Compiled by Cynthia Leitich Smith
The 43rd NAACP Image Awards Children’s Outstanding Literary Work: Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band by Kwame Alexander, illustrated Tim Bower (Sleeping Bear); Before There Was Mozart: The Story of Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-George by Lesa Cline-Ransome, illustrated by James Ransome (Schwartz & Wade); Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson (Balzer + Bray); White Water by Michael S. Bandy, illustrated by Shadra Strickland (Candlewick); You Can Be A Friend by Tony Dungy and Lauren Dungy, illustrated by Ron Mazellan (Little Simon). Watch Feb. 17 for the winner!
NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children from The National Council of Teachers of English: Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade by Melissa Sweet (Houghton Mifflin); honor books: Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart by Candace Fleming (Schwartz & Wade); Father Abraham: Lincoln and His Sons by Harold Holzer (Calkins Creek); Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People by Monica Brown, illulstrated by Julie Paschkis (Henry Holt); Terezin: Voices from the Holocaust by Ruth Thomson (Candlewick); The Mangrove Tree: Planting Trees to Feed Families by Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore (Lee & Low). See also Recommended Books.
Patrick McDonnell Wins 2012 Charlotte Zolotow Award from the Cooperative Children’s Book Center. Me … Jane written and illustrated by Patrick McDonnell (Little, Brown, 2011) is the fifteenth annual winner of the Charlotte Zolotow Award for outstanding writing in a picture book. The award is given by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, a library of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and will be presented on March 3 in Madison.
Cynsational Notes
2012 American Library Association (ALA) Youth Media Awards to be Announced Jan. 23 from PaperTigers. Peek: “The ALA will host a live Webcast from the Dallas Convention Center beginning at 7:30 a.m. CT, Jan. 23. Virtual seating will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Information will also be posted to the ALA Twitter account @alayma and Facebook account.”
See Friday’s Cynsational News & Giveaways for more recent children’s-YA book award announcements (Edgar, Sydney Taylor, Scott O’Dell).
The problem with the best books, like these, is that you look at each one and want it to win!
Agreed, Kate! But no matter what, they're all winners in the greater sense.