Kefin Henkes and Cynthia Kadohata Win Top Awards for Children’s Literature

By Linda Orlando

When publishers are notified that one of their books has won one of the top prizes in children’s literature—the Caldecott or Newbery medal—they immediately order reprints to be published. Booksellers have no way of knowing in advance who is going to win either of the awards, which are bestowed by the American Library Association (ALA), so the publishers of each nominee stand ready and hoping for their book to get the nod before gearing up the presses to flood the market with reprints. The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the ALA, announced the 2005 winners on January 17, 2005.

The Caldecott Medal is awarded by the ALSC to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. To be honored, a book must have been published in the U.S. during the preceding year, and the artist must be a U.S. citizen or resident. This annual award is named after Randolph Caldecott, a nineteenth century English illustrator, and has been presented every year since 1938.

This year’s winner of the Caldecott medal is Kitten's First Full Moon, by Kefin Henkes, which tells the story of a kitten who mistakes the moon for a bowl of milk. Kitten's frustration and eventual triumph—emotions familiar to young children—find artistic expression in a meticulously crafted book with classic appeal and illustrations in black and white. Since winning the Caldecott, the book has been disappearing rapidly from bookstore shelves. "We are attempting to get them in here as soon as possible," says Claire Hecko, a bookseller at Manhattan's Books of Wonder, which had no copies of Kitten's First Full Moon in stock before the award announcement. After the book won the Caldecott medal, as many as ten customers a day began asking for the books.

"I haven't gotten it back in stock since the announcement," says Linda Bubon of Women & Children First, a Chicago bookstore. Author Henkes, 44, says he was "euphoric" when he heard about the award because it will ensure that his book will stay in print for a long time. But he's realistic about the shortage, which could last weeks. "I guess it's not wise to have lots of books lying around," he says, noting that the publishing industry has a "bottom line" that limits initial printings. "But I wasn't thinking about that—I was just being happy."

In the United States, the John Newbery Medal, commonly referred to as the Newbery, is the most prestigious children's book award that an author can receive. The Newbery Medal is an annual children’s book award presented to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children published in English in the United States during the preceding year. The medal, named for John Newbery, an eighteenth-century British bookseller, has been awarded every year since 1922. To be eligible for a Newbery, the author must be a citizen or resident of the United States, and the book must be an original work of fiction, non-fiction, or poetry never published in another country. The book must be written for children, with children defined as "persons of ages up to and including fourteen."

Cynthia Kadohata won the 2005 Newberry medal for her book Kira-Kira, which means "glittering" in Japanese. The book tells a coming-of-age story about two Japanese-American sisters growing up in the Deep South. Kadohata's tenderly nuanced novel glitters with plain and poignant words that describe the strong love within a Japanese-American family from the point of view of younger sister Katie. Award Committee Chair Susan Faust says, "With compelling quietude that makes room for both pathos and humor, this luminous novel takes us on Katie Takeshima's journey through a childhood punctuated by prejudice, poverty and family tragedy. Young readers will be drawn into a narrative that radiates hope from the inside out." Graceful prose illuminates complex relationships, most notably between the two sisters. Katie's remarkably authentic voice changes to reflect both her deeper understandings and her growing sense of self over a span of almost 10 years.

Because of the prizes, Antheneum is reprinting 75,000 copies of Kira-Kira, six times its initial printing. Greenwillow is printing 150,000 more copies of Kitten's First Full Moon, after a first printing of 60,000. Not only will many children now be introduced to two wonderful, inspiring new stories, these two authors will forever have their names engraved in the annals of great literature for children.