Children's Book Awards

ALA Children's Literature Award-Winners 2012

The American Library Association top books, video and audiobooks for children and young adults 2012 award winners. Recognized worldwide for the high quality they represent, ALA awards guide parents, educators, librarians and others in selecting the best materials for youth. Selected by judging committees of librarians and other children’s experts, the awards encourage original and creative work:

✸ John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature:

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos (Farrar Straus Giroux)

✸ Newbery Honor Books:

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin (Henry Holt) 

✸ Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children:

A Ball for Daisy, illustrated and written by Chris Raschka (Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books)

✸ Caldecott Honor Books

Blackout, illustrated and written by John Rocco (Disney · Hyperion Books, an imprint of Disney Book Group)

Grandpa Green, illustrated and written by Lane Smith (Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership)

Me … Jane, illustrated and written by Patrick McDonnell (Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.)

✸ Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults:

Where Things Come Back written by John Corey Whaley (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)

✸ Printz Honor Books:

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler, art by Maira Kalman (Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group)

The Returning by Christine Hinwood (Dial Books, an imprint of Penguin Group Young Readers GroupUSA)

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey (Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books)

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.)

✸ Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults:

Kadir Nelson, author and illustrator Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans (Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)

✸ King Author Honor Books:

Eloise Greenfield, author of The Great Migration: Journey to the North, illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist (Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)

Patricia C. McKissack, for Never Forgotten, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon (Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books)

✸ Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award:

Shane W. Evans, for Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom (Neal Porter Book, published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership)

✸ King Illustrator Honor Book:

Kadir Nelson, illustrator and author of Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans, published by Balzar + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

✸ Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement: The award, which pays tribute to the quality and magnitude of beloved children’s author Virginia Hamilton.

Ashley Bryan, the storyteller, artist, author, poet and musician, who created his first children’s book in first grade. He grew up in the Bronx and in 1962, he became the first African American to both write and illustrate a children’s book. After a successful teaching career, Bryan left academia to pursue creation of his own artwork. He has since garnered numerous awards for his significant and lasting literary contribution of poetry, spirituals and story.

✸ Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience:

✸ No award in the category for children ages 0 – 8 because no submissions were deemed worthy of the award.

✸ Middle School Award (ages 9 – 13):

Close to Famous by Joan Bauer (Viking, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group)

Wonderstruck: A Novel in Words and Pictures by Brian Selznick (Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic)

✸ Teen Award (ages 14-18):

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen (Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books)

More ALA Children's Book Awards ✏ here.