Renée Watson’s Newbery Win: ‘Tears of Joy’
When Renée Watson arrived home to New York City this past weekend, she had plenty of things on her mind—and hearing from the Newbery Committee wasn’t one of them. “I had just gotten back from London,” Watson told PW. “I was jet-lagged and unpacking, trying to get settled in, and the snowstorm had come to New York, so I was like, ‘let me get some groceries.’ I was so distracted, with just, you know, life.” Then, on Sunday evening, her phone rang. “It was the committee,” she said. “They were cheering, and they gave me the great news, and I was completely taken aback.”
Cátia Chien’s Caldecott Win: ‘Wait, Is This What I Think It Means?’
For newly anointed Caldecott Medalist Cátia Chien, the past few days have been worthy of party sparklers and confetti cannons: her illustrations for the picture book Fireworks, written by Matthew Burgess and published by Clarion Books, earned the coveted prize at the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards on January 26.
Cynthia Leitich Smith’s Printz Win: ‘Genuinely Gobsmacked’
Last Saturday was an eerily quiet day in Cynthia Leitich Smith’s hometown of Denton, Tex., which was freshly blanketed with a rare eight-inch snowfall. “No one leaves their house in Texas during a winter freeze!” she said, describing the stillness outdoors. “There are no tire tracks on the roads—nothing but squirrel and bunny pawprints in the snow.” After braving the cold to walk her somewhat confused dogs, who had never encountered snow drifts, the author returned home and was surprised to find a message on her phone—from YALSA.
