Stead, Pinkney Win Children's Book Awards

Rebecca Stead's "When You Reach Me" and Jerry Pinkney's "The Lion and the Mouse" have received the top prizes in children's literature.

Stead's intricate, time-traveling narrative set in 1970s Manhattan, inspired in part by "A Wrinkle in Time," won the John Newbery Medal for best children's book. The Randolph Caldecott prize for picture book was given to Pinkney's wordless telling of the classic Aesop fable.

The awards were announced Monday in Boston at the American Library Association's annual midwinter meeting.

Julia Alvarez, known to adults for the best-selling "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents," won the Pura Belpre Author Award, for best book by a Latino or Latina, for "Return to Sender." The Belpre prize for illustration was given to Rafael Lopez for "Book Fiesta!" written by Pat Mora.

Vauna Micheaux Nelson's "Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal," won the Coretta Scott King award for best book by an African-American author. The King award for best illustrator went to Charles R. Smith Jr. for "My People," with text written by poet Langston Hughes.

Libba Bray's "Going Bovine" won the Michael L. Printz Award for young adult literature. Jim Murphy, whose tales of American history include "The Long Road to Gettysburg" and "A Young Patriot," received the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in young adult books.

For more info:
"When You Reach Me" (Random House)
"The Lion and the Mouse" (Hachette)
jerrypinkneystudio.com
"Return to Sender" (juliaalvarez.com)
"Book Fiesta!" (HarperCollins)
"Bad News for Outlaws" (Lerner Publishing)
"My People" (Simon & Schuster)
"Going Bovine" (Delacorte)
American Library Association

By AP National Writer Hillel Italie