2009 Children's Literary Award Winners

The winners of the 2009 major literary awards for children were announced today at the American Library Association's Midwinter Conference in Denver. [Click on each cover to view that title and to place a hold.]


Caldecott Medal Winner: The House in the Night, illustrated by Beth Krommes (written by Susan Marie Swanson)
A spare, patterned text and glowing pictures explore the origins of light that make a house a home in this bedtime book for young children.





Newbery Medal Winner: The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman
Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead.




Sibert Medal Winner (for best informational book) and Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner: We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Nelson tells the story of Negro League baseball from its beginnings in the 1920s, through its decline after Jackie Robinson crossed over to the majors in 1947.


Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner: The Blacker the Berry: Poems, illustrated by Floyd Cooper (written by Joyce Carol Thomas)
Black is dazzling and distinctive, like toasted wheat berry bread; snowberries in the fall; rich, red cranberries; and the bronzed last leaves of summer.


Geisel Award Winner (for best beginning reader): Are You Ready to Play Outside?, written and illustrated by Mo Willems
Elephant and Piggie can't wait to go play in the sunshine. But will a rainy day ruin all the fun?


For the complete list of this year's ALA award winners and honor books, take a look at the ALA website.