2002 Caldecott/Newbery/King Winners

And The Winners Are...

The American Library Association (otherwise known as the ALA) has announced its 2002 awards, honoring the best books published in 2001. And we've got them all for you right here!

In addition, the winner and honorees of the Michael L. Printz Award for "Excellence in Young Adult Literature" will be featured on our sister site, www.teenreads.com.


Curious about the ALA and its awards? Here's a little background...

Since 1921, the American Library Association has awarded prizes to the best of the best children's books. Each year, one exceptional book receives the John Newbery Medal---and runners up may be named Newbery Honor Books. Also, one awesomely illustrated book is awarded the Randolph Caldecott Medal, with other cool picture books named Caldecott Honor titles. And though the names and works of contenders are hotly debated each year, no one really knows who will win. Committee members are sworn to secrecy, until the announcement is made at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in January!

Winning Books

2002 Newbery Winner A SINGLE SHARD by Linda Sue Park Clarion Books ISBN: 0395978270 160 pages Ages 9-12 April 2001 In 12th-century Korea, talented artisan Crane-man--- so knick-named due to his shriveled leg----raises 10-year-old orphan Tree Ear. As A SINGLE SHARD progresses, Tree Ear goes from apprentice to artist. But what will happen to his journey to the emperor after robbers shatter his work and he has only a single shard to show?

2002 Newbery Honors EVERYTHING ON A WAFFLE by Polly Horvath Farrar Straus & Giroux (Juv) ISBN: 0374322368 160 pages Ages 4-8 April 2001 Eleven-year-old Primrose is having a difficult time. Her parents have been lost at sea, but she knows --- somewhere, deep inside herself --- that they are still alive. While she waits for them to return, she must move in with her Uncle Jack. He's not exactly the most friendly guy, so Primrose finds comfort at the local restaurant called The Girl on the Red Swing. The owner, Kate, serves everything on a waffle, even fish and pasta. But despite her quirkiness, she becomes a wonderful friend to Primrose, teaching her how to cook, listening to her problems and giving her advice. As time passes, Primrose learns more about herself and what her future will be. Recipes are included in this humorous and tender novel.

CARVER: A Life In Poems by Marilyn Nelson Front Street Press ISBN: 1886910537 Young Adult 103 pages April 2001 George Washington Carver may not be as well known as his contemporaries Garvey, Robeson, and DuBois, but this amazing poem biography should do much to rectify the situation. Author Nelson traces Carver's life from his kidnapping in infancy to his death at the Tuskegee campus on which he had worked since 1896.

2002 Caldecott Winner THE THREE LITTLE PIGS by David Weisner Clarion Books ISBN: 0618007016 40 pages Ages 4-8 April 2001 Think you know this old story? Think again! These are porkers on the move: one by one, the pigs exit the fairy tale's border and set off on adventures of their own. Folding a page of their own story into a paper airplane, the trio of pigs visit other storybooks and tales, rescuing both maidens and dragons along the way.

2002 Caldecott Honors THE DINOSAURS OF WATERHOUSE HOPKINS: An Illuminating History of Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins, Artist and Lecturer by Barbara Kerley illustrated by Brian Selznick Scholastic Trade ISBN: 0439114942 48 pages Ages 4-8 October 2001 Can you imagine a time without Barney or Jurassic Park? This beautiful book follows the real-life story of Hawkins, a Victorian illustrator, from his early fossil studies to his  lectures for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The story has triumphs (a New Year's Eve dinner party with the fathers of paleontology and the unveiling of Dinosaur Island) and failures (a planned Paleozoic Museum in Central Park and the destruction of years of Hawkins's work) and is sure to please all dino lovers!

MARTIN'S BIG WORDS: THE LIFE OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. by Doreen Rappoport illustrated by Bryan Collier Jump at the Sun ISBN: 0786807148 40 pages Ages 4-8 September 2001 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Roundup

THE STRAY DOG: From a True Story by Reiko Sassa by Marc Simont Harpercollins Juvenile Books ISBN: 0060289333 32 pages Ages 4-8 January 2001 A scruffy little dog invades a family's picnic. The children name him Willy and soon beg to take him home. The family drives away but all week can think of nothing but Willy, returning a week later to take him back home with them. The straightforward and clean plot of THE STRAY DOG is illustrated by eloquent line and watercolor pictures. This "stray" should find a home in all reader's bookshelves --- and hearts.

2002 Coretta Scott King Author Winner THE LAND by Mildred Taylor Phyllis Fogelman Books ISBN: 0803719507 373 pages Ages 9-12 September 2001 In this prequel to her Taylor's Newbery Medal winner ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY, Paul-Edward Logan, the son of a white, plantation-owner father and a slave mother, is determined shape his own future. Caught between black and white worlds is a devastating place to be but this powerful story will inspire all readers.

2002 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book MONEY HUNGRY by Sharon Flake Jump at the Sun ISBN: 078682476X 208 pages Ages 9-12 June 2001 MONEY HUNGRY opens with after Raspberry and her mother have left her drug-addicted father. Raspberry obsesses over those dark days, and the ones that followed when she and her Mom were homeless or living on friend's couches. Raspberry does anything she can to not slip back into desperation: she sells pencils, cleans, and washes cars in this harrowing look at the effects of poverty in America.

CARVER: A Life In Poems by Marilyn Nelson Front Street Press ISBN: 1886910537 Young Adult 103 pages April 2001 George Washington Carver may not be as well known as his contemporaries Garvey, Robeson, and DuBois, but this amazing poem biography should do much to rectify the situation. Author Nelson traces Carver's life from his kidnapping in infancy to his death at the Tuskegee campus on which he had worked since 1896.

2002 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Winner GOIN' SOMEPLACE SPECIAL by Patricia McKissack illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Atheneum ISBN: 0689818858 40 pages Ages 4-8 September 2001 'Tricia Ann is about to step out by herself. Her grandmother has prepared her well, giving her love and strength of will. 'Tricia Ann isn't going to any fancy hotel or dinner; as an African American, she is forbidden from certain places by the Jim Crow laws. As the uplifting story unfolds, 'Tricia Ann makes her way to one of the only places in the city that welcomes her. Read on to find out where that is.

2002 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honors MARTIN'S BIG WORDS: The Life Of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappoport illustrated by Bryan Collier Jump at the Sun ISBN: 0786807148 40 pages Ages 4-8 September 2001 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Roundup

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