Yesterday the American Library Association (ALA) announced their annual youth media awards during their midwinter conference. What are those you ask? I guarantee you have heard of two of them: The John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to Children Literature and The Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children.
In addition to the medals, four Newbery Honor and four Caldecott Honor books are named. The Newbery Winner for this year is When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller. The Caldecott winner is We are Water Protectors illustrated by Michaela Goade.
Notable among the Newbery honors is that writer Christina Soorntornvat won for two of her books: her fiction book A Wish in the Dark and her nonfiction book All Thirteen: The Incredible Rescue of the Thai Boys Soccer Team.
You might be familiar with the Coretta Scott King Book Award, that is given to recognize an African American author and an African American illustrator of books for children and young adults.
The author winner this year is Jacqueline Woodson for Before the Ever After
The illustrator winner this year is Frank Morrison for R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul
I was not aware that there is a Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author award.
This year's winner is Tracy Deonne for Legendborn. This is the first of the award winners that I have read, and I agree wholeheartedly with this decision. Legendborn is a masterpiece.
I was also unaware of the Coretta Scott King - Virginia Hamilton award for Lifetime Achievement.
This year's award was given to Dorothy L. Guthrie, who is "an award-winning retired librarian, district administrator, author and school board member". Among many other accomplishments, her book Integrating African American Literature in the Library and Classroom has inspired educators to pull from the rich collection of African American literature as they teach. She also founded the first African American museum in her home of Gaston County, North Carolina.
I'd heard of the Michael L. Printz award, which is the equivalent of the Newbery for Young Adult literature, but it's definitely lesser known. This year's winner is Everything Sad is Untrue (A True Story) by Daniel Nayeri. Four Printz Honor books were also named.
I was unaware of the existence of the Schneider Family Book Award, given to "books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience". There is an award given for books for young children (0-10) and one for middle grade books.
The winner for the young children award is I Talk Like a River written by Jordan Scott and illustrated by Sydney Smith.
For middle grade, the winner is Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte. I actually have this book checked out from the library and it's sitting on the table beside me right now. I plan to start it right after I finish a Newbery medal winner from three years ago: Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly. I also found it notable that one of the honor winners was Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen by Sarah Kapit. Sarah was one of the mentors I applied to for Pitch Wars back in the fall, and I've interacted with her quite a bit on Twitter. Her book was already on my to be read list. I think it should probably move up the list now.
I really love that this award exists. While its definitely improving, there is not enough disability representation in children's books. One of my goals as a writer is to create characters who live with the disabilities I know well as the mother of children who live with invisible disabilities and a person who lives with ADHD.
Another award I have never heard of is the Alex Award for the ten best adult books that appeal to teen audiences. As the mother of a teen who consumes a lot of adults books (via audio - he's dyslexic and can read but doesn't enjoy it) I think it's cool that his award exists. I'm not familiar with any of the winners, but there are several I plan to recommend to him.
The Children's Literature Legacy Award is given to "an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children through books that demonstrate integrity and respect for all children’s lives and experiences. " I was thrilled to see that this year's winner is Mildred D. Taylor. I still remember the first time I read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry in fourth grade. It had a big impact on me, and was one of the first windows I, an upper middle class white kid from the suburbs, had into the experience of a childhood very different from mine.
There's also an award for lifetime achievement in writing for Young Adults: The Margaret A. Edwards award. This year's winner is Kekla Magoon. I've actually never heard of her, probably in part because I've never been as interested in young adult books. As a kid I skipped right from middle grade books to adult fantasy and science fiction. As an adult I ready mostly middle grade. I definitely need to read at least one of Kekla Morgan's books now, though.
And I was unaware that the ALA even gives an award for a non-American book! The Mildred L. Batchelder Award is given to "an outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States". This year's winner is Telephone Tales written by Gianni Rodari, illustrated by Valerio Vidali, and translated by Antony Shugaar. It was originally published in Italian as Favole al telefono.
The Odyssey Award is given to the best audiobook produced for children or young adults. This year's winner is Kent State, which is produced by Paul R. Gagne for Scholastic Audio. It is written by Deborah Wiles and narrated by Christopher Gebauer, Lauren Ezzo, Christina DeLaine, Johnny Heller, Roger Wayne, Korey Jackson, and David de Vries.
The Pura Belpré award is given to "a Latinx writer and illustrator whose children's books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience".
This year's illustrator award was given to ¡Vamos! Let’s Go Eat which is both written and illustrated by Raúl Gonzalez.
This year's writer award was given to Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisneros. This is another book that has been on my to be read list for awhile. Among the honor books is The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez by Adrianna Cuevas. This is another book that I've been meaning to read for awhile. Adrianna is very friendly on twitter, and I've interacted with her quite a bit.
There's also a Pura Belpré award for a young adult book. This year's winner is Furia by Yamile Saied Méndez.
The Excellence in Early Learning Digital Media Award is given to a producer of excellent digital media for an early learner audience.
This year's winner is "The Imagine Neighborhood", which is produced by Committee for Children.
The Stonewall Book Award - Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award is given to excellent children's a young adult books that embody the LGBT+ experience. This year's winner is We Are Little Feminists: Families, which is written by Archaa Shrivastav, designed by Lindsey Blakely and published by Little Feminist.
The Theodor Suess Giesel award is given to the most distinguished book for early readers. This year's winner is See the Cat: Three Stories About a Dog. I don't pay much attention to early readers these days since it's not what I write and my kids are well past that stage, but this book sounds like something both my kids would have enjoyed.
The William C. Morris award is given to a debut author writing for teens. This year's winner is If These Wings Could Fly by Kyrie McCauley. Four finalists for this award were also named.
Also in the young adult realm is the YALSA award for excellence in nonfiction for young adults. This year's winner is The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh by Candace Fleming. There were four finalists for this award. It's notable that among them is Christina Soontornvat's All Thirteen, which also won a Newbery Honor.
Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature "promotes Asian/Pacific American culture and heritage and is awarded based on literary and artistic merit. The award offers three youth categories including Picture Book, Children’s Literature and Youth Literature. The award is administered by the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA), an affiliate of the American Library Association."
This year's picture book winner is Paper Son: The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and Artist written by Julie Leung and illustrated by Chris Sasaki. The children's literature winner is When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller. As you may remember, this book is also the Newbery Medal winner. The Youth Literature winner is This Light Between Us by Andrew Fukuda.
Last, but certainly not least, is the Sydney Taylor book award which "is presented annually to outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience. Presented since 1968 by the Association of Jewish Libraries, an affiliate of the American Library Association, the award encourages the publication and widespread use of quality Judaic literature".
This award has both gold and silver medalists. The gold medalist picture book is Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with a Tail, written by Lesléa Newman and illustrated by Susan Gal. The middle grade gold medalist is Turtle Boy by M. Evan Wolkenstein. The young adult gold medalist is Dancing at the Pity Party, which is both written and illustrated by Tyler Feder.
The silver medal winners in the picture book category are I Am the Tree of Life: My Jewish Yoga Book by Mychal Copeland and illustrated by André Ceolin along with Miriam at the River by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Khoa Le. The silver medal winners in the middle grade category are No Vacancy by Tziporah Cohen, Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack, and Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman. In the young adult category the silver medalist is They Went Left by Monica Hesse.
I was most excited see Sofiya's win, since she's very interactive on Twitter and she did a zoom call with the #MGWaves. This makes two of her books that have won a Sydney Taylor book award medal.
It could be tempting as a writer pursuing publication to look at all of these awards and think "Oh, this is hopeless. I'm never going to win one of these awards. I may as well give up now." I think that's exactly the wrong attitude, however. First of all, there are a ton of good books that are adored by readers and never win any awards. Sure, it would be amazing if one of my books won an award someday, but my main goal is to get my books into the hands of young readers, especially young readers with invisible disabilities who often don't see kids like them in books.
My other takeaway is that I've realized in the year I've been interacting with the #WritingCommunity on Twitter that these award winning authors are, above all, just people. People with a lot of talent who write amazing books, but still people. As a child I put writers in general and writers of award winning books in particular up on pedestals. It turns out writers are normal people who lead normal lives and spend parts of those normal lives working hard at the writing craft and writing excellent books. They don't live in gilded towers. They live down on earth with the rest of us. I know that Sofiya Pasternack loves goats. I know that Christina Soontornvat has a 5th grader whose teacher streamed the ALA awards live. If you're an aspiring author, don't be afraid to reach out to these writers both with praise for their books and with questions. They're people just like you, I promise.
In completely non ALA related news, and partly just so this blog entry can feature a picture, the MGWaves now have a logo! Check it out below!
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