[Insert the scratching and drums intro to the Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff’s jam, Summer Time]
The following are some of the winners from this year’s ALA Mid-Winter:
*Denotes a Brown Bookshelf Spotlight, past or present
Forgive me, some of the books do not have the author because I took the winner list from a blog and not the ALA site. I’ll do my best to update later.
Coretta Scott King
The Blacker The Berry, Joyce Carol Thomas and Floyd Cooper*(Illustrator award winner)
We Are The Ship, Kadir Nelson* (Author award winner)
Author Honor Books
Keeping the Night Watch, Hope Anita Smith and E.B. Lewis
Blacker the Berry, Joyce Carol Thomas and Floyd Cooper
Becoming Billie Holiday, Carole Boston Weatherford* and Floyd Cooper
Illustrator Honor Books
We are the Ship, Kadir Nelson
Before John was a Jazz Giant, Carole Boston Weatherford and Sean Qualls*
The Moon over Star, Dianna Hutts Aston and Jerry Pinkney
John Steptoe Award Winner
Shadra Strickland, illustrator of Bird by by Zetta Elliott*
I’m always tickled to pieces when some of the honorees and winners also happen to be Brown Bookshelf spotlight authors and illustrators.
It’s like we’re psychic or something.
J/K. I think it shows that while there’s lots of talent out there, the circle of writers of color is still simply quite small.
In more award news:
Caldecott
The House in the Night,Susan Marie Swanson
Honor Books
A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever
How I Learned Geography
A River of Words
Printz
Jellicoe Road, Melina Marchetta
Honor Books
Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, M.T. Anderson
Nation, Terry Pratchett
Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan
Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks, E. Lockhart
Newbery
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
Honor Books
The Underneath, Kathi Appelt, illustrated by David Small
Surrender Tree, Margarita Engle
Savvy, Ingrid Law
After Tupac and D Foster, Jacqueline Woodson*
Pura Belpre
Just in Case, illustrated by Yuyi Morales
Honor Books
Reaching Out, Francisco Jimenez,
The Storyteller’s Candle / La velita de los cuentos, Lucia Gonzalez
Very happy to see Jacqueline Woodson take home an honor. After Tupac and D Foster was beautifully written. Though what happened to Walter Dean Myers, Sunrise over Fallujah? I am surprised it didn’t get a Coretta Scott King or Printz. It was one of the best books I read last year.
Kadir Nelson’s We are the Ship was awarded the non-fiction Sibert, Good thing its a large book it can fit all those shining medals.