Award Winners Choose one of these winners to read with your child!

	Anderson, M. T.
	The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing
	2007 winner of the *Boston Globe-Horn Book Award*, awarded annually for excellence in children’s literature. Various diaries, letters, and other manuscripts chronicle the experiences of Octavian, a young African American, from birth to age sixteen, as he is brought up as part of a science experiment in the years leading up to and during the Revolutionary War. You’ll find this book in the Teen area.

	Birney, Betty G.
	The World According to Humphrey
	2007 winner of the *Washington Sasquatch Award*, chosen annually by students in Washington between 3rd and 5th grade. Humphrey, pet hamster at Longfellow School, learns that he has an important role to play in helping his classmates and teacher.

	Bryan, Ashley
	Let It Shine: Three Favorite Spirituals
	2008 winner of the *Coretta Scott King Award*, presented annually to a black illustrator for an outstanding contribution to youth literature. Sing along with this gorgeously illustrated rendition of three great songs: This little light of mine -- Oh, when the saints go marching in -- He’s got the whole world in His hands.

	Colfer, Eoin
	The Supernaturalists
	2007 winner of the *Evergreen Young Adult Book Award*, chosen annually by students in Washington schools--grades 5 and up. In futuristic Satellite City, fourteen-year-old Cosmo Hill escapes from his abusive orphanage and teams up with three other people who share his unusual ability to see supernatural creatures. Together they determine the nature and purpose of the swarming blue Parasites that are invisible to most humans. This book is in the Teen area.

	Curtis, Christopher Paul
	Elijah of Buxton
	Double Winner!! 2008 winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, presented annually to a black author for an outstanding contribution to youth literature, and the *Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction*. Elijah is 11, the first free child born in a Canadian settlement of runaway slaves. When he pursues a thief to America, he discovers firsthand the unimaginable horrors of the life his parents fled.

	Engle, Margarita
	The Poet Slave of Cuba
	2008 winner of the *Pura Belpre Award* for narrative, presented bi-annually to a Latino/Latina writer whose work best portrays the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of youth literature. Juan Francisco Manzano was born in 1797 into the household of wealthy Cuban slaveowners. He spent his early years at the side of his owner’s wife, entertaining her friends. His poetry reflected the beauty and cruelty of his world. This book is in the Teen area.

	McCaughrean, Geraldine
	The White Darkness
	2008 winner of the *Michael L. Printz Award*, which annually recognizes a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. This book is in the Teen area. Taken to Antarctica by the man she thinks of as her uncle for what she believes to be a vacation, Symone--a troubled fourteen year old--discovers that he is dangerously obsessed with seeking Symme’s Hole, an opening that supposedly leads into the center of a hollow Earth.

	Montes, Marisa
	Los Gatos Black on Halloween
	2008 winner of the *Pura Belpre Award* for illustration, presented bi-annually to a Latino/Latina illustrator whose work best portrays and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of children’s literature. Easy to read, rhyming text about Halloween night incorporates Spanish words. Illustrated by Yuyi Morales.

	Mourlevat, Jean-Claude
	The Pull of the Ocean
	2007 winner of the *Mildred L. Batchelder Award*, presented annually to an American publisher for an outstanding children’s book originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country, then translated into English and published in the US. Loosely based on Charles Perrault’s "Tom Thumb," seven brothers in modern-day France flee their poor parents’ farm, led by the youngest who, although mute and unusually small, is exceptionally wise.

	Palatini, Marge
	Sweet Tooth
	2007 winner of the *Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award*, selected annually by K-3 students in Washington State. Most kids have a sweet tooth, but most aren’t as demanding as the one in Stewart’s mouth. When it wants something sweet, it wants it "now."

	Schlitz, Laura Amy
	Good masters! Sweet Ladies! : Voices from a Medieval Village
	2008 winner of the *Newbery Medal*, which annually honors the year’s most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. This is a lively collection of short one-person plays featuring 10-15 year old characters who live in or near a thirteenth-century English manor.

	Selznick, Brian
	The Invention of Hugo Cabret
	2008 Winner of the *Caldecott Medal*, awarded annually to the illustrator of the most distinguished American picture book for children published in the United States during the preceding year. When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and jealously guarded secret are jeopardized.

	Sis, Peter
	The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain
	2008 winner of the *Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award*, presented annually to the author of the most distinguished informational book published the preceding year. Award-winning author Peter Sis takes you on an extraordinary journey as he recalls growing up in Czechoslovakia in the 1960s, when his country was on the Communist side of the Iron Curtain.

	Stryer, Andrea
	Kami and the Yaks
	2008 winner of *The Schneider Family Book Award*, which honors an author or illustrator for a children’s book artistically portrays disability. In the Himalaya Mountains of Nepal, a deaf Sherpa boy proves himself to his father by rescuing his family’s yaks from a dangerous storm.

	Willems, Mo
	There is a Bird On Your Head
	2008 winner of the *Theodor Seuss Geisel Medal*, awarded annually to recognize the author and illustrator of a beginning reader book of literary and artistic achievement. Gerald the elephant discovers that there is something worse than a bird on your head-- two birds on your head! Piggie will try to help her best friend.