A chilly Monday in January is always made warmer and brighter with the announcements made by the American Library Association (ALA) for the best in children’s and young adult’s books published during the previous year.

This year’s Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children went to A Ball for Daisy illustrated and written by Chris Raschka (Schwartz and Wade).

There were three books chosen as Caldecott Honor Books this year:
Blackout illustrated and written by John Rocco (Hyperion)
Grandpa Green illustrated and written by Lane Smith (Roaring Brook Press)
Me … Jane illustrated and written by Patrick McDonnell (Little, Brown and Company)

The John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature was awarded to Jack Gantos for his novel, Dead End in Norvelt (Farrar Straus Giroux).
This year, there are two Newbery Honor Books:
Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
Breaking Stalin’s Nose written and illustrated by Eugene Yelchin,(Henry Holt and Company)

ALA presents a number of other important awards for children’s books. To view the entire list, go to The American Library Association Award list.

For a look at some of the awards’ titles, check out this Animoto video that my colleague, Lisa Francine, the Library Director at Fenn School, produced.