‘Hot Dog’ wins Caldecott, Newbery is awarded to ‘Freewater’

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

The top children’s book awards were handed out Monday morning, at the American Library Association’s annual Youth Media Awards.

The Newbery Medal, which the American Library Association awards to the most distinguished American children’s book published the previous year, went to Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson. The historical fiction book revolves around two enslaved siblings’ escape from a plantation to a free swamp community called Freewater.

“These were powerful spaces that allow us to see what real resistance to enslavement looks like …” Luqman-Dawson told Here & Now in February. “It literally creates a space where you can listen and hear the voices of formerly enslaved people.”

Freewater was also the Coretta Scott King Author award winner.

The Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children was awarded to Hot Dog, illustrated and written by Doug Salati. The book is about an overwhelmed pup who finds his calm on a trip to the beach.

Knopf Books for Young Readers

Knopf Books for Young Readers

Knopf Books for Young Readers

Knopf Books for Young Readers

The Newbery honor books were Iveliz Explains It All, The Last Mapmaker and Maizy Chen’s Last Chance.

And the Caldecott honor books were Ain’t Burned All the Bright, Berry Song, Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement and Knight Owl.

ALA’s Youth Media Awards include many other honors as well, such as the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Book award, which was given to Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual, illustrated by Frank Morrison. Dr. Claudette McLinn, founder and executive director of the Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature, was honored with the Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement.