Awards Roundup: Books for Youth
Posted by: Sarah Hunter
March has brought a lot of things this year: basketball, 80 degree temperatures, a green river (if you live in Chicago, that is), and lots of awards for youth literature! The Ezra Jack Keats Award winners—chosen for their ability to impart “the universal qualities of childhood, a strong and supportive family and the multicultural nature of our world”—were announced on March 6th. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial award, announced this week, honors (with 5 million Swedish kronor!) a body of work “in the spirit of Pippi Longstocking creator Astrid Lindgren.” Finally, James Patterson’s Read Kiddo Read initiative, designed to encourage reluctant readers to love books, recently announced the winners of its second-annual Kiddo awards! In like a lion in shorts and a basketball jersey, out like a lamb with a new list of books to check out at the library.
Ezra Jack Keats Award
New Writer Award:
Tía Isa Wants a Car, by Meg Medina
New Illustrator Award:
Same, Same but Different, by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award
Guus Kuijer, author of The Book of Everything
Kiddo Awards
Series Category:
The Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune, by Rick Riordan
Great Advanced Reads:
Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick
Great Pageturners:
Middle school: The Worst Years of My Life, by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts
Great Transitional Book:
Every Thing on It, by Shel Silverstein
Great Illustrated Book:
When I Grow Up, by Al Yankovic, illustrated by Wes Hargis
