The Best of the Best 2003

Many librarians were surprised when the winners of this year's John Newbery and Randolph Caldecott Medals were announced. Neither of the major award winners had been ranked among the contenders. Here's a list of the top awards for children's literature presented on January 27 at the American Library Association's midwinter meeting.

Newbery Medal: Crispin: The Cross of Lead (Hyperion) by Avi

Newbery Honor Books: The House of the Scorpion (S & S/Atheneum/A Richard Jackson Bk.) by Nancy Farmer; Pictures of Hollis Woods (Random/Wendy Lamb Bks.) by Patricia Reilly Giff; Hoot (Knopf) by Carl Hiaasen; A Corner of the Universe (Scholastic) by Ann M. Martin; Surviving the Apple whites (HarperCollins) by Stephanie S. Tolan

Caldecott Medal: My Friend Rabbit (Roaring Brook) by Eric Rohmann

Caldecott Honor Books: The Spider and the Fly (S & S), illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi, written by Mary Howitt; Hondo & Fabian (Holt) by Peter McCarty; Noah's Ark (SeaStar) by Jerry Pinkney

Coretta Scott King Award for Writing: Bronx Masquerade (Dial) by Nikki Grimes

King Writing Honor Books: Talkin' About Bessie (Scholastic/Orchard) by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by E. B. Lewis; The Red Rose Box (Putnam) by Brenda Woods

Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration: Talkin' About Bessie

King Illustration Honor Books: Rap a Tap Tap (Scholastic/Blue Sky) by Leo and Diane Dillon; Visiting Langston (Holt), illustrated by Bryan Collier, written by Willie Perdomo

Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award: Chill Wind (Farrar/Frances Foster Bks.) by Janet McDonald; The Moon Ring (Chronicle) by Randy DuBurke

Michael L. Printz Award (for outstanding fiction for young adults): Postcards from No Man's Land (Dutton) by Aidan Chambers

Printz Honor Books: Hole in My Life (Farrar) by Jack Gantos; My Heartbeat (Houghton) by Garret Freymann-Weyr; The House of the Scorpion

Robert F. Sibert Award (for outstanding nonfiction): The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler (Clarion) by James Cross Giblin

Sibert Honor Books: Six Days in October (S & S/Atheneum) by Karen Blumenthal; Hole in My Life; Action Jackson (Roaring Brook) by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan; and When Marian Sang (Scholastic) by Pam Muñoz Ryan, illustrated by Brian Selznick

Margaret Edwards Award (for lifetime contribution to literature for young adults): Nancy Garden, author of Annie on My Mind (Farrar, 1982)

Andrew Carnegie Medal (for producer of best film or video for young people): Paul R. Gagne and Melissa Reilly of Weston Woods Studios for So You Want to Be President?

Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (for lifetime contribution to literature for children): Eric Carle, author and illustrator of The Very Hungry Caterpillar (HarperCollins, 1979)

Mildred L. Batchelder Award (for publisher of best translated book for young people): The Thief Lord (Scholastic/Chicken House), originally published in Germany in 2000, written by Cornelia Funke and translated by Oliver Latsch

Batchelder Honor Book: Henrietta and the Golden Eggs (Godine), written by Hanna Johansen, illustrated by Käthi Bhend, and translated by John Barrett

May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award: Ursula K. Le Guin, author of A Wizard of Earthsea (Parnassus, 1968)

For a list of these awards and others, visit our website.