Top Awards Given For Best Kids’ Books
A picture book inspired by the Los Angeles riots and the story of a Native American teenager who sets out to find her missing mother won the top two children’s book awards Monday.
“Smoky Night,” illustrated by David Diaz and written by the prolific Eve Bunting, received the Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished picture book of 1994. In the story, Daniel’s street is being looted and arsonists are burning the city, but what the boy is really worried about is his cat, Jasmine.
The Caldecott judges cited Diaz’s thickly textured, neo-expressionistic acrylics - set against a background of mixed-media collages - as dramatic and groundbreaking.
Sharon Creech’s “Walk Two Moons” won the Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The judges said the story of 13-year-old Salamanca’s quest to visit her mother, who never returned from a trip to Idaho, was “packed with humor and affection” and was “an odyssey of unexpected twists and surprising conclusions.”
The two awards, the first named for 19th-century illustrator Randolph Caldecott and the second for 18th-century English bookseller John Newbery, were given by the American Library Association at its midwinter meeting in Philadelphia. Neither comes with any cash prize - just an illustrious heritage and the prospect of long-term bestsellerdom.
The same is true, to a slightly lesser extent, of the runners-up, called Honor Books. Karen Cushman’s “Catherine, Called Birdy” and Nancy Farmer’s “The Ear, the Eye and the Arm” were Newbery Honor titles, while illustrators Paul O. Zelinsky’s “Swamp Angel,” Jerry Pinkney’s “John Henry” and Eric Rohmann’s “Time Flies” were Caldecott Honor selections.
The effect of these awards can be gauged to some degree by what happened Monday with “John Henry,” published by Dial Books for Young Readers. The tale of the “steel drivin’ man” who competes with a steam drill to see who is faster and stronger, done in watercolor earth tones by the muchhonored Pinkney, had a first printing of 30,000.
On the strength of fine reviews and good attention in Christmas gift round-ups, a second printing of 23,000 copies was ordered. Monday, on the heels of the Caldecott, another 25,000 were commissioned.
“Parents tend to go into bookstores and look for the Caldecott and Newbery medals before they buy anything else,” said Dial publicity manager Tim Moses. “They’re sort of the Good Housekeeping seal of approval for children’s books.”
Among the other awards given at the librarians’ conclave: The Coretta Scott King Author Award was given to Patricia C. and Frederick L. McKissack for “Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters.” Illustrated by John Thompson, the story contrasts the holiday of the slaves and of the masters on a Tidewater plantation in 1859.
The King Illustrator Award was won by James E. Ransome for “The Creation.” The poem was written by James Weldon Johnson, a poet, novelist, diplomat and chief executive officer of the NAACP who died in 1938.
Cynthia Voigt, author of numerous books for teenagers, won the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Outstanding Literature for Young Adults, a lifetime achievement award.
Virginia Hamilton won the 1995 Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, given to an author or illustrator whose books have made a lasting contribution to children’s literature. Over the past quarter-century, Hamilton has published work ranging from a biography of fugitive slave Anthony Burns to novels to folk tale collections.
Michael Sporn won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children’s Video for “Whitewash,” a 20-minute animated video about a black girl whose face is spray-painted by a gang of racists.