The winners of the 2025 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults have been announced. The awards this year are noted for including so many Maori titles. Here are the winning titles.
The latest list of Notable Books for a Global Society has been announced. Selected by the International Literacy Association, these 25 books are chosen for “enhancing student understanding of people and cultures throughout the world.” Books range from K-12. Here is the 2021 List:
The New York Times has the news of Peter Spier passing away. He is the author of dozens of books that span the 1950s through the 1990s. His subjects included windmills, animal stories, and Noah’s Ark, for which he won the Caldecott Medal in 1978. He received a Caldecott Honor and a National Book Award for Children’s Books in 1962 for The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night.
Patricia McKissack has died at age 72. She has a new book out just this year that is an amazing collection of games and songs from her childhood. Her husband and collaborator, Fred McKissack, died four years ago.
Her heart stopped, her son said, but “in a way, I think my mother died of a broken heart.” Fredrick McKissack Jr. said his mother and father were “best friends and partners. When Dad died, the life drained from her. She tried to keep her spirits up and was coming up with ideas for new books, but she wasn’t the same.”
The McKissacks were the vanguard of diversity in children’s books. When I was director of a very small library in central Wisconsin, I purchased every book they put out, knowing that it would bring high quality along with diversity into our very white community. They were a huge part of transforming libraries across the country into places where all children can see themselves reflected.
Author and illustrator, Yumi Heo has died after battling cancer. She was the creator of over 30 books for children. I am most familiar with her picture books which had a style and feel that were distinctively her own. One of my favorites is Sometimes I’m Bombaloo, which captured the complex emotions of childhood perfectly.
Natalie Babbitt, author of the incredible Tuck Everlasting, has died of lung cancer. She died on October 31 at the age of 84. Tuck Everlasting celebrated its 40th anniversary last year.
In a statement, Samuel F. Babbitt shared this reflection: “Natalie was a remarkable woman. While more than fulfilling her roles as wife and mother, she sharply observed her fellow humans, shaping stories that helped her and her readers grapple with both the trivial and fundamental trials of life. Words were precious things to her, and she chose them, shaped their facets, and set them on the page like a master jeweler.”
The Bookseller has the news that Brian Wildsmith has died at the age of 86. He was the author and illustrator of more than 80 books.
Author Michael Rosen said of Wildsmith: “Floods of colour exploding across the pages with a name to match: Wildsmith. He was a wild smith. I remember feeling envious: why hadn’t I had books as wild and lush as these?”
The author of the popular Llama Llama series, Anna Dewdney, died on September 3rd in her home after a 15-month battle with brain cancer. She was 50 years old.
Her Llama Llama books captured the toddler experience with humor and an engaging rhyme and rhythm.
Lois Duncan has died at age 82. She was the author of many popular novels for teens, novels that were must-buys for libraries I worked in early in my career.
Beverly Horowitz, senior v-p and publisher of Delacorte Press, who knew Duncan for many years and oversaw the paperback publication of many of her books, paid tribute to Duncan’s lasting impact on the publishing industry. “Lois Duncan’s thriller suspense novels led the charge for expanding the YA market, not only in terms of the honesty of her portrayals of teen characters, but also in terms of opening up YA retail accounts,” she said. “Booksellers came to acknowledge the power of the teen reader. Librarians knew teens loved her books. At the time they were published, Lois’s I Know What You Did Last Summer and Killing Mr. Griffin were super bestsellers as Dell Laurel-Leaf paperbacks. Teenagers were wandering malls and open-front bookstores just as Waldenbooks and B. Dalton Bookseller began to carry paperbacks front of store. Young shoppers realized there were entertaining and easy-to-carry books just for them. When I Know What You Did Last Summer became a major motion picture release, Lois was widely recognized as being before her time, and the teen subject was a huge success.”
Waking Brain Cells 