2008 Ezra Jack Keats Award Winners Announced

The Ezra Jack Keats Award is dedicated to fostering the talent of the new generations of children, artists, and authors who have succeeded Ezra Jack Keats. Keats was the distinguished author-illustrator of the classic Caldecott Award-winning The Snowy Day. The EJK award recognizes and encourages developing, talented authors and illustrators of children's books.

The 2008 Award Winners are....


New Writer Award Winner
Leaves
by David Ezra Stein

It is a young bear's first autumn, and the falling leaves surprise him. Eventually, he gets sleepy and burrows into the fallen leaves for a long nap. When he wakes up, there are suddenly brand-new leaves all around. School Library Journal calls the book an "introspective little gem."



New Illustrator Award Winner
The Apple Pie That Papa Baked
illustrated by Jonathan Bean

These are the apples, juicy and red, that went in the pie, warm and sweet, that Papa baked... for guess who! Booklist calls the illustrations "delightful," and notes that Bean "uses the best of old and new in artwork that harkens back to the works of Lois Lenski, Robert McClosky, and especially Wanda Gag."