And the Winner is...

February may be the month for Oscars© but March is the month when the best in children’s books are announced by the ALA and ISLMA.  Some awards are given after review by a panel of professionals; others are favorites voted on by school children.  Award winners for 2013 include :

Rebecca Caudill Award ,  voted on by grades 5-9: Smile by Raina Telgemeier.  Humorous and upbeat, it  must have struck a chord with the audience.

Rebecca Caudill Award winner

Blue Stem Award ,  voted on by grades 3-5: Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper.

Bluestem Award winner

Monarch Award,  voted on by K-3: Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes by Eric Litwin

Monarch Award winner

Caldecott Medal winner

Caldecott Medal for illustration: This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen.
The committee describes  Klassen’s controlled palette, opposing narratives and subtle cues [that] compel  readers to follow the fish and imagine the consequence. “With minute changes in eyes and the slightest displacement of seagrass, Klassen’s masterful illustrations tell the story the narrator doesn’t know.”  Klassen also received an Honorable Mention for illustrating Extra Yarn.

Newbery Medal for children’s literature : The One and Only Ivan.

Sibert Medal winner

Newbery Medal winner

“Katherine Applegate gives readers a unique and unforgettable gorilla’s-eye-view of the world that challenges the way we look at animals and at ourselves.”  For ages 8-12.

Sibert Medal for an informational book. : Bomb: The Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s 
Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin.“Sheinkin’s page-turning narrative is a thrilling introduction to the science, history, politics and intrigue behind events that changed our world forever.”  This book also won an Honorable Mention as a Newbery winner.

Coretta Scott King Award for African American authors and illustrators : Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America by  Andrea Davis Pinkney and Bryan Collier for illustrating Langston Hughes’ poem I Too Am America  as personified by a Pullman porter.

Coretta Scott King Award winner

You might also be interested in - 

Pura Belpre Award for Latino literature and illustrators

Theodore Seuss Geisel Award for beginning readers.

Abraham Lincoln  (Abe) Award, voted on by high school students