Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award goes to Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book"

The Children’s Book Award Committee of the Youth Services Section of the Wisconsin Library Association announces that this year’s winner of the Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award is The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, published by HarperCollins. The committee, chaired by Leah Langby, also selected the following Outstanding Books:

Old Bear by Kevin Henkes, published by Greenwillow

Bird Lake Moon by Kevin Henkes, published by Greenwillow

It's Not Fair! Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld (written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal), published by HarperCollins

The Adventures of Sir Lancelot the Great by Gerald Morris, illustrated by Aaron Renier, published by Houghton Mifflin

Monsoon Afternoon by Kashmira Sheth, published by Peachtree

The Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla Award winner receives a $1,000 award, funded by the WLA Foundation through a generous contribution from Worzalla Publishing of Stevens Point. The winner is also invited to attend the Awards banquet at the WLA Annual Conference, scheduled October 21-24, 2009 at the Paper Valley Radisson, Appleton. The committee reported that it looked at about 80 titles this year.

Committee members are Kate Fitzgerald-Fleck (Waukesha Public Library), Pat Freitag (Graham Public Library, Union Grove), Barb Huntington (DLTCL, Madison),
Tom Hurlburt (Rhinelander District Library), Linda Jerome (La Crosse Public Library), Leah Langby (Indianhead Federated Library System, Eau Claire), Susan Pesheck (River Falls Public Library).