Press Release:
Author Tonya Hegamin and illustrator Taeeun Yoo are the winners of the 2010 Ezra Jack Keats Awards, which celebrate excellence in children’s literature by new authors and illustrators, who, in the spirit of the late author/illustrator Ezra Jack Keats, offer new and electrifying views of the multicultural world children inhabit today. The awards will be presented on Wednesday, April 28 at 6:00 p.m. by The New York Public Library and the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation. The ceremony, open to the public, will be held in the South Court Auditorium of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, New York, NY, USA.
Ms. Hegamin is recognized for Most Loved in All the World which tells the story of a little girl whose mother is a secret agent on the Underground Railroad. Before sending her daughter north to freedom, the mother sews a quilt for her daughter, not only to guide her with its symbols of moss and the north star, but also to remind her always that the smiling girl in the center of the quilt is “most loved in all the world.”
Ms. Yoo wins for her sublime linoleum block prints in Only a Witch Can Fly, about a young witch who tries and tries again to fly one special night.
For more information on the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award and this year’s winners you can click here and here.
I still remember receiving a few letters as a child from my godfather’s mother in Uruguay: letters just to me, written on gossamer-thin airmail paper and each with a tiny, brightly-colored feather attached to it. So Dear Juno by Korean author Soyung Pak and illustrated by Susan Kathleen Hartung (Puffin Books, 2001) certainly resonated with me and sparked the imagination of Older and Little Brother when we picked it up recently.
Juno and his parents live in the US and he can’t read the letters his grandmother sends him in Korean -but he can still understand them before they are read aloud to him because of the extra things his grandmother includes with the letters, like photographs or a dried flower from her garden. Juno realises that his grandmother would like to hear from him too and sends her “letters” made up of a leaf from his special tree and drawings. It’s a wonderful way to communicate and does away with the distance and language differences - and just like in the story, young listeners can pick out what is being communicated through the delightful illustrations. There is also something particularly appealing about Juno wondering aloud to Sam, his dog, if Grandmother will bring her cat with her when she comes to visit… My adult mind was immediately filled with logistical nightmares and immigration/quarantine issues: but, of course, my two young listeners took it in their stride and discussed instead the very real possibility of a cat and dog getting along!
Soyoung Pak received the 2000 New-Writer Ezra Jack Keats Award. Running an eye down the list of winners past and present throws up a number of books we have loved and highlighted on PaperTigers: and plenty of inspiration for future reading…
I have not come across Ezra Jack Keats before but have so enjoyed filling that gap in my knowledge via the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation website. They have an appeal on at the moment to help them get a US stamp printed to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of The Snowy Day , which Janet posted about last year. Having fallen in love with the adorable, wee, red-hooded character (see the Award logo), I’m going to have to seek out the book myself… And if you were brought up with his books and/or read them to your children/classes, we’d love to hear your recommendations…
