Written by Karen Leggett

This is Shep O'Neal with the VOA Special English Education Report.

Every year, the American Library Association honors artists and writers of books for children.

One of these honors is the Newbery award.  It is named for a book seller in England in the eighteenth century, John Newbery.

The Newbery Medal winner for two thousand six is Lynne Rae Perkins for writing "Criss Cross."  Her book is about four teenagers in a small town.  They are trying to find the meaning of life and love.  They are fourteen years old. 

"Criss Cross" is written in several different ways.  Sometimes it is like a song.  Sometimes it is like a poem:

(READER)

She wished
something
would happen.

Something good.

To her.

Looking at the bright, fuzzy picture in the
magazine, she thought, Something like that.

Lynne Rae Perkins is a writer and artist.  "Criss Cross" is her sixth book.

Another award, the Caldecott, honors the best American picture book of the year.  It is named for an artist from England, Randolph Caldecott.  The Caldecott Medal winner this year is Chris Raschka for "The Hello, Goodbye Window," written by Norton Juster. 

In the book, a little girl tells about visiting the home of her grandparents.  The committee that chose Chris Raschka for the award praised how he captures the natural way children draw.  It says the pictures express the emotional warmth of connections between older family members and children. 

Chris Raschka also won the award in nineteen ninety-four. 

In addition to the winners, four Caldecott Honor Books and four Newbery Honor books were named last month.

Another honor from the American Library Association is the Margaret L. Batchelder Award.  It goes to the company that publishes the best translation of a children’s book into English.  The winner for two thousand six is Arthur A. Levine Books for "An Innocent Soldier" by Josef Holub.  Michael Hoffman translated it from German.

Awards are chosen by committees of people who work with children’s books.  But in some schools, children vote unofficially for their own Newbery and Caldecott winners.  This year, schoolchildren could watch the award ceremony live on the Internet.  A teacher in Wisconsin says her students cheered as each winner was announced. 

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Karen Leggett.  Internet users can read and listen to our reports at voaspecialenglish.com.  I'm Shep O'Neal.