Caldecott and Newbery Medals

I'm a day late and more than a dollar short on this but there were no big surprises this year for the big children's book award winners. I am nevertheless very pleased with the winners.

As I mentioned several weeks ago, Jerry Pinkney's The Lion and the Mouse was a top contender for the Caldecott Medal and not surprisingly won. I'm thrilled it won because I, too, consider it some of Pinkney's best work, so it doesn't feel like a body of work prize disguised as recognition for one book. Instead, this is one of his personal masterpieces, a culmination of years of experience and talent. It's currently half off on Amazon (follow the title or cover link), but not sold out yet. The publishers were prepared for this one to win.


And while it is not fairy tale related, the winner of the Newbery Medal, When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, has a touch of fantasy to it and a big devotion to Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, a seminal book in my personal reading experience and itself a Newbery winner. So I'm thrilled there, too. In fact, it's been years since I've been this happy about both winners. Once again, half off on Amazon and not sold out. This one was recognized as a top contender and once again the publishers were prepared.

I would link to the ALA announcement page, but the ALA site has been horribly jammed for days, even before the announcement. Getting pages to load has been very iffy if not impossible.

But here's some other links: A Wrinkle in Time, well worth two Newbery medals and A Very New York Novel Wins Newbery Medal.

Congratulations to all the winners of medals and honors!

Edited: Here's the link to ALA's Press Release.