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2012 Award Books for Children
Awarded annually by the American Library Association.
John Newbery Medal for most outstanding contribution to children's literature:
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Winner:
Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
In the historic town of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Jack Gantos spends the summer of 1962 grounded for various offenses until he is assigned to help an elderly neighbor with a most unusual chore involving the newly dead, molten wax, twisted promises, Girl Scout cookies, underage driving, lessons from history, typewriting, and countless bloody noses.
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Honor Book: Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin
In the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union, ten-year-old Sasha idolizes his father, a devoted Communist, but when police take his father away and leave Sasha homeless, he is forced to examine his own perceptions, values, and beliefs. |
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Honor Book: Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai
Through a series of poems, a young girl chronicles the life-changing year of 1975, when she, her mother, and her brothers leave Vietnam and resettle in Alabama.
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Randolph Caldecott Medal for most distinguished American picture book for children:
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Winner: A Ball for Daisy illustrated and written by Chris Raschka
A wordless picture book about all the fun a dog can have with her ball. |
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Honor Book: Blackout illustrated and written by John Rocco
When a busy family's activities come to a halt because of a blackout, they find they enjoy spending time together and not being too busy for once.
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Honor Book: Grandpa Green illustrated and written by Lane Smith
In this captivating new picture book, readers follow Grandpa Green's great-grandson into a garden his grandfather created, a fantastic world where memories are handed down in the fanciful shapes of topiary trees and imagination recreates things forgotten.
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Honor Book: Me...Jane illustrated and written by Patrick McDonnell
Holding her stuffed toy chimpanzee, young Jane Goodall observes nature, reads Tarzan books, and dreams of living in Africa and helping animals. Includes biographical information on the prominent zoologist.
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Coretta Scott King Book Awards, honoring African American authors and illustrators:
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Winner for Literature: Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson
A simple introduction to African American history, from Revolutionary-era slavery up to the election of President Obama.
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Honor Book: The Great Migration: Journey to the North written by Eloise Greenfield, illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist
Describes the period of the 20th century when many African Americans left the South to make better lives for themselves in the northern states.
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Honor Book: Never Forgotten written by Patricia C. McKissack, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon
In eighteenth-century West Africa, a boy raised by his blacksmith father and the Mother Elements--Wind, Fire, Water, and Earth--is captured and taken to America as a slave.
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Winner for Illustration: Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom written and illustrated by Shane Evans
A family silently crawls along the ground. They run barefoot through unlit woods, sleep beneath bushes, take shelter in a kind stranger's home. Where are they heading? They are heading for Freedom by way of the Underground Railroad.
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Illustrator Honor: Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson
A simple introduction to African American history, from Revolutionary-era slavery up to the election of President Obama.
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Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement
The award pays tribute to the beloved children’s author Virginia Hamilton.
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Ashley Bryan is the winner of the 2012 Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime achievement. Storyteller, artist, author, poet and musician, Bryan created his first children’s book in first grade. He grew up in the Bronx and in 1962, he became the first African American to both write and illustrate a children’s book. After a successful teaching career, Bryan left academia to pursue creation of his own artwork. He has since garnered numerous awards for his significant and lasting literary contribution of poetry, spirituals and story. |
Andrew Carnegie Medal for excellence in children’s
video:
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Winner for Best Children's Video: Producers Paul R. Gagne and Melissa Reilly Ellard of Weston Woods win the 2012 Carnegie Medal for Children Make Terrible Pets.
The video is based on the book written by Peter Brown. The video is narrated by Emily Eiden, with music by Jack Sundrud and Rusty Young, and animation by Soup2Nuts. |
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book
Award for the most distinguished informational book for children:
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Winner: Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade written and illustrated by Melissa Sweet
In brilliant collage illustrations, Melissa Sweet tells the story of puppeteer Tony Sarg, capturing his genius, his dedication, his zest for play, and his long-lasting gift to America-the inspired helium balloons that would become the trademark of Macy's Parade. |
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Honor Book: Black & White: The Confrontation between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene ‘Bull’ Connor written by Larry Dane Brimner
In the 1950s and early 60s, Birmingham, Alabama, became known as Bombingham. At the center of this violent time in the fight for civil rights, and standing at opposite ends, were Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene ‘Bull’ Connor. From his pulpit, Shuttlesworth agitated for racial equality, while Commissioner Connor fought for the status quo. Relying on court documents, police and FBI reports, newspapers, interviews, and photographs, the author first covers each man's life and then brings them together to show how their confrontation brought about significant change to the southern city.
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Honor Book: Drawing from Memory written and illustrated by Allen Say
This is a stunning graphic novel [...] and Allen Say's own story of his path to becoming the renowned artist he is today. Shunned by his father, who didn't understand his son's artistic leanings, Allen was embraced by Noro Shinpei, Japan's leading cartoonist and the man he came to love as his "spiritual father."
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Honor Book: The Elephant Scientist written by Caitlin O’Connell and Donna M. Jackson, photographs by Caitlin O’Connell and Timothy Rodwell
Holding binoculars closely to her eyes, American scientist Caitlin O'Connell could not believe what she was seeing from African elephants: as the mighty matriarch scanned the horizon, the other elephants followed suit, stopped midstride, and stood as still as statues. This observation would guide the scientist to a groundbreaking discovery about elephant communication: elephants actually listen with their limbs.
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Honor Book: Witches!: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem written and illustrated by Rosalyn Schanzer
The riveting, true story of the victims, accused witches, crooked officials, and mass hysteria that turned a mysterious illness affecting two children into a witch hunt that took over a dozen people's lives and ruined hundreds more unfolds in chilling detail in this young adult book. |
Mildred
L. Batchelder Award for the most outstanding children’s
book translated into English from a foreign language and
subsequently published in the United States:
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Winner: Soldier Bear written by Bibi Dumon Tak, illustrated by Philip Hopman and translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson
An orphaned Syrian brown bear cub is adopted by Polish soldiers during World War II and serves for five years as their mischievous mascot in Iran and Italy. Based on a true story.
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Honor Book: The Lily Pond written by Annika Thor and translated from the Swedish by Linda Schenck
Having left Nazi-occupied Vienna a year ago, thirteen-year-old Jewish refugee Stephie Steiner adapts to life in the cultured Swedish city of Gothenburg, where she attends school, falls in love, and worries about her parents who were not allowed to emigrate.
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Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for the most distinguished beginning reader book:
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Winner: Tales for Very Picky Eaters written and illustrated by Josh Schneider
A father tells outlandish stories while trying to get his young son, who is a very picky eater, to eat foods he thinks he will not like.
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Honor Book: I Broke My Trunk! written and illustrated by Mo Willems
Gerald the elephant tells his best friend Piggie a long, crazy story about how he broke his trunk.
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Honor Book: I Want My Hat Back written and illustrated by Jon Klassen
A bear almost gives up his search for his missing hat until he remembers something important.
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Honor Book: See Me Run written and illustrated by Paul Meisel
Happiness is a day in the park for this pack of joyful canines. They run, chase one another, jump in mud, go for a swim, and dig, dig, dig! Their doggy day becomes even more wonderful when they discover a mother lode of bones! But when the bones magically arrange themselves as a T. rex, the dogs find themselves running away from the giant skeleton!
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The Pura Belpré Award honors Latino/Latina writers and illustrators whose works best portray, affirm, and celebrate the Latino cultural experience:
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Author Winner: Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall
Lupita, a budding actor and poet in a close-knit Mexican American immigrant family, comes of age as she struggles with adult responsibilities during her mother's battle with cancer. A novel in verse.
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Author Honor: Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck by Margarita Engle
Quebrado has been traded from pirate ship to ship for as long as he can remember. But when a hurricane sinks the ship and most of its crew, Quebrado escapes to safety. He learns how to live on land again, among people who treat him well. And it is he who must decide the fate of his former captors.
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Author Honor: Maximilian and the Mystery of the Guardian Angel: A Bilingual Lucha Libre Thriller written by Xavier Garza
Margarito acts like any other eleven-year-old aficionado of lucha libre. He worships all the players. But in the summer just before sixth grade, he tumbles over the railing at a match in San Antonio and makes a connection to the world of Mexican wrestling that will ultimately connect him—maybe by blood!—to the greatest hero of all time: the Guardian Angel.
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Winner for Illustration: Diego Rivera: His World and Ours illustrated and written by Duncan Tonatiuh
Tonatiuh tells the story of Diego as a young, mischievous boy who demonstrated a clear passion for art and then went on to become one of the most famous painters in the world. Duncan Tonatiuh also prompts readers to think about what Diego would paint today. Just as Diego's murals depicted great historical events in Mexican culture or celebrated native peoples, if Diego were painting today, what would his artwork depict?
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Illustrator Honor: The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred illustrated by Rafael López, written by Samantha R. Vamos
A cumulative tale of a farm maiden who, aided by a group of animals, prepares "Arroz con Leche," or rice pudding. Includes recipe and glossary of the Spanish words that are woven throughout the text.
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Illustrator Honor: Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match / Marisol McDonald no combina illustrated by Sara Palacios, written by Monica Brown
Marisol McDonald, a biracial, nonconformist, soccer-playing pirate-princess with brown skin and red hair, celebrates her uniqueness.
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Odyssey Award for best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults:
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Winner: Rotters written by Daniel Kraus, narrated by Kirby Heyborne
For the most part, Joey's life is about playing the trumpet and avoiding the daily humiliations of high school. Everything changes when Joey's mother dies in a tragic accident and he is sent to rural Iowa to live with the father he has never known, a strange, solitary man with unimaginable secrets. At first, Joey's father wants nothing to do with him, but once father and son come to terms with each other, Joey's life takes a turn both macabre and exhilarating. |
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Honor Audio: Ghetto Cowboy written by Greg Neri, narrated by J.D. Jackson
Twelve-year-old Cole's behavior causes his mother to drive him from Detroit to Philadelphia to live with a father he has never known, but who soon has Cole involved with a group of African American "cowboys" who rescue horses and use them to steer youths away from drugs and gangs. |
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Honor Audio: Okay for Now written by Gary D. Schmidt, narrated by Lincoln Hoppe
When his family moves to Marysville, New York, Doug couldn't be less impressed. The library is the only place to go in town, and it's only open on Saturdays. There, however, he meets his first friend and takes an interest in fine art. Unfortunately, school offers no nourishment to his fascinated mind, and poor performance in gym class earns him several detentions. |
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Honor Audio: Young Fredle written by Cynthia Voigt, narrated by Wendy Carter
Fredle, a young mouse cast out of his home, faces dangers and predators outside, makes some important discoveries and allies, and learns the meaning of freedom as he struggles to return home. |
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Honor Audio: The Scorpio Races written by Maggie Stiefvater, narrated by Steve West and Fiona Hardingham
Nineteen-year-old returning champion Sean Kendrick competes against Puck Connolly, the first girl ever to ride in the annual Scorpio Races, both trying to keep hold of their dangerous water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. |
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