The winner of the John Newbery Award for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children is Holes by Louis Sachar (FSG/ Frances Foster). Holes also won the National Book Award last November.
The winner of the Randolph Caldecott Award for most distinguished American picture book is Snowflake Bentley, illustrated by Mary Azarian, written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin (Houghton Mifflin).
The winners were announced on February 2, at the American Library Association's midwinter meeting in Philadelphia. Only one Newbery Honor book was awarded this year: A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck (Dial).
The Caldecott Honor books were No, David! by David Shannon (Scholastic/Blue Sky); Tibet: Through the Red Box by Peter Sís (FSG/Frances Foster); Snow by Uri Shulevitz (FSG); and Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra, illustrated by Brian Pinkney, written by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Hyperion).
The 30th annual Coretta Scott King Awards, honoring African-American authors and illustrators, were also announced. The winning author is Angela Johnson for Heaven (S&S). The winning illustrator is Michele Wood for I See the Rhythm, written by Toyomi Igus (Children's Book Press).
The Mildred L. Batchelder Award, given to outstanding works of fiction originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country and translated into English, went to Thanks to My Mother by Schoschana Rabinovici, translated by James Skofield (Dial). The Honor book is Secret Letters from 0 to 10 by Susie Morgenstern, translated by Gill Rosner (Viking).
The Scott O'Dell Award for historical fiction was also announced last week. It went to Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule by Harriette Gillem Robinet (S&S/Atheneum).
