Cybils Poetry Award 2020
"The Cybils Awards aims to recognize the children’s and young adult authors and illustrators whose books combine the highest literary merit and popular appeal...The Cybils awards are given each year by bloggers for the year’s best children’s and young adult titles. Nominations open to the public on October 1st."
The 2020 winner in the poetry category is:
Ink Knows No Borders: Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience collected by Patrice Vecchione and Alyssa Raymond published by Seven Stories Press
Here's my blurb for the award winner:
Ink Knows No Borders: Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience edited by Patrice Vecchione and Alyssa Raymond is a poetry anthology for older readers that celebrates the lives and experiences of immigrants, refugees, exiles, and their families, who have made this land a home for generations. With poets like Elizabeth Acevedo, Tarfia Faizullah, Hala Alyan, Gala Mukomolova, Bao Phi, and Ocean Vuong, from countries such as Iran, Russia, Mexico, Vietnam, Sudan, Haiti, Syria and beyond, Ink Knows No Borders creates a sense of the immigrant and refugee experience that… honors its complexity and variety.” It gives voice to the experiences of young adults first and second-generation immigrants and refugees as well as providing a historical perspective in poems by Ellen Bass, Eavan Boland, Jeff Coomer, Li-Young Lee, and others. Although each poem channels an individual experience, the collection also offers universal themes on the power of family love, the shock of war, and the isolation of relocation. The poems take us from trauma to hope and as Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera reminds us, “let me tell you what a poem brings . . . it is a way to attain a life without boundaries.”
Lee Bennett Hopkins Award
"The Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award was named for the internationally renowned educator, poet, anthologist and passionate advocate of poetry for young people. Established in 1993, the award is presented annually to an American poet or anthologist for the most outstanding new book of poetry for children published in the previous calendar year. Selected by a panel of authors, librarians, teachers and scholars, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award was the first award of its kind in the United States. The Pennsylvania Center for the Book and the Penn State University Libraries share joint administration of the annual award. Beginning 2007-present, this award has been administered by Education Librarian at Penn State and Director of the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, Karla M. Schmit—and has been funded by the Pennsylvania School Librarians' Association (2007-2012), the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, sponsored by Penn State University Libraries, and Lee Bennett Hopkins."
2020 Award Winner
How to Read a Book written by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, and published by HarperCollins Children’s Books.
"The Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award was named for the internationally renowned educator, poet, anthologist and passionate advocate of poetry for young people. Established in 1993, the award is presented annually to an American poet or anthologist for the most outstanding new book of poetry for children published in the previous calendar year. Selected by a panel of authors, librarians, teachers and scholars, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award was the first award of its kind in the United States. The Pennsylvania Center for the Book and the Penn State University Libraries share joint administration of the annual award. Beginning 2007-present, this award has been administered by Education Librarian at Penn State and Director of the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, Karla M. Schmit—and has been funded by the Pennsylvania School Librarians' Association (2007-2012), the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, sponsored by Penn State University Libraries, and Lee Bennett Hopkins."
2020 Award Winner
Here's the SLJ review from my Legacy colleague, Lucia Acosta:
"Award-winning poet Alexander compares reading a book to peeling the gentle skin of a clementine, digging in to its juiciness, enjoying it "piece by piece, part by part," until you can "watch a novel world unfurl right before your eyes." And who better to illustrate this delicious poem than Caldecott Honoree Sweet. The artwork is done in watercolor, gouache, mixed media, handmade and vintage papers, found objects including old book covers, and a paint can lid. Not a splash of color, a piece of paper, or a line is out of place. Starting with the initial collage that incorporates the building blocks of reading (the letters A to Z) and the lines from a poem by Nikki Giovanni that careful readers will have to pay attention to see, the tone is set. "So get/real cozy/between/the covers/And let your/fingers wonder/as they wander…" for there is much to relish in this poem and its exuberant images. "Squeeze/every morsel/of each plump line/until the last/drop of magic/drips from the infinite sky." The book includes a note from both the poet and the artist. VERDICT A beautiful book not to be rushed through, but to be enjoyed morsel by tasty morsel."—Lucia Acosta, Children's Literature Specialist, Princeton, NJ
You Are Home: An Ode to the National Parks, written and illustrated by Evan Turk, published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster
"In simple, soaring language and breathtaking art, acclaimed author-illustrator Evan Turk has created a stirring ode to nature and nation. From the rugged coast of Maine to the fiery volcanoes of Hawaii, You Are Home reminds us that every animal, plant, and person helps make this land a brilliant, beautiful sanctuary of life."
Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga, published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Children’s Books.
"Convincing and authentic, infused with thoughtfulness, humor, determination, and hope.... A realistic portrait of the strength it takes to move to a new country, as well as of the complicated dynamics between first- and second-generation immigrants." (Horn Book, starred review)
Claudia Lewis Award
"The Claudia Lewis Award, given for the first time in 1998, honors the best poetry book of the year. The award commemorates the late Claudia Lewis, distinguished children’s book expert and longtime member of the Bank Street College faculty and Children’s Book Committee. She conveyed her love and understanding of poetry with humor and grace."
2020 Award Winner
Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc by David Elliott published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books.
"The Claudia Lewis Award, given for the first time in 1998, honors the best poetry book of the year. The award commemorates the late Claudia Lewis, distinguished children’s book expert and longtime member of the Bank Street College faculty and Children’s Book Committee. She conveyed her love and understanding of poetry with humor and grace."
2020 Award Winner
Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc by David Elliott published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books.
"Told through medieval poetic forms and in the voices of the people and objects in Joan of Arc’s life, (including her family and even the trees, clothes, cows, and candles of her childhood), Voices offers an unforgettable perspective on an extraordinary young woman. Along the way it explores timely issues such as gender, misogyny, and the peril of speaking truth to power. Before Joan of Arc became a saint, she was a girl inspired. It is that girl we come to know in Voices."
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