Yeeee-hawww! From the Newbery Medal to the Canadian Library Associations Book Awards it has been a rip-roaring year for children’s literature. Here is a short annotated roundup of some of those bronco-busting awards from the 1998-99 awards year. Newbery Medal The Newbery Medal, named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery, is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. 1999 Newbery Medal Louis Sachar, Holes (Frances Foster/Farrar Straus Giroux) As further evidence of his family’s bad fortune, which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself. 1999 Newbery Honor Book Richard Peck, A Long Way from Chicago (Dial) A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother. Caldecott Medal The Caldecott Medal, named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott, is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. 1999 Caldecott Medal Mary Azarian, Snowflake Bentley, written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin (Houghton Mifflin) The biography of a self-taught scientist who photographed thousands of individual snowflakes in order to study their unique formations. 1999 Caldecott Honor Books Brian Pinkney, Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra, written by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Hyperion) A brief recounting of the career of the jazz musician and composer who, along with his orchestra, created music that was beyond category. David Shannon, No David! (Blue Sky/Scholastic) A young boy does a variety of naughty things for which he is repeatedly admonished, but finally he gets a hug. Uri Shulevitz, Snow (Farrar Straus Giroux) As snowflakes slowly come down, one by one, people in the city ignore them, but a boy and his dog still hope that the snowfall will amount to something. Peter Sís, Tibet Through the Red Box (Frances Foster/Farrar Straus Giroux) In the red box, Peter Sis finds his father’s diary, kept when he was lost in Tibet in the mid-1950s. Reading the diary, Sis becomes the accidental traveler in Tibet. He remembers his father’s stories from childhood and his own longing for his father’s return. Coretta Scott King Author and Illustrator Award The Coretta Scott King Award honors African-American authors and illustrators for outstanding contributions to children’s and young adult literature which promote understanding and appreciation of the culture and the realization of the American Dream for all people. 1999 Coretta Scott King Author Award Angela Johnson, Heaven (Simon & Schuster) Fourteen-year-old Marley’s seemingly perfect life in the small town of Heaven is disrupted when she discovers that her father and mother are not her real parents. 1999 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books Nikki Grimes, Jazmin’s Notebook (Dial) Jazmin, an African-American teenager who lives with her older sister in a small Harlem apartment in the 1960s, finds strength in writing poetry and keeping a record of the events in her sometimes difficult life. Joyce Hansen and Gary McGowan, Breaking Ground, Breaking Silence: The Story of New York’s African Burial Ground (H. Holt) Describes the discovery and study of the African burial site found in Manhattan in 1991, during excavation for a new building, and what it reveals about the lives of black people in Colonial times. Angela Johnson, The Other Side: Shorter Poems (Orchard) A collection of poems reminiscent of growing up as an African-American girl in Shorter, Alabama. 1999 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Michele Wood, i see the rhythm, text by Toyomi Igus (Children’s Book Press) Chronicles poe
tically the history, mood, and movement of African American music. 1999 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Books Floyd Cooper, I Have Heard of a Land, written by Joyce Carol Thomas (Joanna Cotler/ HarperCollins) Describes the joys and hardships experienced by an African-American pioneer woman who staked a claim for free land in the Oklahoma territory. E.B. Lewis, The Bat Boy & His Violin, written by Gavin Curtis (Simon & Schuster) Reginald is more interested in practicing his violin than in his father’s job managing the worst team in the Negro Leagues, but when Papa makes him the bat boy and his music begins to lead the team to victory, Papa realizes the value of his son’s passion. Brian Pinkney, Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra, written by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Hyperion) A brief recounting of the career of this jazz musician and composer who, along with his orchestra, created music that was beyond category. Mildred L. Batchelder Award The Mildred L. Batchelder award, established in 1966, is a citation awarded to an American publisher for a children’s book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States. 1999 Mildred L. Batchelder Award Schoschana Rabinovici, Thanks to My Mother, edited by Cindy Kane, translated from the Hebrew by James Skofield (Dial) After struggling to survive in Nazi-occupied Lithuania, a young Jewish girl and her mother endure much suffering in Kaiserwald, Stutthof, and Tauentzien concentration camps and on an eleven-day death march before being liberated by the Russian army. 1999 Mildren L. Batchelder Honor Books Susie Morgenstern, Secret Letters from 0 to 10, edited by Jill Davis, translated from the French by Gill Rosner (Viking) Ten-year-old Ernest lives a boring existence in Paris with his grandmother until a lively girl named Victory enters his class at school. Margaret A. Edwards Award The Margaret A. Edwards Award for Outstanding Literature For Young Adults honors an author’s lifetime contribution in writing books for teenagers. 1999 Margaret A. Edwards Award Anne McCaffrey McCaffrey is the author of over 50 novels for young adults and adults. The first woman recipient of the Hugo Award, McCaffrey has also received the Nebula Award and ALA notable Book Award Citations. McCaffrey was cited for the following books: Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and the White Dragon, which comprise the series known as Dragonriders of Pern, published by Del Rey. The National Book Award for Young People's Literature Presented each year in November to recognize the outstanding contributions to children’s literature. 1998 National Book Award Louis Sachar, Holes (Frances Foster/Farrar Straus Giroux) As further evidence of his family’s bad fortune, which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert, where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself. Other Nominees for the 1998 National Book Award Ann Cameron, The Secret Life of Amanda K. Woods (Frances Foster Books) Living in a rural community in Wisconsin during the 1950s, eleven-year-old Amanda gradually and painfully learns a lot about herself, her parents, and her older sister. Jack Gantos, Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) To the constant disappointment of his mother and his teachers, Joey has trouble paying attention or controlling his mood swings when his prescription meds wear off and he starts getting worked up and acting wired. Anita Lobel, No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War (Greenwillow Books) The author, known as an illustrator of children’s books, describes her experiences as a Polish Jew during World War II and for years in Sweden afterwards. Richard Peck, A Long Way from Chicago (Dial) A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother.
