This year’s presentation of the Charlotte Zolotow Award to Bao Phi
for “A Different Pond” will be held at a reception on Friday afternoon, October 12, at 5 p.m. Details to follow.
The 2018 Charlotte Zolotow Award recipient is Bao Phi
honoring his picture book
A Different Pond.
A graceful accounting of details shapes Bao Phi’s exquisitely crafted text in which a Vietnamese American boy goes on a predawn fishing outing with his dad. The beautifully weighted sentences (“I feel the bag of minnows move. They swim like silver arrows in my hand.”) describe their time together and also the experience of an immigrant child (“A kid at my school says my dad’s English sounds like a thick, dirty river. But to me his English sounds like gentle rain.”); a hard-working family’s economic hardship (“‘If you got another job why do we still have to fish for food?’ I ask.”); and bittersweet memory as the boy’s dad recalls fishing at a similar pond as a child in Vietnam with his brother, who died during the war. Running through it all is the boy’s contentment spending time with his dad, a pleasure that extends to feelings about his entire family when they gather at day’s end. Illustrations masterfully and movingly reveal details of character, setting, and action while superbly reflecting the warmth and intimacy of the story.
A Different Pond is illustrated by Thi Bui.
honoring his picture book
A Different Pond.
A graceful accounting of details shapes Bao Phi’s exquisitely crafted text in which a Vietnamese American boy goes on a predawn fishing outing with his dad. The beautifully weighted sentences (“I feel the bag of minnows move. They swim like silver arrows in my hand.”) describe their time together and also the experience of an immigrant child (“A kid at my school says my dad’s English sounds like a thick, dirty river. But to me his English sounds like gentle rain.”); a hard-working family’s economic hardship (“‘If you got another job why do we still have to fish for food?’ I ask.”); and bittersweet memory as the boy’s dad recalls fishing at a similar pond as a child in Vietnam with his brother, who died during the war. Running through it all is the boy’s contentment spending time with his dad, a pleasure that extends to feelings about his entire family when they gather at day’s end. Illustrations masterfully and movingly reveal details of character, setting, and action while superbly reflecting the warmth and intimacy of the story.
A Different Pond is illustrated by Thi Bui.
The 2018 Zolotow Award committee also named five Honor Books:
Baby Goes to Market written by Atinuke, illustrated by Angela Brooksbank (Candlewick Press)
Buster and the Baby written by Amy Hest, illustrated by Polly Dunbar (Candlewick Press)
Herbert’s First Halloween written by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Steven Henry (Chronicle Books)
Jabari Jumps written and illustrated by Gaia Cornwall (Candlewick Press
Niko Draws a Feeling written by Bob Raczka, illustrated by Simone Shin (Carolrhoda Books).
Baby Goes to Market written by Atinuke, illustrated by Angela Brooksbank (Candlewick Press)
Buster and the Baby written by Amy Hest, illustrated by Polly Dunbar (Candlewick Press)
Herbert’s First Halloween written by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Steven Henry (Chronicle Books)
Jabari Jumps written and illustrated by Gaia Cornwall (Candlewick Press
Niko Draws a Feeling written by Bob Raczka, illustrated by Simone Shin (Carolrhoda Books).
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