The writer of a story about a tiny mouse in love with a princess and the writer/illustrator of a true-life story about a young Frenchman who walked a tightrope between the twin towers of the World Trade Center were named respective winners of the American Library Association’s Newbery and Caldecott medals honoring children’s literature. The announcement came January 12 at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego.
Kate DiCamillo garnered the John Newbery medal for The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread, published by Candlewick Press. The book recounts the adventures of Despereaux Tilling, a mouse condemned for talking to the princess that he loves; a servant girl with royal aspirations; and a devious rat determined to bring them all to ruin.
Mordicai Gerstein took the Randolph Caldecott prize for his ink and oil paintings that illustrate The Man Who Walked between the Towers, published by Roaring Brook Press, a lyrical evocation of Philippe Petit’s daring 1974 tightrope walk.
Angela Johnson, author of The First Part Last, and Ashley Bryan, illustrator and author of Beautiful Blackbird, earned Coretta Scott King Awards recognizing African-American authors and illustrators of outstanding books for children and young adults. Johnson’s book, published by Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, tells the story of Bobby, a 16-year-old artist and single parent raising his daughter alone. Johnson also won this year’s Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature for young adults. Bryan’s adaptation of a folktale from the Ila-speaking people of Zambia, accompanied by vividly colored paper collages of birds, was published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
Other awardees were Jim Murphy, winner of the Robert F. Sibert Award for most distinguished informational children’s book, for An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793, published by Clarion; Ursula K. LeGuin, winner of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime contribution in writing for young adults; and Yuyi Morales and Julia Alvarez, winners of the Pura Belpré Awards honoring Latino authors and illustrators. Morales wrote and illustrated Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book, published by Chronicle Books, and Alvarez wrote Before We Were Free, published by Alfred A. Knopf.
A complete list of ALA award-winning books published during 2003 is found on the Public Information Office website.
Posted January 15, 2004.