Newbery Medal winner – “When You Reach Me,” by Rebecca Stead

Caldecott Medal winner – “The Lion & the Mouse,” illustrated and written by Jerry Pinkney

The Association for Library Service to Children announced the winners of its book and media awards during the American Library Association midwinter meeting in January. Among those named were the winners of the Newbery and Caldecott medals.

I remember my elementary school librarian explaining the significance of the awards. She showed us the beautiful artwork in the Caldecott books and shared rich stories with us from the Newbery winners. It wasn’t long before I was searching out those books with an award seal when I went to the library. They were “guaranteed to be good.”

The ALSC has lists of past winners on its web site (Newbery and Caldecott), and I enjoyed browsing through them while looking up the most recent winners.

Some of my favorite Newbery books that I read as a kid included “Sarah Plain and Tall,” “Dicey’s Song,” “Bridge to Terabithia” and “A Wrinkle in Time.”

What are some of your favorites?