And the winner is...

Monday the winners of the 2009 Newbery, Caldecott, and Coretta Scott King Medals were announced, generally considered among the most prestigious awards for children's literature in the United States.

Thanks to the American Library Association (http://www.ala.org/ala/awardsgrants/booksprintmedia/childrenyngadults/index.cfm) and Amazon.com for the following information!


2009 Newbery Winner: Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book
Synopsis: A spooky tale of a boy raised in a cemetery by ghosts and werewolves.
Other books by Gaiman: American Gods, Stardust, Good Omens, Coraline (coming soon to theaters--auspicious timing...or suspicious?)

In the author's own words:
"It’s a book that I think children will enjoy, but there’s also stuff that’s there for adults too. It’s a book about life and death and making families...this book is really a way of trying to think about the process of growing up, and, of course, the fundamentally joyous tragedy of being a parent, that if you do your job properly, your kids will grow up and leave you.”

Origins of the Newbery:
"The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It 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."

Comments:
The Newbery Committee has come under fire by some in recent years for being out of touch with what children enjoy versus what adults enjoy about children's books (take for example 2008's Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Schlitz--I've decided to follow the advice of Thumper's father from Bambi: "if you can't say anything nice, don't say nothin' at all..."). Based on what the author has said about his book, it should come as no surprise to detractors that it caught the Committee's attention. (He even describes it as "not a book for children" in his blog. Really?!) That being said, I'm cautiously optimistic that this year's winner will not disappoint, if only because it was already on my list of books to read.

2009 Newbery Honor Books:
The Underneath by Kathi Appelt
The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle Savvy by Ingrid Law
After Tupac & D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson


2009 Caldecott Winner: The House in the Night illustrated by Beth Krommes (written by Susan Marie Swanson)

Synopsis: "A spare, patterned text and glowing pictures explore the origins of light that make a house a home in this bedtime book for young children. Naming nighttime things that are both comforting and intriguing to preschoolers—a key, a bed, the moon—this timeless book illuminates a reassuring order to the universe."

Origins of the Award:
The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It 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.

2009 Caldecott Honor Books:
A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, written and illustrated by Marla Frazee
How I Learned Geography, written and illustrated by Uri Shulevitz
A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, written by Jen Bryant


Other Winners:
The Coretta Scott King Award recognizing an African-American author went to Kadir Nelson for We Are the Ship: The Story of the Negro League Baseball. ("The story of Negro League baseball is the story of gifted athletes and determined owners; of racial discrimination and international sportsmanship; of fortunes won and lost; of triumphs and defeats on and off the field.")

The King Illustrator Award went to The Blacker the Berry, a collection of poems illustrated by Floyd Cooper and written by Joyce Carol Thomas.

Margarita Engle’s The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom won the Pura Belpré Author Award for book best portraying the Latino cultural experience.

Just in Case, illustrated by Yuyi Morales, won the Belpré Illustrator Award.

The Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young-adult literature went to Melina Marchetta, author of Jellicoe Road.