It’s been a week of congratulations for some great publishers and creators. First Kate Brown, whose Spider Moon graphic novel will be coming soon from David Fickling books, wins the Arts Foundation graphic novel prize (Joe covered the story here)
And now news comes of Toon Books sweeping the American Library Association’s awards. Although it only published three books in 2009, two of them won major awards; the ALA’s Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for most distinguished beginning reader was awarded to Benny and Penny in the Big No-No! (review). The second award went to Jeff Smith’s Little Mouse Gets Ready (review), which became one of four Honour books for the Geisel.
Geoffrey Hayes, writer and artist on Benny and Penny said: “Winning the Geisel is especially meaningful to me as I spent much of my career focusing on easy readers and trying to promote children’s literacy. To receive an award named after one of the giants of children’s books is a tremendous honor.”
Congratulations to all at Toon Books, it’s pleasing to see them getting the acolades they most definitely deserve for their work in broadening the age range of graphic novels. Their next releases in April will be Geoffrey Hayes’ latest Benny and Penny book, Toy Breaker and Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework, the first non-fiction science based Toon Book release.
Sat, Jan 23, 2010
Comics and cartoons