Curious City explores the two big picture book winners at the mighty 2015 American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards in a podcast chatter with Green Mountain Morning! Explore all the children’s literature award winners here!
Last Stop on Market Street
By Matt de la Pena
Illustrated by Christian Robinson
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Age Range: 4 – Adult
Find at Your Local Bookstore
2016 Newbery Medal Winner
2016 Caldecott Medal Honor Book
2016 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Honor Book
A New York Times Book Review Notable Children’s Book of 2015
A Wall Street Journal Best Children’s Book of 2015
Every Sunday after church, CJ and his grandma ride the bus across town. But today, CJ wonders why they don’t own a car like his friend Colby. Why doesn’t he have an iPod like the boys on the bus? How come they always have to get off in the dirty part of town? Each question is met with an encouraging answer from grandma, who helps him see the beauty—and fun—in their routine and the world around them.
This energetic ride through a bustling city highlights the wonderful perspective only grandparent and grandchild can share, and comes to life through Matt de la Pena’s vibrant text and Christian Robinson’s radiant illustrations.
Illustration © Christian Robinson
”Part of what I’ve been trying to do with my books is just focus on moments of grace and beauty in working class neighborhoods,” he said. “This book maybe is about a kid learning to see himself as beautiful—his world as beautiful.” —Illustrator Christian Robinson in Publishers Weekly
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“I visit a lot of underprivileged places where the kids are living in poverty and going to the rougher schools. Those kids have such a feeling of unworthiness. Lots of times the older students will ask me, ‘Why would you come here?’ and it breaks my heart that they don’t think they deserve to have an author visit.” One thing he hopes that Last Stop on Market Street does, “in a subtle way, is to show those kids that they are worthy of being the hero in my books.” The Newbery can even further emphasize his point. “It’s important to see yourself in a book,” he said, “but now, the kid who sees himself as CJ gets to look at the cover of that book and he’ll see that sticker right next to his face. It’s another form of validation.” —Author Matt de la Pena in Publishers Weekly
Finding Winnie:
The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear
By Lindsay Mattick
Illustrated by Sophie Blackall
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Age Range: 4 – Adult
Find at Your Local Bookstore
2016 Caldecott Medal Winner
Before Winnie-the-Pooh, there was a real bear named Winnie. And she was a girl!
In 1914, Harry Colebourn, a veterinarian on his way to tend horses in World War I, followed his heart and rescued a baby bear. He named her Winnie, after his hometown of Winnipeg, and he took the bear to war.
Harry Colebourn’s real-life great-granddaughter tells the true story of a remarkable friendship and an even more remarkable journey—from the fields of Canada to a convoy across the ocean to an army base in England…
And finally to the London Zoo, where Winnie made another new friend: a real boy named Christopher Robin.
Here is the remarkable true story of the bear who inspired Winnie-the-Pooh.
Illustration © Sophie Blackall
“I was obsessed with Winnie the Pooh as a child. It was the first book I bought with my own money. I read it over and over again. My friends and I would play ‘Hundred Acre Woods’ in the garden. I lived and breathed it for most of my childhood.” So when Susan Rich sent her the manuscript, “it felt like everything was leading up to this book. It was the one I’d been waiting for.” —Illustrator Sophie Blackall in Publishers Weekly
And then we discussed an award winner in our hearts…
How the Sun Got to Coco’s House
By Bob Graham
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Age Range: 4 – Adult
Find at Your Local Bookstore
Follow the journey of the sun across the world from a whale’s eye to a little girl’s window in Bob Graham’s tender, transcendent story.
While Coco sleeps far away, the sun creeps over a hill and skids across the water, touching a fisherman’s cap. It heads out over frozen forests, making shadows in a child’s footprints, and balances on an airplane’s wing for a little boy to see. The sun crosses cities and countrysides, wakes furry creatures, makes a desert rainbow, and barges into Coco’s room to follow her through a day of play. With an eye for capturing small moments of shared experience, Bob Graham illuminates the natural wonder that comes with every new day.
Illustration © Bob Graham
