Lemony Snicket won this year’s Charlotte Zolotow Award for outstanding writing in a picture book for his book The Dark, illustrated by Jon Klassen. The Cooperative Children’s Book Center administers this award. It’s a great idea to recognize the writing in picture books, since the Caldecott is recognizing distinguished illustration. The committee also recognized 5 honor titles:
- Building Our House written and illustrated by Jonathan Bean
- My Cold Plum Lemon Pie Bluesy Mood, written by Tameka Fryer Brown, illustrated by Shane Evans
- Sophie’s Squash, written by Pat Zietlow Miller, illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf
- This Is the Rope, written by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by James Ransome
- The Year of the Jungle, written by Suzanne Collins, illustrated by James Proimos
And 7 highly commended books:
- Big Snow, written and illustrated by Jonathan Bean
- Max and the Tag-Along Moon, written and illustrated by Floyd Cooper
- My Blue Is Happy, written by Jessica Young and illustrated by Catia Chien
- Niño Wrestles the World, written and illustrated by Yuyi Morales
- The Silver Button, written and illustrated by Bob Graham
- Stripes of All Types, written and illustrated by Susan Stockdale
- When No One Is Watching, written by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by David A. Johnson
I’d love to hear what you think of these books, and if you have tried using them in programs!
On another note about Lemony Snicket: this year, the American Library Association approved a new award:
The Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced withAdversity. “The prize will be a generous amount of cash from Mr. Snicket’s disreputable gains [$3000, plus up to $1000 travel], along with an odd, symbolic object from his private stash, and a certificate, which may or may not be suitable for framing.”
If you are facing adversity (particularly of the intellectual freedom variety), consider nominating yourself!