Geisel Guide: 2020

I wanted to be more intentional with my Kid Lit reading as I headed into a season of SMART goals, award committee prep, and building my reader’s advisory skills, I decided to take time to read ALL of the Geisel award winners and honors books from recent years, beginning with 2020. That is, books published in 2019 that were recognized by the Geisel Committee in January 2020 at the Youth Media Awards.

But first…what is the Geisel Award?

From the ALSC website,

The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award is given annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States during the preceding year.   The winner(s), recognized for their literary and artistic achievements that demonstrate creativity and imagination to engage children in reading, receives a bronze medal.  Honor Book authors and illustrators receive certificates, which are presented at the ALA Annual Conference.  The award was established in 2004 and first presented in 2006.

The award is named for the world-renowned children’s author, Theodor Geisel. “A person’s a person no matter how small,” Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, would say. “Children want the same things we want: to laugh, to be challenged, to be entertained and delighted.” Brilliant and playful, Dr. Seuss charmed his way into the consciousness of four generations of youngsters and parents. In the process, he helped them to read.

The Geisel Award is the perfect award to have in mind when you’re doing reader’s advisory for emerging readers, for kindergarten, first, and second graders building reading skills, or frankly, for those elementary school teachers and families who want something fun and quick to read aloud!

Let’s look at the 2020 winners and honorees!

Medal Winner

Stop! Bot!, written and illustrated by James Yang (Viking/Penguin)

A short, dialogue-only picture book for future fans of graphic novels, this book has an elongated trim size to mimic a tall apartment building as a boy loses his robot (think drone-esque) and the various antics the people try to catch it.

Honor Books

Chick and Brain: Smell My Foot! written and illustrated by Cece Bell (Candlewick)

A graphic novel/comic-style easy reader about an odd couple, a human-esque Brain and a chicken named Chick. Mind your manners with this one, which focuses on the order of saying please/thank you/you’re welcome while Brain wants others to smell his foot, and Chick almost ends up eaten by being too polite.

Flubby Is Not a Good Pet! written and illustrated by J.E. Morris (Penguin Workshop/Penguin Random House)

A sweet, simple easy reader about a girl and her pet cat who doesn’t do what other people’s pets do, but that’s okay…because they need each other. Simple sweet but not saccharine.

The Book Hog, written and illustrated by Greg Pizzoli (Disney-Hyperion, an imprint of Disney Book Group)

This is a cute made-for-librarians story about a literal hog who loves books, hoards them at his house, but he can’t read. A nice librarian teaches him to read overtime through story time and he learns to be a library patron. This is pretty cute, but what stands out to me is how bright the neon colors are compared to many other similar books that go with duller tones.

See you next week for our 2021 Geisel Guide!