Children’s Book Award Winners @ the Ridgefield Library

Readers, young and old! It’s our favorite time of year again, when the American Library Association announces the winners of its legendary annual awards: the John Newbery Medal for the best in children’s fiction, and the Randolph Caldecott Medal for the best in children’s picture books. This year’s winners are Kwame Alexander’s “The Crossover” for the Newbery, a chapter book that fuses the rhythm of poetry and basketball, and Dan Santat’s “The Adventures of Beekle” for the Caldecott, a story about a little creature who longs to be someone’s imaginary friend.

You can check out these, and many more award winners, in our special Juvenile Award Winner collection in the Lodewick Family Children’s Library. This collection contains the Newbery and Caldecott winners from every year, dating back to 1922! The two sections are organized in reverse chronological order, so you can see the progression of titles over the course of nearly a century. You’ll recognize some wonderful bedtime favorites, such as “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak, among the Caldecotts. Reread some great stories, like Robert O’Brien’s “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH,” in the Newberys. Take a look on ALA’s website (www.ala.org) for a full list of these timeless classics. 

Contributed by Ann Victor, Children's Collection Management Specialist