Newbery, Caldecott, Morris, Printz, ALA Awards 2010

2011 Info from Shelf-Awareness, accessed 1/11/11

Two Debut Talents Win Newbery, Caldecott

Clare Vanderpool won the 2011 Newbery Medal for her debut novel, Moon over Manifest (Delacorte/Random House), about 12-year-old Abilene Tucker, who visits her father's hometown in 1936 Kansas. The Depression-era story line alternates with a narrative set during World War I, and the book is inspired by tales the author heard as a child. The Association of Booksellers for Children chose it as a 2010 New Voices Pick. The last time a debut novel received the Newbery Medal was 1980, when Joan Blos won for A Gathering of Days. Vanderpool is a former bookseller for Watermark Books, Wichita, Kan.

Erin E. Stead, a first-time illustrator, won the 2011 Caldecott Medal for A Sick Day for Amos McGee (Neal Porter/Roaring Brook/Macmillan); her husband, Philip C. Stead, wrote the text for the picture book. Elderly Amos McGee rides the bus to the zoo, where he plays chess with the elephant and spends time with his other animal friends. But when Amos falls ill, his zoo pals take the bus to visit him and lift his spirits. The most recent first-time illustrator to win a Caldecott Medal before this was David Diaz in 1995, for his work on Eve Bunting's Smoky Night.

Four Newbery Honor Books were named: One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia (Amistad/HarperCollins), which also received the 2011 Coretta Scott King Author Award and last week won the Scott O'Dell Award for historical fiction, and was also a National Book Award Finalist; Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm (Random House), who received a Newbery Honor in 2000 for her debut novel, Our Only May Amelia (HarperCollins); Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus (Amulet/Abrams); and Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen (Houghton Mifflin). Last year, Sidman's poems in Red Sings from Treetops inspired Caldecott Honor illustrations by Pamela Zagarenski.

Two Caldecott Honor Books also were selected: Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave illustrated by Bryan Collier, written by Laban Carrick Hill (Little, Brown), which also received the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award. Collier was awarded a 2006 Caldecott Honor for Rosa, written by Nikki Giovanni (Holt). The other Caldecott Honor book is Interrupting Chicken, written and illustrated by David Ezra Stein (Candlewick). Stein received the 2008 Ezra Jack Keats Author Award for his book Leaves (Putnam/Penguin).

The Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in YA literature went to Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown), which was also a National Book Award finalist. Four Printz Honor Books were chosen: Stolen by Lucy Christopher (Chicken House/Scholastic); Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King (Knopf); Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick (Roaring Brook/Macmillan); and Nothing by Janne Teller (Atheneum/S&S).

2010 Awards
Rebecca Stead Wins Newbery; Jerry Pinkney Wins Caldecott
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb/Random House) has won the 2010 Newbery Medal. This second novel by Stead (First Light) takes place in the Upper West Side Manhattan neighborhood of her childhood, where the corner homeless man becomes 12-year-old heroine Miranda's "laughing man." In our review, we said, "Stead opens up the profound possibilities in a city where a neighborhood can contain an entire world."

The 2010 Caldecott Medal went to Jerry Pinkney for his wordless piéce de resistance set on the East African Serengeti, The Lion and the Mouse (Little, Brown). At the ALA Annual conference in Chicago last summer, Pinkney said that this has always been his favorite of Aesop's fables. Our review called it "bookmaking at its best."

Four Newbery Honors were awarded: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose (Melanie Kroupa/FSG), which won the National Book Award (Hoose first learned of Claudette Colvin while researching his book We Were There, Too! Young People in U.S. History, which was an NBA finalist); a debut novel, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (Holt/Macmillan); Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (Little, Brown), lushly illustrated with occasional full-color pictures by the author; and The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick (Blue Sky/Scholastic), in which funny moments balance the sorrows of the Civil War, from the author of Freak the Mighty.

Both Caldecott honors went to artists who illustrated someone else's text: Marla Frazee for All the World, written by Liz Garton Scanlon (Beach Lane/S&S); and Pamela Zagarenski for Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors, written by Joyce Sidman (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

Libba Bray won the 2010 Michael L. Printz Award for Going Bovine (Delacorte/Random House), about a 16-year-old diagnosed with Mad Cow disease who takes off on a road trip in search of a cure with a Sancho Panza-style sidekick he meets in the hospital. Four Printz Honors were given: Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman (Holt/Macmillan), which was also a National Book Award finalist; The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey (S&S); Punkzilla by Adam Rapp (Candlewick); and Tales from the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance, 1973 by John Barnes (Viking/Penguin).

The William C. Morris Award for best debut YA novel went to Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). The committee named four honor books: Ash by Malinda Lo (Little, Brown); Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Little, Brown); The Everafter by Amy Huntley (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins); and Hold Still by Nina LaCour (Dutton/Penguin).

Heiligman's Charles and Emma also won the inaugural YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award.

The Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime contribution in writing for young adults was awarded to Jim Murphy, and Lois Lowry was chosen to deliver the 2011 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture.

The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award, for "the most distinguished book for beginning readers," went to Benny and Penny in the Big No-No! by Geoffrey Hayes (RAW Junior/Toon). There were four Geisel Honor books: I Spy Fly Guy! by Tedd Arnold (Scholastic), whose Hi! Fly Guy was a 2006 Geisel Honor book, the first year the award was given; Little Mouse Gets Ready by Jeff Smith (RAW Junior/Toon), author of the Bone series; Mouse and Mole: Fine Feathered Friends by Wong Herbert Yee (Houghton); and Pearl and Wagner: One Funny Day by Kate McMullan, illustrated by R.W. Alley (Dial).

The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal was awarded to Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone (Candlewick). The three Sibert honor books were The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors by Chris Barton, illustrated by Tony Persiani (Charlesbridge); Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca (Richard Jackson/Atheneum/S&S); and Phillip Hoose's Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice (Kroupa/FSG).

The Mildred L. Batchelder Award for best work of translation went to A Faraway Island by Annika Thor, translated from the Swedish by Linda Schenck (Delacorte/Random). There were three Batchelder Honors: Big Wolf and Little Wolf by Nadine Brun-Cosme, illustrated by Olivier Tallec, translated by Claudia Bedrick (Enchanted Lion); Eidi by Bodil Bredsdorff, translated by Kathryn Mahaffy (FSG); and Moribito II: Guardian of the Darkness by Nahoko Uehashi, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu, translated by Cathy Hirano (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine).

The Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production went to Live Oak Media, producer of Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Harry Bliss, narrated by Barbara Rosenblat.

Walter Dean Myers won the inaugural Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Coretta Scott King Awards. Vaunda Micheaux Nelson won the Coretta Scott King Author award for Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie (Carolrhoda/ Lerner); and Charles R. Smith Jr. won the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for My People, written by Langston Hughes (Ginee Seo/ Atheneum). The John Steptoe Award for New Talent went to Kekla Magoon, author of The Rock and the River (S&S/Aladdin).

Mare's War by Tanita S. Davis (Knopf/Random House) was named a CSK Author Honor Book; and The Negro Speaks of Rivers, illustrated by E.B. Lewis, written by Langston Hughes (Jump at the Sun/Disney) was a CSK Illustrator Honor Book.

The Pura Belpré Illustrator Award went to Rafael López for Book Fiesta!: Celebrate Children's Day/Book Day--Celebremos El día de los niños/El día de los libros, with text by Pat Mora (Rayo /HarperCollins). Julia Alvarez won the Pura Belpré Author Award for Return to Sender (Knopf/Random House).

Diego: Bigger Than Life by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, illustrated by David Diaz (Marshall Cavendish) was a Pura Belpré Honor Book for both text and illustration. The other two illustration honors went to Yuyi Morales for My Abuelita, with text by Tony Johnston (Harcourt); and John Parra for Gracias Thanks, written by Pat Mora (Lee & Low). The second Pura Belpré Author Honor book was Federico García Lorca by Georgina Lázaro, illustrated by Enrique S. Moreiro (Lectorum).

The three Schneider Family Book Awards, which honor an author or illustrator for "a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences" and which come with a $5,000 prize, were given to Django by Bonnie Christensen (Neal Porter/Roaring Brook) in the children's book category; Anything but Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin (S&S) for middle grade; and Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic) won for teens. --Jennifer M. Brown