Laura Amy Schlitz wasn't thinking about the American Library Association (ALA) Awards when she started writing her book 12 years ago. Instead, she was thinking about how to bring medieval history to life for her students. Schlitz, the librarian at the Park School, in Baltimore, Maryland, decided to write a play that would allow each of her fifth graders to have a substantial part. She created a play consisting of monologues for different characters, all young inhabitants of an English village in 1255. That way, "Every child could be a star," she says.
Last summer, the play became a book called Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village (below, right). And on January 14, it won the 2008 Newbery Medal, the top honor in children's literature. Schlitz encourages kids to perform the passages. "I want children to hear the applause," she told TFK.
Author-illustrator Brian Selznick wasn't counting on a prize either, when he started his illustrated mystery The Invention of Hugo Cabret (below, center). The Caldecott Medal for the best picture book had gone to shorter works in the past. But Selznick's picture-packed, 533-page volume took the prize this year. "The only thing I'm hoping, in the end, is that readers will enjoy the story," he says.
Another top honor, the Coretta Scott King Award, recognizes the work of an African-American author. This year, it went to Christopher Paul Curtis for his slavery-era book, Elijah of Buxton. Like the other winners, Curtis had his audience in mind. He told TFK, "My greatest hope is that (kids) will read this and it will lead them to ask more questions."