Lemony Snicket Snippets

Lemony Snicket won this year's Charlotte Zolotow Award for outstanding writing in a picture book for his book The Dark, illustrated by Jon Klassen. The Cooperative Children's Book Center administers this award. It's a great idea to recognize the writing in picture books, since the Caldecott is recognizing distinguished illustration. The committee also recognized 5 honor titles:

Building Our House written and illustrated by Jonathan Bean
My Cold Plum Lemon Pie Bluesy Mood, written by Tameka Fryer Brown, illustrated by Shane Evans
Sophie's Squash, written by Pat Zietlow Miller, illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf
This Is the Rope, written by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by James Ransome
The Year of the Jungle, written by Suzanne Collins, illustrated by James Proimos

And 7 highly commended books:

Big Snow, written and illustrated by Jonathan Bean
Max and the Tag-Along Moon, written and illustrated by Floyd Cooper
My Blue Is Happy, written by Jessica Young and illustrated by Catia Chien
Niño Wrestles the World, written and illustrated by Yuyi Morales
The Silver Button, written and illustrated by Bob Graham
Stripes of All Types, written and illustrated by Susan Stockdale
When No One Is Watching, written by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by David A. Johnson

I'd love to hear what you think of these books, and if you have tried using them in programs!

On another note about Lemony Snicket: this year, the American Library Association approved a new award:

The Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced withAdversity. "The prize will be a generous amount of cash from Mr. Snicket's disreputable gains [$3000, plus up to $1000 travel], along with an odd, symbolic object from his private stash, and a certificate, which may or may not be suitable for framing."

If you are facing adversity (particularly of the intellectual freedom variety), consider nominating yourself!

Labels: book awards, book lists, picture books, storytime