Women's History Month in the Carrier Library Juvenile Collection:  Women Authors and Illustrators of Children's Books
Claire Clemens, Education librarian

In honor of Women's History Month the Carrier Library Juvenile Collection is celebrating female authors and illustrators of children's books with a display of books by about these women.  From Peter Rabbit to Misty of Chincoteague and the Borrowers to Pippi Longstocking, women like Beatrix Potter, Marguerite Henry, Mary Norton, Astrid Lindgren, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Beverly Cleary, and Louisa May Alcott, have enriched the lives of generations of children.  J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame is in good company on a long list of award-winning contemporary women writers and illustrators of children's books.

Book Awards Named for Women

Charlotte Zolotow Award This award is given annually for outstanding writing in a picture book published in the United States in the preceding year. Established in 1998, the award is named to honor the work of Charlotte Zolotow, a distinguished children's book editor for 38 years and author of more than 65 picture books.

Past Winner:  ...by Molly Bang

Coretta Scott King Award  Recipients are authors and illustrators of African descent whose distinguished books promote an understanding and appreciation of the "American Dream."  2002 winners:  

Author Award:  The Land by Mildred D. Taylor

Honor Books:  Carver, a Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson and  Money Hungry by Sharon G. Flake 

Illustrator Award: Goin'Someplace Special by Patricia McKissack and Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappoport 

Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal First given to its namesake in 1954, the award honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children. Winners include:

Virginia Hamilton (1995)
Marcia Brown (1992)
 Elizabeth George Speare (1989)
Jean Fritz (1986)
 Beverly Cleary (1975)
 E. B. White (1970)
 Ruth Sawyer (1965)
Clara Ingram Judson (1960)
Laura Ingalls Wilder (1954)

Margaret A. Edwards Award The Margaret A. Edwards Award, established in 1988, honors an author's lifetime achievement for writing books that have been popular with teenagers. It recognizes an author's work in helping adolescents become aware of themselves and addressing questions about their role and importance in relationships, society, and in the world.  (YALSA) 

1988 - S.E. Hinton for: The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, Tex, That Was Then, This is Now 
1992 - Lois Duncan for: Chapters: My Growth as a Writer, I Know What you Did Last Summer, Killing Mr. Griffin, Ransom, Summer of Fear, The Twisted Window 
1993 - M.E. Kerr for: Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack, Gentlehands, Me Me Me Me Me: Not a Novel, Night Kites
1995 - Cynthia Voigt for: Homecoming, Dicey's Song, A Solitary Blue, Building Blocks, The Runner, Jackaroo, Izzy Willy Nilly 
1996 - Judy Blume for:   Forever 
1998 - Madeleine L'Engle for: The Austin Family Series and the Time Fantasy Series 1999- Anne McCaffrey for: Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and the White Dragon, The Ship Who Sang, and the Harper Hall Trilogy 

Mildred L. Batchelder Award  This citation is awarded to an American publisher for a children's book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States. ALSC gives the award to encourage American publishers to seek out superior children's books abroad and to promote communication among the peoples of the world. 

2002 Winner: How I Became an American by Karin Gündischon 
2002 Honor Book: A Book of Coupons by Susie Morgenstern 

The Pura Belpré Award This award is presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature  for children and youth. The 2002 Award Winners:

For narrative: Esperenza Rising written by Pam Munoz Ryan

For illustration: Chato and the Party Animals illustrated by Susan Guevara 

Final Tributes

Astrid Lindgren (November 14, 1907 -January 28, 2002)

• 1958 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international recognition given to an author and an illustrator of children's books

• 1973 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in recognition of the Pippi stories

• 1984 Mildred Batchelder Award for Rania, the Robber's Daughter

• Lingren's books have sold over 100 million copies in some 80 languages

• Some 40 films and televisions series are based on her works

Virginia Hamilton (March 12, 1936-February 19, 2002)

•   Author of 38 works of fiction and non-fiction youth literature, including folk collections, picture books, biography and 20 novels

• First African American to win the coveted John Newbery Medal for “the most distinguished contribution to literature for children,” for M.C. Higgins, the Great, 1974

• Awarded the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1992, for her body of work

• Laura Ingalls Wilder Award Recipient 1995

• Awarded the Coretta Scott King Award three times for The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales,  Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush,  and A Little Love. 

For additional information on children's book authors and illustrators, consult: 

AskERIC Children's Literature and Children's Literature Web Guide: Authors and Illustrators on the Web