Ladies and
gentlemen, place your bets!
Like so many
other children’s literature lovers, I enjoy the annual game of trying to
predict the winners of the Caldecott Medal (given to artist of “the most
distinguished picture book”) and the Newbery Medal (given to the author of “the
most distinguished contribution to American literature to children”).
In my last 10 or
so years as the Scripps Howard children’s book reviewer, I did an annual column
looking at some of the best possibilities. It's such a lot of fun that I've decided to continue the tradition. My guesses are based on two main ingredients:
__ the results of the various mock Caldecott and Newbery discussions around the
country; and
__ the opinions of a duo of hugely-knowledgeable children’s literature experts:
Amy Kellman, a Pittsburgh children’s literature consultant, and Anita Silvey,
children’s book publisher, editor and author of several books, including the book & website, "Children's Book-a-Day Almanac."
I also try to
keep up with the blogs – Calling Caldecott and Heavy Medal that spend months discussing
the merits of possible winners.
Stirring this
stew of information, here’s a list of a few good bets for each medal:
Caldecott Medal
top possibilities:
“Journey,”
written and illustrated by Aaron Becker
“Mr. Tiger Goes
Wild,” written and illustrated by Peter Brown
“Locomotive,”
written and illustrated by Brian Floca
“Mr. Wuffles,”
written and illustrated by David Wiesner
Other
possibilities include: “The Mighty LaLouche,” illustrated by Sophie Blackall
and written by Matthew Olshan; “Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me,”
illustrated by Bryan Collier and written by Daniel Beaty; “The Dark,”
illustrated by 2013 Caldecott Medalist Jon Klassen and written by Lemony
Snicket; and “Nelson Mandela,” written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson.
Newbery Medal
top possibilities:
“The True Blue
Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp” by Kathi Appelt
“Zebra Forest” by Adine Gewirtz
“The Year of
Billy Miller” by Kevin Henkes
“The Thing About
Luck” by Cynthia Kadohata
Other
possibilities include: “Doll Bones” by Holly Black; “Ghost Hawk” by Susan
Cooper; “Flora & Ulysses” by Kate DiCamillo; “Counting By Sevens” by Holly
Goldberg Sloan; “The Real Boy” by Anne Ursu; and “P.S. Be Eleven” by Rita
Williams-Garcia.
If you forced me
to pick, I’d lay my bets on “Journey” for the Caldecott Medal and “The Thing
About Luck” for the Newbery Medal. But who really knows? It could be something totally out of blue! It’s just fun to
discuss the possibilities and anticipate the actual award announcements, which
will be broadcast livelive.webcastinc.com/ala/2014/live/ on Monday, January
27 at 8 a.m. For even more fun, tune into School Library Journal’s first-ever
“Youth Media Awards Pre-Game and Post-Game Show."
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