Mini Fact:The Newbery Medal, fi rst awarded in 1922, was the world’s fi rst children’s book award.
Next Week:Recycling
Matt de la Peña Matt de la Peña has won the 2016 John Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. His award-winning book is “Last Stop on Market Street.” The illustrator, Christian Robinson, won a Caldecott Honor Book award. Matt grew up in San Diego, near the border with Mexico, but now he lives in Brooklyn, New York. In Brooklyn, he said, he is “surrounded by talented writers and musicians and artists.” He lives with his wife and their 2-year-old daughter.
“I spent a lot of time in high school secretly composing spoken-word poems,” Matt explained. “My 11th-grade English teacher was the fi rst to tell me I had talent.” Matt began to love reading in college
with the help of an enthusiastic professor. “I loved that books could make me feel things,” he said. About writing, Matt said: “I steal all my ideas from the world. I like real people. Working-class people. I like to reveal moments of grace and dignity that I fi nd on the ‘wrong side of the tracks.’” Matt’s advice for kids: “Read everything. Read outside your favorite genre. And write with heart. There’s a great quote by Goethe that I love to apply to writing: ‘Do not hurry; do not rest.’ It’s perfect, I think.”
Sophie Blackall Sophie Blackall is the winner of the 2016 Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children. She illustrated “Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear” by Lindsay Mattick. Sophie grew up in South Australia. “I spent most of my childhood up a tree reading and occasionally pelting the neighborhood boys with pink peppercorns, which are sticky and smell weird,” she said. Today she lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her partner, Ed. She became an artist “when I realized that making art was my favorite thing to do in the world. My mother had a room fi lled with wool and scraps of fabric and paints and threads. I would go to the beach to collect shells and into the woods to collect pine cones, and I put it all together and made stuff.” Sophie said she likes all types of art. “Secretly I’d love to sew or make theater sets or design wallpaper,” she said. Her advice to kids: “Read lots and lots of picture books. Nobody ever gets too old for (them). Find artists you like and try to fi gure out how they made their drawings. Look at how sometimes the drawing fi lls the whole
page and bleeds off the edge of the paper, and other times there’s just a tiny drawing and lots of white space. Think about why the artist would do this.”
Honor books This year, there are three Newbery Honor Books and four Caldecott Honor Books.Newbery Honor Books • “The War That Saved My Life” by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.
• “Roller Girl,” written and illustrated by Victoria Jamieson.
• “Echo” by Pam Muñoz Ryan.
Caldecott Honor Books• “Trombone Shorty,”
illustrated by Bryan Collier and written by Troy Andrews.
• “Waiting,” illustrated and written by Kevin Henkes. • “Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement,” illustrated by Ekua Holmes and written by
Carole Boston Weatherford. • “Last Stop on Market Street,” illustrated by Christian Robinson and written by Matt de la Peña.
Words that remind us of books are hidden in this puzzle. Some words are hidden backward. See if you can fi nd:
Teachers:For standards-based activities toaccompany this feature, visit:bbs.amuniversal.com/teaching_guides.html
On the Web:• bit.ly/1TkRutl• gws.ala.org
At the library:• “The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth, &
Harlem’s Greatest Bookstore” by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
For later:Read more about the Newbery and Caldecott medal winners and other winning books. Which ones would you like to read?
Mini Jokes
Tom: Why was the book so cold?
Trevor: It didn’t have its jacket!
Tyler: What do you call a book written by a car?
Taylor: An autobiography!
Try ’n’ Find
7 Little Words for Kids
You’ll need:• 1 (0.3-ounce) package sugar-free
orange gelatin• 1 (0.3-ounce) package sugar-free lemon
gelatin• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 cup green grapes, quartered
• 1 banana, sliced• 2 cups light whipped
topping
Cook’s CornerGelatin Parfait
One of the best sources of renewable energy is the sun. The wind is another energy source that will last forever. To learn more about energy sources and what you can do, visit www.eia.gov/kids. Talk about energy with your family, friends, teachers and classmates.
Eco Note
The Mini Page® © 2016 Universal Uclick
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Founded by Betty DebnamIssue 15, 2016
ART, AUTHOR, AWARD, BOOK, CALDECOTT, DISTINGUISHED, DRAWING, FAVORITE, GENRE, HONOR, IDEAS, ILLUSTRATOR, MEDAL, NEWBERY, PICTURE, POEM, READING, WINNER, WRITING.
adapted with permission from “The New 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth” by The Earthworks Group, Andrews McMeel Publishing (andrewsmcmeel.com)
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6. yellow vegetable (4)
7. where you fi nd ice cream (7)
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Use the letters in the boxes to make a word with the same meaning as the clue. The numbers in parentheses represent the number of letters in the solution. Each letter combination can be used only once, but all letter combinations will be necessary to complete the puzzle.
Answers: eraser, quilt, alphabet, fossil, raisin, corn, freezer. ©20
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Resources
What to do: 1. Make gelatin according to directions using 1 1/2 cups boiling water and 1/2 cup orange
juice for each package.2. Pour gelatin into two 8-by-8-inch pans, one for each flavor. Refrigerate 4 hours or until
set. When gelatin is set, cut into squares in pan.3. Layer ingredients equally in 4 dessert glasses in this order: lemon gelatin, 1/4 cup
whipped topping, grapes, orange gelatin, 1/4 cup whipped topping, sliced bananas. Makes 4 desserts.
I D E A S T T O C E D L A C N A U T H O R Z R E A D I N G T D R A W I N G I P O E M A T I A W A R D Z E T I R O V A F Y W T R A R O N O H L A D E M X P F R O T A R T S U L L I Y I B W R I T I N G X W I N N E R O D E H S I U G N I T S I D I O D P I C T U R E Z X R U O Q K C E R N E G B Y R E B W E N
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Meet the Winners