Bob Graham Wins 2009 Zolotow Award
RSSBy SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 01/13/2009
Graham follows the fate of an injured pigeon told in a dramatic story that slowly unfolds by using just a handful of carefully weighted words. And the visual storytelling accompanying the narrative includes full-page and double-page spreads and multiple panels on a single page.
The 2009 Zolotow Award committee also named five honor books: How I Learned Geography (Farrar, Straus), written and illustrated by Uri Shulevitz; How Mama Brought the Spring (Dutton), by Fran Manushkin, illustrated by Holly Berry; In a Blue Room (Harcourt/Houghton) by Jim Averbeck, illustrated by Tricia Tusa; A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams (Eerdmans), by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet; and Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad (Roaring Brook), written and illustrated by James Rumford.
The Zolotow Award committee also cited eight titles as highly commended: The Butter Man (Charlesbridge); by Elizabeth Alalou and Ali Alalou, illustrated by Julie Klear Essakalli; The Chicken of the Family (Putnam), by Mary Amato, illustrated by Delphine Durand; The Cow That Laid an Egg (HarperCollins),written by Andy Cutbill, illustrated by Russell Ayto; Dance with Me (Candlewick) by Charles R. Smith, Jr., illustrated by Noah Z. Jones; Don’t Worry Bear (Viking) written and illustrated by Greg Foley; Growing Up with Tamales = Los tamales de Ana (Piñata Books / Arte Público Press) by Gwendolyn Zepeda, illustrated by April Ward, Spanish translation by Gabriela Baeza Ventura; Hen Hears Gossip (Greenwillow / HarperCollins) by Megan McDonald, illustrated by Joung Un Kim; and Old Bear (Greenwillow/HarperCollins) written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes.
Established in 1998, the award honors the work of Charlotte Zolotow, a distinguished children's book editor for 38 years with Harper Junior Books, and author of more than 70 picture books, including such classic works as Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present (Harper, 1962) and William's Doll (Harper, 1972). Zolotow attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison on a writing scholarship from 1933 to 1936, where she studied with Professor Helen C. White. The award is given annually for outstanding writing in a picture book for children in the birth through seven age range published in the United States in the preceding year.
