Category: Awards

ALA Notable Children’s Books

Notable Children’s Books – 2017

pgraphic1-1448“Each year a committee of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) identifies the best of the best in children’s books. According to the Notables Criteria, “notable” is defined as: Worthy of note or notice, important, distinguished, outstanding. As applied to children’s books, notable should be thought to include books of especially commendable quality, books that exhibit venturesome creativity, and books of fiction, information, poetry and pictures for all age levels (birth through age 14) that reflect and encourage children’s interests in exemplary ways.”

“According to ALSC policy, the current year’s Newbery, Caldecott,  Belpré, Sibert, Geisel, and Batchelder Award and Honor books automatically are added to the Notable Children’s Books list.”

http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/notalists/ncb

Younger Readers  (Preschool-grade 2 (age 7)

 Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science: The First Computer Programmer. By Diane Stanley. Illus. by Jessie Hartland. Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman.

Ada Twist, Scientist. By Andrea Beaty. Illus. by David Roberts. Abrams.

Before Morning. By Joyce Sidman. Illus. by Beth Krommes. HMH.

Best Frints in the Whole Universe. By Antoinette Portis. Illus. by the author. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter.

Counting. By Fleur Star. illus. DK.

Coyote Moon. By Maria Gianferrari. Illus. by Bagram Ibatoulline. Roaring Brook.

Fabulous Frogs. By Martin Jenkins. Illus. by Tim Hopgood. Candlewick.

Go, Otto, Go! By David Milgrim. Illus. by the author. Simon & Schuster/Simon Spotlight.

 (Geisel Honor Book)

Good Night Owl. By Greg Pizzoli. Illus. by the author. Disney/Hyperion.

(Geisel Honor Book)

The Great Pet Escape. By Victoria Jamieson. Illus. by the author. Holt.

Horrible Bear! By Ame Dyckman. Illus. by Zachariah OHora. Little, Brown.

A Hungry Lion; or, A Dwindling Assortment of Animals. By Lucy Ruth Cummins. Illus. by the author. Atheneum.

The Infamous Ratsos. By Kara LaReau. Illus. by Matt Myers. Candlewick.

 (Geisel Honor Book)

Leave Me Alone! By Vera Brosgol. Illus. by the author. Roaring Brook.

(Caldecott Honor Book)

The Night Gardener. By Terry Fan. Illus. by Eric Fan. Simon & Schuster.

Old Dog Baby Baby. By Julie Fogliano. Illus. by Chris Raschka. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter.

Oops, Pounce, Quick, Run! An Alphabet Caper. By Mike Twohy. Illus. by the author. HarperCollins/Balzer+Bray.  (Geisel Honor Book)

Over the Ocean. By Taro Gomi. Illus. by the author. Chronicle.

 (Batchelder Honor Book)

 

A Piece of Home. By Jeri Watts. Illus. by Hyewon Yum. Candlewick.

Puddle. By Hyewon Yum. Illus. by the author. Farrar.

Rudas: Niño’s Horrendous Hermanitas. By Yuyi Morales. Illus. by the author. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter.

School’s First Day of School. By Adam Rex. Illus. by Christian Robinson. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter.

Thunder Boy Jr. By Sherman Alexie. Illus. by Yuyi Morales. Little, Brown.

We Are Growing! A Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggie Like Reading! Book. By Laurie Keller. Illus. by the author. Disney/Hyperion.    (Geisel Medal Book)

We Found a Hat. By Jon Klassen. Illus. by the author. Candlewick.

Weekends with Max and His Dad. By Linda Urban. Illus. by Katie Kath. HMH.

When Andy Met Sandy. By Tomie dePaola and Jim Lewis. Illus. by Tomie dePaola. Simon & Schuster.

Where Are You Going, Baby Lincoln? By Kate DiCamillo. Illus. by Chris Van Dusen. Candlewick.

I’m off to the library again!

Newberry, Caldecott & Coretta Scott King–Oh, My!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I walk into the children’s library and am overwhelmed. Thousands of picture books! Beautiful books, scary books, interesting books, funny books, sad books, informative books, sleepy-time books, holiday books, adventurous books…

All of them are good books, so how do I choose the best books for my children and grandchildren?

  • Thumb through the stacks until a cover catches my eye
  • Search for particular authors or illustrators
  • Ask a librarian
  • Search the catalogue for certain topics

OR, look for award-winners.

Do you think about those awards when you are crafting a picture book? Or, do you dream that someday a book you wrote will garner an award of some kind?

READING ROCKETS is a great place on the Internet to get a glimpse of the many awards granted to American children’s books including picture books. At the top of the list are The Newberry Medal, The Caldecott Medal, the Coretta Scott King Awards and The Pura Belpré Award. READING ROCKETS is a trove of information about the best in contemporary children’s literature.

You’ll find more detailed information about the American awards for children’s literature at the American Library Association. This is on HUGE website with layer after layer of websites within the website. Some of those are for children’s books.

The Association for Library Services to Children is one of those websites within the website.

I don’t subscribe to everything the ALA (and its sub-organizations) does or represents. And I don’t always agree with their choices for awards. But I respect them. You’ll find mountains of useful information at their websites about children’s literature in American culture.

The next time you have a few extra hours to spend pay them a visit.

Next Friday please drop in for ANOTHER impressive list of picture books.

Thanks for stopping by. Please help me spread the word by sharing this post.