For immediate release | January 10, 2011

Kate DiCamillo, Alison McGhee and Tony Fucile win Geisel Award for “Bink and Gollie”

SAN DIEGO– Authors Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee and illustrator Tony Fucile are the 2011 recipients of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for “Bink and Gollie,” published by Candlewick Press. The award was announced today by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), during the ALA Midwinter Meeting held Jan. 7 – 11 in San Diego.

The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award is given to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year. The award is named for the world-renowned children’s author, Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss. Award winners are recognized for their literary and artistic achievements that demonstrate creativity and imagination to engage children in reading. Award and honor book recipients will receive their awards in New Orleans during the ALA Annual Conference in June.
“Bink and Gollie” provides a clever peek into the lives of dissimilar friends celebrating the ups and downs of their daily escapades in three lively chapters. Bink and Gollie explore the rocky terrain of compromise, asserting independence, and jealousy, yet their friendship remains steadfast.
In this effervescent blend of picture book, reader and graphic novel, text and illustration unite the real and imaginary. Humorous and exaggerated illustrations propel the reader through a story sprinkled with challenging vocabulary. So much is said with so little.
“Covering a range of emotional territory to engage and challenge developing readers, fresh and creative text and powerful visuals generate a special chemistry between two friends,” said Geisel Award Committee Chair Julie F. Roach.
Two Geisel Honor Books were named:
“Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same!” written and illustrated by Grace Lin and published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc..
Identical twins Ling and Ting are not exactly the same, but equally charming, in these six vignettes chronicling such daily adventures as getting their hair cut, performing magic, making dumplings and going to the library. Creator Lin cleverly recaps the day through Ting’s giggle-inducing revisionist retelling.
“We Are in a Book!” written and illustrated by Mo Willems and published by Hyperion Books for Children, an imprint of Disney Book Group.
Contentedly hanging out, Gerald and Piggie notice that someone is looking at them. That someone turns out to be the reader in this hilarious, interactive story about the joys of reading (and being read)! Children will be unable to resist Elephant and Piggie’s polite request to “…please read us again?”
The members of the 2011 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Committee are: Chair Julie F. Roach, Cambridge (Mass.) Public Library; Toni A. Bernardi, San Francisco Public Library; Sheri Boggs, Centralia (Wash.) Timberland Library; Kristen Beauston Fournier, Forest North Elementary School, Austin, Texas; Steven L. Herb, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.; Kathy Kirchoefer, Prince George’s County Memorial Library System, Maryland; and Linda Zeilstra Sawyer, Skokie (Ill.) Public Library.
ALSC is the world’s largest organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of library service to children. With a network of more than 4,000 children’s and youth librarians, literature experts, publishers and educational faculty, ALSC is committed to creating a better future for children through libraries. To learn more about ALSC, visit their Web site at www.ala.org/alsc.
For more information on the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award and other ALA Youth Media Awards, please visit www.ala.org/yma.
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Contact:

Macey Morales

Media Relations Manager

American Library Association

mmorales@ala.org

312-280-4393