Poetry scores more awards

Although I served on the initial “shortlist” poetry panel for the bloggers’ Cybils award, I lost track of when the final decision was made. Oops! You’ve probably read it elsewhere, but I have to mention that Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors (Houghton Mifflin, 2009) by Joyce Sidman was the winner.

The Claudia Lewis Award for Poetry was presented this week to Joyce Sidman for Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors (Houghton Mifflin, 2009). This award is presented by the Bank Street College of Education in New York. This award is given for the best poetry book of the year for young readers. Claudia Lewis was an esteemed poet, author, teacher of children's literature and a faculty member at Bank Street College of Education.




The Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts list was also recently announced. This list is selected by the Children's Literature Assembly of the National Council of Teachers of English. The Notables list includes SEVERAL poetry selections:

*Florian, Douglas. (2009). Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings.
 New York: Simon & Schuster.

*Heard, Georgia. (2009). Falling Down the Page: A Book of List Poems. New
 York: Roaring Brook Press.

*Hoberman, Mary Ann and Winston, Linda. (2009). The Tree that Time Built. 
Illustrated by Barbara Fortin. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks.

*Hughes, Langston. (2009). My People. Illustrated by Charles R. Smith, Jr.
 New York: Simon & Schuster.

*Myers, Walter Dean. (2009). Looking Like Me. Illustrated by Chris Myers. New
York: Egmont.

*Nelson, Marilyn. (2009). Sweethearts of Rhythm: The Story of the Greatest 
All-Girl Swing Band in the World. Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. New York:
 Penguin.

*Ruddell, Deborah. (2009). A Whiff of Pine, a Hint of Skunk: A Forest of
 Poems. Illustrated by Joan Rankin. New York: Simon & Schuster.

*Sidman, Joyce. (2009). Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors.
 Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

The United States Board on Books for Young People recently announced its annual USBBY Outstanding International Books list of books that promote global understanding. There are two poetry titles on that list, both from authors outside the U.S. They are:
*Argueta, Jorge. Sopa de frijoles: Un poema para cocinar/Bean Soup: A Cooking Poem. Illus. by Rafael Yockteng. Groundwood. $18.95. ISBN 978-0- 88899-881-1. Canada.
This bilingual poem about making black bean soup offers a warm, culturally authentic portrayal of cooking and eating as a family affair. The Salvadoran poet’s lyrical language, in both Spanish and English, makes this book a great read-aloud.
*Herrick, Steven. Cold Skin. Front St. $18.95. ISbN 978-1-59078-572-0. Australia.
In a poor, post-World War II Australian town where nothing ever happens, Eddie and his father are at odds about working in the coal mines. When a classmate is murdered, everyone comes under suspicion. Multiple narrators guide readers through a series of twists and turns, keeping suspense high in this novel-in-verse.

Speaking of international children’s literature, the International Board on Books for Young People announced the shortlist for the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Awards this week. The prestigious biennial awards honors "a living author and illustrator whose complete works have made lasting contributions to children's literature." The shortlisted authors include THREE POETS: Ahmad Reza Ahmadi of Iran, Bartolomeu Campos de Queiros of Brazil, and Lennart Hellsing of Sweden. Other author nominees are David Almond of the U.K. and and Louis Jensen of Denmark. (I’ll be blogging more about this next Friday.) The illustrator shortlist consists of: Jutta Bauer of Germany, Carll Cneut of Belgium, Etienne Delessert of Switzerland, Svjetlan Junakovic of Croatia, and Roger Mello of Brazil. The winners will be announced on March 23 during the Bologna Children's Book Fair. I am on my way there now and will be sharing more news soon.

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2010. All rights reserved.

Image credit: ibby.org;usbby.org;cla.org;cybils