International Children's Book Awards

Carnegie Medal

The Carnegie Medal in Literature was established in the UK in 1936. The Medal is in honor of the Scottish philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie. This award is given to an outstanding book for children and young adult readers. Nominated books must be written in English and be published the year before the nomination in the UK. It is voted on by librarians and feed back from school students.

Dromkeen Medal

The Dromkeen Medal is a literary prize awarded annually by the Courtney Oldmeadow Children's Literature Foundation for those who have advanced children's literature in Australia.

The KOALA Awards

The KOALA Awards (Kids Own Australian Literature Awards, Inc) are annual awards made by young readers to the Australian books that they have most enjoyed reading or having read to them during the year. Children in Australia are able to nominate their favorite Australian book. Children then vote for their favorite title from the shortened list of 30 titles. There are four categories: Picture Book, Younger Readers, Older Readers, and the Years 7-9 category. KOALA is a nonprofit organization that is ran by teacher/librarian, public librarians, teachers, publishers, and other supporters of children's literature volunteers.

International Digital Children's Library

I found this web site, http://en.childrenslibrary.org/, that offers books from other countries that can be read digitally. Some of the books are offered in different languages and others are offered only in one language.

I read Otto the Spider in English and it was also offered in Croatian. Otto is a very neat spider that lives in a really messy place. He loves his web and hates when the wind blows through the window and loosens all his threads. One day Otto finds a chest and discovers all these different threads and sewing items. He gets caught in some multi colored threads and thinks he is going to die, then the wind that Otto disliked before now saves his life. Otto uses the threads that he finds and weaves a stronger more colorful web.

Down the Back of the Chair

New Zealand's children's author Magarret Mahy has been compared to the award winning poet Shel Silverstein. The poem begins with the narrator's father loosing the car keys and by doing so this causes the family to get even more poorer because dad can't go to work without the keys. But then little Mary tells her Dad that when she loses something she searches down the back of the chair. Each time they go down the back of the chair they find a wild assortment of objects that resolve their financial problems.

Illustrations by Polly Dunbar are water color and cut paper that add a breeziness that suits the rhythmic flow of the poem.

The Book Thief

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, is the story a girl who goes to live with a foster family just outside of Munich during World War II. Her brother has died and she is trying to cope with losing him. The story is told through the eyes of death and chronicles, not a concentration camp survivor, but a german citizen trying to survive in a cold unforgiving world. The girl, Liesel Meminger, the book thief, begins to steal books as a way to get back at the world for her mother leaving and her brother dying. When bombing raids threatens her home, she shares her stolen books with her neighbors and the Jewish man that is hiding in her basement.

I feel this book should be in every media center because of the point of view in which the story is told. Not just because it is Death telling the girl's story, but because it is her story and how the war and death effect those that were trying to survive outside of the camps. A different perspective about something that affected so many then and now.

Street Rhymes Around the World

Street Rhymes Around the World, edited by Jane Yolen, is a collection of counting game, circle game, and jump rope rhymes from seventeen different countries that include the United States, Greece, Brazil, China, Zambia, and India. Each rhyme is written in the language of the country as well as english. The rhymes have native illustrations to help enhance the rhymes.

I believe this would be a a great addition to any library collection because I think children are interested in how children from other countries play. They like to connect to children from other ethnic backgrounds. So much of childhood are the songs and games that children play. I know when we have had children from other countries attend out school while their parents attend CU I have watched our students learn the games and songs from the visiting school. I also see the students from other countries mimicking US games.

Al Capone Dose My Shirts 2005 Newbery Honor

Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko, is about a family who moves to Alcatraz Prison in the 1930's where Moose's father has a new job as an electrician and prison guard. All Moose wants to do is stay after school to play baseball and feel normal again. But, that isn't possible now that mom has gotten a job in San Francisco and Moose has to "babysit" his older autistic sister, Natalie. But, Moose comes up with a plan that might help Natalie get into the Esther P. Marinoff School with the help of Al Capone.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Moose and the other characters are well developed. Moose's mother, for example, tries so hard to convince herself that Natalie can be helped at the Esther P. Marinoff School they are trying to get her into, your heart aches for her, but you also want to scream at her wake up to the reality of Natalie's autism and move on to what is best for the family.

What I didn't like about the book was I wanted more details sometimes. The incident with Natalie and the inmate was too vague. I did not get a satisfying conclusion to what happened between her and the mysterious man.

The Underneath 2009 Newbery Honor

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt is a heart wrenching/heart warming story about a hound, a calico cat, and her two kittens. The hound offers shelter to the family in the Underneath. He knows they will be safe as long as they stay in the Underneath. But, the kittens are curious and this small act of curiosity starts a chain of events that takes the reader on an astonishing, emotional roller coaster-love and loss and betrayal and redemption.

I loved the writing, it is lyrical. I found myself rereading paragraphs just to absorb the language.

What I did not like about the book was the brutality. When Gar Face takes the calico cat and her kitten, my heart pounded with fear and anger! How he treats the animals is pure evil. I hated him and that was what made the writing so genuine and clear. Her words caused me to feel so many different emotions for the characters, the setting, the story.