Press Release: 2014 Winners Announced
2014 Writer Award Winner
Ame Dyckman
Ame Dyckman always wanted to write children’s books but took some time before deciding to pursue her dream. Now she’s on a roll with her second book, Tea Party Rules, a sly look at how kids play. The setting is classic—a tea party in the woods with a bear cub—but the push-and-pull between the characters is realistic enough to turn the fairy tale elements on their head. Ame lives with her family in Lawrence, New Jersey.
Tea Party Rules
Viking
Can a cookie-loving bear cub be friends with a girl who likes to make all the rules? It takes some doing in this sweetly funny story with a subversive twist.
2014 Illustrator Award Winner
Christian Robinson
Christian Robinson is all about attitude—positive attitude. A playful spirit is evident even in his more serious work illustrating biographies for children. The expressive style of his pictures, reminiscent of folk art, seems to speak directly to young readers, whether in stories from our cultural history or in the tale of a little boy spreading cheer in Rain! Christian lives and works in San Francisco.
Rain
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
A happy little boy and a grumpy man experience the same rainy day very differently—until a random encounter influences both of them for the better.
2014 Award Honorees
Writer Award Honoree
Pat Zietlow Miller
Sophie’s Squash
Schwartz & Wade Books
Sophie loves her best friend, Bernice—a squash! Nothing could make her give Bernice up, not even when it begins to rot. But as she discovers, caring for a squash pays off in the end.
Writer Award Honoree
Linda Davick
I Love You, Nose! I Love You, Toes!
Beach Lane Books
A charming celebration of body and its parts—we all have them, yet they make each of us unique.
Illustrator Award Honoree
K.G. Campbell
Tea Party Rules
Viking
Can a cookie-loving bear cub be friends with a girl who likes to make all the rules? It takes some doing in this sweetly funny story with a subversive twist.
Illustrator Award Honoree
Aaron Meshon
Take Me Out to the Yakyu
Atheneum
A boy attends baseball games with one grandfather in America and one in Japan. Different languages, same “wonderful day.”
Illustrator Award Honoree
Marta Altés
My Grandpa
Abrams
The special relationship between grandfather and grandchild is made all the more poignant by the child’s loving acceptance of the old man’s fading faculties.