatiuh_diegorivera

Winner: Duncan Tonatiuh for Diego Rivera: His World and Ours (Abrams) Review in The Horn Book Guide, fall 2011 The first half of the book provides background on Rivera’s life and the inspiration behind his work. Readers are then asked to imagine how he might paint subjects from life today: “Maybe Diego would paint shops [...]

Reviews of the 2012 Batchelder winners

Soldier-Bear-by-Bibi-Dumon-Tak-illustrated-by-Philip-Hopman

Winner: Eerdmans for Soldier Bear by Bibi Dumon Tak; trans. from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson; illus. by Philip Hopman Review in The Horn Book Magazine, November/December 2011 It really happened: hundreds of Polish soldiers, fleeing the Russians after the German attack on their already divided country in 1941, escaped to Iran. There they joined [...]

Reviews of the 2012 Belpre Author Award winners

mccall_under-the-mesquite

Winner: Guadalupe Garcia McCall for Under the Mesquite (Lee & Low Books) Review in The Horn Book Guide, spring 2012 Eldest Lupita leads her seven younger siblings through the uncertainty of their mother’s cancer. Lupita endeavors to keep her Mexican American family together while attempting to reach her own goals for college and a career. [...]

ALA Awards 2012: Horn Book reviews of the winners

Dead End in Norvelt

        The most prestigious honors in children’s literature, the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, were awarded to Jack Gantos and Chris Raschka on January 23, 2012, at the American Library Association’s midwinter meeting in Dallas. Also announced at the gathering were the winners of the Coretta Scott King, Belpre, Printz, Sibert, and Batchelder [...]

Reviews of the 2012 CSK Author Award winners

Heart and Soul

Winner: Kadir Nelson for Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray) Starred review in The Horn Book Magazine, November/December 2011 “Most folks my age and complexion don’t speak much about the past,” begins the unnamed narrator of this graceful and personalized overview of African-American history. But this doesn’t stop [...]

Reviews of the 2012 CSK Illustrator Award winners

Underground cover

Winner: Shane W. Evans for Underground (Roaring Brook/Porter) Review in The Horn Book Magazine, January/February 2011 With dramatic images and minimal narrative, Evans projects a “we-are-there” experience of fugitives on the run, escaping slavery. The figures are eerily disembodied, and many of the double-page spreads feature a two-word text such as “The darkness” or “The fear” [...]

Reviews of the 2012 Printz winners

where things come back

Winner: Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley (Atheneum) Review in The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2011 When Cullen Witter was seventeen, his younger brother disappeared from their rural Arkansas town. Meanwhile, the suicide of Cabot Searcy’s college roommate has sent him on a quest to save mankind. The two parallel plot lines, disconnected [...]

Additional ALA Awards 2012

Alex Awards for the ten best adult books that appeal to a teen audience • Big Girl Small by Rachel DeWoskin (Farrar) • In Zanesville by Jo Ann Beard (Little, Brown) • The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan (Farrar) • The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens [...]