Marc Simont created the cover for SLJ‘s
December 2002 Best Books issue.

Acclaimed children’s book creator Marc Simont, who illustrated nearly 100 children’s books, died on Saturday, July 13. He was 97. His many honors include a Caldecott Medal in 1957 for the art in Janice May Udry’s A Tree is Nice (1956), and Caldecott Honors for illustrating Ruth Krauss’s The Happy Day (1949) and his own The Stray Dog (2001, all HarperCollins).

The Paris native, who was born in 1915, was influenced by his Catalan father—Joseph Simont, a staff illustrator for the magazine L’Illustration—to pursue a career in the arts. He attended art school in Paris and immigrated to the United States at age 19, where he trained at the National Academy of Design in New York, alongside Make Way for the Ducklings Caldecott-winner Robert McCloskey. Simont lived his last days in West Cornwall, Connecticut.

During his long career, the prolific author/illustrator collaborated with publishing heavy hitters such as Ruth Krauss, James Thurber, and Margaret Wise Brown, and his art is represented in collections as far afield as the Kijo Picture Book Museum in Japan. His impact, however, is not limited to the children’s literature sphere. He was selected as the 1997 Illustrator of the Year in his hometown of Catalonia, and The Lakeville Journal, a community newspaper near his recent home in Connecticut, regularly featured his political cartoons.

Luann Toth, managing editor of School Library Journal’s book review, served on the Caldecott Committee that chose The Stray Dog as an honor book in 2002. The heartwarming tale chronicles the adoption of a charming dog by two siblings. “We fell in love with the book’s gentle humor yet distinctive line. Simont’s expressive and gorgeously rendered watercolors capture the emotions and energy of the simple story and make it irresistible,” she shares. “Looking back over his long and amazing career, it’s easy to see Simont’s well-earned spot among the greats of children’s literature.”

Kate Jackson, editor-in-chief at Harper Children’s, remembers Simont as a great illustrator and an even greater person. She met Simont for the first time when he dropped off a manila envelope containing the story and art for The Stray Dog, hoping that the publisher would add it to its list. “Reading the story as I looked through the art, I remember thinking that it was absolutely perfect and beautiful as it was,” she tells SLJ.

From editorial to sales, all of Harper’s departments were keen on the book’s presentation, Jackson says, adding, “Anne Hoppe, who was already a great admirer of his work, volunteered to participate in the editorial process as well. It was an altogether joyful experience: a labor of love for the house. As much as the editorial group cherished him, the designers adored him.”

Philip Nel, children’s literature professor at Kansas State University and biographer, recalls his short but memorable experience with Simont. While researching for a biography on the husband-wife team Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss, Nel reached out to the artist about his relationship with the pair. “Simont was the illustrator for Krauss’s The Happy Day; and he was such a gentleman,” Nel says. “He was so generous in sharing his memories of the couple and faxing his correspondence about their projects. His passing marks the end of a certain generation of artists that worked on children’s books even before Maurice Sendak: Syd Hoff, Robert McCloskey, P.D. Eastman, Georges Prosper Remi [Hergé].”

Nel also says was struck by the soft-spoken and kind artist’s willingness to help someone he didn’t know, and how he continued to create children’s books late in life, winning Caldecott Honors more than 50 years apart.

Notably, Simont was also responsible for the art in books for older readers. He completed the unique illustrations in Bette Bao Lord’s In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, and was the longtime collaborator on the “Nate the Great” series (Delacorte) about a child detective and his dog assistant, Sludge. Beverly Horowitz, publisher at Delacorte Press, tells SLJ, “We were deeply saddened to hear the news of Marc’s death. His artwork is iconic to Marjorie Sharmat’s Nate the Great, and will continue to identify the series as a treasured classic to generations of readers.”

Simont illustrated the first 20 books from 1972 to 1998.

Toth described his works as “timeless treasures that will live on for generations to come.”

Adds Jackson, “He was a wonderful, generous, and kind human being, in addition to being so creative. It was such a privilege to know him.”

Simont is survived by his wife, Sarah Dalton Simont, and his son, Marc Dalton Simont.

From The Horn Book: Marc Simont’s Sketchbooks

The Caldecott Medal was awarded to 32-year-old Jon Klassen for This is Not My Hat (Candlewick). In accepting the award, Klassen fondly referred to his book—about a sneaky fish and the stolen hat he adores—as his “little guy,” and said he was happy that its subtle humor and message had resonated with readers. Klassen is also a Caldecott Honoree this year for Mac Burnett’s Extra Yarn (HarperCollins); he is only the second illustrator with this achievement in the award’s history.

Katherine Applegate, winner of the John Newbery Medal for The One and Only Ivan (HarperCollins), spoke about her long road to the Medal after a varied writing career, commenting that she was not ‘a late-blooming” success. The 56-year-old winner read from a Harlequin Romance novel that she once wrote. “A woman’s body is like a piano,” she said. “You are definitely a Steinway, baby.”

Unlike her early work, Applegate’s Newbery-winning turn is a poignant YA story of a long-captive gorilla. In her remarks, Applegate recalled her youth and specifically the time that she was introduced to Doctor Doolittle and Charlotte’s Web, books in which, like the Ivan of her book, the principal protagonists were talking animals. “You have to write the book that has to be written,” she quoted Madeleine L’Engle. “And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”

Applegate went on to praise the optimism of children and to thank the members of the Nerdy Book Club, whose online enthusiasm brought recognition to Ivan.

In accepting the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, Katherine Paterson thanked “all the librarians and teachers,” noting, “many children would never know my books if it was for you.” The award is given to an author whose books have made a substantial and lasting contribution to literature. The 80-year-old Paterson is a two-time Newbery and National Book Award winner, and has served as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. The Wilder award comes forty years after the publication of her first book, The Sign of the Chrysanthemum. In closing, Paterson praised the audience and the event, which she said was for “celebrating all of you who nourish the lives of the young.”

Librarian Suzanne Walker donned pins representing the 75 Caldecott Medalists.

The evening’s entertainment was not only found on the stage. The audience was filled with many librarians dressed in their Caldecott-themed fashions and accessories, such as Starr LaTronica, youth services/outreach manager at the Four County Library System (NY) and president-elect of ALSC, who sported earrings and shoes adorned with Caldecott Medals. Elizabeth Bird of the New York Public Library, picture book author and SLJ blogger, wore an outfit that featured all of this year’s Caldecott books. And all 75 Caldecott winners were present on the dress of Suzanne Walker from the Indiana State Library in the form of individual pins that she created for each winning book.

Katrina Taylor and Charlene Mckenzie, librarians from St. Paul, MN, are annual attendees of the dinner; both enjoy the event for different reasons, they told School Library Journal. While McKenzie appreciates getting to see the authors and illustrators who “create the magic of the book,” Taylor says, “it is so inspiring to have a celebration of children’s literature.”

During the reception, attendees previewed the museum’s special exhibit on the history of the Caldecott Medal, “Play, Pretend, and Dream: Caldecott Medal and Honor Books, 2010–2013,” and had books signed by featured Caldecott artists. The exhibition includes original illustrations from 16 books that have won the medal or an honor award in the past four years, including Jon Klassen’s This Is Not My Hat, Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett (illustrated by Jon Klassen), Peter Brown’s Creepy Carrots!, and Chris Raschka’s A Ball for Daisy. (Visitors to Chicago can view the works through December 1, 2013.)

On Friday, Selznick, 2008 Caldecott Medalist for The Invention of Hugo Cabret and 2002 Honoree for The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins, opened the preconference by hilariously donning the sparkly shirt he wore when he accepted his own Caldecott and acknowledging Zelinsky, three-time Caldecott Honoree and 1998 Medalist for Rapunzel, in the crowd.

Selznick, who designed the logo for the Caldecott anniversary celebration, spoke about the importance of the medal and shared a little of its history and trivia, from its conception in 1921 by bookseller Frederic G. Melcher and on into the modern era. (For example, 1964 winner Maurice Sendak loved Randolph Caldecott’s Baby Bunting, especially its closing illustration, Selznick noted.)

Selznick also acknowledged that there are authors and illustrators that have never been recognized by Caldecott. In closing, Selznick went on to share more memories of his friend and mentor Sendak and the ways Sendak inspired his own work, and called Where the Wild Things Are one of the most important Caldecott winners. He closed with a reading of that iconic and beloved work.

Attendees learned about the process of creating an award-winning picture book in a series of panels: “Matching Words and Pictures,” which featured Erin and Phillip Stead and Neal Porter; “Choosing a Medium and a Style,” featuring Chris Raschka and Lee Wade; and “Preparing Art for Production,” featuring Jerry Pinkney and Patti Ann Harris. Attendees were shown early sketches of completed works (such as Raschka’s little books, in which he creates mock-ups of the earliest drafts of his picture books), and learned more about the revision and design processes.

At lunch, Leonard Marcus moderated a panel on Caldecott honorees featuring Melissa Sweet, Pamela Zagarensky, Peter Brown, and Kadir Nelson. The author/illustrators debated the future of picture books and talked about the various ways that technology might change the field in the future. Attendees also had a chance to discuss in small groups a list of books that each had been pre-assigned in advance, one Caldecott-winning book from each decade.

In the afternoon, Art Institute staff helped facilitate the breakout sessions for further discussion. The topics were varied: “Art and Stories,” ” The Caldecott Medal and Social Issues,” “Caldecott Medal Artists at the Art Institute: A Closer Look,” “Caldecott Books for Older Readers,” “How Did They Do That?,” “Look to Learn; Learn to Look,” “Multi-Layered Meanings,” “Randolph Caldecott and Caldecott Medal History,” “Serving on the Caldecott Committee,” “Style and Media,” “Watching Dry Paint!,” and “Weston Woods and the Caldecott Winners.”

The day wrapped with Zelinsky’s engaging and funny presentation, in which he challenged librarians to look toward the future of the field, especially in light of technology’s many distractions. What could “interactive” picture books look like? Might we see a day when famous picture books, even Where the Wild Things Are, will be adapted for each reader? (Maybe not. After all, “Paul, the king of all wild things…” doesn’t quite have the same resonance as “King Max.”)

Additional reporting by Rocco Staino, contributing editor.

In recognition of the Caldecott Medal’s 75th anniversary, librarians at School Library Journal‘s Leadership Summit shared their favorite winners and discuss beloved picture books that were overlooked for this honor but still stand the test of time.

Drawing from Mei Li.

Of course, this year is even more special. As the Caldecott Medal turns 75, the party is even bigger, and it will keep going until the awards celebration at ALA annual in Chicago in late June. It’s wonderful, and, because of the enduring value of the Caldecott award, it’s not just recreational. This award matters, bringing a broad readership to the winning books and keeping them in print for years to come. It’s also not just recreational because evaluations like these are at the heart of what librarians do every day as they choose materials for their collections.

Of course, this award is not without controversy—what award is? Among the issues is that the Caldecott is decided by committee, leading some to think the best books get left aside in the search for the ones everyone will agree on, and some of the choices don’t hold up over time. But the highly controlled judging process itself is key, and the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) continues to protect the integrity of the librarian judges and the privacy of the proceedings. (For the rules, see the Caldecott Medal Manual.) Getting to a decision requires artful mastery.

There will always be books that didn’t win the Caldecott that many argue should have. That is part of the fun. SLJ contributing editor Rocco Staino is collecting librarians’ picks of what’s gotten missed over the years in a series of video interviews we’ll post on SLJ.com in the months to come. There are also deeper reflections on the early award winners in a series of articles from
The Horn Book, rich discussion coming from bloggers, and much more in the pipeline.

I look forward to more conversation on where picture books fit into the lives of our kids. SLJ’s Trevelyn Jones, for one, hopes they’ll be better used to help kids appreciate and talk about art, even long past what’s considered to be the standard picture-book audience ages and on into the seventh and eighth grades. As a parent, I keep tapping the Caldecott winners and honor books as I read to my children, reaching for works that will enrich their language and their sense of what the world looks like and those that will spark their imaginations or transport them. I am delighted, for instance, by the pull of 1988 winner Owl Moon (illustrated by John Schoenherr, text by Jane Yolen) in the heat of the summer.

I had a special encounter with one Caldecott winner, Thomas Handforth’s Mei Li, when I visited Lisa Von Drasek, formerly at Bank Street, now the curator of the University of Minnesota’s Children’s Literature Research Collections in Minneapolis. Von Drasek showed me just a few of the choice pieces of art in the collection, including draft drawings of Caldecott-free Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, and one from Mei Li (pictured). Mei Li, the winner of the second Caldecott Medal in 1939, was in the process of being digitized so it can be accessed more often for research.

It’s delightful that librarians made Mei Li a winner and now a librarian is preserving the art for the future. That’s the kind of difference librarians can make.

Rebecca T. Miller
Editor-in-Chief
rmiller@mediasourceinc.com

2013 Newbery Medalist Katherine Applegate describes how the plight of a silverback gorilla kept on display in a shopping mall inspired her to pen her heartrending tale, The One and Only Ivan (HarperCollins).

Explore all the 2013 Newbery resources and author interviews on TeachingBooks.net.

2013 Caldecott Winner Jon Klassen explains his multimedia approach to illustrating This Is Not My Hat (Candlewick), a fun, playful story about a mischievous fish.

Explore all the 2013 Caldecott resources and author interviews on TeachingBooks.net.

Steve Sheinkin, 2013 Sibert Informational Book Award Winner, Newbery Honoree, YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Winner, and National Book Award Finalist, discusses the challenge of incorporating multiple complex storylines and characters into the gripping thriller Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—The World’s Most Dangerous Weapon (Roaring Brook).

Explore all the 2013 Sibert resources and author interviews on TeachingBooks.net.

Elizabeth Wein, 2013 Printz Award Honoree, delves into how her discoveries of the influential role of women in World War II motivated her to write Code Name Verity (Hyperion).

Explore all the 2013 Printz resources and author interviews on TeachingBooks.net.

Andrea Davis Pinkney, 2013 Coretta Scott King Book Award Author Winner, explores how the idea for Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America (Hyperion) came about after her middle-school aged son, bored with his own curriculum, begged her to write a more engaging historical work for children.

Explore all the 2013 Coretta Scott King Book Award resources and author interviews on TeachingBooks.net.

Ethan Long, 2013 Geisel Award Winner, shares how the characters in his humorous early reader, Up, Tall and High! (Penguin) originated as a way of coping after his father passed away.

Explore all the 2013 Geisel resources and author interviews on TeachingBooks.net.

Plush gorilla Ivan visits his book at the Indianapolis Public Library. Photo credit: John Schumacher.

“You know what’s interesting? I’m sort of a Luddite about technology, but I embraced Twitter this year,” Applegate tells SLJ, noting that immediately after the YMA announcements, she viewed “a scary amount of tweets” discussing her win.

It’s this interactive community of online librarian fans, both independent bloggers and Tweeters, that helped boost Ivan’s visibility, she says. “It’s helped tremendously.”

Leading the charge for The One and Only Ivan has been the Nerdy Book Club as well as popular book blogger and K–5 librarian John Schumacher, who has “a huge online presence,” Applegate says.

Once Applegate’s Newbery win was announced, “My students clapped and clapped and clapped. Incredible,” Schumacher tells SLJ. “Ivan will never be forgotten.”

Applegate says she was honored when she learned that Schumacher chose Ivan as the inspiration for his book-character-on-vacation trip in 2012, an annual event that he blogs about for the kids back home. “Every year he takes a plush character from a kid’s book around on adventures, and this year he selected Ivan!” Applegate says. “He took him to meet the actual Ivan at Zoo Atlanta. John was able to go in with a couple of friends and have Ivan sign his book with a green thumbprint. Isn’t that cool?”

(“You have no idea how hard it is to find a T-shirt for a stuffed gorilla,” Applegate adds.)

Looking ahead, Applegate says she hopes her Newbery recognition means even more children will now learn the story about the real silverback gorilla named Ivan. “It’s a chance to really connect with kids and that’s really wonderful. I’m really gratified,” she tells SLJ. “I wish I had been in Seattle. But it makes me very happy that this story could make it into the world in some way.”

Meanwhile, relative newcomer to kid lit Jon Klassen says he was surprised to learn, just in the past few years since the publication of his picture book I Want My Hat Back (Candlewick, 2011), how determined librarians are in their efforts to get a book out to readers. “It’s a big deal,” he tells SLJ.

So far, the illustrator, who began his career in animation, has been relying on children’s book collaborator Mac Barnett—who was also named, along with Klassen, winner of a Caldecott Honor this week for Extra Yarn (HarperCollins)—to help guide him through this “crazy” new world, he says.

“Librarians are very important!” Klassen adds. “It’s not a marketplace angle; librarians are looking for what’s best for kids, so they have different criteria. The opinions that they give out are really thought through. They’re very passionate.” Author events have been eye-opening in this regard, he tells SLJ. “(Librarians) are very organized and they’re quick and super sharp—and smarter than you.”

And as it turns out, the experience of being an author is much more expansive—and involves much more community-building in these areas—than he originally expected.

“I like making the books, but if you get lucky with one, you end up talking about it more than you thought you would,” he tells SLJ. “There’s a cycle that I’m slowly learning about.” However, Klassen says, “Being busy following these books around? That’s the best problem to have in the world.”

(John) Newbery Medal
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
HarperCollins Children’s Books
Fuse #8: Review of the Day

Honors:
Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz
Candlewick
Curriculum Connections: An Apprentice to Dickens: An Interview with Laura Amy Schlitz

Tall Tale: Laura Amy Schlitz (2008 profile)

Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin
Flash Point/Roaring Brook
Curriculum Connections: Steve Sheinkin Writes a Thriller: An Interview with Steve Sheinkin

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage
Dial/Penguin Young Readers
Heavy Medal: Three Times Lucky

(Randolph) Caldecott Medal
This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen
Candlewick Press
This Is Not My Sequel: Just Wait Till You See This New Book from Jon Klassen: Under Cover Interview

Honors:
Creepy Carrots! illus. by Peter Brown, written by Aaron Reynolds
Simon & Schuster
Fuse #8: Review of the Day: Creepy Carrots!

Extra Yarn illus. by Jon Klassen, written by Mac Barnett
HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray
SLJ Review of the Day

Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Neal Porter Books/Roaring Brook
Fuse #8: Review of the Day: Green

One Cool Friend illus. by David Small, written by Toni Buzzeo
Dial/Penguin Young Readers
Book Verdict Review

Sleep Like a Tiger, illus. by Pamela Zagarenski, written by Mary Logue
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review of the Day

Theodore Seuss Geisel Award
Up, Tall and High by Ethan Long
G. P. Putnam’s Sons

Honors:
Let’s Go for a Drive! by Mo Willems
Hyperion/Disney
Highlighted in Curriculum Connections: Fun and Fresh: Books for Emergent Readers

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin, created and illus. by James Dean
HarperCollins
Book Verdict Review

Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover written and illus. by Cece Bell
Candlewick
Fuse #8: Review of the Day

(Laura Ingalls) Wilder Award
Katherine Paterson
Katherine Paterson Named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature in 2010

Katherine the Great: There couldn’t be a better choice for our new kids’ book ambassador than Katherine Paterson

Andrew Carnegie Medal
Anna, Emma and the Condors
Produced by Katja Torneman
Book Verdict Review

Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal
Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin
Flash Point/Roaring Brook
Curriculum Connections: Steve Sheinkin Writes a Thriller: An Interview with Steve Sheinkin

Honors:
Electric Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by Robert Byrd
Dial/Penguin Young Readers
Book Verdict Review

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 by Phillip M. Hoose
Farrar
A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy: Review

Jonathan Hunt’s assessment on Heavy Medal

Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson
Scholastic
Someday My Printz Will Come: Titanic: Voices from the Disaster (Is Not a Disaster)

Mildred L. Batchelder Award
My Family for the War by Anne C. Voorhoeve
Dial/Penguin Young Readers
Book Verdict Review

Honors:
A Game for Swallows: To Die, to Leave, to Return by Zeina Abirached, tr. by Edward Gauvin
Graphic Universe/Lerner
SLJ Pick of the Day

Son of a Gun, written and tr. by Anne de Graaf
Eerdmans
Book Verdict Review

May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award
Andrea Davis Pinkney
Celebration Time: Black History Month by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Teacher Appreciation Week: Andrea Davis Pinkney’s Letter to Mr. Dwyer

Pura Belpré Awards
Author: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Simon & Schuster
SLJ Review

Honor:
The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano by Sonia Manzano
Scholastic
Book Verdict Review

Illustrator: Martín de Porres: The Rose in the Desert
Illus. by David Diaz, written by Gary D. Schmidt
Clarion

Michael L. Printz Award
In Darkness by Nick Lake
Bloomsbury
Pick of the Day

Honors:
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Simon & Schuster
SLJ Review

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Hyperion/Disney
A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy: Review

Dodger by Terry Pratchett
HarperCollins Children’s Books
Someday My Printz Will Come: Review

The White Bicycle by Beverley Brenna
Red Deer Press

Odyssey Award
The Fault in Our Stars, written by John Green, narrated by Kate Rudd
Produced by Brilliance Audio
SLJ Review

Honors:
Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian, produced by Listening Library, written by Eoin Colfer and narrated by
Nathaniel Parker

Ghost Knight, produced by Listening Library, written by Cornelia Funke and narrated by Elliot Hill

Monstrous Beauty, produced by Macmillian Audio, written by Elizabeth Fama and narrated by Katherine Kellgren

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults
Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin
Flash Point/Roaring Brook
Curriculum Connections: Steve Sheinkin Writes a Thriller: An Interview with Steve Sheinkin

Finalists:
Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different by Karen Blumenthal
Feiwel & Friends
Curriculum Connections: Karen Blumenthal Connects the Dots: Interview

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 by Phillip Hoose
Farrar
Heavy Medal: Black Hole and Moonbird

Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson
Scholastic
Someday My Printz Will Come

We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March by Cynthia Levinson
Peachtree Publishers
Practically Paradise: Nonfiction Monday

William C. Morris Award
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
Random House
Someday My Printz Will Come: Seraphina

Finalists:
Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books
A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy

Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo
Knopf/Random House

After the Snow by S. D. Crockett
Feiwel and Friends
SLJ Review

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by emily m. danforth
Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Someday My Printz Will Come

Margaret A. Edwards Award:
Tamora Pierce for her “Song of the Lioness” series

Coretta Scott King Book Awards
Author: Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illus. by Brian Pinkney
Hyperion/Disney
Books to Celebrate the Everyday Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement

Honors:
Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson, illus. by E. B. Lewis
Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin Young Readers
Interview with Jacqueline Woodson

No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
Carolrhoda Lab/Lerner
Heavy Medal

Illustrator: I, Too, Am America
illus. by Bryan Collier, written by Langston Hughes
Simon & Schuster

Honors:
H. O. R. S. E., illus. & written by Christopher Myers (listed in this interview highlighting the hottest books of Fall 2012)
Egmont USA
Included in Interview: JLG’s Susan Marson Talks About the Hottest Upcoming Books for Fall 2012

Ellen’s Broom, illus. by Daniel Minter, written by Kelly Starling Lyons
Putnam/Penguin Young Readers
Included in Black History Month 2012

I Have a Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr., illus. by Kadir Nelson, written by Martin Luther King, Jr. Schwartz & Wade/Random House (listed in this compilation of books for celebrating MLK Day
Included in Great Books for Celebrating Martin Luther King Day

Virginia Hamilton: Demetria Tucker
Practitioner Award for Lifetime achievement

Stonewall Book Award
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Simon & Schuster
SLJ Review

Honors:
Drama by Raina Telgemeier
Graphix/Scholastic Inc.
Good Comics for Kids

Gone, Gone, Gone by Hannah Moskowitz
Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster

October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard by Lesléa Newman
Candlewick
Interview with Lesléa Newman

Sparks: The Epic, Completely True Blue, (Almost) Holy Quest of Debbie, by S. J. Adams
Flux

Listed below are the SLJ reviews for the top prizes:

Newbery Medal
APPLEGATE, Katherine. The One and Only Ivan. illus. by Patricia Castelao. 305p. CIP. HarperCollins/Harper. Jan. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-06-199225-4; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-0-06-210198-3. LC 2011010034.
Gr 3-7—This tender tale of friendship and hope is narrated by a silverback gorilla living at The Big Top Mall, a shabby, circus-themed roadside attraction. For years, Ivan was passively content. He had his art, unlimited bananas, and his friends: Stella (an elephant), Bob (a stray dog), and Julia (a human child). Ivan’s eyes are finally opened to his deplorable surroundings when he loses a friend due to neglect. The last straw is when he witnesses the attraction’s owner abusing Ruby, a newly acquired baby elephant. Thus, Ivan is inspired to take action. With some help from his human friends, his dream of a better life for all the Big Top’s animals just might come true. The character of Ivan, as explained in an author’s note, is inspired by a real gorilla that lived through similar conditions before being adopted by Zoo Atlanta. Applegate makes a powerful statement about the treatment of animals—especially those living in captivity—and reminds readers that all creatures deserve a safe place to call home. Castelao’s delightful illustrations enhance this lovely story, and the characters will capture readers’ hearts and never let go. A must-have.—Alissa J. LeMerise, Oxford Public Library, MI

Caldecott Medal
KLASSEN, Jon. This Is Not My Hat. illus. by author. 40p. Candlewick. Oct. 2012. RTE $15.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-5599-0.
PreS-Gr 1–With this new creation, Klassen repeats the theme from I Want My Hat Back (Candlewick, 2011), but with a twist. The narrator here is the thief–a small, self-confident fish who has pilfered a little blue bowler from a big sleeping fish. He wastes no time or words in confessing his crime as he swims across the page announcing, “This hat is not mine. I just stole it.” He continues his narrative with no regrets, but with a bit of rationalizing (“It was too small for him anyway.”) as he swims to his hiding place, unaware that the big fish is in quiet pursuit. Readers, of course, are in on this little secret. When the two disappear into a spread filled with seaweed, the narration goes silent, and youngsters can easily surmise what happens as the big fish reemerges with the tiny blue bowler atop his head. Simplicity is key in both text and illustrations. The black underwater provides the perfect background for the mostly gray-toned fish and seaweed while the monochromatic palette strips the artwork down to essential, yet exquisite design. Movement is indicated with a trail of small white bubbles. This not-to-be-missed title will delight children again and again.–Carolyn Janssen, Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County, Cincinnati, OH

Theodore Geisel Medal
LONG, Ethan. Up, Tall and High! illus. by author. unpaged. CIP. Putnam. Feb. 2012. RTE $15.99. ISBN 978-0-399-25611-0. LC 2011003291.
PreS-K—Long borrows from the Mo Willems school of minimalist humor in this early reader about a flock of funny birds trying to outdo one another. The three stories utilize repetition of very few words (“I am tall.” “You are not tall.” “I may not be tall. But I am not small”), but the accompanying illustrations greatly enrich the spare text with bright colors and charming cartoons, making this a fun first venture into reading alone. The book has one shortcoming: the pages are flimsy and do not lie flat, so the flaps catch when opened or closed, so longevity is definitely a concern. Otherwise, the silly birds and their games of one-upmanship are definitely giggle-worthy.—Alyson Low, Fayetteville Public Library, AR

Carnegie Medal
Anna, Emma and the Condors. DVD. 20 min. Green Planet Films. 2012. ISBN unavail. $49.
Gr 5 Up–Viewers will be captivated by this charming and gorgeously photographed look at the life of an environmental biologist and his family as they work to save the California Condor. Chris Parrish is the director of the Condor Project for the Peregrine Fund at Vermilion Cliffs National Park in Arizona, and his wife, Ellen, is a teacher for Roots and Shoots, an organization founded by Jane Goodall. They home school their two daughters, Anna and Emma, allowing the girls to work with them in their species conservation efforts. There is no story or plot to the film, and not a lot of scientific details either. Rather, the film showcases the stunning landscapes of the Vermillion Cliffs in Arizona, and offers many breathtaking images of condors—in flight, at rest, eating, and mating. The family is shown tracking the birds, taking blood samples, feeding them (not for the faint of heart, condors are scavengers and these eat dead calves), and in an emotional moment, releasing a young condor back into the wild. There are many images of the family hiking, camping and riding horses, while in voice-overs they discuss living with respect for the environment. Parrish is also shown singing several songs with his guitar. This short sketch might make a nice supplemental film for an environmental studies class.–Geri Diorio, Ridgefield Library, CT

Sibert Medal, YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction, Newbery Honor
SHEINKIN, Steve. Bomb: The Race to Build–and Steal–the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter. Tr $19.99. ISBN 978-1-59643-487-5; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-1-59643-861-3.
Gr 5 Up–“Harry Gold was right: This is a big story.” So begins this depiction of the “creation–and theft–of the deadliest weapon ever invented.” As he did in The Notorious Benedict Arnold (Roaring Brook, 2010), Sheinkin has again brought his superior talent for storytelling to bear in what is truly a gripping account of discovery, espionage, and revolutionary changes in both physics and the modern world. This fascinating tale, packed with a wide cast of characters, focuses mainly on three individuals: spy for the Soviets Harry Gold, leader of the Manhattan Project J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Knut Haukelid, who sabotaged German bomb efforts while working for the Norwegian resistance. Sheinkin skillfully combines lucid, conversational snapshots of the science behind the atomic bomb with a fast-paced narrative of the remarkable people who made it possible and attempted to steal it. Handsomely designed and loaded with archival photos and primary-source documents, the accessible volume lays out how the bomb was envisioned and brought to fruition. While the historical information and hard facts presented here will likely be new to the intended audience, they in no way overwhelm readers or detract from the thoroughly researched, well-documented account. It reads like an international spy thriller, and that’s the beauty of it.–Brian Odom, Pelham Public Library, AL

Batchelder Medal
VOORHOEVE, Anne C. My Family for the War. tr. from German by Tammi Reichel. Dial. p. 124.
Gr 7 Up—In 1938 Berlin, 10-year-old Ziska and her best friend run from classmates-turned-bullies who torment them for being Jewish, even though Ziska’s family converted in the last century and she knows nothing of the Jewish religion or culture. When her father is beaten during a brutal midnight raid on their apartment and imprisoned, Ziska earns a position on the kindertransport to England, where she begins a new life as Frances, foster daughter to an Orthodox London “family for the war.” In an engaging, honest voice, she relates her fears, triumphs, and revelations as she learns English and the rituals of Judaism, adapts to a new life, and copes with guilt about her growing love for her new family. She tries in vain to acquire permits for her parents to join her while they keep up a soon spotty, strained correspondence that brings increasingly heartbreaking news of those left behind. By war’s end, Frances, now 17, has experienced evacuation to the English countryside and another foster home, air raids, bomb shelters, and first love with page-turning immediacy despite the sense that the story is told by a much older, reflective Frances looking back. Events and facts are expertly woven into the girl’s emotional growth, and changing relationships—especially those with her complex, fading mother and differently complex foster mother—provide a rich exploration of identity and self. Like Frances, the mostly Jewish cast of secondary characters is varied, multidimensional, and sometimes unlikable. With a compelling main character and taut and insightful story line, this novel is sure to find no shortage of readers, and it adds a valuable perspective to collections of World War II fiction.—Riva Pollard, Prospect Sierra Middle School, El Cerrito, CA

Pura Belpré Author Award, Stonewall Medal, Printz Honor
SÁENZ, Benjamin Alire. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. 358p. CIP. S & S. Feb. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-0892-0; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-0894-4. LC 2010033649.
Gr 9 Up-In the summer of 1987 in El Paso, TX, two 15-year-old loners meet when Dante offers to teach Ari to swim, and they have a laugh over their unusual names. Though polar opposites in most aspects other than age and Mexican heritage, the teens form an instant bond and become inseparable. This poetic novel takes Ari, brooding and quiet, and with a brother in prison, and Dante, open and intellectual, through a year and a half of change, discovering secrets, and crossing borders from which there is no return. Two incidents, one in which Ari saves Dante’s life and his family’s temporary move to Chicago, help Dante understand that he is gay and in love with his friend. Yet, Ari can’t cross that line, and not until Dante is hospitalized in a gay-bashing incident does he begin to realize the true depth of the love he has for him. With the help of his formerly distant, Vietnam-damaged father, Ari is finally able to shed his shame—the shame of his anger, of his incarcerated brother, of being different—and transition from boy to man. While this novel is a bit too literary at times for some readers, its authentic teen and Latino dialogue should make it a popular choice.—Betty S. Evans, Missouri State University, Springfield

Pura Belpré Illustrator Award
SCHMIDT, Gary D. Martín de Porres: The Rose in the Desert. illus. by David Diaz. 32p. CIP. Clarion. 2012. RTE $16.99. ISBN 978-0-547-61218-8. LC 2011025721.
Gr 2–4—Picture-book biographies of Catholic saints are usually limited to those best known, like Patrick, Francis, Joan of Arc, and Blessed Mother Teresa. Martín de Porres was the first black saint of the Americas, and he has a story as inspiring and evocative of Christian virtue as any other. Born the illegitimate son of a former slave and a Spanish conquistador in 1579 in Lima, Peru, he lived with his mother and sister in abject poverty until he was claimed by his father and eventually apprenticed to a surgeon and found to have healing powers that matched his great piety. He was accepted to be a servant at a Dominican monastery, with the explicit understanding that he, a mulatto, would never become a priest. He showed compassion for all people and animals and was said to have miraculous gifts. But it is his extreme humility that resonates with most biographers, including Schmidt, who tells the story of St. Martín’s life in simple and eloquent language, emphasizing his humble servitude and great empathy. Diaz’s multimedia illustrations are lush and beautiful, reinforcing the narrative and frequently using iconic images and stylized shapes that evoke stained glass. Some drawings of Martín, however, are inconsistent. His age occasionally seems to shift out of sequence, and the changing shape of his nose and eyes in particular results in some visual dissonance for young readers. Nonetheless, this is an artful and reverent portrait of a little-known figure.—Lisa Egly Lehmuller, St. Patrick’s Catholic School, Charlotte, NC

Odyssey Medal
The Fault in Our Stars (unabr.). 6 CDs. 7:19 hrs. Brilliance Audio. 2012. ISBN 978-1-4558-6987-9. $59.97.
Gr 9 Up–John Green’s compelling, engaging novel (Dutton, 2012) is about life, and love, and death. Hazel was diagnosed with terminal cancer at the age of 13. Three years later, she is still alive. However, her life is turned upside down when she meets Augustus Waters at a support group for teens with cancer. They embark on a relationship that has the potential to become an emotional grenade. Gus uses his “last wish” granted to sick children by the Genie Foundation to take Hazel to Amsterdam in order to meet Peter Van Houten, the author of her favorite book about a girl who has cancer. She believes there is more to the story and wants the author to give her additional information. Van Houten’s response is disappointing, but in the end Hazel allows herself to love Gus. Kate Rudd narrates in a relaxed style, perfectly voicing all of Green’s well-developed characters. This novel doesn’t pull any punches, and listeners’ emotions will run the gamut from laughing out loud to sobbing with joy or grief. A strong choice for young adult collections.–Elizabeth L. Kenyon, Merrillville High School, IN

Printz Medal

LAKE, Nick. In Darkness. 352p. Bloomsbury. 2012. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-1-59990-743-7; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-1-59990-820-5. LC 2011022350.
Gr 9 Up–Trapped in the rubble of Haiti’s massive 2010 earthquake, teenage Shorty desperately waits for rescue. While in darkness, events of his traumatic, violent life replay in his head. He is haunted by his father’s brutal murder, his twin sister’s disappearance, and the armed gang activity that has been his means of survival in Site Soléy (Cite Soleil), a very real and dangerous slum. As he faces death and struggles to understand the external forces that have shaped him, Shorty gradually feels the uplifting spiritual presence of revered slave liberator Toussaint L’Ouverture and draws strength and hope from the man’s extraordinary life, determination, and idealism. The pervasive Haitian voodoo belief in spirit transfer empowers Shorty and connects him with Touissant across time. In alternating chapters of “Now” and “Then,” Shorty’s and Toussaint’s stories unfold. The relentless oppression, poverty, violence, and instability of the country is vividly conveyed through Shorty’s stark, graphic narrative. Toussaint’s story provides historical background for the socioeconomic and political conflicts that continue today. As the author notes, he portrays the essential spirit and history of Touissant with some omissions and simplifications. For example, Touissant learned to read as a boy, and not late in life, but this factual inaccuracy does not diminish the account of his charisma and significance. The entangled actions of gangs and government, the complicated relationship between Haitians and foreign-aid organizations, and the rich mix of Creole and French patois provide insight and authenticity. A striking cast of characters, compelling tension as Shorty confronts his own death, and the reality and immediacy of Haiti’s precarious existence will captivate secondary readers.–Gerry Larson, formerly at Durham School of the Arts, NC

Coretta Scott King Book Awards
Author Award:
PINKNEY , Andrea Davis. Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America. illus. by Brian Pinkney. 244p. bibliog. chron. further reading. index. CIP. Disney/Jump at the Sun. 2012. Tr $19.99. ISBN 978-1-4231-4257-7. LC 2011051348.
Gr 5–8—This book is similar in scope to the author’s Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters (Harcourt, 2000). The subjects here include Benjamin Banneker, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, A. Philip Randolph, Thurgood Marshall, Jackie Robinson, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Barack Obama, all introduced in the author’s characteristically lively prose (“Black students kept on keeping on with dog-eared textbooks and dog-tired feet”; Malcolm Little’s hair was transformed from “pretty-boy cotton-kink to slick-daddy bone-straight”). The distinct experiences that shaped each man are ably delineated-the childhood events, the hardships faced, the richly deserved victories won-and the results are, without exception, compelling. The large font size is perfect for the middle-grade audience, but too many blocks of unbroken text may turn away less-confident readers. Thankfully, Brian Pinkney’s magnificent portraits and spot art throughout each profile help to amplify each man’s story. A must-have for all libraries serving young people. Sam Bloom, Blue Ash Library, Cincinnati, OH

Illustrator Award:
HUGHES, Langston. I, Too, Am America . illus. by Bryan Collier. CIP. S & S. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-2008-3. LC 2011002879.
K-Gr 5—Hughes’s poem of burgeoning pride in one’s African American identity, written at the height of the Harlem Renaissance in 1925, is interpreted anew in this striking picture book.Collier has visualized the message of the sparely written poem, barely 60 words in length, through the lens of a Pullman porter. “I, too, sing America” proclaims the opening spread that depicts a passenger rail car whizzing by; then, “I am the darker brother” shows an African American young man in the porter’s uniform gazing squarely at readers through a faint, translucent overlay of the American flag, a recurring motif. As the porter cleans up the club car and examines the detritus—newspapers, magazines, blues, and jazz albums left by the train’s well-heeled passengers—he impulsively flings it all from the caboose, scattering this knowledge to those who will willingly learn from it. Wafting through time and space, these items fall into the hands of a young female field worker in the long-ago South as well as residents in a contemporary northern urban landscape. The poem’s powerful conclusion—”I, too, am America”—depicts a young boy on the subway with his mother, peering out the window through a readily visible flag toward his unknown but hopeful future. Collier’s signature mixed-media collages create bold, textured images that give tangible expression to the poet’s potent words. A memorable and multilayered volume for all libraries.—Kathleen Finn, St. Francis Xavier School, Winooski, VT

William C. Morris Award
HARTMAN, Rachel. Seraphina. Random. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-0-375-86656-2; PLB $20.99. ISBN 978-0-375-96656-9; ebook $10.99. ISBN 978-0-375-89658-3. LC 2011003015.
Gr 7 Up–For nearly 40 years, the treaty between the humans of Goredd and the dragons of dragonkind has held strong. Humans must not enter dragonkind territory and dragons, upon entering human lands, must take their human shape, or saarantrai. In Goredd, Seraphina’s human father, a high offical, needs her to stay anonymous. The dark secret that she must hide is that her mother was a dragon. Because of her musical talents, Seraphina becomes Goredd’s music assistant, helping prepare for the anniversary celebration. Layers of clothing disguise the scales on her arms and stomach, but unlike dragons, her blood runs red, not silver. Also, to keep from having fainting spells in which she relives her deceased mother’s experiences, Seraphina must clear her head each night. She calls the figures in her vision grotesques, and each night, she must ensure all is calm in her mind-garden. When the decapitated body of Prince Rufus is found just days before the anniversary festivities, many humans are quick to accuse a dragon of breaking the pact. Seraphina’s grotesques begin acting strangely, and the whole court is investigating the murder. When the celebrations are in full swing, all hell breaks loose as the rogue dragon that killed the prince enters Goredd in his dragon form and attempts to take control. Seraphina must risk revealing her true identity (and that of her fellow hybrids) in an attempt to save the kingdom. Hartman creates a rich story layered with intriguing characters and descriptive settings. Seraphina is a complex and fully developed protagonist. Although long, this unique novel (left open for a sequel) will surely appeal to fans of Christopher Paolini’s “Eragon” books (Knopf) and wherever readers enjoy fantasies. Lauren Newman

Schneider Family Book Award
For Middle Grade Readers:
LEAN, Sarah. A Dog Called Homeless. 198p. HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-06-212220-9; ebook $9.99. ISBN 978-0-06-212222-3. LC 2011044628.
Gr 4–7—Cally Fisher hasn’t spoken for 31 days. As she explains in the prologue, “Talking doesn’t always make things happen, however much you want it to.” She knows that talking won’t bring her mother back to life or keep her dad from selling their home in exchange for a small apartment so what’s the point in saying anything. But when her mother appears one day wearing a bright red raincoat and the only other soul that sees her is a big scraggly dog, the girl knows she must find a way to convince her father that the dog is the only thing connecting them to her mother. But her father’s growing depression continues to separate the family and Cally struggles to keep her mother from becoming a distant memory. When she meets Sam, who lives downstairs, the friendship that forms between the blind boy and silent girl manages to reunite a family, and each character benefits from the bond. Truly a lesson in the power of love and loss, this story shows that learning how to listen is more important than what’s being said. This is a thought-provoking story that will speak to readers of all ages.—Cheryl Ashton, Amherst Public Library, OH

For Younger Readers:
ALEXANDER, Claire. Back to Front and Upside Down. illus. by author. 26p. Eerdmans. Sept. 2012. Tr $16. ISBN 978-0-8028-5414-8.
PreS-Gr 1–Stan, a small anthropomorphic puppy, faces a big problem–his class is making birthday cards for the principal, but he just can’t get the hang of writing. He is despondent until a friend suggests that he approach their teacher for help. Gathering up some courage, Stan approaches Miss Catnip and discovers that he’s not the only one having trouble. After “lots and lots and lots of practice,” Stan’s writing improves and he not only creates a great card, but learns that he should always ask for help when he is struggling. Alexander’s mostly full-page illustrations of Stan and his animal friends are bright and cheerful. Though cartoonish, they expressively depict the change in Stan’s emotions–from isolation and sadness to accomplishment and happiness. The story is a tad didactic, but it teaches a good lesson. Students should have no trouble sympathizing with Stan’s learning difficulties and cheer for his success.–Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY

The audience erupted in cheers Monday morning after “Animorphs” (Scholastic) author Katherine Applegate was named the winner of the Newbery Medal for her heartfelt and unforgettable story The One and Only Ivan (HarperCollins), and Jon Klassen was awarded the Caldecott Medal for This Is Not My Hat (Candlewick) at the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards for 2012, which were announced during ALA‘s annual Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, WA. Another Klassen project, Mac Barnett’s picture book Extra Yarn (HarperCollins), was named a Caldecott Honor book.

Katherine Applegate

The Newbery for The One and Only Ivan, Applegate’s uniquely creative, fictional take on the true story of a silverback gorilla who once lived in glass enclosure in a shopping mall, surprised many attendees who had not shortlisted it for the win. Nevertheless, the book had many enthusiastic fans among the crowd in Seattle, who agreed that it was—and would continue to be—a hugely popular choice with kids.

California resident Applegate was visiting relatives in Virginia when she was surprised by the call from the Newbery committee this morning, only an hour and a half before the YMAs presentation began, she tells SLJ. ”I was stunned, totally delighted but speechless,” she says. “The speechlessness went on for a while, then I screamed, and my family marched in at that, and there were a lot of screams! Then we watched the webcast and it was great. It was fun to watch with no anxiety, because they had called me already.”

Applegate credits her win in part to a large community of online fans, especially on Twitter, who have been championing the book and who have conducted huge amounts of outreach to middle readers, including John Schumacher and The Nerdy Book Club. “I have gotten so much support from different communities,” she says. “They have helped tremendously in how visible the book was to readers.”

Adds Applegate, “It’s just surreal! I know what a lottery it is because there were so many good books this year. It’s a huge honor but it could have been any one of them.”

Jon Klassen

And although This Is Not My Hat was a Caldecott favorite going into the awards, “I was actually very, very surprised,” Klassen tells SLJ. “I had done a pretty good job of convincing myself not to think about it, so it came out of the blue. It’s such a big thing to think that you were going to get mentioned at all, (the dual win) didn’t register. I’m still getting used to the idea that people are looking at these books, much less giving them the distinction.”

The crowd was also ecstatic to learn that the Margaret A. Edwards Award, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, will be presented to Tamora Pierce for her significant and lasting contributions to YA literature via her “Song of the Lioness” series. The award is sponsored by SLJ.

Other big winners of the day were Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon (Roaring Brook Press) by Steve Sheinkin, which scored the YALSA nonfiction award, the Sibert Informational Book Medal, and a Newbery Honor; and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Simon & Schuster) by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, which also was selected three times: for the Stonewall Award, the Belpré Author Award, and a Printz Honor.

Although Sheinkin knew Bomb was a strong contender for the YALSA nonfiction award, he was “really surprised by the other awards—happily so,” he tells SLJ.

In fact, after the YALSA committee informed him of his win for the nonfiction award on Saturday night, he turned off his phone before the Sibert committee was able to reach him. ”They tried to call me many times last night,” he says, “but then they left a message. But that was cool, too.” (Now he has the message saved, he says.)

Sheinkin hopes his cross-category wins might signal a trend of growing popularity for exciting young adult nonfiction overall among kids.

“It’s really cool to break out of just the nonfiction category,” he says. “That’s my biggest thing—I’m a big proponent of history for kids, of nonfiction, but also trying to win over people who just want to read a good book. To prove to young readers that this kind of book can be fun also is a really big thing. A lot of kids know it (some kids are into history) but some kids are scared of it.”

Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Meanwhile, Sáenz, after hearing of his three wins across categories “had a frantic and beautiful morning, was in class all afternoon and then quietly celebrated by taking a walk in the desert,” he tells SLJ, adding that the Stonewall award was a “complete surprise” and the Printz honor left him “stunned.”

He notes, “the Belpré people called me the night before and I was absolutely thrilled. They were all on speakerphone and I could hear them screaming. They were very sweet and I didn’t know what to say. I don’t know that we as authors should expect awards; they are gifts to us. I get really choked up. I’m just grateful for the gifts. I would hope my mother raised a gracious man, who knows how to say thank you.”

He also notes that the book’s cross-category recognition is a testament to how well it was marketed by Simon & Schuster as well as the word of mouth of reviewers and librarians who recommended it. “They felt that everybody should read this book, they put it into everybody’s hands,” he says. “It takes a village to take the book out into the world. We had a great village.”

The prolific author—who writes poetry, children’s books, and adult novels in addition to YA literature—somehow found the time to write Aristotle and Dante while teaching bilingual creative writing and acting as MFA department chair at the University of Texas at El Paso. He is already deep into his next project, another dramatic YA novel. “I’m always writing,” he says.

* * *

Here is the list of winners of the ALA’s Youth Media Awards:

(John) Newbery Medal
The One and Only Ivan. Katherine Applegate. HarperCollins.

Honors:
Splendors and Glooms. Laura Amy Schlitz. Candlewick.

Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon. Steve Sheinkin. Flash Point/Roaring Brook.

Three Times Lucky. Sheila Turnage. Dial/Penguin Young Readers.

(Randolph) Caldecott Medal
This Is Not My Hat. Jon Klassen. Candlewick Press.

Honors:
Creepy Carrots! Aaron Reynolds. Illus. by Peter Brown.
Simon & Schuster.

Extra Yarn. Mac Barnett. Illus. by Jon Klassen.
HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray.

Green. Laura Vaccaro Seeger. Neal Porter Books/Roaring Brook.

One Cool Friend. Toni Buzzeo. Illus. by David Small. Dial/Penguin Young Readers.

Sleep Like a Tiger. Mary Logue. Illus. by Pamela Zagarenski. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Theodore Seuss Geisel Award
Up, Tall and High. Ethan Long. G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

Honors:
Let’s Go for a Drive! Mo Willems. Hyperion/Disney.

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons. Eric Litwin. Illus. by James Dean. HarperCollins.

Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover. Cece Bell. Candlewick.

(Laura Ingalls) Wilder Award
Katherine Paterson

Andrew Carnegie Medal
Anna, Emma and the Condors. Produced by Katja Torneman.

Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal
Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon. Steve Sheinkin. Flash Point/Roaring Brook

Honors:
Electric Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin. Robert Byrd. Dial/Penguin Young Readers.

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95. Phillip M. Hoose. Farrar.

Titanic: Voices from the Disaster. Deborah Hopkinson. Scholastic.

Mildred L. Batchelder Award
My Family for the War. Anne C. Voorhoeve. Dial/Penguin Young Readers.

Honors:
A Game for Swallows: To Die, to Leave, to Return. Zeina Abirached.
Tr. by Edward Gauvin. Graphic Universe/Lerner.

Son of a Gun. Anne de Graaf. Eerdmans.

May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award
Andrea Davis Pinkney

Pura Belpré Awards
Author: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Benjamin Alire Sáenz.
Simon & Schuster.

Honor: The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano. Sonia Manzano. Scholastic.

Illustrator: Martín de Porres: The Rose in the Desert. Gary D. Schmidt. Illus. by David Diaz. Clarion.

Michael L. Printz Award
In Darkness. Nick Lake. Bloomsbury. 

Honors:
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Simon & Schuster.

Code Name Verity. Elizabeth Wein. Hyperion/Disney.

Dodger. Terry Pratchett. HarperCollins Children’s Books

The White Bicycle. Beverley Brenna. Red Deer Press.

Odyssey Award
The Fault in Our Stars. John Green. Narrated by Kate Rudd. Brilliance Audio.

Honors:
Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian. Eoin Colfer. Narrated by Nathaniel Parker. Listening Library.

Ghost Knight. Cornelia Funke. Narrated by Elliot Hill. Listening Library.

Monstrous Beauty. Elizabeth Fama. Narrated by Katherine Kellgren. Macmillian Audio.

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults
Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon. Steve Sheinkin
Flash Point/Roaring Brook

Finalists:
Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different. Karen Blumenthal. Feiwel & Friends.

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95. Phillip Hoose. Farrar

Titanic: Voices from the Disaster. Deborah Hopkinson. Scholastic.

We’ve Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children’s March. Cynthia Levinson. Peachtree Publishers.

William C. Morris Award
Seraphina. Rachel Hartman. Random House.

Finalists:
Wonder Show. Hannah Barnaby. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books.

Love and Other Perishable Items. Laura Buzo. Knopf/Random House.

After the Snow. S. D. Crockett. Feiwel and Friends.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post. emily m. danforth. Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins

Margaret A. Edwards Award
Tamora Pierce for her “Song of the Lioness” series

Coretta Scott King Book Awards
Author: Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America. Andrea Davis Pinkney. Illus. by Brian Pinkney. Hyperion/Disney.

Honors: Each Kindness. Jacqueline Woodson. Illus. by E. B. Lewis.
Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin Young Readers.

No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller 
Vaunda Micheaux Nelson. Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. Carolrhoda Lab/Lerner.

Illustrator: I, Too, Am America. Langston Hughes. Illus. by Bryan Collier. Simon & Schuster.

Honors: H. O. R. S. E.. Christopher Myers. Egmont USA.

Ellen’s Broom. Kelly Starling Lyons. Illus. by Daniel Minter. Putnam/Penguin Young Readers.

I Have a Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr. Ilus. by Kadir Nelson. Schwartz & Wade/Random House.

Virginia Hamilton: Demetria Tucker
Practitioner Award for Lifetime achievement

Stonewall Book Award
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Simon & Schuster.

Honors:
Drama. Raina Telgemeier. Graphix/Scholastic Inc.

Gone, Gone, Gone. Hannah Moskowitz. Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster.

October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard. Lesléa Newman. Candlewick.

Sparks: The Epic, Completely True Blue, (Almost) Holy Quest of Debbie. S. J. Adams. Flux.

Schneider Family Book Award
Teen: Somebody, Please Tell Me Who I Am. Harry Mazer and Peter Lerangis. Simon & Schuster.

Middle Grade: A Dog Called Homeless. Sarah Lean. HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Book.

Children: Back to Front and Upside Down! Claire Alexander. Eerdmans.

We’re just a few days away from the most important announcement in the world of children’s literature. Awarded every year by the American Library Association, honors like the Newbery and Caldecott Medals are highly coveted by kid lit authors and illustrators. And while libraries all over the country have organized mock awards programs in recent months where participants choose their favorite books as possible Newbery and Caldecott winners, not much has been heard about the other top prizes that will bestowed early on January 28. School Library Journal editors and contributors took a stab at naming a few titles that might just win one of these—lesser publicized, yet still highly sought after—Youth Media Awards.

The Coretta Scott King Awards are given annually to one outstanding African-American author and to one African-American illustrator of books for children and young adults who demonstrate an appreciation of African-American culture and universal human values.

“Two possibilities for the Coretta Scott King illustrator award—for their sheer stunningness and timeliness—are Shane W. Evans for his We March (Roaring Brook), and Kadir Nelson for his artistic representation of Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech (Random),” effusively says Joy Fleishhacker, former SLJ book review editor and frequent contributor.

For the author award, Daryl Grabarek, editor of SLJ’s Curriculum Connections newsletter and SLJ’s “Touch & Go” blog, has great hopes for Vaunda Micheaux Nelson’s No Crystal Stair: A Novel in Documents, Based on the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie (Carolrhoda). “This stunner is a lens onto New York City and African-American history, but so much more, including a look at feisty individual whose life was changed by his books, and whose work in turn, helped others realize their dreams,” she says.

Already a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner, it could be a shoe-in for a Coretta Scott King—and possibly even a Newbery, Grabarek notes.

The Odyssey Award is given to the producer of the best audiobook for children and/or young adults, available in English in the United States. Phyllis Levy Mandell, SLJ managing editor and Multimedia Review editor, has her heart set on the audiobook versions of Libba Bray’s The Diviners (Listening Library) or Laura Amy Schlitz’s Splendors and Gloom (Recorded Books). Both titles are serious contenders, she says.

The Pura Belpré Awards are presented to one Latino/Latina writer and one Latino/Latina illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in outstanding works of literature for children and youth.

Shelley Diaz, assistant editor of SLJ’s Book Review anticipates that narrative award will go to either Guadalupe McCall Garcia for her Odyssey retelling, Summer of the Mariposas (Lee & Low) or Margarita Engle’s novel in verse The Wild Book (Houghton Harcourt), both past Belpré winners. Diaz adds, however, that The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano (Scholastic), written by Sonia Manzano (best known as Sesame Street’s “Maria”) might surprise everyone.

The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal is awarded to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished informational book published in the United States in English.

SLJ Executive Editor Rick Margolis and Contributing Editor Rocco Staino both think that Steve Sheinkin’s Bomb (Roaring Brook) could take this top nonfiction award. Barbara Kerley’s Those Rebels, John & Tom (Scholastic) also made Staino’s contender list.

Mahnaz Dar, editorial assistant of SLJ’s Book Review, is going the slithery slimy route, choosing Nic Bishop Snakes (Scholastic) for the Sibert. “Bishop also deserves some kudos for his dedication—he was actually bitten several times while photographing his subjects,” she says. “How many nonfiction writers can boast about bite marks in the service of their craft?”

The Schneider Family Book Award is presented to an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.

The title that automatically comes to mind when discussing this award, hand down, is Wonder by R. J. Palacio (Random), Grabarek says.  An SLJ Best Book of 2012, the touching middle grade novel has tugged kids’ heartstrings since its publication date. Grabarek also chose it as her school library’s book club pick; now there’s a waiting list read it, with more copies on order. “The writing and characterizations are superb, and there’s a lot here for kids to ponder and talk about—which they’re eager to do,” she argues.

Staino also says Jepp, Who Defied the Stars (Hyperion) by Katherine Marsh might have a shot.

The Stonewall Book Award recognizes works with exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience.

Diaz and Dar are in agreement when it comes to the novel that will dominate this category: A. S. King’s Ask the Passengers (Little, Brown). “It captures the voice of a smart, sensitive teen perfectly,” says Dar. Diaz adds, “This novel is not only about romantic love, but loves of all kinds: for your family, for your friends, for even strangers. Most importantly, it’s about loving yourself, even though you’re still not sure who that self is yet.”

Other SLJ favorites for the category include two debut works, E. M. Kokie’s Personal Effects (Candlewick) and Emily M. Danforth’s The Miseducation of Cameron Post (HarperCollins). Chelsey Philpot, SLJ’s associate editor of Book Review, is crossing her fingers that the latter will pull ahead for the win.

The Theodore Seuss Geisel Award goes to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States

Mo Willems usually walks away with this prize, and his Let’s Go for a Drive! (Hyperion) just might take it again this year, staffers say. But there are a few fervent fans for beloved author/illustrator Kevin Henkes. “I can’t think of a more charming introduction to reading than Penny and Her Doll. Penny is an endearing, appealing character whom children will adore,” shares Dar.

Fleishhacker can’t decide between the two. “I really like both of these titles for their solid writing, the way that the artwork and the narrative work in harmony to tell the story, their originality, and the way that they are both entertaining and extremely accessible for beginning readers,” she says. “Both of these titles will encourage and stand up to repeated reads—certainly an essential element for a beginning reader.” Diaz hopes that the dark horse, Sonya Hartnett’s pitch-perfect Sadie and Ratz (Candlewick) will be the last easy reader left standing.

Stay tuned to the live streaming webcast announcements on Monday, January 28. Or check our Youth Media Award coverage via Twitter and SLJ.com.

BARNETT, Mac. Chloe and the Lion. illus. by Adam Rex. Disney/Hyperion. 2012. ISBN 9781423113348. JLG Level: HE : Humor Elementary (Grades 2-6).

Mac, the author, and Adam, the illustrator, argue over which character is better for scaring poor little Chloe―a lion or a dragon. A war over the story line ensues. Which is more important―the art or the text? When Mac fires Adam for not following directions, “my-friend-Hank” is hired. The former artist is quickly eaten by Hank’s lion. Little Chloe saves the day by setting them all straight, telling the author, “You’re the writer. Adam is the illustrator. We all add something to the story.”

Barnett’s humorous tongue-in-cheek tale is charmingly illustrated with clay figures of the picture book’s creators, and cartoon-type characters for the remaining players. Using a stage as the story’s backdrop, and balloons for its text, sets the artwork apart from similar books this year. It’s a tale of friendship and teamwork in an unusual mixed-format effort that is a pleasure to read.

BARNETT, Mac. Extra Yarn. illus. by Jon Klassen. HarperCollins/Balzer & Bray. 2012. ISBN 9780061953385. JLG Level: K : Kindergarten (Grades PreK-K).

“In a cold little town, where everywhere you looked was either the white of snow or the black soot from chimneys, Annabelle found a box filled with yarn of every color.” So begins the tale of one little girl who made a difference. She knit a sweater for herself; she still had yarn left. She knit a sweater for her dog, and still had some left. Annabelle knit sweaters for everyone and everything she met, except for Mr. Crabtree. She made him a hat. “Things began to change in that little town.” When the archduke tried to buy the never-ending yarn from the little girl, she refused to sell. So he stole it.

Klassen’s artwork brings Annabelle’s black and white world to life. With pops of color punctuating the simple digital-and-ink shapes, the meaning of the magical yarn materializes. Use of darkness when the archduke steals the box shows the meanness of the act without being too scary for its intended audience. Though the story is moralistic, the charm of the illustrations and the happy ending produce a picture book that is sure to be a classic, regardless of whether it wins the gold.

BUZZEO, Toni. One Cool Friend. illus. by David Small. Dial. 2012. ISBN 9780803734135. JLG Level: P : Primary (Grades K-1).

“Elliot was a very proper young man,” so it’s no surprise that he liked penguins. “In their tidy black feather tuxedos with their proper posture, they reminded Elliot of himself.” During a visit to the zoo, he slips a live penguin into his backpack. (He asked permission, of course.) Unbeknownst to his preoccupied father, Elliot’s new pet skates on a pond in his room, eats anchovy pizza, and swims in the family bathtub.

From turtle-patterned pajamas and footstools, to boxes of caramel candy and diagrams in the father’s office, the illustrations complement the text while hinting at the surprising outcome. Small adds a smattering of color to his simply sketched ink drawings, which along with the use of bubble captions lighten the serious tone of the dialogue between father and child. s. A perfect blend of the visual and text make it an excellent choice for story time. Readers will laugh at the tuxedoed duo’s adventures and shout “read it again” at its conclusion.

COLE, Henry. Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad. Scholastic. 2012. ISBN 9780545399975. JLG Level: P : Primary (Grades K-1).

While doing her chores, a young girl discovers someone hiding in the family’s barn. Without saying a word, each person takes food to the uninvited guest. After a slave-hunting party arrives, the visitor disappears, leaving behind a cornhusk doll dressed in the napkin material as a sign of thanks.

Cole uses charcoal and pen line drawings to illustrate this wordless picture book. In a style reminiscent of Brian Selznick, character close-ups reveal the tension in the story. Readers will feel the family’s fear when the hunting party arrives. They will worry when the runaway peeks through a knot hole. Seeing the Big Dipper through the bedroom window will fill them with hope that the slave will find a safe place to rest. An author’s note shares family stories and background history about the details included in the illustrations.

FOGLIANO, Julie. And Then It’s Spring. illus. by Erin E. Stead. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter. 2012. ISBN 9781596436244. JLG Level: K : Kindergarten (Grades PreK-K).

A dedicated young boy and the animals that live around him diligently wait for seeds to sprout. In well-planned phases, readers feel the slow-moving track of time as the season of brown lingers on. He plants his seeds. He waters them. A silent chorus of anxious planters stares at the dark earth waiting for green to break through. A rainy day brings a sunny one, and with it, green. “All around you have green.”

Stead’s woodblock printing techniques brilliantly tone down the anxious wait for spring. Kids will linger over the details. A turtle uses a magnifying glass to better see the emergence of a sprout. Rabbit watches for the carrot seeds to push through the soil. Even the dog waits for his buried bones to grow. Spring bursts into view on the last double page spread, just like the seeds that were sown. Another winner for Stead and a first-winning book for Fogliano.

STEAD, Philip C.. Bear Has a Story to Tell. illus. by Erin E. Stead. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter. 2012. ISBN  9781596437456. JLG Level: K : Kindergarten (Grades PreK-K).

Winter is swiftly approaching, and bear is getting sleepy, but first he has a story he wants to tell. Mouse doesn’t have time for a story; he has seeds to gather. So Bear helps his friend instead. Duck has to get ready to fly south, so Bear checks the wind’s direction. Frog needs to find a warm place to sleep for the winter, so Bear digs a frog-sized hole. The first snowflake falls, but Bear still hasn’t told his tale. When spring arrives and his friends return, Bear is delighted to remember that now he has time to tell his story. Sadly, he can no longer recall what he wanted to say. In cyclical fashion, his friends prompt him, and the story ends as it began.

Gold medal team of Stead and Stead pair up again in this star-studded effort (2 stars and a Kirkus Editors’ Choice Award). The camaraderie of the characters is skillfully painted in their faces and mannerisms. The gentleness of the big bear is believable in his efforts to help his friends, while putting his needs last. The lesson of the story (shall we say, Golden Rule?) is gently woven between the text and illustrations, allowing the reader to absorb the message with little effort.

For ideas about how to use these books and links to supportive sites, check out the Junior Library Guild blog, Shelf Life.

Junior Library Guild is a collection development service that helps school and public libraries acquire the best new children’s and young adult books. Season after season, year after year, Junior Library Guild book selections go on to win awards, collect starred or favorable reviews, and earn industry honors. Visit us at www.JuniorLibraryGuild.com.

His first children’s book, the Caldecott Honor Anansi the Spider (Holt, 1972), based upon his animated film, retold the traditional West African tale of the clever and mischievous trickster. In his Caldecott Medal-winning Arrow to the Sun (Viking, 1974), McDermott once more recast one of his animated films in picture book format. The book retold the Pueblo tale of a boy who journeys to the sun to seek his father.

McDermott received both a Caldecott Honor and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Award for Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest, (Harcourt, 1993), a Native American tale of the birth of the sun which School Library Journal described as an “amusing and well-conceived picture book.”

In recent works such as Creation (Dutton, 2003), Pig-Boy: A Trickster Tale from Hawai’i (2009), and Monkey: A Trickster Tale from India (both Harcourt, 2011), McDermott turned to Aztec, Hawaiian, and Buddhist traditions to continue with his convention of bringing folklore to life.

In addition to his work as an author and illustrator, McDermott regularly shared his views on his craft with others through lectures and presentations. In 2001, he gave several talks in Japan, where his books have long been popular, and in 2003, he presented a discussion on picture book art at the Maui Writers Conference in Hawaii.

Born in 1941 in Detroit, McDermott displayed a passion for art early in life. At the age of four, he took classes at the Detroit Institute of Arts. McDermott went on to study at Cass Tech and then later at Pratt Institute in New York on scholarship. He then started a career as a filmmaker, producing short animated features on folklore, including “Anansi the Spider,” which garnered the American Film Festival Blue Ribbon in 1970.

“Gerald had an unusual talent for reaching both kids and adults; the six trickster tales he published with Harcourt certainly show his ability to reach across generations,” said Jeannette Larson, editorial director of Harcourt Children’s Books, who worked with McDermott. “His grasp of the cultural heritage behind his stories was impeccable, yet his books were never weighed down by his depth of knowledge. Every story is distilled to its essence; each one has a vein of humor that makes it accessible to even the youngest readers. And his artwork! Always stunning.”

Artist and children’s book illustrator Nonny Hogrogian won her first Caldecott Medal in 1966 for Always Room for One More (Holt, 1965), the story of a generous Scotsman who welcomes guests into his little home. She then won her second in 1972 for One Fine Day (Macmillan, 1971), the humorous retelling of an Armenian folk tale about a red fox who steals milk from an old farm woman.

Born in the Bronx to an Armenian family, Hogrogian earned a Caldecott Honor in 1977 for The Contest (Greenwillow, 1976), also based on a tale from Armenia.

Hogrogian talked with SLJ about the medals, her work, and cold New Hampshire winters.

What do you remember about winning each medal?

When I won the medal for Always Room for One More in 1966, I was working at home as an illustrator four days a week and as the art director for Scribner’s children’s book department for the other three days.

Friends from Scribner’s began to call me in the afternoon asking me if I had any news about the award. I said “No,” and continued with my work.

Much later, I received the call from the Caldecott committee chairwoman, Winifred Crossley, and was excited beyond belief. I called back my co-workers at Scribner’s, who had been waiting for me to hear the news. They told me to hurry on down to the office, where they were waiting to have a celebration. It was great.

In 1972, I was newly married to the poet and writer David Kherdian, winner of the 1980 Newbery Honor for The Road from Home: The Story of an Armenian Girl (Greenwillow, 1979). We had just bought a home in New Hampshire and we were broke. The winters there were very cold, and we weren’t sure that we had enough money to pay for oil through the winter.

We were both rather impractical. After looking over many picture books published that year, I told David that I thought I deserved the medal for One Fine Day, a folk tale I had retold and illustrated. He didn’t take me seriously.

At around midnight, we went upstairs to bed when the phone rang and the news came that I had in fact won the Caldecott Award for One Fine Day. We were jumping up and down and dancing on the bed, we were so happy. The next morning I called my editor, Susan Hirschman, to ask whether we might get an advance on the sales, and, of course, she said “Yes.”

What do you remember about the ceremonies?

I was very nervous at the Holt awards party preceding the 1966 event, so nervous that I lost my voice. The sales manager at Holt took one look at me and said, “You need a drink.” He presented me with one and later another. It helped a lot, and by the time I gave my speech, I looked out at the audience and realized that they were friends, and I was totally relaxed.

What impact did winning the Caldecott have on your career?

The Caldecott Award changed my life. It meant that I would not have to work in an office again. I would be able to work at books I loved in my own home without worrying too much about paying the rent. In addition, I would be able to pick and choose my own material and even tell my own stories, so that I could be totally involved with the material.

Where do you keep your medals?

David and I have moved many times, and for safekeeping, my early work is stored at the University of Southern Mississippi, and my later work and my medals are at the University of Connecticut.

Any other special memories from those times?

We have enjoyed our life and our work, with many thanks to Caldecott.

The golden bow tie that Paul O. Zelinsky created from gold Caldecott stickers.

To mark the upcoming 75th anniversary of the Caldecott Medal, School Library Journal is speaking with past recipients of the prestigious award. Here, illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky, winner of the 1998 Caldecott for Rapunzel (Dutton, 1997) and three-time honor recipient for Hansel and Gretel (Dodd, 1984), Rumpelstiltskin (1986) and Anne Isaac’s Swamp Angel (1994, both Dutton), talks about his working process, the awards ceremony, and “the call.”

Tell us how Rapunzel came to be.

As soon as Rumpelstiltskin was published, people were telling me how much they liked my book Rapunzel. I would say, “Thank you very much, but I think you mean Rumpelstiltskin.” Eventually I decided that if I actually did a Rapunzel, I wouldn’t have to keep correcting people.

I also wanted to follow Hansel and Gretel and Rumpelstiltskin with a third tale from the brothers Grimm. Why Rapunzel? I thought the story was compelling and mysterious, and I was interested in learning to paint hair.

What was it like receiving the phone call telling you that Rapunzel had won?

I had been called to jury duty, and if the judge hadn’t released me, the Committee’s call would have reached my answering machine.

I was curious to know which books would get awards, but confident that one of them wouldn’t be Rapunzel. After all, Hansel and Gretel had been a Caldecott Honor and so had Rumpelstiltskin, and that was clearly enough.

My wife Deborah had hopes for Rapunzel that I didn’t. I was taken completely by surprise. Words can’t describe how little I expected the call from the committee.

When I picked up the phone and a man’s voice asked to speak to Paul Zelinsky, I suspected it was some long-distance phone company trying to get me to switch carriers. It was John Stewig calling from New Orleans with the Caldecott committee, telling me that Rapunzel had won. Then in the background, the committee cheered.

I got very dizzy and confused, but I gathered myself together. When I hung up, I phoned Deborah’s school (she was teaching second grade in our local public school), to give her the news. When she saw a school aide come into her classroom holding a note, she began to cry.

Do you recall any other highlights from the ALA conference that year, aside from the awards ceremony?

My wife lost her wallet in a taxi. We had breakfast with a classmate I hadn’t seen since high school. My daughters were 14 and 10.

The conference and banquet were at the Washington, DC, Hilton Hotel. In a private back room they served very big, strong drinks before the beginning of the dinner. There was a passageway from that room to the stage area of the ballroom, which had been walked by all sorts of presidents and amazing historical figures whose photos lined its walls.

What do you remember about the ceremony? 

Karen Hesse was the Newbery winner, and Russell Freedman received the Wilder Award. There were a lot of speeches. I made sure to use the rest room beforehand, having had one painful ALA experience many years before.

The Caldecott Committee members came wearing silly hats representing either long blond hair or the cap my Rapunzel prince character wore. They were carrying huge plastic scissors to cut the hair.

I came to the dinner in a garment I had bought at a garage sale in college for $5. It was a tuxedo from the 1930s, which fit perfectly. I was wearing a cummerbund I’d made from gold Caldecott stickers. By sticking the medals to each other, front to back, with a little bit of overlap linking one to the next, I made a nicely sturdy-feeling swath of gold. I also made a golden bow tie out of the stickers.

When I was at the podium and delivering my speech, the cummerbund started to come unstuck. My body heat was loosening the glue. I kept surreptitiously pushing the medals back together as I gave the talk.

How did winning the Caldecott impact your career?

I felt like I was already in a pretty privileged situation before the Caldecott, with three honor books. But I think this still made a difference in terms of attention, speaking requests, and so on. I don’t believe it really affected what books I took on, or was asked to do, or how I worked on them. The medal also increased the number of people and organizations coming to me with charitable requests.

Where do you keep your medal?

It came in a beautiful wood box, lined in blue velvet, which I keep on my dresser.

Do you think there is more public awareness of the award today?

I remember one librarian whose great mission was to eliminate these awards. Her principle was that they encourage a personality cult based on winning, which is alien to the actual purpose of children’s—or any—literature.

She had a good point. I visited one school where I was introduced as someone who was famous and had won a prestigious medal, and if the students only work hard enough, they could also be famous and win medals. But the Caldecott leads children to read books, and eliminating it would hardly make the world a better place.

I sourly regret that the Today Show has stopped bringing in the Caldecott and Newbery winners on the air the morning after the awards are announced. But awareness of the Caldecott and Newbery is huge. I don’t know whether any other award, literary or otherwise, does as much to support the sales and lifespan of a book.

Do you have a favorite young illustrator that we should be watching as a future Caldecott contender?

Questions about favorites almost always stump me—see, for example, the Favorite Color page on my website. A lot of amazing illustration is being done these days, and naming young illustrators would make me feel that I was skipping over the large number of not-so-young ones who deserve the Caldecott even more. That said, a couple of names, very unfairly leaving out a talented multitude, might be You Byun or Julian Hector.

Any other special Caldecott memories?

The Caldecott Medal spawned a whirlwind of a year for me, and I loved it.

Book display at Brook Forest Elementary School.

Librarians, authors and illustrators are gearing up for Picture Book Month in November, which will build on the success of last year’s inaugural event. The brainchild of author and storyteller Dianne de Las Casas, Picture Book Month encourages the recognition of picture books through blogs, tweets and other activities.

What’s on the schedule? For starters, de Las Casas has arranged for authors and illustrators to post daily on the Picture Book Month site. Caldecott Medalists Chris Raschka and Paul O. Zelinsky, along with authors Doreen Cronin and Jon Scieszka, are among the 30 “Picture Book Month Champions” weighing in. A Picture Book Month calendar recommends daily themes that educators can focus on—from food to monsters to pigs—and suggests that every Monday be devoted to nonfiction picture books.

Organizations including the Children’s Book Council and the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) have signed on for the event. “AASL is pleased to partner with Picture Book Month and to help highlight the value of connecting people of all ages, but especially the young, with this unique and remarkable format,” said AASL president Susan Ballard.

Mock Caldecott display at Minges Brook Elementary School.

How are school librarians getting involved? Mary Ann Scheuer, librarian at Emerson School in the  Berkeley (CA) Unified School District, will emphasize titles for older readers, like Jacqueline Woodson’s picture books, for her fourth and fifth graders. “My students are completely drawn into her stories, appreciating the language, character development and emotions,” Scheuer told School Library Journal. In addition, she says, picture books can challenge older students to focus on skills like inference that are critical to the Common Core Standards. “When we read Woodson’s Visiting Day (Scholastic, 2002) illustrated by James Ransome, they inferred that Maya’s father was in prison, a fact the text does not explicitly state,” she observes.

Displays, an author visit, and student-run mock Caldecotts are all part of the plan for John Schumacher, librarian at Brook Forest Elementary School in Oak Brook, IL. Schumacher will post the calendar around his school and have classes set picture book reading goals that they will track using Biblionasium, a social networking site for kids that promotes independent reading.

He’ll also host Tad Hills, bestselling author/illustrator of Rocket Writes a Story (Schwartz & Wade, 2012) and will collaborate on the mock Caldecott with Colby Sharp, a fourth grade teacher at Minges Brook Elementary School in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Laurel Snyder, author of such picture books as Baxter, the Pig Who Wanted to Be Kosher (Tricycle, 2010), will visiting the Main Street Academy in College Park, GA, and will Skype with students from the Community School of Davidson in North Carolina.

Looking for more ways to get involved? Find some inspirations on the event website.

Frances Foster accepting her Carle Honor. Photo by Johnny Wolf.

Frances Foster was honored last month by the Eric Carle Museum, which awarded the renowned children’s book editor with a Carle Honor in the mentor category. School Library Journal took the opportunity to ask Foster to reflect on her career editing some of the biggest stars in children’s publishing, from Roald Dahl to Peter Sís.

Legend has it that an angel was instrumental in getting you started in children’s books. Is that true?

So it seemed. I called on Alice Dalgliesh, founding editor of the children’s book department at Scribner’s, without an appointment (what was I thinking?). I was applying for a job and thought Scribner’s would be a good place to start. I had spent many hours browsing in the Scribner bookstore on the ground floor of 597 Fifth Avenue, so it was a short and easy step from there to Ms. Dalgliesh’s office on the sixth floor. I was green, new to the city, and new to job-hunting, so it never occurred to me that she wouldn’t see me. As it happened, when she heard why I had come, she welcomed me and said, “An angel must have sent you.” Her assistant had given notice that very morning, so yes, there was an opening that needed to be filled, and I was hired on the spot. From that moment on, I have believed in angels and in luck.

What was it like working at Scribner’s in its iconic building on Fifth Avenue in New York City?

A. It was amazing, both real and unreal. There was so much history living in that building. I felt surrounded by ghosts. Mine was the desk where Thomas Wolfe perched to view the various Fifth Avenue parades; the fifth floor was where Ernest Hemingway and Max Eastman had their famous fistfight in Maxwell Perkins’ office. Mr. Scribner, who Ms. Dalgliesh referred to as “young Mr. Scribner” or simply “Charlie,” was now the second generation of Scribners to head the publishing house. He and Dalgliesh were on easy terms with each other since she had known him throughout his childhood. From my position, it seemed that she and her office was his confessional; I can still hear her placating him with, “Now Charlie….” and a word of reassurance. With none of the offices, not even Mr. Scribner’s, being fully enclosed, it was an impossible place to keep secrets. Even whispered conversations eventually became public.

Such was the case when Igor Krupitsky, head of the rare books department at Scribner’s, unearthed a painting of Robert Louis Stevenson signed by John Singer Sargent in an upper floor storage closet. Yale University, where the Stevenson papers reside, was immediately contacted, and though they questioned the authenticity and very existence of such a portrait, it was shipped off to them… and quickly returned. Yale rejected it as a fake on all counts. It wasn’t Stevenson, and the signature was forged. The painting then stood on a table in Scribner’s office, prompting all who entered to ask about it, so those of us who were within earshot heard the story of Yale’s shortsightedness many times repeated, until one day Scribner’s mother visited and set the record straight. It was a portrait of a Scribner uncle painted by another uncle and signed “Sargent.” In short, it was a family joke that quickly became a company joke, though some of us thought it was funnier than Mr. Scribner did.

You were Roald Dahl’s editor for six of his books. A notoriously difficult author—true?

Bob Gottlieb, who headed up Knopf’s adult department, was Dahl’s true editor, but I was the editor of record for five or six of his children’s books, including Danny the Champion of the World (1975), George’s Marvelous Medicine (1982), and The Enormous Crocodile (1978, all Knopf). And yes, he lived up to his legend, but I should make clear that besides being “difficult,” he was witty and funny, and often appreciative. Still, he was predictably unpredictable, and in time he severed his connections to Knopf and moved on to Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and eventually left FSG for Viking.

You received the Carle Honor in the mentor category. Here are some names of children’s literature legends with whom you have worked. I’m going to mention their names and have you respond.

Roger Duvoisin: I met Duvoisin near the end of his life and worked on one picture book with him and an anthology of Petunia stories. This was the era when artists prepared their own color separations on acetate for four-color printing. Duvoisin is the only artist I’ve ever met who didn’t complain about this and actually liked the process. He said it reminded him of printmaking, of preparing a stone for lithography. He loved every part of the bookmaking process, and he opened my eyes to viewing it as he did.

Robert Cormier: I had just gone from freelancer to staff member at Knopf/Pantheon and was working for Fabio Coen when the manuscript for The Chocolate War (Pantheon, 1974) came in. Fabio had given it a first read and was asking each of us in the department to read it. This was 1973 and YA books weren’t what they are today. There had been many powerful and disturbing books about adolescents— e.g. Lord of the Flies—but they were published for adults before being discovered and claimed by YAs. Could he risk publishing it as a YA when it was not only dark but didn’t even have a happy ending? Would it be banned out of existence? Well, it was widely banned but certainly not out of existence. I was never Cormier’s editor but an admiring supporter and friend.

Leo Lionni: I became Lionni’s editor when Fabio Coen retired in 1979 and worked with him until his death in 1999. Leo taught me how to make picture books. He was the first of what Peter Sís calls my émigré artists, soon to be joined by Peter and much later, at FSG by Tomek Bogacki, Sergio Ruzzier, Boris Kulikov, Gabi Swiatkowska, Yangsook Choi, and Hyewon Yum. Lionni had a distinguished career as a graphic designer before the idea for a picture book came to him in a moment of desperation or inspiration when he was trying to entertain his two active grandchildren on a commuter train from Grand Central to Greenwich, Connecticut. Tearing colored shapes from the pages of a magazine—he was art director for Fortune—and using his briefcase as his stage, he held them in his spell as he told the story for Little Blue and Little Yellow (McDowell, Obolensky, 1959). This opened a well of ideas and casts of characters who play unforgettable roles in his picture book dramas.

Philip Pullman: I felt I’d hit my stride as an editor when Ruby in the Smoke (Knopf, 1985), the first in Pullman’s Sally Lockhart quartet came my way. It wasn’t because these books presented a challenge—they were pure pleasure—or that Pullman needed a lot of editing; it was because they felt like something I’d been looking for without knowing it for most of my publishing career. Philip Pullman calls them historical thrillers with old-fashioned Victorian blood and thunder. And that’s exactly what they are, grounded by a solid understanding of history and storytelling. My editing was mainly done through asking questions, educating myself as it happened, and carrying on an animated cross-Atlantic communication by letter and telephone with this very nimble thinker and amazing storyteller.

Peter Sís: Peter was actually a man without a country when I first met him, a Czech émigré who resisted his government’s order to return home from Los Angeles where he was on a film assignment in the early 1980s. This was Cold War politics, and when the chance to stay presented itself, he grabbed it. What did New York look or feel like to a struggling artist who couldn’t go home? A museum curator in Los Angeles had secretly sent samples of his work to Maurice Sendak who introduced Peter to Susan Hirschman, who gave him a David Shannon book to illustrate and after that Paul Fleishman’s The Whipping Boy (Greenwillow, 1987).

But New York City was expensive and Peter came with nothing but natural charisma, indefatigable energy and enormous talent. He needed work. Coming from a Communist country he’d expected, or maybe just hoped he would find subsidized housing for artists and a living stipend from publishers. He quickly realized that he would have to go from door to door with his portfolio and show his wares. I was one of the lucky editors he called on. I’d never seen work quite like his—visionary, beautiful, intellectually challenging—we set out to free a 32-page picture from the 92-page storyboard in his portfolio about a white rhinoceros. Rainbow Rhino (Knopf, 1987) was the first book that he wrote and illustrated.

Polly Horvath: I was a freelance reader for Margaret McElderry at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Polly Horvath was a fourteen-year-old budding novelist submitting long, messily typed, madcap manuscripts. I didn’t know she was fourteen at the time; she could have just as easily been an eccentric adult who had an out-of-control imagination, was drawn to weird characters and once she got started telling a story didn’t know when or how to stop. So I was actually relieved to learn her age. I couldn’t reject her with our form letters, even with a personal note at the end, it seemed too dismissive of her potential. I know that I wrote at least one letter to her, urging her to keep writing, and that she did, polishing her craft and gaining a measure of control without losing any of her originality.

You were the editor for the Newbery Winner Holes (Farrar, 1998) by Louis Sachar. What are you memories about working on that book?

I had already done four novels with Louis Sachar, beginning with There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom (Knopf, 1987), so I wasn’t surprised to find Holes came in in very good shape. Louis generally completed five full drafts of a novel before he shared it with anyone. I also knew that every little piece was there for a reason and in the end, it would all fit together like a puzzle. His books were fun to work on and Holes more than most. Then came the fun of publishing it to a world that rallied around it. That was a dream year for me, starting with Holes winning the National Book Award, followed by the Newbery Medal, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and every other major award in Children’s Literature. A year like that could go to one’s head, but life has ways of spreading the riches around. Sachar’s FSG competitors for the National Book Award that year were Jack Gantos for Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (1998) and Ann Cameron for The Secret Life of Amanda K. Woods (1998, both Farrar). That same year, 1999, Peter Sís won a Caldecott Honor for Tibet Through the Red Box. An embarrassment of riches that I found not even a little embarrassing.

Natalie Merchant, Barbara McClintock and Frances Foster at the Eric Carle Honor awards. Photo by Johnny Wolf.

Both Barbara McClintock and Natalie Merchant presented you with the Carle Honor and they told us about you. Tell us about them?

A. Well, their introduction was lovely but more than a little embarrassing, especially coming from two artists who are so hugely gifted. I first heard about Natalie’s album Leave Your Sleep (Farrar, 2012) in an interview she did with PBS and instantly thought it should be a picture book, too, illustrated by Barbara McClintock. A friend of Barbara’s had given her the album, and she had the same thought. It took us a while to track Natalie down, but when we did we learned that she already knew and loved Barbara’s work and that she had always intended the project to be a picture book as well as an album. They both brought a lot of passion and intelligence to this project, and together they are committed to doing whatever they can to get music and art and poetry into children’s lives.

How has children’s book publishing changed?

A. How hasn’t it changed? It’s tempting to start with technology. (I say this as I’m working on an antiquated company-issued laptop that was handed down by someone in finance. In those days, editorial got the hand-me-downs.) When I got my first publishing job, we used manual typewriters. The electric typewriter represented a big advancement and introduced more speed and efficiency. I don’t know if younger people can possibly imagine how computers and email, texting, and smartphones have affected the pace of the entire publishing process, of the world, for that matter. We editors worked only on hard copy—some of us still do, by choice; designers did everything by hand. They traced fonts and pasted up mechanicals.

Manuscripts were delivered by mail or messenger and traveled through the production process and were sent off to the printer or compositor to be manually typed or keyboarded and then set in type. Now of course, they travel as digital files. Designers do almost everything by computer, and many artists and authors do, as well. How books are bought and sold has changed, too. There were hundreds of independent bookstores across the country that specialized in children’s books. B. Dalton, our first chain arrived in the late 1960s. The books have changed, too, while also remaining the same. We still look for unforgettable stories.

Speaking at a September 15 New York Public Library Children’s Literary Salon session called, “Acts of Mischief,” Gauch described how books that introduce chaos into a controlled environment and that are characterized by fun and playfulness tend to resonate with young readers.

Gauch showed the audience a display of moments from classic and modern works, such as the overflowing pasta pot in Tomie dePaola’s Strega Nona (Prentice Hall, 1975), Pigeon’s explosive temper tantrum in Mo Willems’s Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (Hyperion, 2003), and the dramatic, whirlwind of a catfight in Wanda Gág’s Millions of Cats (McCann & Geoghegan, 1928).

She also peppered her lecture with anecdotes about working with well-known picture book authors and illustrators, explaining, for example, the origins of Jane Yolen’s Caldecott-winning Owl Moon (Philomel, 1987). Gauch said that as a first-time editor, she knew few illustrators. So when she received Yolen’s manuscript about a father and daughter’s moonlit journey tracking an owl through the woods, Gauch sent it to a 19- year-old former student whose father, John Schoenherr, came across the book and decided to illustrate it.

Touching upon what she perceives to be an omission in the Caldecott criteria selection, Gauch says she believes a book’s art shouldn’t simply mirror the text but should also enhance the story. As an example, she cited the Caldecott winning book that she edited, So You Want to be President? (2000, Philomel), whose whimsical drawings echoed illustrator David Small’s past as a political cartoonist.

Gauch tackled picture book critics, in particular addressing a 2010 New York Times article, “Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children” which claimed that picture books were no longer relevant, with many parents preferring their children to read advanced books at an earlier age. Gauch defended picture books as vital to children’s development, stating that they are a “child’s first introduction not only to art but to narrative form.”

Gauch also addressed digital picture books, acknowledging that electronic versions do have their place. Gauch, however, stressed that a physical book is in and of itself an art form, describing the amount of effort that goes into designing a book’s endpapers or binding and concluded that children should have access to both formats.