Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award
Ashley Bryan
Illustrator Award
Honor Book
Kadir Nelson for Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans
Winner
Shane W. Evans for Underground: Find the Light to Freedom (Yippeee!)
Author Award
Honor Books
The Great Migration: Journey to the North by Eloise Greenfield
Never Forgotten by Patricia C. McKissack
Winner
Heart and Soul by Kadir Nelson (Amazing to win both!)
Honor Books
a + e 4ever by Ilike Merey
Money Boy by Paul Yee
Pink by Lili Wilkinson
With or Without You by Brian Farrey
WINNER
Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy by Bil Wright
NO WINNER FOR CHILDREN’S CATEGORY!
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Close to Famous by Joan Bauer
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
TEEN
The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt by Caroline Preston
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
Robopocalypse by Daniel Wilson
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The New Kids by Brooke Hauser
The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan
In Zanesville by Jo Ann Beard
Big Girl Small by Rachel DeWoskin
Here are the links I shared on my Twitter and Pinterest accounts that you might find interesting:
A 2012 Preview in Picture Books | Kirkus Book Reviews http://j.mp/wJJ9FX It looks like a great year ahead!
Ask Lorna: books to get 10- to 12-year-old boys reading – Telegraphhttp://j.mp/AhvroS
Best interactive iPad books of 2011 for kids of all ages – iPhone app recommendations – Lisa Caplan | Appolicious ™ iP… http://j.mp/wP1xHm
British PM: "I think that however busy you are in life, you should always try to read to your children."http://j.mp/xjEx8M
More proof that librarians rock! Beloved children’s books preserved thanks to retiring U librarian Karen Nelson Hoylehttp://j.mp/yswwui
Pinned this image of E.B. White writing in his boathouse:
Q&A: Shirley Hughes, children’s author and illustrator | The Guardian http://j.mp/ybpwyJ
YA novel readers clash with publishing establishment | Books |http://guardian.co.uk http://j.mp/xS41kn
Caveman, A.B.C. Story by Janee Trasler
Take a prehistoric trip through the alphabet in this funny picture book! This book tells the story of a caveman’s adventures solely through pictures and a few alphabetical words. It starts with an acorn that both the caveman and a squirrel are after. They are scared by a bear into a cave where a dinosaur was living. A bit later, the caveman makes friends with an odd little creature who had been trapped in some ice. Unfortunately, the big green dinosaur appears again and chases them around, forcing them to leap onto vines and swing away. But the book can’t end before one final uproarious slapstick moment which leads all the way too the Zzzz at the end.
This story is told only in 26 words, so that means that the illustrations are what really make this book work so well. Filled with a zany cartoon style, the pictures are action-filled and great fun. The huge green dinosaur may pursue the caveman in the book, but readers will notice the rounded teeth and the big smile long before the caveman does.
A fast-paced and funny alphabet book that will do well with young dinosaur fans. Appropriate for ages 2-4.
Reviewed from library copy.
Also reviewed on Jen Robinson’s Book Page.
The Girls of No Return by Erin Saldin
Released February 1, 2012.
A tense, riveting tale told in flashbacks, this book hints from the beginning about terrible things that aren’t fully revealed to the reader until the very end. The result is a book that is tinglingly tantalizing and has you jumping at shadows.
Lida has been sent to the Alice Marshall school where troubled girls are sent to try to rehabilitate. It’s located at the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area in northern Idaho, where the students are surrounded by nature and removed from the temptations of modern life. They live in cabins with bunk beds. Lida lives with several other girls, including Boone who is something of a legend as she terrorizes the new students. There is also Jules, who is so sweet and friendly that Lida can’t guess what she could have done wrong to be there. And finally the luminous Gia, whose friendship is addictive and elusive. Lida refuses to talk at first, drawing more and more deeply inside herself, but slowly she starts to reveal herself to the other girls and to the reader. As the tension in the story mounts and secrets are revealed, readers are caught in the web of truths, lies, and betrayals.
Saldin’s debut is a book that mixes juvenile detention with nature, combining it all with a swirl of illicit drugs and alcohol. The characters are all complex, especially when the reader thinks they have that character pegged, they will reveal even more of themselves. The setting is gorgeously described from the lake to the mountains. It serves as an important plot device throughout the book with its isolation.
Saldin does the near impossible here, not revealing the horrible truth of what happened until the very end of the book. Twenty pages from the end, the tension was so thick that my eyes could not read the words quickly enough. Yet at the same time, I didn’t want this exquisite read to end. Even better, the ending really works, offering no easy solutions to the complexity of the storyline.
The writing is vibrant and creative, the plot inventive and revealing. This book is a stellar read that would make a great book talk. Appropriate for ages 14-17.
Reviewed from ARC received from Arthur A. Levine Books.
The Charlotte Zolotow Award is given each year to the author of the best picture book TEXT written in the United States in the preceding year.
This is the 15th year the award has been offered. And very happily, it went to one of my favorites of the year:
Me…Jane by Patrick McDonnell
Started in 2000, these book awards are given “to recognize authors, illustrators, and publishers of high quality fictional and biographical children, intermediate, and young adult books that appropriately portray individuals with developmental disabilities.”
The awards are given every even year by The The Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities (DADD) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) in collaboration with Special Needs Project.
Here are the winners:
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
Waiting for No One by Beverley Brenna
My Brother Charlie by Holly Robinson Peete and Ryan Elizabeth Peete, illustrated by Shane W. Evans
Just Because by Rebecca Elliott
