1999 Medal Winner: Snowflake Bentley, Illustrated by Mary Azarian, text by Jacqueline Briggs Martin (Houghton)

Honor Books:

• Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra illustrated by Brian Pinkney
  Text: Andrea Davis Pinkney(Hyperion)
• No, David! by David Shannon (Scholastic)
• Snow by Uri Shulevitz (Farrar)
• Tibet Through the Red Box by Peter Sís (Frances Foster)



1998 Medal Winner: Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky (Dutton)
Honor Books:

• The Gardener illustrated by David Small
  Text: Sarah Stewart (Farrar)
• Harlem illustrated by Christopher Myers
  Text: Walter Dean Myers (Scholastic)
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Simms Taback (Viking)



1997 Medal Winner: Golem by David Wisniewski (Clarion)
Honor Books:

• Hush! A Thai Lullaby illustrated by Holly Meade; text: Minfong Ho (Melanie Kroupa/Orchard Books)
• The Graphic Alphabet by David Pelletier (Orchard Books)
• The Paperboy by Dav Pilkey (Richard Jackson/Orchard Books)
• Starry Messenger by Peter Sís (Frances Foster Books/Farrar Straus Giroux)



1996 Medal Winner: Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann (Putnam)
Honor Books:

• Alphabet City by Stephen T. Johnson (Viking)
• Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin, illustrated by Marjorie Priceman; text: Lloyd Moss (Simon & Schuster)
• The Faithful Friend, illustrated by Brian Pinkney; text: Robert D. San Souci (Simon & Schuster)
• Tops & Bottoms, adapted and illustrated by Janet Stevens (Harcourt)



1995 Medal Winner: Smoky Night, illustrated by David Diaz; text: Eve Bunting (Harcourt)
Honor Books:

• John Henry, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney; text: Julius Lester (Dial)
• Swamp Angel, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky; text: Anne Issacs (Dutton)
• Time Flies by Eric Rohmann (Crown)

David Diaz creates a collage, primitive illustration piece through acrylic on Arches Watercolor.  It looks like heavy paint layered onto black ink on paper, creating a woodcut-type effect.  Character faces are somewhat reminiscent of Diego Rivera and the collage of fabric and art paper/plastics give depth, emotion, and texture to the piece.  As much as " Two Towers" ended up being an homage to the towers attack, this become a memorial piece for the Los Angeles riots, in 1992.  One of the neatest aspects of the book is that skin colors become just colors, much in the way that Jim Henson chose primary and secondary colors for his muppets. Difference is recognized, but no one color is more important than another. In making such artistic choices, Diaz offers solutions for the problems of race and social inequity that helped to create the riots in the first place. The art is beautiful and supports the writing perfectly. Bunting describes a child's impressions of the riots while they happen. She also offers a perspective, without being didactic, on how we should treat each other in day-to-day life, as well as in times of crisis.  One of the book's strongest aspects, from an author's point of view, is that the reader is engaged in a way which effectively reveals a children experience of crisis in an adult-controlled world.

Harcourt Brace
ISBN 0152699546



1994 Medal Winner: Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say; text: edited by Walter Lorraine (Houghton)
Honor Books:

A Japanese American man recounts his grandfather's journey to America which he later also undertakes. He considers the feelings of being torn by a love for two different countries.  Watercolor—made to feel like tinted photos.  Looks and feels like reading through a family Photo Album (Formal).  The book is gorgeous and for anyone that has lived a multi-cultural experience, it is wonderful.  The last line is best, "The funny thing is, the moment I am in one country, I am homesick for the other."  " I think I know my Grandfather now." I, like many others, feel this duality so very deeply. This is a wonderful book for elementary school lessons on family, neighborhood, etc. A great Social Studies unit!

Publisher

Houghton Mifflin, Boston

215 Park Avenue, South, NY, NY 10003

Also by Allen Say:

El Chino

Lost Lake

A River Dream

The Bybyle Man

Tree of Cranes



1993 Medal Winner: Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully (Putnam)
Honor Books:

• The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, illustrated by Lane Smith; text: Jon Scieszka (Viking)
• Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young (Philomel Books)
• Working Cotton, illustrated by Carole Byard; text: Sherley Anne Williams (Harcourt)

Mirette learns tightrope walking from Monsieur Bellini, a guest in her mother's boarding house, not knowing that he is a celebrated tightrope artist who has withdrawn from performing because of fear.  This book is full of wonderful, light and shadow in the watercolor! It has beautiful, bright colors.  Mirette reads like a biography for children, (Beethoven Upstairs, etc.). It is a traditional picturebook layout—mostly highlighting the delicate watercolor art.  Wonderful, painterly composition.  A fun book about the power to find your personal passion and help others with theirs.



1992 Medal Winner: Tuesday by David Wiesner
(Clarion Books)
Honor Book:

• Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold (Crown Publishers, Inc., a Random House Co.)



1991 Medal Winner: Black and White by David Macaulay (Houghton)
Honor Books:

• Puss in Boots, illustrated by Fred Marcellino; text: Charles Perrault, trans. by Malcolm Arthur (Di Capua/Farrar)
• "More More More," Said the Baby: Three Love Stories by Vera B. Williams (Greenwillow)



1990 Medal Winner: Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young (Philomel)
Honor Books:

• Bill Peet: An Autobiography by Bill Peet (Houghton)
• Color Zoo by Lois Ehlert (Lippincott)
• The Talking Eggs: A Folktale from the American South, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney; text: Robert D. San Souci (Dial)
• Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman; text: Eric Kimmel (Holiday House)