2011 ALA Awards

So today is kind of like the Oscars in the kidlit world. Today, the American Library Association bestows huge names like "Caldecott" and "Newbery" and "Printz" on the best children's books of 2010. The lists came out this morning, to much ballyhoo and celebration.

You can view the complete list of winners at the ALA website, but here are the bits I was most excited about:

A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip and Erin Stead
Won the Caldecott Medal!
The timeless charm of this book made it a shoo-in if you ask me. You can read my original blog post about Amos here.

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
Won The Coretta Scott King Award and a Newbery Honor Award!
Well-deserved. I loved how Williams-Garcia balanced humor and powerful moments in a story about three young girls who spend a summer at a Black Panthers day camp in the 1960s.

Peter Sis
Won the May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award!
I've gushed plenty about Peter Sis on this blog, so I will spare you. If you'd like to read previous posts about the talents of Peter Sis, you may.




And then, of course, there was the wildcard...

The Newbery Award this year was given to a book I'd never heard of! What? The Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool was a dark horse. It came out of nowhere and apparently, swept the Newbery Committee off its feet. How cool is that? I love it when the underdog pulls it off in the end. Especially an underdog so off-the-radar (either that, or I'm just that out of the loop). And now I've got a new book on my to-read list.

Congratulations to all!!!

Philip and Erin Stead: A Sick Day for Amos McGee

There's a reason A Sick Day for Amos McGee is showing up on all the best-of-the-best picture book lists this year (including the New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2010). I just picked this up for one of my nieces, and it is endearing to the nth degree.

Amos McGee takes good care of the animals at the zoo. He takes time to sit with the shy penguin and wipe the rhino's constantly runny nose. So one day, when Amos McGee has to stay home sick, the animals decide to come to his house and take care of him instead.

I first read about Amos on Betsy Bird's Fuse #8 blog, where she wrote:

Could have been written last year, ten years ago, or fifty. Doesn’t matter because the word “timeless” may as well be stamped all over each and every doggone page.

All true. The pencil illustrations are filled with soft tones of yellow and pink, the story is sweet and charming and absolutely timeless. Usually when one of my nieces or nephews gets sick with the flu, or has to get tonsils removed, my go-to book is Many Moons by James Thurber. Now I have a new book to add to the sick-day list.

A couple fun links:
Philip Stead's Online Portfolio
Erin Stead's Blog