2005 Award Books for Children

Check out the winners of the 2005 book awards! These books were honored for best story and illustration, and some of the awards went to authors for lifetime achievement. Read them all! Follow the links and place holds and they'll be sent to your neighborhood Denver Public Library.

Winner: Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
Chronicles the close friendship between two Japanese-American sisters growing up in rural Georgia during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the despair when one sister becomes terminally ill.

Honor Book: Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.

Honor Book: The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights by Russell Freedman
In the mid-1930s, Marian Anderson was a famed vocalist who had been applauded by European royalty and welcomed at the White House. But, because of her race, she was denied the right to sing at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. This is the story of her resulting involvement in the civil rights movement of the time.

Honor Book: Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt
In 1911, Turner Buckminster hates his new home of Phippsburg, Maine, but things improve when he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl from a poor, nearby island community founded by former slaves that the town fathers--and Turner's--want to change into a tourist spot.

Winner: Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
When Kitten mistakes the full moon for a bowl of milk, she ends up tired, wet, and hungry trying to reach it.

Honor Book: The Red Book by Barbara Lehman
A girl finds a magical red book and is transported to a new world and a new friend.

Honor Book: Coming on Home Soon Illustrated by E.B. Lewis, written by Jacqueline Woodson
Ada Ruth waits for the return of her mother, who left home in search of a job. Perfectly matched words and illustrations masterfully bring to life all the emotions that the girl is experiencing as she, her grandmother, and a stray kitten that has come to stay all try to comfort and console one another

Honor Book: Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems
After Trixie and Daddy leave the laundromat, something very important turns up missing.

Winner for Literature: Remember : The Journey to School Integration by Toni Morrison
Morrison’s first historical work for young people using archival photographs to take the reader on a journey remembering “the narrow path, the open door and the wide road” to integration.

Winner for Illustration: Ellington Was Not a Street illustrated by Kadir Nelson, written by Ntozake Shange
Nelson evokes the feelings of a family album in rich, deep-toned oil paintings which provide a tribute to the legendary African American men whose contributions changed the culture of 20th-century America.

New Talent Award, Literature: Missy Violet and Me by Barbara Hathaway
Viney, an 11-year-old, is faced with having to help the family pay a debt. She learns that her summer will be spent working with a local midwife, Missy Violet. She then also learns about “catching” babies, which changes her life forever.

New Talent Award, Illustration: Jazzy Miz Mozetta illustrated by Frank Morrison, written by Brenda C. Roberts
A dynamic, lively and whimsical book, it describes in a bold and animated style the night Miz Mozetta decided to take a stroll, catching off guard the young and the old.

Author Honor Book: The Legend of Buddy Bush by Shelia P. Moses
In rural Rich Square, NC, the 1947 arrest, trial, escape, and eventual acquittal of African-American Buddy Bush rocked a community and sparked international interest. This fictionalized account is narrated by Pattie Mae, Buddy's 12-year-old niece, who discovers the depths of prejudice and the strength of family.

Author Honor Book: Who Am I Without Him?: Short Stories About Girls and the Boys in Their Lives by Sharon G. Flake
Sharon Flake takes readers through the minds of girls trying to define themselves while struggling to remain relevant to the boys in their lives. This is a complex, often humorous, always on-point exposition of black youth resolving to find self-worth.

Author Honor Book: Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem by Marilyn Nelson
This group of poems honors a slave who died in Connecticut in 1798. His owner, a doctor, dissected his body, boiling down his bones to preserve them for anatomy studies. The skeleton was hung in a local museum until 1970. The museum began a project in the 1990s that uncovered the skeleton's origin, created a new exhibit, and led to the commissioning of these six poems.

Illustrator Honor Book: The People Could Fly : the Picture Book illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon; written by Virginia Hamilton
In this retelling of a folktale, a group of slaves, unable to bear their sadness and starvation any longer, calls upon the African magic that allows them to fly away.

Illustrator Honor Book: God Bless the Child illustrated by Jerry Pinkney; words and music by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog, Jr.
The song "God Bless the Child" was first performed by legendary jazz vocalist Billie Holiday in 1939 and remains one of her enduring masterpieces. In this picture book interpretation, renowned illustrator Jerry Pinkney has created images of a family moving from the rural South to the urban North during the Great Migration that reached its peak in the 1930s.

Winner for Best Children's Video : The Dot

Frustrated artist Vashti is ready to give up when a dot – simple but complete – takes her to new artistic heights. Vashti’s talent bursts into life, joyfully encircling her and framing each canvas.

Winner: The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights by Russell Freedman
A graceful narrative of the story of Anderson’s life and career. Appropriately, it is her remarkable voice that the author emphasizes in this handsomely and spaciously designed book about an artist who preferred to focus on her career, but was forced to confront her nation’s racism.

Honor Book: Walt Whitman: Words for America by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Brian Selznick
A biography of the American poet whose compassion led him to nurse soldiers during the Civil War, to give voice to the nation's grief at Lincoln's assassination, and to capture the true American spirit in verse.

Honor Book: The Tarantula Scientist by Sy Montgomery, with photographs by Nic Bishop
Describes the research that Samuel Marshall and his students are doing on tarantulas, including the largest spider on earth, the Goliath bird eating tarantula.

Honor Book: Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing by James Rumford, translated into Cherokee by Anna Sixkiller Huckaby
Sequoyah's idea was to create a writing system for the Cherokee Indians and turn his people into a nation of readers and writers. Sequoyah knew no English and had no idea how to capture speech on paper. But slowly and painstakingly he worked out a system that surprised the Cherokee Nation—and the world of the 1820s—with its beauty and simplicity.

Winner: Laurence Yep
Laurence Yep, the premier voice of the Chinese-American experience in literature for young people, is the winner of the 2005 Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal. His numerous works include “Dragonwings,” “The Rainbow People,” “The Khan’s Daughter” and the autobiographical “The Lost Garden.”

Winner: The Shadows of Ghadames by Joëlle Stolz and translated from the French by Catherine Temerson.
As 11-year-old Malika questions the restrictions she encounters as she approaches marriageable age, the women of her family secretly aid a young outcast. Malika gains a new understanding of the strength of the women of Ghadames, whose seclusion from the men’s world of the streets has created a powerful all-female community that extends across the rooftops of the city.

Honor Book: The Crow-Girl: The Children of Crow Cove by Bodil Bredsdorff and translated from the Danish by Faith Ingwersen.
After the death of her grandmother, a young orphaned girl leaves her house by the cove and begins a journey which leads her to people and experiences that exemplify the wisdom her grandmother had shared with her.

Honor Book: Daniel, Half Human and the Good Nazi by David Chotjewitz and translated from the German by Doris Orgel.
In this story of 1930s’ Germany, a boy who initially enjoys the advantages of an affluent upbringing is forced into a life of deception after discovering that he is half-Jewish.

Winner of the Young Child Category:
My Pal, Victor/Mi amigo, Victor
by Diane Gonzales Bertrand and illustrated by Robert L. Sweetland
Bilingual text and bold, colorful illustrations weave the story of two Latino boys who share the joys of friendship – telling scary stories and outrageous riddles, going swimming, riding roller coasters and having many other adventures. Dominic is proud that his pal likes him the way he is. Until the last illustration, the reader is unaware that Victor uses a wheelchair, proving that true friendship is unconditional.

Winner of the Middle School Category:
Becoming Naomi León by Pam Muñoz Ryan
The staunch defender of her younger brother Owen, who was born with physical disabilities, Naomi proclaims her inner strength by preferring a loving great-grandmother over her offensive birth mother, and then receiving affirmation in a court decision. The work conveys the truth that there is a magic in all of us – which can be carved out if we choose to see it.

Winner of the Teen Category:
My Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir
by Samantha Abeel
An honest and sensitive portrayal of the author’s youth as she struggles with dyscalculia, a learning disability in mathematics. The syndrome also affects one’s ability to perform simple tasks, such as telling time or following directions. Abeel’s diagnosis at age 13 helped her and her family make sense of why she excelled in literature but didn’t know what change to expect when buying groceries.

Winner: How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
To get away from her pregnant stepmother in New York City, fifteen-year-old Daisy goes to England to stay with her aunt and cousins, with whom she instantly bonds, but soon war breaks out and rips apart the family while devastating the land.

Honor Book: Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
Matt, a young cabin boy aboard an airship, and Kate, a wealthy young girl traveling with her chaperone, team up to search for the existence of mysterious winged creatures reportedly living hundreds of feet above the Earth's surface.

Honor Book: Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt
In 1911, Turner Buckminster hates his new home of Phippsburg, Maine, but things improve when he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl from a poor, nearby island community founded by former slaves that the town fathers--and Turner's--want to change into a tourist spot.

Honor Book: Chanda’s Secrets by Allan Stratton
In this sensitive, swiftly-paced story readers will find echoes of To Kill a Mockingbird as Chanda must confront undercurrents of shame and stigma. Not afraid to explore the horrific realities of AIDS, Chanda's Secrets also captures the enduring strength of loyalty, friendship and family ties. Above all, it is a story about the corrosive nature of secrets and the healing power of truth.

Winner: Francesca Lia Block
Block encourages teens to celebrate their own true selves, helping them discover "What time they are upon and where they do belong." Her books, “Weetzie Bat” (1989), “Witch Baby” (1991), “Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys” (1992), “Missing Angel Juan” (1993) and “Baby Be-Bop” (1995), deal with complex issues such as blended families, the many types of love, and the sometimes heartbreaking real world challenges teenagers face. In Block’s Shangri-L.A., there is pain and sadness, but love, magic and hope prevail.

Best Storybook : Jimmy Neutron by Terry Collins ; illustrated by Patrick Spaziante.
Meet Jimmy Neutron, boy genius and inventor extraordinaire! He bounces to school in a gravity bubble. His custom-built dog, Goddard, has more uses than a Swiss Army knife. And he navigates outer space in his homemade rocketship.

Best Picture Book (tie): Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems
An amusing pigeon tries every bit of persuasion he can think of to wheedle himself into the driving seat of a bus.

Best Picture Book (tie): Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
This year's Caldecott winner is about a young kitten who mistakes the full moon for a bowl of milk. She ends up tired, wet and hungry trying to reach it.