2014 Ezra Jack Keats Award Winners

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2014 Writer Award

Ame Dyckman

Ame Dyckman always wanted to write children’s books but took some time before deciding to pursue her dream. Now she’s on a roll with her second book, Tea Party Rules, a sly look at how kids play. The setting is classic—a tea party in the woods with a bear cub—but the push-and-pull between the characters is realistic enough to turn the fairy tale elements on their head. Ame lives with her family in Lawrence, New Jersey.

Tea Party Rules

Viking

Can a cookie-loving bear cub be friends with a girl who likes to make all the rules? It takes some doing in this sweetly funny story with a subversive twist.

2014 Illustrator Award

Christian Robinson

Christian Robinson is all about attitude—positive attitude. A playful spirit is evident even in his more serious work illustrating biographies for children. The expressive style of his pictures, reminiscent of folk art, seems to speak directly to young readers, whether in stories from our cultural history or in the tale of a little boy spreading cheer in Rain! Christian lives and works in San Francisco.

Rain

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

A happy little boy and a grumpy man experience the same rainy day very differently—until a random encounter influences both of them for the better.

2014 Honor Books

  • Writer Honor

    Pat Zietlow Miller
    Sophie’s Squash
    Schwartz & Wade Books
    Sophie loves her best friend, Bernice—a squash! Nothing could make her give Bernice up, not even when it begins to rot. But as she discovers, caring for a squash pays off in the end.

    Fun Facts

  • Writer Honor

    Linda Davick
    I Love You, Nose! I Love You, Toes!
    Beach Lane Books
    A charming celebration of body and its parts—we all have them, yet they make each of us unique.

    Fun Facts

  • Illustrator Honor

    K.G. Campbell
    Tea Party Rules
    Viking
    Can a cookie-loving bear cub be friends with a girl who likes to make all the rules? It takes some doing in this sweetly funny story with a subversive twist.

    Fun Facts

  • Illustrator Honor

    Aaron Meshon
    Take Me Out to the Yakyu
    Atheneum
    A boy attends baseball games with one grandfather in America and one in Japan. Different languages, same “wonderful day.”

    Fun Facts

  • Illustrator Honor

    Marta Altés
    My Grandpa
    Abrams
    The special relationship between grandfather and grandchild is made all the more poignant by the child’s loving acceptance of the old man’s fading faculties.

    Fun Facts