Posted January 27, 2003.
The writer of a novel set in 14th-century England and the writer/illustrator of a tale about a good-natured mouse and an ingenious rabbit were named respective winners of the American Library Association’s Newbery and Caldecott medals honoring children’s literature. The announcement came January 27 at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia.
Avi garnered the John Newbery medal for his story about a 13-year-old boy named Crispin who tries to solve the mystery of his identity in Crispin: The Cross of Lead, published by Hyperion Books for Children. Eric Rohmann took the Randolph Caldecott prize for his hand-colored relief prints that illustrate My Friend Rabbit, published by Roaring Brook, his comical story about a mouse who lets a rabbit friend play with his toy airplane.
Nikki Grimes, author of Bronx Masquerade, and E. B. Lewis, illustrator of Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman, earned Coretta Scott King Awards recognizing African-American authors and illustrators of outstanding books for children and young adults. Grimes’s book, published by Dial Books for Young Readers, tells the story of 18 urban youth who share their feelings in open-mike poetry presentations. Lewis’s oversized watercolors accompany the fictionalized life of the world’s first licensed African-American female pilot, also written by Grimes and published by Orchard Books.
Other winners were Aidan Chambers, winner of the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature for young adults, for Postcards from No Man’s Land, published by Dutton/Penguin Putnam; James Cross Giblin, winner of the Robert F. Sibert Award for most distinguished informational children’s book, for The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler, published by Clarion; and Nancy Garden, winner of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime contribution in writing for young adults.
A complete list of ALA award-winning books published during 2002 is found on the Public Information Office Web site.
Posted January 27, 2003.