Penguin Young Readers Receives Sixteen 2016 American Library Association (ALA) Youth Media Awards
New York, NY — Penguin Young Readers has received sixteen 2016 American Library Association (ALA) Youth Media Awards. The ALA announced today that LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET, written by Matt de la Peña and illustrated by Christian Robinson (Putnam Books for Young Readers) has received the Newbery Medal, as well as a Caldecott Honor,and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for Robinson. ROLLER GIRL by Victoria Jamieson (Dial Books for Young Readers) has received a Newbery Honor, and THE WAR THAT SAVED MY LIFE by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley has received a Newbery Honor, the Schneider Family Book Award (Middle School) (Dial Books for Young Readers), and the Odyssey Award.
LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET written by Matt de la Peña and illustrated by Christian Robinson (Putnam Books for Young Readers) has received the Newbery Medal for its outstanding contribution to children’s literature, a Caldecott honor as one of the most distinguished American picture books for children, and a Coretta Scott King illustrator award for demonstrating an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values. LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET follows CJ and his grandma as they take the bus across town after church on Sunday, highlighting the bond between grandparent and child and bringing out the beauty of the bustling city. The book received three starred reviews; was a Winter 2014-2015 Kids’ Indie Next Pick and a Finalist for the E.B. White Read Aloud Award; and was named a New York Times Notable Children’s Book of 2015. It was named a “Best Book of 2015” by NPR, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, The Horn Book, and many more.
THE WAR THAT SAVED MY LIFE by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley has received a Newbery Honor and the Schneider Family Book Award (Middle School) (Dial Books for Young Readers), for its embodiment of an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences, and the Odyssey Award as the best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults. An exceptionally moving story of triumph against all odds set during World War II, from the acclaimed author of Jefferson’s Sons, this masterful work of historical fiction follows nine-year-old Ada as she fights against her mother’s repression and teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies. THE WAR THAT SAVED MY LIFE garnered three starred reviews, and was named a Best Book of 2015 by The Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, Goodreads, and more upon its release.
ROLLER GIRL by Victoria Jamieson (Dial Books for Young Readers) has received a Newbery Honor. A New York Times bestselling middle grade graphic novel, ROLLER GIRL introduces Astrid, a teenage girl who joins a roller derby team, and learns along the way how to deal with the bumps, bruises and bonds of friendship. This is the first graphic novel by author Victoria Jamieson, who has previously written three picture books including Olympig. ROLLER GIRL has received five starred reviews and several honors. It was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2015, a Spring 2015 Indie Next Pick, and a Best Book of 2015 by Parents Magazine, The Miami Herald, Huffington Post, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, New York Public Library and the Chicago Public Library. ROLLER GIRL is a nominee for the Texas Bluebonnet Award, and a 2016 YALSA award nominee in three categories: Popular Paperback, Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers and Great Graphic Novels.
Jerry Pinkney has been honored with the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, in recognition of his substantial contribution to literature for children, and the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Practitioner Award for Lifetime Achievement. A prolific author and illustrator, Pinkney has won the Caldecott Medal and five Caldecott Honors, five Coretta Scott King Awards, five New York Times Ten Best Illustrated Awards, the Society of Illustrators’ Original Art Show Lifetime Achievement Award, and many other prizes and honors. Recently a member of the National Council of the Arts and inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he has also served on the U.S. Postal Service Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee. His artwork has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the country, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Schomburg Center, and the Norman Rockwell Museum.
Jacqueline Woodson has been honored as the May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award for her significant contribution to the field of children’s literature, and will deliver the lecture in 2017. Woodson is the 2014 National Book Award Winner for her New York Times bestselling memoir Brown Girl Dreaming, which was also a recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor Award, the NAACP Image Award and the Sibert Honor Award. Woodson was recently named the Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. She is the author of more than two dozen award-winning books for young adults, middle graders and children; among her many accolades, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a three-time National Book Award finalist, and a two-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. Her books include The Other Side, Each Kindness, the Caldecott Honor Book Coming On Home Soon; the Newbery Honor winners Feathers, Show Way, and After Tupac and D Foster, and Miracle’s Boys which received the LA Times Book Prize, the Coretta Scott King Award and was adapted into a miniseries directed by Spike Lee. Jacqueline is also the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement for her contributions to young adult literature, the winner of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, and was the 2013 United States nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award.
David Levithan has been honored with the Margaret A. Edwards Award for his significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature. The New York Times bestselling author of many novels, Levithan’s body of work includes Every Day; Will Grayson, Will Grayson (with John Green) and its companion musical novel Hold Me Closer; and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (with Rachel Cohn). His novel Two Boys Kissing won a Lambda Literary Award.
FISH IN A TREE by Lynda Mullaly Hunt (Nancy Paulsen Books) has received the Schneider Family Book Award as a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences. The New York Times bestselling novel about fifth grader Ally Nickerson depicts her struggles with reading, and the special substitute teacher who helps her recognize that her weaknesses are really her biggest strengths. FISH IN A TREE has received three starred reviews, is currently on three state award lists, was a Kids’ Indie Next Winter 2014-2015 Selection, and a School Library Journal Best Book of 2015. It was also selected as a Global Read Aloud for 2015, where thousands of students take six weeks to read and discuss the book with other classrooms across the globe. Lynda Mullaly Hunt’s debut novel, ONE FOR THE MURPHYS, is on over twenty state award lists and has received many accolades including a Bank Street Best Book of 2013.
DON’T THROW IT TO MO! written by David A. Adler and illustrated by Sam Ricks (Penguin Young Readers) receives the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award as an outstanding book for beginning readers. In this first book in the series, Mo is the youngest kid on the Robins football team and is teased by the team’s for being a “butterfingers” who’s too tiny to catch the ball. But Mo’s coach has a plan up his sleeve to turn Mo’s little size into a big win for the Robins. David A. Adler’s Cam Jansen series is a classroom favorite and he is the author of more than 175 children’s books.
A PIG, A FOX, AND A BOX by Jonathan Fenske (Penguin Young Readers), receives a Geisel Honor. This charming book for beginning readers uses comic art and simple language to tell three humorous stories of two friends, Pig and Fox, and their shenanigans with a cardboard box. Jonathan Fenske has written and illustrated several Penguin Young Readers, including Guppy Up! and Woodward and McTwee. He was a Cybil Award finalist for his reader Love Is in the Air.
TURNING 15 ON THE ROAD TO FREEDOM written by Lynda Blackmon Lowery (as told to co-authors Elspeth Leacock and Susan Buckley) (Dial Books for Young Readers) receives the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor in recognition of its contribution to information books for young readers. TURNING 15 ON THE ROAD TO FREEDOM is a memoir of the Civil Rights Movement from Lynda Blackmon Lowery, the youngest person to complete the Voting Rights March of 1965 from Selma to Montgomery. Jailed for her activism nine times before her fifteenth birthday, Lowery fought alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. for the rights of African-Americans, proving that young adults can be heroes, too. Lowery became determined to march to Montgomery with Dr. King after surviving a brutal attack at the hands of a state trooper on Sunday, March 7, 1965—also known as “Bloody Sunday,” one of the most iconic moments of the Civil Rights Movement. Packed with photos and full-color illustrations by PJ Loughran, this eye-opening, first person account has garnered three starred reviews and was named a KirkusBest Book of 2015 and a Booklist Editors’ Choice book for 2015. A story of courage in the face of fear, it serves as a reminder of the importance of standing up for what you believe in, and the power of individuals to create change through nonviolence.
THE SACRED LIES OF MINNOW BLY by Stephanie Oakes (Dial Books for Young Readers) is a finalist for the William C. Morris Award, honoring a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens and celebrating impressive new voices in young adult literature. A hard-hitting and hopeful story about the dangers of blind faith—and the power of having faith in yourself—this harrowing debut received three starred reviews.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS AND ILLUSTRATORS:
David A. Adler is the author of more than 175 children’s books. Before becoming a children’s book author, he taught math and science, and completed master’s degrees in marketing and economics. He and his wife have three children and two grandchildren.
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley lives on a forty-two-acre farm in Bristol, Tennessee. She is the author of several books for children, including Leap of Faith, and Jefferson’s Sons.
Jonathan Fenske has written and illustrated several Penguin Young Readers, including Guppy Up! and Woodward and McTwee. He was a Cybil Award finalist for his reader Love Is in the Air. He lives in Denver, Colorado.
David Levithan is the New York Times bestselling author of many novels including, Every Day; Will Grayson, Will Grayson (with John Green); and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (with Rachel Cohn). His most recent novel, Two Boys Kissing, won a Lambda Literary Award. He lives in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Lynda Mullaly Hunt (www.lyndamullalyhunt.com
Victoria Jamieson received her BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design. She worked as a children’s book designer before moving to Portland and becoming a freelance illustrator. She has also worked as a portrait artist aboard a cruise ship, and has lived in Australia, Italy, and Canada. She maintains a not-so-secret identity as Winnie the Pow, skater with the Rose City Rollers roller derby league.
Elspeth Leacock and Susan Buckley have collaborated on several previous history and geography books for young people. Elspeth lives in Brooklyn, New York, and Susan lives in New York City.
Lynda Blackmon Lowery, the youngest person to take part in the whole Selma to Montgomery March, now works as a case manager at a mental health center, and still lives in Selma, Alabama.
Stephanie Oakes lives in Spokane, Washington, and works as a library media teacher in a combined middle and elementary school. She has an MFA in poetry from Eastern Washington University. The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly is her debut novel.
Matt de la Peña (www.mattdelapena.com) is the author of several critically-acclaimed young adult novels, as well as the celebrated picture book A Nation’s Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis. Matt lives in Brooklyn, NY. Follow him on Twitter @mattdelapena.
Jerry Pinkney is one of America’s most admired children’s book illustrators. He has won the Caldecott Medal and five Caldecott Honors, five Coretta Scott King Awards, five New York Times Ten Best Illustrated Awards, the Society of Illustrators’ Original Art Show Lifetime Achievement Award, and many other prizes and honors. Recently a member of the National Council of the Arts and inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he has also served on the U.S. Postal Service Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee. His artwork has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the country, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Schomburg Center, and the Norman Rockwell Museum. Jerry Pinkney lives with his wife, author Gloria Jean Pinkney, in Westchester County, New York.
Christian Robinson (www.theartoffun.com) is the winner of the 2014 Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Award, as well as the 2013 Marion Vannett Ridgeway Honor. Christian lives in San Francisco, California.
Jacqueline Woodson is the 2014 National Book Award Winner for her New York Times bestselling memoir Brown Girl Dreaming, which was also a recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor Award, the NAACP Image Award and the Sibert Honor Award. Woodson was recently named the Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. She is the author of more than two dozen award-winning books for young adults, middle graders and children; among her many accolades, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a three-time National Book Award finalist, and a two-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. Her books include The Other Side, Each Kindness, the Caldecott Honor Book Coming On Home Soon; the Newbery Honor winners Feathers, Show Way, and After Tupac and D Foster, and Miracle’s Boys which received the LA Times Book Prize, the Coretta Scott King Award and was adapted into a miniseries directed by Spike Lee. Jacqueline is also the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement for her contributions to young adult literature, the winner of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, and was the 2013 United States nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.
NOTE TO THE PRESS:
Dial Books for Young Readers, established in 1961, is a hardcover division publishing approximately 75 titles a year for children of all ages. One of the first houses to publish high-quality board books and an early leader in multicultural publishing, Dial continues to focus on books that combine artistic excellence and kid-relevance. Its list of acclaimed authors and illustrators includes Richard Peck, Nancy Werlin, Marilyn Nelson, Holly Goldberg Sloan, Ingrid Law, Jerry Pinkney, Jon Agee, Kadir Nelson, Jandy Nelson, Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri, David Soman and Jacky Davis, and Judy Schachner.
Nancy Paulsen Books launched its first hardcover list in Fall 2011. The imprint publishes approximately fifteen books a year and focuses on picture books that are eye-opening and often funny, and fiction from diverse and distinct voices, especially stories that are inventive and emotionally satisfying. These are the kinds of books that are adopted by book clubs and that appear on state lists, generated by the votes of children.
Recent picture books include Coretta Scott King Honor Award Winning Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson and EB Lewis, New York Times Best Illustrated Book The Baby Tree by Sophie Blackall, Looking at Lincoln by Maira Kalman, and Strega Nona’s Gift by Laura Ingalls Wilder Award winner Tomie dePaola. Recent fiction includes National Book Award Winning Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, and the New York Times Bestseller Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt.
Penguin Young Readers unite the best authors, illustrators, and brands from the Penguin Young Readers Group under one umbrella. Including a comprehensive mix of esteemed authors, favorite characters, nonfiction, and licensed properties, Penguin Young Readers feature a traditional numbered leveling system, as well as the Guided Reading leveling system, to ensure quick recognition for educators, parents, and kids.
Putnam was established in 1838 and published its first children’s title in 1925. The imprint publishes roughly fifty trade hardcover books a year—from lively, accessible picture books to some of today’s strongest voices in fiction. The home of classics such as Little Toot by Hardie Gramatky and Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág, Putnam is now home for esteemed and popular authors including Marie Lu, Rick Yancey, Katherine Howe, Maile Meloy, Matt de la Peña, and Betty Birney, as well as illustrators Jan Brett, Keiko Kasza, Dan Santat, Christian Robinson, and David Catrow.
Penguin Random House (http://global.
