ELC: Education Learning Commons

Caldecott Medal

The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.    

The Caldecott Medal is presented annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. It is awarded by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association. The Award is restricted to artists who are citizens or residents of the United States. The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott.  Randolph Caldecott (1846-1886) is often called the “father of the picture book."

• The award was first given in 1938 to Dorothy P. Lathrop for Animals of the Bible, with text selected by Helen Dean Fish from the King James Bible.  We have the 1968 edition. You can see the award-winning black and white illustrations!
• Two artists have won the medal three times: Marcia Brown (1955-Cinderella, or, the Little Glass Slipper, 1962-Once a Mouse, 1983-Shadow) and David Wiesner (1992-Tuesday, 2002-The Three Pigs, 2007-Flotsam).
• Six artists have won the medal two times: Barbara Cooney, Leo and Diane Dillon, Nonny Hogrogian, Robert McCloskey, Chris Raschka, and Chris Van Allsburg.
• Five married couples have won the award together: Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire, Leo and Diane Dillon, Berta and Elmer Hader, Maud and Miska Petersham, and Alice and Martin Provensen.
• Maurice Sendak won the award in 1964 for Where the Wild Things Are and has the most honor books (7).
• Dr. Seuss has never won the Caldecott. He has three honor titles: 1948 (McElligot’s Pool), 1950 (Bartholomew and the Oobleck), and 1951 (If I Ran the Zoo).

Coretta Scott King Book Awards  

The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values. The award commemorates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and honors his wife, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood.

Purpose:  To encourage the artistic expression of the African American experience via literature and the graphic arts, including biographical, historical, and social history treatments by African American authors and illustrators.

The Award is given to an African American author and illustrator for outstanding inspirational and educational contributions. The Coretta Scott King Book Award titles promote understanding and appreciation of the culture of all peoples and their contribution to the realization of the American dream of a pluralistic society. The Award is further designed to commemorate the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to honor Mrs. Coretta Scott King for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood.  - from CSKBART ALA

Mildred L. Batchelder Award

The Batchelder Award is unusual in that it is given to an American publisher for a children's book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States. The Mildred L. Batchelder Award references a given work, its translator, and author. 

This award honors Mildred L. Batchelder, a former executive director of the Association for Library Service to Children, a believer in the importance of good books for children in translation from all parts of the world. She began her career working at Omaha (NE) Public Library, then as a children's librarian at St. Cloud (MN) State Teachers College, and subsequently as librarian of Haven Elementary School in Evanston, IL. She eventually joined the ranks of the American Library Association in 1936. Batchelder spent 30 years with ALA, working as an ambassador to the world on behalf of children and books, encouraging and promoting the translation of the world's best children's literature. Her life's work was "to eliminate barriers to understanding between people of different cultures, races, nations, and languages." - from the ALA Batchelder Award

Newbery Medal

The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

Purpose: The purpose of the Newbery Medal was stated as follows: "To encourage original creative work in the field of books for children. To emphasize to the public that contributions to the literature for children deserve similar recognition to poetry, plays, or novels. To give those librarians, who make it their life's work to serve children's reading interests, an opportunity to encourage good writing in this field." (https://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newbery)

• In 1921, Frederic G. Melcher had the Newbery Medal designed by René Paul Chambellan. The bronze medal has the winner's name and the date engraved on the back. The American Library Association Executive Board in 1922 delegated to the Children's Librarians' Section the responsibility for selecting the book to receive the Newbery Medal.
• The inscription on the Newbery Medal still reads "Children's Librarians' Section," although the section has changed its name four times and its membership now includes both school and public library children's librarians, in contrast to the years 1922-58, when the section, under three different names, included only public library children's librarians. Today, the Medal is administered by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of ALA.
• The Newbery Award is the first children's book award in the world. Its terms, as well as its long history, continue to make it the best-known and most discussed children's book award in this country.

Pura Belpré Award

The award is named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library. The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, is presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.

The Pura Belpré Award, established in 1996, is presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. It is co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), divisions of the American Library Association (ALA), and the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking ( REFORMA), an ALA affiliate.

In celebration of the Belpré Award's 20th anniversary in 2016, TeachingBooks.net offers a searchable database of more than 1,000 online Belpré resources, including author interviews, lesson plans, book trailers, text complexity rubrics, and more—all available free through this link. Visitors to the site can hear directly from Latino/Latina authors and illustrators as they talk about and read from their books.

Sibert Informational Book Medal

The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal is awarded annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished informational book published in the United States in English during the preceding year. The award is named in honor of Robert F. Sibert, the long-time President of Bound to Stay Bound Books, Inc. of Jacksonville, Illinois. ALSC administers the award.

• Informational books are defined as those written and illustrated to present, organize, and interpret documentable, factual material.
• Significant contribution is gauged by how well the work elucidates, clarifies, and enlivens its subject. The committee considers overall accuracy, documentation, organization, visual material, and book design.
• The book must be a self-contained entity, not dependent on other media for enjoyment.
• First published in the United States means that books first published in previous years in other countries are not eligible. Books published simultaneously in the U.S. and another country may be eligible. Books published in a U.S. territory, or U.S. commonwealth, are eligible.

[Theodor Seuss] Geisel Award

The Geisel Award is given annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year. Named for author Theodor S. Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss!