The American Library Association (ALA) has announced the top children's books of 2012. Author Katherine Applegate took home the John Newbery Medal. Her winning book, The One and Only Ivan, is based on the true story of a gorilla named Ivan. Applegate says her writing is inspired by her children, ages 13 and 15.

The author was shocked and thrilled by her big win. But she isn't letting it go to her head. "My children are unimpressed with my occupation," Applegate told TFK.

The picture book This Is Not My Hat, by Jon Klassen, won the Randolph Caldecott Medal for illustrators.

The Coretta Scott King author award is given to an African-American writer. It went to Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America, written by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Brian Pinkney. The King prize for pictures was given to I, Too, Am America, illustrated by Bryan Collier, with poetry by Langston Hughes.

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