Caldecott and Newbery Winners

 I just wanted to quickly mention in response to last week's post, that we are having an interesting program coming up. It is Zumba for kids. I can't wait to see what this is like. I will keep you posted.

 The winner of the Caldecott and Newbery Awards were announced today. "This is Not my Hat" by Jon Klassen was the winner. I like Jon Klassen's books. While I think the illustrations are not out of the ordinary, his books are very funny and very well done. The honor books are: "Creepy Carrots" by Aaron Reynolds and illustrated by Peter Brown, "Extra Yarn" by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen, "Green" by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, "One Cool Friend" by Toni Buzzeo and illustrated by David Small and "Sleep Like a Tiger" by Mary Logue and illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski.

  I remember reading about "Creepy Carrots" and thinking how funny it sounded. When I read it. I thought it was cute how it was depicted as a scary picture book but was really very humorous. I liked it and felt it would be popular with the kids in the library. Indeed the book has proved to be enjoyed by many children in the library. Three of the books, "Extra Yarn", "Green" and "One Cool Friend" were picked by our librarians for the Mock Caldecott. Green was selected as our winner. I really was impressed by the books. I liked the ingeniuity of the cutouts and the concept of the book. I know several children's librarians from our library system have used it for storytimes. I would like to incorporate in a storytime too. "Extra Yarn" and "One Cool Friend" were both well done. The storylines were enjoyable and the illustrations were creative and sometimes funny.

  I have heard of some of the Newbery Award books from this year, but admit I was not familar with the winner, "The One and Only Ivan" by Katherine Applegate. We do not carry this book. I know about the "Bomb: The Race to Build" and we have it at our library.. I believe it was one of the honor books in our Mock Newbery. I will probably want to read some of these. I noticed that "Three Times Lucky" by Sheila Turnage is very popular in my library.

  So how do you all feel about the winners and honors books? Please comment and let me know.