Award Winning Children's Books

Coretta Scott King Honor Award:

Souci, D. S. (1989). The talking eggs. New York: NY: Penguin Books.

This is creole folktale about a poor but kind girl, named Blanche, who is mistreated by her mother and older sister. A magical women allows Blanche to take magic eggs from her magic hens, but only if the eggs say "take me." There are beautiful, golden eggs, and plain, white ones, and only the plain ones say "take me." Honest Blanche takes only the plain ones, but when she cracks them open, they are filled with treasures. The greedy mother sends the mean sister to get more from the old woman, but the sister takes the golden eggs which turn out to be filled with wolves and other mean animals that chase the mother and sister away.


Newbery Honor Award:

Courlander, H., and Herzog, G. (1987). Cow-tail switch: and other West African stories. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, Inc. (Orignal work published 1947)

This is a collection of stories gathered from all over West Africa. It has stories about kings, warriors, normal people, and animals. There are stories of heroes, and villains, wise people and silly people. In the back of the book, there is a section dedicated to explaining the stories. It talks about what tribes they came from, their purpose and meaning, and in what ways they were originally told.

Caldecott Award and

National Book Award (Category - Picture Book):

Spier, P. (1977). Noah’s ark. Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, Inc.

This book tells the story of Noah’s ark almost entirely through pictures. It starts off with a poem, then the rest of the book is only illustrations. The pictures are colorful and delightfully busy. We see Noah gathering animals, the rains flooding the earth, Noah’s family taking care of the animals, and then the water’s receding. The story ends with Noah and his family, starting their lives over again, planting a vineyard.

  

Pura Belpre Honor Award:

Deedy. C. A. (2007). Martina the beautiful cockroach. Atlanta, Georgia: Peachtree
     Publishers.                   

Cuban Martina, a beautiful cockroach from Havana, is ready to find a husband and everyone in the village hears the news. Many suitors come to propose, but before she hears their proposals her grandma tells her that, to see if a suitor is really worthy of marriage, Martina should spill coffee of their shoes. That way they will get angry, and she will see what they are really like. The coffee test reveals all her suitors as unworthy of marriage until she meets a humble mouse. He tries the coffee test on her, and she see that he is a good man and would make a fine husband.

Montes, M. (2000). Juan Bobo goes to work. Hong Kong: Harper Collins Publishers.

Juan Bobo Goes to Work is a Puerto Rican story of a poor boy who never gets anything right. His mother wants him to get a job, but he always either messes up his mother's or his employer’s instructions. One day, after working for the butcher, he heads home dragging a piece of ham on a string behind him, and all the local dogs and cats are following him and eating the ham. A sick little girl sees him, and laughs and laughs. The father of the little girl is very grateful to the boy for making his daughter happy, so he gives the boy and his family a ham or dinner for the rest of their lives.

Micheal L Prinz Honor Award:

Pratchett, Terry. (2012) Dodger New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishing.

This book's main character, a boy named Dodger, is inspired by Dickens' "Artful Dodger." The story begins with this boy rescuing a strange girl. The rest of the book is about solving the mystery of who she is and where she comes from.The boy lives in a fictional London, where he interacts with historical people like Charles Dickens and politician Benjamin Disraeli, as well as fiction people like Sweeny Todd. While this is  not completely a folktale, some of these characters are sort of "English folk heroes," so I thought it fit.

 

Orbis Pictus Award:

Tanaka, Shelley. (2008) Amelia Earhart; The Legend of the Lost Aviator. New York, New York: 

     Abrams Books (HNA Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

This book is about the real-life folk heroine, Amelia Earhart. It talks about her growing up years and how she became interested in flying. It shows her growing up, getting married, and all of her flights leading up the last fateful one when her plane would go down. It discusses the various theories behind her disappearance. The book ends with the statement that, to this day, no one knows for sure what happened.

 Stonewall ALA Award:

 Miller, Madeline. (2012) The Song of Achilles. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

This novel is about a part of the famous Greek myth told in the Iliad. It's main focus is the friendship between Achilles and Patroclus. Patroclus is a banished, shamed prince, but Achilles takes him under his wing. Slowly their friendship grows into something more. When they hear of the Trojan war, they both decide to go off and fight in it. They have no idea how much their bond will be tested.

Dolly Gray Award:

Niekerk, Clarabelle, Venter, Liezl. (2006) Understanding Sam and Asperger Syndrome. Erie,

      PA: Skeezel Press.

This is not even close to a folktale, but I needed a book that won this award. That being said, this is a delightful book is about a boy who has Asberger Syndrome. It shows what his life is like before his diagnoses. It talks about the way he is very particular about how many things need to be done. His parents take him to the doctor, who diagnoses the syndrome. In the end of the story, he gets to play a solo for the school talent show, and everyone is impressed.