This February, the American Library Association (ALA) announced the top books, video and audio books for children and young adults – including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery and Printz awards – at its Midwinter Meeting in Chicago. These 2015 awards are chosen from books that were published in 2014.
Some of these were our OZ First Editions Club picks in 2014, which mean that we have signed copies! Get them while they last.
Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children:
The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, illustrated by Dan Santat, is the 2015 Caldecott Medal winner. The book was written by Dan Santat and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
Beekle lives in a world of “imaginary friends” waiting to be chosen by their human counterpart. When nobody chooses Beekle, he sets off on an adventure to the real world, which is a scary place where nobody seems to notice him. Finally, a little girl does notice him, and they become best friends. Illustrated in bright colors when Beekle is happy, and darker colors when he is feeling sad or afraid, Santat’s illustrations really convey a child’s worries of finding a new friend, and the happiness that follows when you know they are the one. In the end, Beekle really isn’t imaginary, but unimaginary, just like any other child looking for friendship.
“Her face was friendly and familiar, and there was something about her that felt just right.”
Sam & Dave Dig a Hole, illustrated by Jon Klassen, written by Mac Barnett and published by Candlewick Press, is a 2015 Caldecott Honor Book.
If you have been following Lemuria and OZ, you know that we are over-the-moon about this book. A November 2014 OZ F.E.C. book, Sam & Dave are brothers who start digging a hole in their backyard looking for treasure. Armed with shovels and animal crackers and chocolate milk in their pockets, they dig and dig…and dig some more, but never seem to find the treasure, but they DO find adventure in their own backyard. Where do they end up at the bottom of the hole? That’s for you to find out.
John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature:
The Crossover, written by Kwame Alexander, is the 2015 Newbery Medal winner. The book is published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Basketball and poetry aren’t two things you normally put together, but this middle grade novel in verse does just that. It is comparable to Sharon Creech’s Love That Dog meets Christopher Curtis’ The Watsons Go to Birmingham meets Walter Dean Myers’ Slam. Twelve-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health. Kwame Alexander was also awarded a Coretta Scott King Honor for “The Crossover.”
Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults:
Brown Girl Dreaming, written by Jacqueline Woodson, is the King Author Book winner. The book is published by Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.
This book was an OZ First Editions Club Pick for December 2014. It is also National Book Award Winner for Young Adults as well as a Newbery Honor Winner. (Have I convinced you to join the club yet?)
What a beautiful book! It is also autobiographical, as Woodson writes about her experience growing up in the South in the 1960s. What started out as an explanation of why she became a writer, she realized that she couldn’t separate that from her own experiences with her family as a child. This book is wonderful advocate for loving books, reading, and writing. Signed first editions available here.
Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults:
I’ll Give You the Sun, written by Jandy Nelson, is the 2015 Printz Award winner. The book is published by Dial Books, an imprint of Penguin Group USA, a Penguin Random House Company.
Just look at that cover. If that doesn’t convince you to pick it up, then perhaps this blurb will: the author of the highly acclaimed The Sky Is Everywhere presents a story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal told from different points in time, and in separate voices, by artists Jude and her twin brother Noah.
There are so many other wonderful books that won awards, so if you’d like to see the complete list, click this link.
Thanks for stopping by!
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