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. 

Read it, Read it a Second Time

Read it, Read it a Second Time

To learn how a skilled author puts together a novel, don’t just read a novel once -- go deeper. Sure, read the STORY the first time, but then read the novel again for a deeper understanding of the author’s technique. For example, in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, most people get the main theme of prejudice against the accused black man, Tom Robinson. They might even see a parallel of Scout, Jem and Dill’s prejudice against the mysterious recluse Boo (Arthur) Radley. On a second read, look closer. Notice how virtually every scene has something to do with one type of person having something against another type of person – examples of intolerance, injustice, or misunderstanding. The whites look down on other whites that are not from their county, or if they accept welfare, if their history is not up to snuff, or if they were on the wrong side in the Civil War. Scout’s teacher doesn’t understand the plight of the poor white families, and when her teacher talks about the horror of the Jews in Nazi Germany, we find out that she has her own prejudice against blacks. Townsfolk are prejudiced of the mixed race family, and their children. The white women’s missionary guild looks down on the poor backward people of Africa, and they also look down on other white women who don’t conform to their statndards. Even some of the black people are against allowing the white children in their church. It seems like everyone has some prejudice. And yet, Atticus, Calpurnia, and a few others stand out as trying to accept people for who they are. In all of it, Scout is trying to find her way in life – to grow up, but not to grow up with all of the flaws she sees in the people around her. Her character arc takes her on a journey where she will grow up with a view of people that allows her to “walk around in their skins” – that is, to understand the issues different people have in their own quest for happiness and meaning in life. The book doesn’t imply that there are no evil people. The message is not that everyone and anyone can do as they please. It is that we should not be too quick to judge others simply because they are different. (Obviously there is a lot more to the book than I’ve mentioned here – I’m only pointing out the well-conceived characterization in the story.) Thus, as you read To Kill a Mockingbird the second (or third) time – peer deeper and deeper into the author’s mind to grasp what she must have gone through in her many drafts of the book to create the well thought out characters and situations that make up the story. Do this same exercise with any other successful book that you love – read it for pleasure. Read it second time to dissect it and discover why and how the story was constructed. This can be a powerful tool for any author – to learn the tools, techniques, and story construction elements used by master novelists.

For information on my latest story please go to www.alanelliott.com/takeover. This short story, Takeover: A Writer’s Nightmare, is a romp through the messed-up brain of a creative writer that takes you on a bumpy joy ride with a twisted ending.

The Writer's Journey, 10 books every writer should read

The Writer's Journey: This is book 2 of 10 books every writer should read. In this book by Christopher Vogler, subtitled “Mythic Structure for Writers,” the author describes historic techniques of storytelling.

Whether you are writing fiction or non-fiction, this is a valuable read. Okay, so maybe it’s a little more valuable for fiction writers. But, even nonfiction writers tell stories, and this book helps clarify the typical structure of a story.

I know what some are thinking: writing is an art form, don’t lock me in to some formula. You are exactly right. But this book is not a formula book. It is a concept book.

Some years ago I took a class from the prolific TV icon Bob Banner once (producer of the Carol Burnett Show, Garry Moore Show, Live at the Apollo and many others – winner of a number of Emmys.) In that class he described how even in a three minute sketch it was important to have the critical elements of a story present. His staff writers included the likes of Woody Allen, Neil Simon and a number of other greats.

Take the ingredients explained in this book and cook up any kind of story – but like a cake with the sugar or flour or baking powder left out – you’re going to have a hard time making your story palatable if you leave out critical elements of story telling. Its not impossible, just harder.

Where does this book get its information? The basic information is from the work of researcher Joseph Campbell. Vogel took Campbell’s academic work and adapted the concepts into a book for the modern writer. He takes common elements of storytelling from global cultures of the past and condenses similarities down to a few components. The theory is that we humans have developed in such a way that we understand stories that contain certain elements in them. This could be hard-wired into the human brain or developed over thousands of years of civilization – I don’t know the answer to that. Nevertheless, it is valuable information for any writer to know and understand.

Without going into the details of the book (you need to read it yourself) the premise is that a story is like a quest. There is a beginning – something that causes the quest to begin. There is a hero that is called on to do the quest. (Don’t get taken back by somewhat archaic labels – the “hero” is typically the primary character such as Dorothy in Wizard of Oz or Rick in Casablanca.) The quest is a problem to be solved – maybe personal, maybe earth shattering, maybe humorous, maybe horrific.

Once our hero sets out (or is forced) on the quest, he or she meets up with a variety people that either make the quest harder or easier. They are people such as mentors, rivals, opponents, people who aren’t who they seem, etc. Each of these people contributes to the movement of the story and perhaps to the development of the hero’s character. In the end, the hero finds some resolution to the story’s initial problem.

This is a crude and brief outline of the contents of the book. Inherently, you already know the structure of a story – you tell stories everyday of the guy who almost ran you off the road, of the person who broke in line at the Starbucks, of the friend whose boyfriend ran off with another girl (or guy). Even though you know the basics of telling a story, if you want to rise to a new level, to understand the components of storytelling then read The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler.