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Earlier today the American Library Association (ALA)  announced the top books, audiobooks and video for children and young adults – including the Caldecott, King, Newbery and Printz awards – at its Midwinter Meeting in Boston.

A complete list of all the 2010 literary award winners can be  seen here. Highlights include:

Winner of the John Newbery Medal ( for most outstanding contribution to children’s literature):
When You Reach Me written by Rebecca Stead

Winner of the Caldecott Medal (for most distinguished American picture book for children):
The Lion & the Mouse illustrated and written by Jerry Pinkney

Winner of the Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award (recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults):

Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

Winner of the Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award
My People illustrated by Charles R. Smith Jr. and written by Langston Hughes

Winner of the Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Award (honoring a Latino writer and illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience)

Book Fiesta!: Celebrate Children’s Day/Book Day; Celebremos El día de los niños/El día de los libros illustrated by Rafael López and written by Pat Mora

Winner of the Pura Belpré (Author) Award
Return to Sender written by Julia Alvarez

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending a luncheon held by the Children’s Book Guild of Washington, DC. Established in 1945, the Children’s Book Guild (of which I am a member) is a professional organization of authors, illustrators, and specialists in children’s literature.

The luncheon was held in celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards. The speakers were author and editor Andrea Davis Pinkney, honorary co-chair of the 40th birthday celebration of the Coretta Scott King (CSK) Book Awards, and Guild member Deborah Taylor, the current chair of the award committee. Pinkney and Taylor talked about the history and winners of these prestigious awards, which recognize outstanding children’s books by African Americans.

As an added bonus, Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Award-winning author and illustrator Kadir Nelson also attended the luncheon, as did Sharon Robinson, author and daughter of baseball legend Jackie Robinson.  Nelson and Robinson brought along copies of their gorgeous new book, Testing the Ice: A True Story About Jackie Robinson.  It was truly an inspiring event for all of us!

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards is celebrating, today, at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, “40 years and 113 award-winning African American authors and illustrators of 162 books for children and youth.” Four decades of celebrating excellence in African American children’s literature—what an accomplishment! PaperTigers congratulates its current and past winners, and all those involved with the award during these 40 years.

In honor of the award’s anniversary, TeachingBooks.net is making available more than 250 audio interviews and book readings by authors and artists, as part of the Coretta Scott King Book Award Curriculum Resource Center. The free, online resource aimed at educators and families also includes lesson plans and other supplemental materials. Searches can be executed by author, illustrator, title, grade level, and curriculum area, as well as by the year or specific Coretta Scott King Book Award citation. “Students can now learn the personal story behind each book directly from the creator, including how and why it was made,” said TeachingBooks.net founder Nick Glass, as quoted in the press release.

To learn “Fun Facts” about the award, check here.

Lee & Low Books, an independent children’s book publisher focused on diversity, has announced the winner of the New Voices Award Honor for 2008 - Hayan Charara of Houston, Texas- for his poignant story, The Three Lucys.

The Three Lucys explores the realities of war from the perspective of Luli, a young Lebanese boy whose most beloved possessions are his three cats, all named Lucy. Returning home with his parents after a visit with his aunt and uncle, Luli discovers that conflicts between people can change some things forever. But in the end, Luli also learns to hope for a future in which change is possible as differences are put aside. Mr. Charara’s writing is honest and lyrical and captures a strong sense of place. The Three Lucys is based on the experiences of the author’s younger brother during the month-long war in Lebanon in the summer of 2006.

A first-generation Arab American born in Michigan, Mr. Charara is a poet, editor, and teacher. While this is his first foray into writing for children, Mr. Charara’s work for adults has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies.

Lee & Low Books established the New Voices Award in 2000 to encourage writers of color to submit their work to a publisher that takes pride in nurturing new talent. The award reflects the company’s mission of meeting the need for stories that children of color can identify with and that all children can enjoy. “When we started the company, there was a lot of interest in books focused on diversity,” says co-founder Tom Low, “but most of the titles were folktales about exotic people from distant lands. We felt strongly that it was important to have books with a contemporary setting that reflect how we live today.”

Lee & Low has published over 200 books since 1991. A number of their titles have won major awards and honors, including the Coretta Scott King Award, the Pura Belpré Honor Award, and The Jane Addams Peace Award.

The American Library Association (ALA) will provide a free live Webcast of its national announcement of the top books and media for children and young adults on January 26 at 7:45 a.m. MT. You can also twitter the awards, and receive live updates on award winners as they are announced during the ceremony. In addition, the Youth Media Awards has a home on Facebook which features the RSS feed from the Youth Media Awards Twitter site as well as has videos, photos, and information about the awards.

Awards announced on January 26, 2009 include:

• Alex Awards for the best adult books that appeal to teen audience
• Coretta Scott King Book Awards honors African American authors and illustrators of outstanding books for children and young adults that demonstrate sensitivity to “the African American experience via literature and illustration.”
• John Newbery Medal honors the author of the year’s most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
• Laura Ingalls Wilder Award honors an author or illustrator whose books have made a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.
• Margaret A. Edwards Award honors an author’s lifetime contribution in writing for young adults as well as a specific body of his or her work.
• Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults.
• Pura Belpré Award recognizes Latino/Latina writers and illustrators whose work best portrays, affirms and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.
• Randolph Caldecott Medal honors the illustrator of the year’s most distinguished American picture book for children.
• Robert F. Sibert Medal honors an author, illustrator and/or photographer of the most distinguished informational book published for children.
• Schneider Family Book Award for books that embody an artistic expression of the disability experience.
• Theodor Seuss Geisel Award is presented annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished book for beginning readers published in English in the United States.
• William C. Morris Award begins in 2009, honoring a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens and celebrating impressive new voices in young adult literature.

The press release announcing all of the winners will be posted in the Youth Media Awards Press Kit prior to 10:30 a.m. MT. These award announcements are made as part of the ALA Midwinter Meeting, which brings together more than 10,000 librarians, publishers, authors and guests in Denver, Colorado from January 23 to 28.