ALA announces YMA for 2013 and some creepy sketches

Yesterday morning the kid literati world was all a-twitter as the ALA made its announcment of this year's outstanding books for young people. They always start with the Newbury, but since this is an illustrator blog I'm starting with the Caldecott winners:
Winning the gold was Jon Klassen's This Is Not My Hat

Honorees were Peter Brown's Creepy Carrots (we have a signed copy, proving in fact that our family is cooler than yours), Jon Klassen's Extra Yarn, David Small for One Cool Friend, Laura Seeger for Green, and Pamela Zagarenski for Sleep Like a Tiger.

The Newbery Award went to The One and Only Ivan written by Katherine Applegate



Three Newbery Honor Books also were named: Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz,  Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin,  and Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage.

Thanks to the miracle of social media I got to send messages of congratulations to many of the winners. I have to say it was pretty weird to type "congrats on the caldecott"... made it seem a little more within reach.

There are several blogs that recap the full awards scope. The full announcement and webcast is here but my favorite is Betsy Bird's Fuse #8. Peter Brown also has a funny post about getting the phone call.

Finally I'll post a couple of sketches from one of the three projects I'm currently super busy with. I picked these to go with the theme of smart-alecky fish and carrots with mind twisting skills: