Top 17 Award Winning Children's Picture Books

Reviewing The Charlotte Zolotow Award-Winners

There are tons of great children's picture books on the market, but there are a select few that get chosen for special recognition. These are the Charlotte Zolotow Award Winners.

Most children's book libraries will have some or most of these books on their shelves. In a quest to look at what makes a book stand out from the many published each year, my goal is to review all of these award-winning books. In the next few months I'll give you my take on their content with an eye toward what made them outstanding. (If you would like to contribute a review of one of these books, please contact me at baldwriter~atsign~alanelliott.com.)

The Charlotte Zolotow Award is a yearly award presented to the author of the best picture book text published in the United States in the preceding year. This award is administered by the Cooperative Children's Book Center, a children's literature library of the School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison and is considered a top award for children’s literature.

The books, listed by year of award are:

2014    Snicket, Lemony. The Dark. Illustrated by Jon Klassen. Little, Brown.

2013    Woodson, Jacqueline. Each Kindness. Illustrated by E. B. Lewis. Putnam.

2012    McDonnell, Patrick. Me … Jane. Little, Brown,

2011    Rukhsana Khan, Big Red Lollipop. Illustrated by Sophie Blackall. Viking.

2010    Carmen Tafolla, What Can You Do With a Paleta?,  Illustrated by Magaly Morales. Tricycle Press, 2009.            

2009    Bob Graham, How to Heal a Broken Wing. Candlewick Press, 2008

2008    Greg Foley, Thank You, Bear. Viking, 2007.  

2007    Peter McCarty, Moon Plane. Henry Holt, 2006.       

2006    Mary Ann Rodman, My Best Friend. Illustrated by E. B. Lewis. Viking.

2005    Kevin Henkes, Kitten's First Full Moon. Greenwillow Books / HarperCollins.           

2004    Amy Schwartz, What James Likes Best. A Richard Jackson Book / Atheneum.

2003    Holly Keller, Farfallina & Marcel. Greenwillow / HarperCollins.     

2002    Margaret Willey, Clever Beatrice: An Upper Peninsula Conte. Illustrated by Heather Solomon. Atheneum.           

2001    Kate Banks, The Night Worker.  Illustrated by Georg Hallensleben. Frances Foster Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux.           

2000    Molly Bang, When Sophie Gets Angry -- Really, Really Angry.... Blue Sky/Scholastic.

1999    Uri Shulevitz, Snow. Farrar, Straus, Giroux.

1998    Vera B. Williams, Lucky Song. Greenwillow.