Charlotte Zolotow Award and Honorees Announced

A message from Merri Lindgren, Chair, 2021-2022 Charlotte Zolotow Award Committee

I'm pleased to announce that the winner of the 2021-2022 Charlotte Zolotow Award is Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away written by Meg Medina, illustrated by Sonia Sánchez, and published by Candlewick Press in 2020.

The committee named five Honor Books:

• Catch That Chicken! written by Atinuke and illustrated by Angela Brooksbank (Candlewick Press, 2020) 
• The Cot in the Living Room written by Hilda Eunice Burgos and illustrated by Gaby D’Alessandro (Kokila / Penguin Random House, 2021)   
• I Talk Like a River written by Jordan Scott and illustrated by Sydney Smith (Neal Porter Books / Holiday House, 2020)   
• Let Me Fix You a Plate: A Tale of Two Kitchens written and illustrated by Elizabeth Lilly (Neal Porter Books / Holiday House, 2021) 
• My Best Friend written by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki (Atheneum / Simon & Schuster, 2020)   

 

Ten Highly Commended titles were cited:

• The Camping Trip written and illustrated by Jennifer K. Mann (Candlewick Press, 2020) 

• Eyes that Kiss in the Corners written by Joanna Ho and illustrated by Dung Ho (Harper / HarperCollins, 2021)   
• Just Like a Mama written by Alice Faye Duncan and illustrated by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow (A Denene Millner Book / Simon & Schuster, 2020)    

• Kaia and the Bees written by Maribeth Boelts and illustrated Angela Dominguez (Candlewick Press, 2020)  
• The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess written and illustrated by Tom Gauld (Neal Porter Books / Holiday House, 2021)      
• My Day with the Panye written by Tami Charles and illustrated by Sara Palacios  (Candlewick Press, 2021) 
• Soul Food Sunday written by Winsome Bingham and illustrated by C. G. Esperanza (Abrams, 2021) 
• Sun Flower Lion written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow / HarperCollins, 2020)   
• Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with a Tail written by Lesléa Newman and illustrated by Susan Gal (Charlesbridge, 2020) 
• Where Three Oceans Meet written by Rajani LaRocca and illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan (Abrams, 2021) 

Visit the CCBC website for the Charlotte Zolotow Award announcement and press release

We are planning for a Charlotte Zolotow Award event later this spring. The date and venue (in-person or virtual) have yet to be determined, but we'll share those details as soon as we can.

This annual award was extended to a two-year term in response to the challenges posed by the pandemic. Thank you to the members of the 2021-22 Charlotte Zolotow Award committee for taking on an extra year of hard work with their ever-thoughtful reading and careful evaluation, an openness to all opinions, and unfailing good humor through even more Zoom meetings:   Shannon Furman (School Librarian, Lake View Elementary School, Madison, Wisconsin); Brooke Newberry (Early Literacy Librarian, La Crosse Public Library, La Crosse, Wisconsin); Bridget Nolan (Second Grade Teacher, Paul J. Olson Elementary School, Verona, Wisconsin); and Jeni Schomber (Head of Library Services, Beloit Public Library, Beloit, Wisconsin).

 

Merri Lindgren, Librarian

Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC)

School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison

401 Teacher Education

225 North Mills Street

Madison, WI  53706

608.263.3930

mlindgren@education.wisc.edu