eBranch Blog

January 23, 2006

ALA Children's Book Awards Announced

The American Library Association announced the winners of their various children's and young adult book awards on January 23, 2006 at the ALA mid-winter meeting. A new award, the Theodore Seuss Geisel Award, which honors the outstanding book for beginning readers, made it's debut this year; we have added a book list for this award. A book list was also created for the Schneider Family Book Award which honors an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences. The winners are...

John Newbery Medal
Lynne Rae Perkins. Criss Cross

Randolph Caldecott Medal
Chris Raschka, illustrator. The Hello, Goodbye Window
The story of a little girl who finds a magic gateway in the kitchen window of her grandparents' house, and the voyage of discovery she takes. Written by Norton Juster.

Coretta Scott King Award
Author
Julius Lester. Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue
Emma has taken care of the Butler children since Sarah and Frances's mother, Fanny, left. Emma wants to raise the girls to have good hearts, as a rift over slavery has ripped the Butler household apart. Now, to pay off debts, Pierce Butler wants to cash in his slave "assets", possibly including Emma.


Illustrator
Bryan Collier. Written by Nikki Giovanni. Rosa

John Steptoe Award for New Talent
Jaime Adoff. Jimi & Me

Pura Belpre Award
Author
Viola Canales. The Tequila Worm

Illustrator
Raul Colon. Dona Flor: A Tall Tale About a Giant Woman with a Great Big Heart
Do?a Flor, a giant lady with a big heart, sets off to protect her neighbors from what they think is a dangerous animal, but soon discovers the tiny secret behind the huge noise. Written by Pat Mora.

Schneider Family Book Award
Children
Myron Uhlberg. Dad, Jackie, and Me
In Brooklyn%, New York, in 1947, a boy learns about discrimination and tolerance as he and his deaf father share their enthusiasm over baseball and the Dodgers' first baseman, Jackie Robinson.

Middle
Kimberly Newton Fusco. Tending to Grace
When Cornelia's mother runs off with a boyfriend, leaving her with an eccentric aunt, Cornelia must finally confront the truth about herself and her mother.

Teen
Adam Rapp. Under the Wolf, Under the Dog
Sixteen-year-old Steve struggles to make sense of his mother's terminal breast cancer and his brother's suicide. Steve Nugent is in a facility called Burnstone Grove. It's a place for kids who are addicts, like Shannon Lynch, who can stick $1.87 in change up his nose, or for kids who have tried to commit suicide, like Silent Starla, whom Steve is getting a crush on. But Steve doesn't really fit in either group. He used to go to a gifted school. So why is he being held at Burnstone Grove? Keeping a journal, in which he recalls his confused and violent past, Steve is left to figure out who he is by examining who he was.

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award
Cynthia Rylant. Henry and Mudge and the Great Grandpas
When Henry and his dog Mudge go with Henry's parents to visit Great-Grandpa Bill in the home with lots of other grandpas, they lead them all on a wonderful adventure.

Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award
Sally M. Walker. Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H. L. Hunley
Recounts the development of the H.L. Hunley, the first submarine from it's inception through modern archaelogical expedition to retrieve her from her watery grave.

Mildred L. Batchelder Award
Josef Holub. Innocent Soldier