The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contributions to American literature for children". The Newbery and the Caldecott Medal are considered the two most prestigious awards for children's literature in the United States. Books selected are widely carried by bookstores and libraries, the authors are interviewed on television, and master's theses and doctoral dissertations are written on them. Named for John Newbery, an 18th-century English publisher of juvenile books, the winner of the Newbery is selected at the ALA's Midwinter Conference by a fifteen-person committee. The Newbery was proposed by Frederic G. Melcher in 1921, making it the first children's book award in the world. The physical bronze medal was designed by Rene Paul Chambellan and is given to the winning author at the next ALA annual conference. Since its founding there have been several changes to the composition of the selection committee, while the physical medal remains the same.
Caddie Woodlawn is a children's historical fiction novel by Carol Ryrie Brink that received the Newbery Medal in 1936 and a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958. The original 1935 edition was illustrated by Newbery-award-winning author and illustrator Kate Seredy. Macmillan released a later edition in 1973, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman.
Ruth Sawyer was an American storyteller and a writer of fiction and non-fiction for children and adults. She is best known as the author of Roller Skates, which won the 1937 Newbery Medal. She received the Children's Literature Legacy Award in 1965 for her lifetime achievement in children's literature.
Viking Press is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheimer and then acquired by the Penguin Group in 1975.
Janina Domańska was a Polish-born American artist, author and illustrator. She is best known for her self-illustrated children's books. She won a Caldecott Honor for her book If All the Seas Were One Sea in 1972.
Robert Lawson was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. He won the Caldecott Medal for his illustrations in They Were Strong and Good in 1941 and the Newbery award for his short story for Rabbit Hill in 1945.
Marguerite de Angeli was an American writer and illustrator of children's books including the 1950 Newbery Award winning book The Door in the Wall. She wrote and illustrated twenty-eight of her own books, and illustrated more than three dozen books and numerous magazine stories and articles for other authors.
The White Stag is a children's book, written and illustrated by Kate Seredy. It won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature and received the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. The White Stag is a mythical retelling that follows the warrior bands of Huns and Magyars across Asia and into Europe, including the life of Attila the Hun.
Dorothy Pulis Lathrop was an American writer and illustrator of children's books.
Maud Fuller Petersham and Miska Petersham were American writers and illustrators who helped set the direction for illustrated children's books that followed. The Petershams worked closely with such pioneering children's book editors as Louise Seaman Bechtel and May Massee, and with such innovative printers as Charles Stringer and William Glaser. They worked as a seamless partnership for more than five decades. Both prolific and versatile, they produced illustrations for more than 120 trade books and textbooks, anthologies, and picture books. Of the 50 books they both wrote and illustrated, many were recognized with important awards or critical acclaim. They are known for technical excellence, exuberant color, and the introduction of international folk and modernist themes.
Alice Dalgliesh was a naturalized American writer and publisher who wrote more than 40 fiction and non-fiction books, mainly for children. She has been called "a pioneer in the field of children's historical fiction". Three of her books were runners-up for the annual Newbery Medal, the partly autobiographical The Silver Pencil, The Bears on Hemlock Mountain, and The Courage of Sarah Noble, which was also named to the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award list.
The Good Master (1935) is a children's novel written and illustrated by Kate Seredy. It was named a Newbery Honor book in 1936. The Good Master is set in the Hungarian countryside before World War I and tells the story of wild young Kate, who goes to live with her Uncle's family when her father can't control her and at the end she goes back to her father. At Uncle Marton's suggestion, Kate and her father move back to the country to live, to be near Marton and his wife and son. Like his brother Marton, Kate's father Sandor is a countryman and misses rural life. And he sees what a wonderful effect country life has had on Kate.
May Massee was an American children's book editor. She was the founding head of the juvenile departments at Doubleday from 1922 and at Viking Press from 1932. Before working at Doubleday, she edited the American Library Association periodical Booklist.
Kurt Wiese was a German-born book illustrator, who wrote and illustrated 20 children's books and illustrated another 300 for other authors.
Young Walter Scott is a fictionalized biography of the early life of Walter Scott by Elizabeth Janet Gray, set in Edinburgh in the late eighteenth century. Illustrated by Kate Seredy, it was first published in 1935 and was a Newbery Honor recipient in 1936.
Winterbound is a children's novel by Margery Williams. It is a family story set in a Connecticut farmhouse during the Great Depression. Nineteen-year-old Kay and sixteen-year-old Garry are in charge of the house and their younger siblings while their parents are away during the winter. The novel, illustrated by Kate Seredy, was first published in 1936 and was a Newbery Honor recipient in 1937.
The Singing Tree is a children's novel by Kate Seredy, the sequel to The Good Master. Also illustrated by Seredy, it was a Newbery Honor book in 1940. Set in rural Hungary four years after The Good Master, it continues the story of Kate and Jancsi, showing the effect of World War I on the people and land.
Mary Buff and Conrad Buff II were married creators of illustrated children's books. Between 1937 and 1968, they collaborated on both text and illustrations to produce 14 books; four times they were a runner-up for the Caldecott Medal or Newbery Medal. They had a profound impact on children's literature in the middle of the 20th century.
The Christmas Anna Angel is a 1944 picture book by Ruth Sawyer and illustrated by Kate Seredy. Although written and published during World War II, the story takes place in Hungary during World War I as a girl Anna hopes for a Christmas miracle. Seredy was the perfect choice to illustrate a story set in rural Hungary during World War I, full of local costumes and traditions. The story begins, realistically, with a farming family. Just as realistically, ruthless soldiers search the farm for flour, and take the year’s harvest. Happily, young Anna’s faith in a personal angel, her own Anna Angel, is rewarded by a dream-like Christmas Eve making and baking of the special Christmas cake – just in time for Christmas Day. Fortunately, Anna’s little dog is able to talk, and helps her, too.
Eva Roe Gaggin, also known as E. R. Gaggin, was an American children's book author. She won a Newbery Honor in 1942 for her book, Down Ryton Water.
