NCTE 2020 -- So Much to Celebrate!

 

Janet Wong, recipient of the 2021 Excellence in Poetry for Children Award

I Am Every Good Thing, winner of the 2021 Charlotte Huck Award 

for Outstanding Fiction for Children (along with all of the honor and recommended books)

Above the Rim: How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball, winner of the 2021 Orbis Pictus Award

for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children (along with all of the honor and recommended books)

Good thing conference attendees have 60 days to continue to access the archives! What are some sessions that were too fabulous to miss?

2020 NCTE Charlotte Huck and Orbis Pictus Award Winners!

2020 Huck Award Winner

Click Here to view the Huck Honor and Recommended books. My review of Room on Our Rock is here.

2020 Orbis Pictus Award Winner

Click Here to view the Orbis Pictus Honor and Recommended books.

A Year of Reading's Bucket List

This blog began as an extension of our conversations about possible contenders for the Newbery and Caldecott Award winners.

Our "year of reading" has turned into eleven years of reading, writing, teaching, and poetry.

Last weekend, we checked an item off our lifetime bucket lists -- we went to ALA Midwinter and saw the Youth Media Awards announced LIVE instead of streaming on our smartboards in our classrooms!

We were about 5th in line, and right behind us was Jules Danielson of Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, who's been blogging just about as long as we have. It was so cool to meet her (and her family) in person!

In addition to seeing the book awards announced, 

we were there to cheer and congratulate OSU's own Dr. Rudine Simms Bishop on the Coretta Scott King - Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement.

This year, we had both read the Newbery winner and many of the Newbery and Caldecott Honor books.

It was another great Year of Reading in 2016, and we came home with suitcases full to the brim of ARCS so that we can begin our 2017 Year of Reading!

NCTE 2017 Charlotte Huck Awards

I have served on the NCTE Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children for the past three years. It has been an amazing experience. I've learned so much and have met so many great people.  I was never lucky enough to study under Charlotte Huck but her work has had a huge impact on me and my work.

Last year's Charlotte Huck Award committee presented the winning titles at this year's NCTE convention.

The Charlotte Huck Award is a new one and I was part of the first committee. The award's commitment is that it "recognizes fiction that has the potential to transform children's lives by inviting compassion, imagination and wonder." I have LOVED reading with the lens of the Charlotte Huck Award as the award recognizes the power of books for a child. 

I have also LOVED having the book awards announced at the Children's Book Award Luncheon at the NCTE Annual Convention. If you haven't been to this lunch, you are missing out on a fun time!  Previous year's awards are given to authors/illustrators, new awards are announced and there is an author at every table for lunch.  This  year, I got to sit with Mitali Perkins! And Mary Lee was able to sit with Loren Long!  Definitely a fun time!

Loren Long and Mary Lee at the Children's Book Award Luncheon!

This year the 2017 Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction was announced and here are the winners! I would definitely check out all of the books on the list--as it is one of my favorite award lists of the year!

2017 Winner

Ghost by Jason Reynolds

2017 Honor Books

Worm Loves Worm by J. J. Austrian

The Night Gardener by Terry Fan and Eric Fan

Ms. Bixby's Last Day by John David Anderson

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

2017 Recommended Titles

The Seventh Wish by Kate Messner

Luis Paints the World by Terry Farish

Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk

A Bandit's Tale by Deborah Hopkinson

Hoot and Peep by Lita Judge

One Half from the East by Nadia Sashimi

Inquisitor's Tale or the Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz

The Princess and the Warrior by Duncan Tonatiuh

For past lists and more information on the Charlotte Huck award, visit the award page on NCTE's website.  You may also be interested in reading The Power of Children's Book Awards and 

The Ripple Effect of Award Lists.

And don't miss this year's Orbis Pictus Awards for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children!

Geisel Award Winning Books

I love the (Theador Seuss) Geisel Award books.  And award specific to beginning readers is fabulous!  I think for those of us that have worked with very young children, we know how hard it is to find great books that young children can read and can enjoy. So this award is one of my favorites.

This year, I had to purchase two of the winners. I read a lot in 2014 but I didn't read much for beginning readers.  Of course, I already had the new Elephant and Piggie (Waiting is Not Easy) book that won the award. (I imagine every Mo Willems book is the perfect example of what makes a good Geisel Award winner.)  And both of these new titles will be good for my 3rd grade classroom too!

You Are (Not) Small is the winner of this award this year and it is a picture book. I don't think this book was even on my radar before it was announced as a winner last week.  But I ordered it right away and I loved it! It is a fun story that has lots to say in a fun way. I love when a simple books gives a powerful message.  For me the book was about perspective and identity and acceptance.  The illustrations are fun and the characters are quite engaging--and quite adorable. I know my 3rd graders will like the story and I love that the themes are accessible.  Younger children will love this one as well.

I hadn't read a new Mr. Putter and Tabby book in a long time.  Honestly, I didn't realize Cynthia Rylant was still writing these.  But when I saw  Mr. Putter and Tabby Turn the Page--a book about reading--was a Geisel Honor, I was thrilled!  I had kind of forgotten about this series and I can think of a few kids who these books would be perfect for. I am hoping that having the award winner in the classroom might get some kids reading these.  This new one was quite fun.  Mr. Putter and his neighbor take their pets to story time at the library.  This is a typical Mr. Putter and Tabby book with some fun humor sprinkled throughout. I enjoyed it and am glad to have rediscovered the series.
didn't realize that Cynthia Rylant was still writing these.  So I was happy to see this new one,

I think all of the Geisel award winners and honors are great for K-3 classrooms.  If you haven't kept up on this award, it is a fairly new one. You can find all of the past award winners and honor books on the award page.  Definitely a list worth checking out if you work with young children.

A Year of Reading Award Winners

Here are the award-winners I read in 2013:

Newbery -- Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures

Newbery Honor -- The Year of Billy Miller

Caldecott  (and Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award Honor) -- Locomotive

Caldecott Honor -- Journey

Caldecott Honor -- Mr. Wuffles!

Coretta Scott King Author -- P.S. Be Eleven

Coretta Scott King Honor -- Words with Wings

Coretta Scott King Illustrator -- Knock Knock: My Dad's Dream for Me

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor -- Nelson Mandela

Michael L. Printz Honor -- Navigating Early

Mildred L. Batchelder Honor -- The Bathing Costume: Or the Worst Vacation of My Life

 

Pura Belpré Illustrator -- Niño Wrestles the World

Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor and Author Honor -- Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: A Migrant's Tale

My only regret was that The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp didn't win an Odyssey Award for best audio book.

2013 was a great reading year! Can't wait to see what 2014 holds in store!