2012 Award Winners for Children

These titles were selected by the American Library Association as the Children's Book Award winners for 2012.

Caldecott Medal
The Caldecott Medal is presented to the most distinguished American picture book for children.

2012 Winner: A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka

Honors: Blackout by John Rocco 
Grandpa Green by Lane Smith
Me … Jane by Patrick McDonnell

To see past Caldecott Medal winners, click here.

Newbery Medal
The Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the American Library Association to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

2012 Winner: Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

Honors: Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai 
Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin

To see past Newbery Medal winners, click here.

Coretta Scott King Award
The Coretta Scott King Award recognizes an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books that demonstrate sensitivity to “the true worth and value of all beings.” The Illustrator Award is presented to a writer and/or illustrator at the beginning of their career as a published children’s book creator. 

2012 Winner: Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson

Honors: The Great Migration: Journey to the North by Eloise Greenfield
Never Forgotten by Patricia C. McKissack

2012 Illustrator Winner: Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom illustrated and written by Shane W. Evans

Honor: Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans illustrated and written by Kadir Nelson

Mildred L. Batchelder Award
The Batchelder Award is given to the most outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States.

2012 Winner: Soldier Bear by Bibi Dumon Tak

Honor: The Lily Pond by Annika Thor

Pura Belpré Award
The Pura Belpré Award is presented to a Latino/Latina writer whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. 

2012 Winner: Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Honors: Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck by Margarita Engle
Maximilian and the Mystery of the Guardian Angel: A Bilingual Lucha Libre Thriller by Xavier Garza

2012 Illustrator Winner: Diego Rivera: His World and Ours illustrated and written by Duncan Tonatiuh

Honors: The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred illustrated by Rafael López, written by Samantha R. Vamos
Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match = Marisol McDonald no Combina illustrated by Sara Palacios, written by Monica Brown

Robert F. Sibert Award
The Robert F. Sibert Information Book Award is awarded annually to the author of the most distinguished information book published in the English language during the preceding year.

2012 Winner: Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade by Melissa Sweet

Honors
Black & White: The Confrontation between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene ‘Bull’ Connor by Larry Dane Brimner
Drawing from Memory by Allen Say
The Elephant Scientist by Caitlin O’Connell and Donna M. Jackson
Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer

Schneider Family Book Award
The Schneider Family Book Awards honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.

Children's Winner: No children's winner for 2012

2012 Middle School Winners: Close to Famous by Joan Bauer 
Wonderstruck: A Novel in Words and Pictures by Brian Selznick

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award
The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award is given annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished contribution to beginning reader books published in the United States during the preceding year.

2012 Winner: Tales for Very Picky Eaters by Josh Schneider

Other finalists: I Broke My Trunk by Mo Willems
I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen
See Me Run by Paul Meisel

Andrew Carnegie Medal
The Andrew Carnegie Medal is awarded for excellence in children’s video

2012 Winner: Children Make Terrible Pets produced by Paul R. Gagne and Melissa Reilly Ellard of Weston Woods Studios

South Dakota Children’s Book Awards – Prairie Pasque and Prairie Bud

 Winners will be announced during National Library Week, April 8-14, 2012

More information from the Association for Library Service to Children