Charlotte Zolotow children’s writing award announced

Molly Bang, author of “When Sophie Gets Angry– Really, Really Angry…” published by Blue Sky / Scholastic and edited by Bonnie Verburg, has won this year’s Charlotte Zolotow Award for outstanding writing in a picture book.

The annual award is given by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, a library of the School of Education.

The award will be presented Sept. 27 at the time of the Charlotte Zolotow Lecture, an annual event at UW–Madison.

Bang’s obvious respect for the intensity of a young child’s emotions comes through in an understated narrative that follows the perfect arc of a tantrum. Little Sophie’s “red, red roar” is followed by some time alone which allows her to put the pieces of her world back together again.

A spare, subtly rhyming text varies syntactical patterns to reflect Sophie’s changing mood, offering a quiet contrast to the loud, exaggerated visual depiction of Sophie’s anger and eventual denouement.

The award committee named two Honor Books: “Bark, George” by Jules Feiffer (HarperCollins), a humorous tale about a mother dog who takes her puppy to the vet to see why he moos, meows and quacks; and “Three Cheers for Catherine the Great” by Cari Best (Melanie Kroupa / DK Ink), in which young Sara manages to come up with the perfect gift for her Russian-speaking grandmother.

Established in 1998, the award honors the work of Charlotte Zolotow, a distinguished children’s book editor for 38 years with Harper Junior Books, and
author of more than 65 picture books, including such classic works as “Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present” (Harper, 1962) and “William’s Doll” (Harper, 1972). Zolotow attended UW–Madison from 1933 to 1936.

The award committee also cited seven titles as Highly Commended: “Flicker Flash” by Joan Bransfield Graham (Houghton Mifflin); “The Hatseller and the Monkeys” by Baba Wagué Diakité (Scholastic); “How to Catch an Elephant” by Amy Schwartz (DK Ink); “Little Dog Poems” by Kristine O’Connell George (Clarion); “Trashy Town” by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha (HarperCollins); “When Will Sarah Come?” by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard (Greenwillow / HarperCollins); and “You Are My Perfect Baby” by Joyce Carol Thomas (Harper Growing Tree / HarperCollins).

Members of the 2000 Award Committee were: Joan Thron, chair, assistant professor, Department of Curriculum & Instruction, UW-Green Bay; Patricia Bakula, children’s librarian, retired, Glendale, Wis.; Geri Ceci Cupery, children’s librarian, Madison Public Library, Madison; Tana Elias, librarian, Madison Public Library; Ginny Moore Kruse, director, Cooperative Children’s Book Center; and Kathleen T. Horning, ex officio librarian, Cooperative Children’s Book Center, UW–Madison.

The Cooperative Children’s Book Center is a noncirculating library for adults with a professional, career or academic interest in children’s and young adult literature. The Friends of the CCBC Inc., is a nonprofit organization offering lectures, speaker receptions, book sales and other benefits for members, as well as assistance to the CCBC.

For more information, contact: Kathleen T. Horning. Cooperative Children’s Book Center 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706 (608) 263-3930 khorning@facstaff.wisc.edu. For more on the award, visit: http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/zolotow.htm