Laurie Halse Anderson has won the 2009 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction for her novel Chains (Simon & Schuster). Set in New York City at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the novel follows a young house slave, Isabel, who is caught between the Rebels and the Loyalists. Chains was a finalist for last year's National Book Award for Young People's Literature, as was Anderson's first novel, Speak, back in 1999. The O'Dell Award comes with a $5,000 prize.
Richard Michelson and Raúl Colón (As Good As Anybody: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel's Amazing March Toward Freedom, Knopf), Karen Hesse (Brooklyn Bridge, Feiwel and Friends), and Valerie Zenatti (A Bottle in the Gaza Sea, Bloomsbury), have won the Sydney Taylor Book Award. Additionally, six honor books were selected: Engineer Ari and the Rosh Hashanah Ride by Deborah Bodin Cohen, illus. by Shahar Kober (Kar-Ben); Sarah Laughs by Jacqueline Jules, illus. by Natascia Ugliano (Kar-Ben); A Is for Abraham: A Jewish Family Alphabet by Richard Michelson, illus. by Ron Mazellan (Sleeping Bear); Naming Liberty by Jane Yolen, illus. by Jim Burke (Philomel); Memories of Babi by Aranka Siegal (FSG); and Freefall by Anna Levine (Greenwillow). The awards will be presented at the Association of Jewish Libraries convention in Chicago this July. Click here for more information about the award.
Michelle Magorian has won the 2008 Costa Children's Book Award in the U.K. for Just Henry (Egmont). Just Henry, which is set in post-war Britain and raises issues about patriotism and social class, is Magorian's first book in 10 years. She is perhaps best known for her 1981 novel, Goodnight, Mister Tom. The prize will be awarded at a ceremony in London on January 27. Read more about the author here.
The winner of the 2009 Charlotte Zolotow Award is How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham (Candlewick). Five Honor Books were named: How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz (FSG); How Mama Brought the Spring by Fran Manushkin, illus. by Holly Berry (Dutton); In a Blue Room by Jim Averbeck, illus. by Tricia Tusa (Houghton Mifflin); A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant, illus. by Melissa Sweet (Eerdmans); and Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad by James Rumford (Roaring Brook/Porter). The award is given for outstanding writing in a picture book published in the U.S. and is named to honor the work of the distinguished children's book editor and author Charlotte Zolotow.
Two books about witches and dancing bears have been awarded the inaugural Roald Dahl Funny Prize, which was announced today by Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen.
For children aged six and under, the winning book was The Witch’s Children Go to School by Ursula Jones, illustrated by Russell Ayto (Orchard Books). For children aged seven to 14, the winning book was Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear by Andy Stanton, illustrated by David Tazzyman (Egmont Press).
See the complete shortlists here.
The nominees for the 2008-2009 Stellar Teen Book Award, British Columbia's Teen Reader's Choice Award have been announced. Among the many titles nominated are The Bonemender's Oath and Tell, both from Orca Soundings. The winner will be announced in May after teen readers across the province vote. For a complete list of nominees, visit the Stellar Award Web site. more » » »
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Voting is now open for the Inky Awards - Australia's only teenage choice book award. If you're under 20 years of age visit the Inkys online to have your say about who wins the Silver Inky (for international books) and the Golden Inky (for Australian books). Voting closes October 27. |
Booktrust, in association with Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen, is delighted to announce the inaugural Roald Dahl Funny Prize.
This new prize has two categories –
The Funniest Book for Children Aged Six and Under
The Funniest Book for Children Aged Seven to Fourteen.
Fiction, non-fiction and poetry will be welcomed.
Shortlists
A shortlist of six books in each category was announced on 8 September to tie in with the third Roald Dahl Day on 13 September.
The Funniest Book for Children Aged Six and Under
Stick Man by Julia Donaldson, illus. Axel Scheffler (Alison Green Books)
Elephant Wellyphant by Nick Sharratt (Alison Green Books)
The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
The Witch’s Children Go to School by Ursula Jones, illus. Russell Ayto (Orchard Books)
There’s an Ouch in My Pouch! by Jeanne Willis, illus. Garry Parsons (Puffin Books)
Manfred the Baddie by John Fardell (Quercus Books)
The Funniest Book for Children Aged Seven to Fourteen
Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear by Andy Stanton, illus. David Tazzyman (Egmont Press)
Paddington Here and Now by Michael Bond, illus. RW Alley (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
Stop in the Name of Pants! by Louise Rennison (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce (Macmillan Children’s Books)
Aliens Don’t Eat Dog Food by Dinah Capparucci (Scholastic Children’s Books)
Urgum and the Goo Goo Bah! by Kjartan Poskitt, illus. Philip Reeve (Scholastic Children’s Books)
Commenting on the shortlist, Michael Rosen said:
"It was a joy and a half to sit round a table, knee-deep in funny books, talking about them with a group of clever, humorous and thoughtful people. Almost all children love funny books, it's what helps hook them into the reading habit. Parents are always on the lookout for funny books to read to their children or to give them as surprises and presents. Now, with these 12 titles, pared down from hundreds that we received, we have the cream of this year's crop. I swear I heard Roald Dahl chortling in the background as we waved the books at each other. I should add that there was a good deal of discussion, argument - is this a smile-book a laugh-book? Is this a book that adults will find funny and children won't? Does it matter if the text is funny but the pictures aren't? And vice versa? Does a funny book need a perfect punchline?
We think we've covered all ages here from a two year old's giggle to a teen's wry snort. Which ones will be the winners? Why not read all twelve and pick your own?"
The winner of each category will receive £2,500, which will be presented at an awards ceremony in London on 13 November 2008.
Competition
Win the chance to attend the Funny Prize award ceremony! Find out more.
More about the prize
Michael Rosen explains:
'If there had been a prize for funny books when Roald Dahl was writing, he would have won it with every book he wrote! That’s why this award was named in his honour.
'Children love funny books but when adults draw up lists of the best books they nearly always leave the funny ones out. When I became the Children’s Laureate, I said that my job should be as an ambassador for fun. That's why I came up with the idea of this funny prize, all part of the job!”
The Roald Dahl Funny Prize aims to:
> promote laughter and humour as a feel-good factor when reading, by encouraging families to read together and discover the pleasure of humorous (funny) books. This in turn will reinforce the message that reading together promotes family well-being.
> draw attention to funny books as readable and enjoyable books. We hope that the prize will enable these books to gain a profile that makes them more accessible to children and young people. The prize will work to achieve this through a range of activities supported by libraries, teachers and parents.
> reward and encourage authors (and illustrators) who write and illustrate books using humour in their stories, poetry and fiction. By creating these awards we hope to promote a vibrant area of publishing often overlooked by other awards.
Acclaimed Melbourne author, screen writer and journalist Helen Garner has taken out the top prize at this year's Queensland Premier's Literary Awards.
Garner won $25,000 for her novel The Spare Room at a ceremony in Brisbane last night. (more...)
This article originally appeared in SLJ’s Extra Helping. Sign up now! and I am late publishing this post. It has been sitting in the "drafts" folder, unnoticed!
A Darkling Plain ("The Hungry City Chronicles," HarperCollins), Philip Reeve's dark, post-apocalyptic tale of return to a London ravaged by war and radiation, has won the Los Angeles Times' 2007 Book Prize for young adult fiction, announced late last week.
In a second just-announced literary honor, The Escape of Oney Judge: Martha Washington’s Slave Finds Freedom (Farrar), written and illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully, has taken the top prize in the 2008 Jane Addams Children's Book Awards, in the category of Books for Younger Children. We Are One: The Story of Bayard Rustin (Calkins Creek) by Larry Dane Brimner has won in the Books for Older Children category.
The Addams Awards also named an honor book in its younger children category, One Thousand Tracings: Healing the Wounds of World War II (Hyperion), written and illustrated by Lita Judge.
Honor books in the older children's category include Rickshaw Girl (Charlesbridge), by Mitali Perkins; Elijah of Buxton (Scholastic) by Christopher Paul Curtis; and Birmingham, 1963 (Wordsong) by Carole Boston Weatherford.
Oney Judge tells the story of a slave girl who flees to freedom. "Expressive watercolors within this well-researched biography portray the bravery of Ona Maria Judge, an African-American woman who claimed, and fought for, the right to have "no mistress but herself," the judges wrote.
The Story of Bayard Rustin introduces young readers to the controversial African-American pacifist and civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, a trusted adviser to Martin Luther King, Jr. and organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. "Succinct prose, powerful quotations, and fresh historical photographs place the story of Rustin’s life alongside the story of the March, revealing the breadth and depth of Rustin’s decades of commitment to confronting racism and promoting peace in the United States and in countries around the world," the judges wrote.
The Addams Awards, from the Jane Addams Peace Association, celebrate children's books published the preceding year that "effectively promote the cause of peace, social justice, world community, and the equality of the sexes and all races."
A Darkling Plain, the L.A. Times winner, is the final book in Reeve's "Hungry City" series. In a 2006 interview, Reeve told SLJ that he was aiming the “Hungry Cities” series at children 12 and upwards, "which was the age I was when I was reading grown-up science fiction.”
