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.
The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). The Caldecott and Newbery Medals are considered the most prestigious American children's book awards. Beside the Caldecott Medal, the committee awards a variable number of citations to runners-up they deem worthy, called the Caldecott Honor or Caldecott Honor Books.
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.
Booklist is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. Booklist's primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is available to subscribers in print and online. It is published 22 times per year, and reviews over 7,500 titles annually. The Booklist brand also offers a blog, various newsletters, and monthly webinars. The Booklist offices are located in the American Library Association headquarters in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood.
Mordicai Gerstein was an American artist, writer, and film director, best known for illustrating and writing children's books. He illustrated the comic mystery fiction series Something Queer is Going On.
First Second Books is an American publisher of graphic novels. An imprint of Roaring Brook Press, part of Holtzbrinck Publishers, First Second publishes fiction, biographies, personal memoirs, history, visual essays, and comics journalism. It also publishes graphic non-fiction for young readers, including the Science Comics and History Comics collections, and for adults, including the World Citizen Comics, a line of civics graphic books, and biographical works such as The Accidental Czar.
Ed Tse-chun Young was a Chinese-born American illustrator and writer of children's picture books. He has received many awards and recognitions, including the Caldecott Medal and Lifetime Achievement awards for his contributions as a children's illustrator.
Lane Smith is an American illustrator and writer of children's books. He is the Kate Greenaway medalist (2017) known for his eclectic visuals and subject matter, both humorous and earnest, such as the contemplative Grandpa Green, which received a Caldecott Honor in 2012, and the outlandish Stinky Cheese Man, which received a Caldecott Honor in 1992.
Marcia Joan Brown was an American writer and illustrator of more than 30 children's books. She has won three annual Caldecott Medals from the American Library Association, and six Caldecott Medal honors as an illustrator, recognizing the year's best U.S. picture book illustration, and the ALA's Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal in 1992 for her career contribution to children's literature. This total of nine books with awards and honors is more than any other Caldecott-nominated illustrator. Many of her titles have been published in translation, including Afrikaans, German, Japanese, Spanish and Xhosa-Bantu editions. Brown is known as one of the most honored illustrators in children's literature.
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 Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) is an organization that aims to "educate, empower, and inspire its members to advance the evolution of the profession and better serve users in a continuously changing information society." It is a division of the American Library Association.
Mark Siegel is known both as an author, illustrator, and as the editorial director of First Second Books, a Macmillan imprint which publishes graphic novels for all ages. He grew up in France until the age of 18, after which he moved back to the United States where he presently lives.
A Sick Day for Amos McGee is a 2010 children's picture book written by Philip C. Stead and was illustrated by Erin E. Stead. The book, published by Roaring Brook Press, depicts a zookeeper who has bonded with the animals he cares for and who come and visit him one day when he gets sick. Phillip Stead wrote the book hoping his wife Erin would illustrate it after a period where she had become discouraged with her art. The book was well reviewed, and Erin won the 2011 Caldecott Medal for her illustrations. The book received praise for its woodblock illustrations and for its message about what friends will do to help and support each other.
Erin E. Stead is an American illustrator of children's books. She won the 2011 Caldecott Medal for the year's best-illustrated U.S. picture book, recognizing her first publication, A Sick Day for Amos McGee.
Jean Edna Karl was an American book editor who specialized in children's and science fiction titles. She founded and led the children's division and young adult and science fiction imprints at Atheneum Books, where she oversaw or edited books that won two Caldecott Medals and five Newbery Medals. One of the Newberys went to the new writer E. L. Konigsburg in 1968 for From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.
Grandpa Green is a children's book by author and illustrator Lane Smith. It was published by Roaring Brook Press in 2011 and was selected as a Caldecott Honor Book in 2012.
Yuyi Morales is a Mexican-American children's book author and illustrator. She is known for her books Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book, Little Night, and Viva Frida, which received the 2015 Pura Belpre Medal for illustration as well as a 2015 Caldecott Honor. Morales is the first Latina to be a Caldecott recipient.
Lee Harris is a British editor of science fiction, fantasy and horror. He is the only British editor ever to have been nominated in the Hugo Awards "short form" editing category, and the first British editor ever to have been nominated in the editing "long form" category.
Juana Martinez-Neal is a Peruvian American children's book author and illustrator. Her debut book as an author and illustrator, Alma and How She Got Her Name, was well reviewed and won a 2019 Caldecott Honor.
The Carle Honors are annual awards given by the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art to individuals and organizations in the picture book field for their dedication and creative vision. They are named in honor of the American author and illustration of children's picture books Eric Carle.
