Brian Selznick, reading from his book

This is the season when authors and illustrators of children's books garner prizes. The most coveted and well-known are the Caldecott Medal (for illustration) and the Newbery Medal (for literature). Other major prizes include the Coretta Scott King Awards for best African American children's writer and illustrator, the Pura Belpre Awards for best Latino writer and illustrator, the Sydney Taylor Book Awards that exemplify high literary standards while portraying the Jewish experience, the Schneider Family Book Awards for the artistic expression of the disability experience for child audiences, and the National Book Awards with a category for young people's literature.

Randolph Caldecott Medal: "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," by Brian Selznick (Scholastic, $22.99, ages 9-11). Usually the Caldecott award is associated with picture books for young children. This is not a picture book in the traditional sense, nor strictly a graphic novel. Rather, it's a visual mystery, set in the 1930s, about a 12-year-old orphan boy who lives in a Paris railway station. He tends the many clocks in the station, always careful to keep his identity a secret. But he discovers a mechanical man writing enigmatic messages . . .

Read the rest of the article at the San Jose Mercury News . . .