Information on the 2020 Charlotte Zolotow Award
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The 2019 Charlotte Zolotow Award recipient is Marla Frazee
honoring the writing in her picture book
Little Brown
Do the other dogs not play with Little Brown because he’s cranky, or is he cranky because the other dogs don’t play with him? It’s a question examined with both humor and pathos in this marvelous picture book. In Frazee’s superb text, supported by equally fine, softhued pencil and gouache illustrations, a dramatic narrative crafted with wonderful language and artful pacing is full of hilariously spot-on dog behavior. But Little Brown’s isolation is heartbreaking, while the puzzlement of the other dogs and the “dilemma” they all face when Little Brown steals their toys and refuses to give them back makes for a complex look at social dynamics. All the dogs wonder whether, and how, things might be different, leading to a brilliant open ending. “Maybe tomorrow … they would know what to do.” A story that entertains, it also respects young readers and listeners, asking them to rise to the challenge of thinking about what might happen next, and to reflect on Little Brown’s connection to their own lives in a picture book that is the antithesis of didactic.
honoring the writing in her picture book
Little Brown
Do the other dogs not play with Little Brown because he’s cranky, or is he cranky because the other dogs don’t play with him? It’s a question examined with both humor and pathos in this marvelous picture book. In Frazee’s superb text, supported by equally fine, softhued pencil and gouache illustrations, a dramatic narrative crafted with wonderful language and artful pacing is full of hilariously spot-on dog behavior. But Little Brown’s isolation is heartbreaking, while the puzzlement of the other dogs and the “dilemma” they all face when Little Brown steals their toys and refuses to give them back makes for a complex look at social dynamics. All the dogs wonder whether, and how, things might be different, leading to a brilliant open ending. “Maybe tomorrow … they would know what to do.” A story that entertains, it also respects young readers and listeners, asking them to rise to the challenge of thinking about what might happen next, and to reflect on Little Brown’s connection to their own lives in a picture book that is the antithesis of didactic.
The 2019 Zolotow Award committee also named two Honor Books:
Honey, written and illustrated by David Ezra Stein, edited by Nancy Paulsen,
and published by Nancy Paulsen.
Saturday Is Swimming Day, written and illustrated by Hyewon Yum,
edited by Kate Fletcher, and published by Candlewick Press
The 2019 Zolotow Award committee also cited nine titles as Highly Commended:
A BIG Mooncake for Little Star written and illustrated by Grace Lin (Little, Brown);
Carmela Full of Wishes written by Matt de la Peña, illustrated by Christian Robinson (G. P. Putnam Son’s / Penguin Random House);
The Day You Begin written by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Rafael López (Nancy Paulsen Books / Penguin Random House);
Dreamers written and illustrated by Yuyi Morales (Neal Porter Books / Holiday House);
The Patchwork Bike written by Maxine Beneba Clarke, illustrated by Van Thanh Rudd
(U.S. edition: Candlewick Press);
The Rough Patch written and illustrated by Brian Lies (Greenwillow Books / HarperCollins);
Thank You, Omu! written and illustrated by Oge Mora (Little Brown);
We Don’t Eat Our Classmates written and illustrated by Ryan T. Higgins (Disney / Hyperion); and
Winter Is Here written by Kevin Henkes, illustrated by Laura Dronzek (Greenwillow Books / HarperCollins).
For more information about about the 2019 Charlotte Zolotow Award winner, Honor books and Highly Recommended books, go to:
https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/books/Zolotow_Award_2019_press_release.pdf
Honey, written and illustrated by David Ezra Stein, edited by Nancy Paulsen,
and published by Nancy Paulsen.
Saturday Is Swimming Day, written and illustrated by Hyewon Yum,
edited by Kate Fletcher, and published by Candlewick Press
The 2019 Zolotow Award committee also cited nine titles as Highly Commended:
A BIG Mooncake for Little Star written and illustrated by Grace Lin (Little, Brown);
Carmela Full of Wishes written by Matt de la Peña, illustrated by Christian Robinson (G. P. Putnam Son’s / Penguin Random House);
The Day You Begin written by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Rafael López (Nancy Paulsen Books / Penguin Random House);
Dreamers written and illustrated by Yuyi Morales (Neal Porter Books / Holiday House);
The Patchwork Bike written by Maxine Beneba Clarke, illustrated by Van Thanh Rudd
(U.S. edition: Candlewick Press);
The Rough Patch written and illustrated by Brian Lies (Greenwillow Books / HarperCollins);
Thank You, Omu! written and illustrated by Oge Mora (Little Brown);
We Don’t Eat Our Classmates written and illustrated by Ryan T. Higgins (Disney / Hyperion); and
Winter Is Here written by Kevin Henkes, illustrated by Laura Dronzek (Greenwillow Books / HarperCollins).
For more information about about the 2019 Charlotte Zolotow Award winner, Honor books and Highly Recommended books, go to:
https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/books/Zolotow_Award_2019_press_release.pdf
The Charlotte Zolotow Award
A distinguished and prolific author and editor of children’s books, the work of Charlotte Zolotow (June 26, 1915-November 19, 2013) offered even the youngest children an unsentimental but compassionate view of topics like anger, envy and death. Authentic, sensual, kind, and sometimes funny, she never condescended to the emotional lives of her young readers, nor did she diminish the problems, large and small, they faced.
The Charlotte Zolotow Award is given annually to the author of the best picture book text published in the United States in the preceding year. Established in 1998, the award is named to honor the work of Charlotte Zolotow, a distinguished children's book editor for 38 years with Harper Junior Books, and author of more than 70 picture books, including such classic works as Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present (Harper, 1962) and William's Doll (Harper, 1972). Ms. Zolotow attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison on a writing scholarship from 1933-36 where she studied with Professor Helen C. White.
The books from which [children] learn must reflect movement and change and all of the infinite possibilities of minds at liberty.
Virginia Hamilton