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Bob Graham Wins 2009 Charlotte Zolotow Award


How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham is the twelfth annual winner of the Charlotte Zolotow Award for outstanding writing in a picture book.

From Megan Schliesman, Chair 2009 Charlotte Zolotow Award Committee:

In a dramatic story that slowly unfolds in just a handful of carefully weighted words, Graham's picture book follows the fate of an injured pigeon. The marvelous visual storytelling accompanying the narrative includes full-page and double-page spreads and multiple panels on a single page that detail striking moments and affecting scenes. But what might have been an effective wordless book takes on even greater nuance and richness by the elegantly spare and emotionally charged narrative. How to Heal a Broken Wing was edited by Joan Powers and published in the United States in 2008 by Candlewick Press.

The 2009 Zolotow Award committee named five Honor Books:

How I Learned Geography written and illustrated by Uri Shulevitz, edited by Margaret Ferguson, and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

How Mama Brought the Spring written by Fran Manushkin, illustrated by Holly Berry, edited by Julie Strauss-Gebel and Donna Brooks, and published by Dutton

In a Blue Room written by Jim Averbeck, illustrated by Tricia Tusa, edited by Samantha McFerrin, and published by Harcourt/Houghton Mifflin

A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams written by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, edited by Shannon White, and published by Eerdmans

Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad written and illustrated by James Rumford, edited by Neal Porter, and published by Roaring Brook Press.

The 2009 Zolotow Award committee also cited eight titles as Highly Commended:

The Butter Man written by Elizabeth Alalou and Ali Alalou, illustrated by Julie Klear Essakalli (Charlesbridge)

The Chicken of the Family written by Mary Amato, illustrated by Delphine Durand (Putnam)

The Cow That Laid an Egg written by Andy Cutbill, illustrated by Russell Ayto (U. S. edition: HarperCollins)

Dance with Me written by Charles R. Smith, Jr., illustrated by Noah Z. Jones (Candlewick);

Don't Worry Bear written and illustrated by Greg Foley (Viking)

Growing Up with Tamales = Los tamales de Ana written by Gwendolyn Zepeda, illustrated by April Ward, Spanish translation by Gabriela Baeza Ventura (Piñata Books / Arte Público Press)

Hen Hears Gossip written by Megan McDonald, illustrated by Joung Un Kim (Greenwillow/HarperCollins)

Old Bear written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow/HarperCollins).

Established in 1998, the Charlotte Zolotow Award honors 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 to 1936, where she studied withProfessor Helen C. White. The award recognizes outstanding writing in a picture book for children in the birth through seven age range published in the United States in the preceding year.

Members of the 2009 Zolotow Award committee were: Megan Schliesman, chair (librarian, Cooperative Children's Book Center, Madison, Wisconsin); Tammy Boyd (first-grade teacher, Madison Metropolitan School District, Madison, Wisconsin); Svetha Hetzler (head of youth services, Middleton Public Library, Middleton, Wisconsin), Tessa Michaelson (librarian, Cooperative Children's Book Center, Madison, Wisconsin) and Jolen Neumann (school librarian, Madison, Wisconsin).

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