Tales of Dreamers Win 2004 Newbery and Caldecott Medals

Dreaming big dreams is the link between the main characters of the two books winning this year's most prestigious prizes in children's literature: The Newbery and Caldecott medals. The books, The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering (Candlewick), and The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein (Roaring Brook Press/The Millbrook Press) were named the 2004 Newbery and Caldecott medalists, respectively, by the American Library Association at its midwinter meeting in San Diego.

In The Tale of Despereaux, Despereaux, who was born a sickly, fearful, smaller-than-average mouse, is a most unlikely hero and suitor for a human princess, but still he dreams well above his station. In The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, French funambulist and street entertainer Philippe Petit sees the space between the two giant towers of New York's World Trade Center and muses "what a wonderful place to stretch a rope." Through ink and oil paintings and few words, Gerstein chronicles Petit's 1975 true-life adventure crossing between the former towers on a very thin wire.

DiCamillo, whose debut novel, Because of Winn-Dixie (Candlewick), was a 2001 Newbery Honor Book, has long been a Book Sense favorite. All three of her novels have been chosen by booksellers as Top Ten picks on the Children's Book Sense 76 lists. Her second book, The Tiger Rising, was a National Book Award finalist. A film version of Winn-Dixie, starring Eva-Marie Saint and singer Dave Matthews, will be released this August.

Gerstein spent 25 years as a designer and director of award-winning animated films, and has written and illustrated numerous notable books for children.

For Gerstein's publisher, three-year-old Roaring Brook Press/Millbrook Press, this is its second Caldecott Medal in a row. Last year My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann won the award.

According to Joy Goncalves, Millbrook's operations manager, the original press runs of The Man Who Walked Between the Towers -- 7,500 trade and 5,000 school and library editions -- are nearly sold out. She anticipates the next printing, possibly as many as 100,000 copies, will be available by mid-February.

Candlewick Press President Karen Lotz told BTW that inventory on a The Tale of Despereaux was down to between 10,000 - 15,000 copies, but another 100,000 copies were scheduled for delivery in about six weeks.

This year's Newbery honor books included Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow) and An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy (Clarion).

The three Caldecott honor books were Don't Let the Pigeon Ride the Bus by Mo Williams (Hyperion); What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? illustrated by Steve Jenkins, written by Robin Page (Houghton); and Ella Sarah Gets Dressed by Margaret Chodos-Irvine (Harcourt).

The fifth annual Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature for young adults went to The First Part Last by recent MacArthur genius awardee, Angela Johnson (S&S). Johnson was also given the Coretta Scott King Award for the best African-American children's writer for The First Part Last.

Ashley Bryan received the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration for Beautiful Blackbird (S&S/Atheneum). The Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award was awarded to The Way a Door Closes by Hope Anita Smith, illustrated by Shane W. Evans (Henry Holt), and the Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award winner was My Family Plays Music, illustrated by Elbrite Brown, written by Judy Cox (Holiday House).

Coretta Scott King honor books in the author category were Days of Jubilee: The End of Slavery in the United States by Patricia and Frederick McKissack (Scholastic), Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson (Putnam/Penguin), and The Battle of Jericho by Sharon Draper (Atheneum).

King honor books in the illustrator category were Almost to Freedom, illustrated by Colin Bootman, written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (CarolRhoda/Lerner) and Thunder Rose, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, written by Jerdine Nolen (Silver Whistle/Harcourt).

The Michael L. Printz Award honor books are A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly (Harcourt), Keesha's House by Helen Frost (FSG/Frances Foster Books), Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going (G.P.Putnam's Sons/Penguin Young Readers), and The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler (Candlewick).

The winner of the Pura Belpré Award for Best Latino Writer went to Julia Alvarez for Before We Were Free (Knopf) and Yuyi Morales was named Best Latino Illustrator for Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book (Chronicle Books).
Two Latino honor books were named: Cuba 15, written by Nancy Osa (Delacorte), and My Diary From Here to There/Mi diario de aquí hasta allá by Amada Irma Pérez, illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez (Children's Book Press/Editorial Libros Para Niños).

The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award was given to Jim Murphy for An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 (Clarion).

Walter Lorraine Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin, was named winner of the 2004 Mildred L. Batchelder Award for the most outstanding children's book originally published in a foreign language, subsequently translated into English for U.S. publication. It won the award for its publication of Run, Boy, Run, by Uri Orlev, originally published in Hebrew, and translated in English by Hillel Halkin.

The Margaret A. Edwards Award, honoring her lifetime contribution to young adult readers, was bestowed on Ursula K. LeGuin.