The American Library Association has announced this year’s winners of the annual John Newbery and Randolph Caldecott Medals, two of the most prestigious awards for children’s literature.
Paul Fleischman received the Newbery Medal for Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices (Harper & Row). The award is intended to recognize the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children published in the preceding year.
The Caldecott medal, honoring the illustrator of the year’s most distinguished American picture book for children, was awarded to Stephen Gammell for his work in Song and Dance Man by Karen Ackerman (Alfred A. Knopf/Random House).
The Newbery Committee also named two honor books: In the Beginning: Creation Stories From Around the World by Virginia Hamilton (Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich) and Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers (Harper & Row).
And four honor books were selected by the Caldecott Committee: The Boy of the Three Year Nap, illustrated by Allen Say, written by Dianne Snyder (Houghton Mifflin Company); Free Fall, illustrated by David Wiesner (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard); Goldilocks and the Three Bears, illustrated by James Marshall (Dial Books for Young Readers); and Mirandy and Brother Wind, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, written by Patricia C. McKissack (Alfred A. Knopf/Random House).
The ala’s Young Adult Services Division has published a list of “best books” written in the past 20 years.
Designed to help librarians, teachers, and parents recommend appropriate reading for teenagers, the pamphlet briefly describes 75 fiction and nonfiction titles.
“Nothin’ But the Best: Best of the Best Books for Young Adults, 1966-1986" is available at a cost of $20 for 100 copies from ala Graphics, American Library Association, 50 East Huron St., Chicago, Ill. 60611. Single copies can be obtained for 50 cents by sending a self-addressed envelope to the ala’s Young Adult Services Division.
Seven other new books written for young people have received special recognition from the Society of School Librarians International.
The works were cited by the society as the “most outstanding” of 1988 in the areas of language arts, science, and social studies at the elementary- and secondary-school levels.
Honored in the category of language arts were Sing a Song of Popcorn: Every Child’s Book of Poems, selected by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers (Scholastic Inc.); Maudie in the Middle by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor and Lura Schield Reynolds (Atheneum Publishers); and Memory by Margaret Mahy (Margaret K. McElderry Books).
In the science category, the ssli recognized Farming by Gail Gibbons (Holiday House) and Nuclear Accidents by Joel Helgerson (Franklin Watts Inc.).
In the social-studies category, the society named Cassie’s Journey by Brett Harvey, illustrated by Deborah Kogan (Holiday House); and Smoke and Ashes: The Story of the Holocaust by Barbara Rogasky (Holiday House).
In conjunction with the national observance of the “Year of the Young Reader,” the Children’s Book Council has selected “Families Reading Together” as its theme for 1989.
To highlight the reading drive, the council commissioned the illustrators Donald Carrick, Peter Sis, John Steptoe, and David Wiesner to create four posters depicting the pleasures of reading with family members.
A portion of the proceeds from sales of the posters will be contributed to the International Board on Books for Young People Trust to support the organization’s worldwide reading- and literacy-promotion work.
Sponsored by the Library of Congress’s Center for the Book and Children’s Literature Center, the “Year of the Young Reader” campaign encourages parents, educators, librarians, and community members to promote a love of books and reading among young people.
The Children’s Book Council is a nonprofit association of children’s and young-adult trade-book publishers.
The posters--available only as a set of four--can be ordered for $18 prepaid from the Children’s Book Council Order Department, 350 Scotland Rd., Orange, N.J. 07050.
For further information about “Families Reading Together” and other promotional materials, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and a request for the Spring materials brochure to the Children’s Book Council, P.O. Box 706, New York, N.Y. 10276-0706.
Also planning activities for the “Year of the Young Reader” are the American Booksellers Association, the International Reading Association, and the Association of Booksellers for Children.
Publishers will use the theme in their advertising and publications.
To support the campaign’s activities, individuals and corporations are invited to make tax-deductible contributions.
Further information can be obtained by writing John Y. Cole, Director, Center for the Book, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540; or by calling (202) 707-5221.
The 1989 edition of Aetna Life and Casualty’s annual calendar of black history profiles three educators among its notable figures in American life.
Cited for their contributions to education and other fields are Charlotte Hawkins Brown, founder of the black preparatory school Palmer Memorial Institute; Richard Robert Wright, founder of the Georgia State Teachers Association and of the state’s first high school for blacks; and Patricia Roberts Harris, dean of Howard University Law School, U.S. ambassador under President Johnson, and Cabinet member under President Carter.
Produced by Aetna since 1982 as a public service, the calendar is designed to function as a “mini course” on black history.
To order the 16-by-12-inch calendar, send $2 to Black History Calendar, Aetna Life and Casualty, 151 Farmington Avenue--rwac, Hartford, Conn. 06156.--jw
