‘Fireworks’ wins Caldecott, Newbery is awarded to ‘All the Blues in the Sky’
The best books for children and young adults were awarded the country’s top honors by the American Library Association on Monday.
Illustrator Cátia Chien and author Matthew Burgess took home the Caldecott Medal for the book Fireworks. The Caldecott is given annually to the most distinguished American picture book for children. Fireworks follows two young siblings as they eagerly await the start of a July 4th fireworks show. Paired with Chien’s vibrant illustrations, Burgess’ poetic language enhances the sensory experience of fireworks.” When you write poems with kids, you see how immediately they get this,” Burgess told NPR in 2025 in a conversation about his book Words with Wings and Magic Things. “If you read a poem aloud to kids, they start to dance in their seats.”
The Newbery Medal, awarded for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature, went to Renée Watson for All the Blues in the Sky. This middle-grade novel, also told in verse, follows 13-year-old Sage, who struggles with grief following the death of her best friend. Watson is also the author of Piecing Me Together, which won the 2018 Coretta Scott King Award and was also a Newbery Medal honor book. “I hope that my books provide space for young people to explore, and say, “Yeah, I feel seen,” Watson told NPR in 2018. “That’s what I want young people to do — to talk to each other and to the adults in their lives.”
This year’s recipients of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards include Will’s Race for Home by Jewell Parker Rhodes (author award) and The Library in the Woods, by Calvin Alexander Ramsey and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie (illustrator award). Arriel Vinson’s Under the Neon Lights received the Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe Award for New Talent.
Los Angeles based artist Kadir Nelson was honored with the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. His work has appeared in more than 30 children’s books.
This year’s Newbery Honor Books were The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli, by Karina Yan Glaser; A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez by María Dolores Águila and The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story by Daniel Nayeri.
Caldecott Honors books were Every Monday Mabel by Jashar Awan, Our Lake by Angie Kang, Stalactite & Stalagmite: A Big Tale from a Little Cave by Drew Beckmeyer, and Sundust by Zeke Peña.
Edited by Jennifer Vanasco and Beth Novey.
Acclaimed 20th century philosopher Jürgen Habermas dies at 96
Associated with the Frankfurt School, Habermas was a world-renowned thinker on modernity and democracy who helped shape German post-war and post-reunification political discourse.
Why the Chicago Bears could be moving to Indiana
While Illinois is trying to keep the team in Chicago's suburbs, Indiana lawmakers are offering a plan to finance a new stadium
Pentagon tightens controls over Stars and Stripes after calling it “woke”
The new rules for the independent military newspaper are the Defense Department's latest effort to put extraordinary restrictions on journalists covering the agency.
‘War of the Worlds’ remake sinks to the bottom at this year’s Razzie Awards
The surveillance industry version of HG Wells' 1898 classic sci-fi novel stars Ice Cube, and won accolades for worst picture, actor, director and more.
Russian strike on Kyiv region kills 4 and wounds 15, with peace talks stalled
The strikes comes after the United States paused ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine due to the war with Iran.
As the risk of measles grows, why are parents so divided on vaccines?
In South Carolina, some parents embrace vaccines, others opt out. Why do people make such different choices? A mix of politics, distrust and misinformation is pushing neighbors apart.
