The Academy Awards of Children's Literature

Here are a few of the big winners of the ALA Youth Media Awards which were announced this morning:

Sibert Medal:

Sweet, Melissa. Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2011. Print.

Caldecott Medal:

Raschka, Christopher. A Ball for Daisy.
New York: Schwartz & Wade Books, 2011. Print.

Newbery Medal:

Gantos, Jack. Dead End in Norvelt. New York:
Farrar Straus Giroux, 2011. Print.

Belpré Medals:

McCall, Guadalupe G. Under the Mesquite. New York: Lee & Low Books, 2011. Print.

Tonatiuh, Duncan, and Diego Rivera. Diego Rivera: His World and Ours. New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2011. Print.

King Medals:

Nelson, Kadir. Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans.
New York: Balzer + Bray, 2011. Print.

Evans, Shane. Underground. New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2011. Print.

Geisel Medal:

Schneider, Josh. Tales for Very Picky Eaters. New York: Clarion Books, 2011. Print.

The Academy Awards of Children's Literature

Here are the winners of the 2011 ALA Youth Media Awards:

John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature:

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Vanderpool, Clare. 2010. Moon over Manifest. New York: Delacorte Press.

Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children:

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Stead, Philip Christian, and Erin E. Stead. 2010. A sick day for Amos McGee. New York: Roaring Brook.

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award recognizing an African American author of outstanding books for children and young adults:

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Williams-Garcia, Rita. 2010. One crazy summer. New York: Amistad.

Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award recognizing an African American illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults:

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Hill, Laban Carrick, and Bryan Collier. 2010. Dave the potter: artist, poet, slave. New York: Little, Brown.

Pura Belpré (Author) Award honoring a Latino writer whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience:

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Ryan, Pam Muñoz, and Peter Sís. 2010. The dreamer. New York: Scholastic Press.

Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Award honoring a Latino illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience:

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Velasquez, Eric. 2010. Grandma's gift. New York: Walker.

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for the most distinguished beginning reader book:

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DiCamillo, Kate, Alison McGhee, and Tony Fucile. 2010. Bink & Gollie. Somerville, Mass: Candlewick Press.

Check them out at your local library and/or buy a copy at your local bookstore. Amazon has enough business. Let's improve the economy by supporting our local retailers.

Rosh Hashanah

The Jewish High Holy Days are right around the corner.* Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, starts at sundown on September 8th. Here are three great children's books about the holiday:

Kimmel, Eric A, Isaac L. Peretz, and Jill Weber. Even Higher!: A Rosh Hashanah Story. New York: Holiday House, 2009.

Author Eric Kimmel uses an old Ukranian drinking song to help retell a famous Yiddish short story about a rabbi who skips town every year right before the holidays.

Gerstein, Mordicai. The White Ram: A Story of Abraham and Isaac. New York: Holiday House, 2006.

Caldecott award-winning author/illustrator Mordicai Gerstein retells one of the scariest and most puzzling stories of the Bible.

Wayland, April H, and Stéphane Jorisch. New Year at the Pier: A Rosh Hashanah Story. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2009.

This wonderful picture book about celebrating Rosh Hashanah in Los Angeles won the 2010 Sydney Taylor Book Award. I had the pleasure of sitting next to the author at an ALA function a couple of years ago. She was very bubbly.

*Literally--we live about 3 blocks away from a major Chabad center.

B is for Beach

Here are some great children's books about the seashore:

Holm, Matthew, and Jennifer L. Holm. Babymouse: Beach Babe!Babymouse, 3. New York: Random House Children's Books, 2006.

Babymouse is the cutest surfer girl on the shelf.

Wiesner, David. Flotsam. New York: Clarion Books, 2006.

David Wiesner's wordless picture book received the highest honor in children's book illustration, The Caldecott Medal.

Graham, Margaret B, and Gene Zion. Harry by the Sea. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1965.

It's another case of mistaken identity for Harry, the dirty dog.

Huneck, Stephen. Sally Goes to the Beach. New York: Abrams, 2000.

Roxxy and Jake love this book. (They are partial to black labs.)

Lee, Suzy. Wave. San Francisco, Calif: Chronicle Books, 2008.

A little girl overcomes her fear of waves. Like Flotsam, this book doesn't need words to tell its story.

So You Want to Be President

St. George, Judith, and David Small. So You Want to Be President? New York: Philomel Books, 2000.

Did you know that . . .

*President Taft was so fat that they had to install a special bathtub in the White House for him?

*Nixon was a pianist?

*Andrew Johnson was a tailor, and Harry S. Truman once ran a men's clothing store?

*James Madison was 5 foot 4 inches tall and weighed about 100 pounds?

*James Buchanan was the only president who lived his whole life as a bachelor?

For more fun facts about the Presidents of the United States, pick up a copy of So You Want to Be President by Judith St. George and David Small. The book was awarded the 2001 Caldecott Medal for its hilarious caricature-style illustrations of our founding fathers. Thankfully, the book will need to be updated after November 4, 2008.

City Kids

New York City is a great place for a family vacation. You can tour the NBC studios, ride a double-decker bus, see mummies and knights in shining armor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, eat cannoli in Little Italy and taro cakes in Chinatown, catch a space show at the American Museum of Natural History, and for the best view in town--hitch a free ride on the Staten Island Ferry.

No matter what, you absolutely, positively must experience the bright lights of Times Square at night. (Don't worry. The peep shows have been replaced by Disney and M&M's.)

Picture Books:
Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold
The House on East 88th Street by Bernard Waber
Peppe the Lamplighter by Elise Bartone and Ted Lewin
The Man Who Walked Across the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein
Chapter books:
The Teddy Bear Habit by James Lincoln Collier
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
Dave at Night by Gail Carson Levine
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

ALA Conference

I'm back home from the ALA Conference. Although we were off to bit of a rocky start, everything picked up after the first day. It was so wonderful to see some of my favorite authors such as Norton Juster, Susan Patron, Brian Selznick, David Levithan, and Linda Sue Park.

The Caldecott/Newbery Medal acceptance speeches were beyond awesome. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. Check out School Library Journal's review of the event at slj.com.