Charlotte Zolotow Award

Charlotte Zolotow Award
Awarded for	outstanding writing in a picture book published in the United States in the preceding year
Country	United States
Presented by	Cooperative Children's Book Center
First awarded	1998
Website	ccbc.education.wisc.edu/literature-resources/charlotte-zolotow-award/

The Charlotte Zolotow Award is an American literary award presented annually for outstanding writing in a picture book published in the United States during the preceding year. By contrast, the Caldecott Medal is for outstanding illustration in a picture book. The Zolotow award was established in 1998 by the Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education and named to honor the work of Charlotte Zolotow, an American children's book editor and author. Ms. Zolotow worked with Harper Junior Books for 38 years during which time she wrote more than 70 picture books. Zolotow attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison on a writing scholarship from 1933 to 36. The Cooperative Children's Book Center is a children's literature library of the School of Education, University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Eligibility

• Any picture book for young children (birth through age seven) originally written in English, and published the United States between January 1 and December 31 is eligible for consideration.
• The book may be fiction, nonfiction or folklore, as long as it is presented in picture book form and aimed at the birth through seven age range.
• Translated books, poetry collections, and easy readers are not eligible.
• The Committee selects one winner each year.
• It may also designate up to five honor books and up to ten titles to be included on a highly commended list that will call attention to outstanding writing in a picture book.

The winner is announced in January each year. A bronze medallion is formally presented to the winning author in the spring during an annual public event that honors the career of Charlotte Zolotow.

Recipients

Charlotte Zolotow Award Recipients, Honors, and Highly Commended books

Year	Author	Title	Citation
1998	Vera B. Williams	Lucky Song	Winner
	Keiko Kasza	Don't Laugh, Joe!	Honor
	Marion Dane Bauer	If You Were Born a Kitten	Commended
	Elisha Cooper	Country Fair	Commended
	Denise Fleming	Time to Sleep	Commended
	Patricia C. McKissack	Ma Dear's Aprons	Commended
	Bernard Waber	Bearsie Bear and the Surprise Sleepover Party	Commended
	Rosemary Wells	Bunny Cakes	Commended
1999	Uri Shulevitz	Snow	Winner
	Holly Meade	John Willy and Freddy McGee	Honor
	William Steig	Pete's a Pizza	Honor
	Denise Fleming	Mama Cat Has Three Kittens	Commended
	Kevin Henkes	Circle Dogs	Commended
	Bill T. Jones and Susan Kuklin	Dance	Commended
	Lynn Reiser	Little Clam	Commended
	Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen	Elizabeti's Doll	Commended
2000	Molly Bang	When Sophie Gets Angry -- Really, Really Angry....	Winner
	Cari Best	Three Cheers for Catherine the Great	Honor
	Jules Feiffer	Bark, George	Honor
	Baba Wagué Diakité	The Hatseller and the Monkeys: A West African Folktale	Commended
	Kristine O'Connell George	Little Dog Poems	Commended
	Joan Bransfield Graham	Flicker Flash	Commended
	Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard	When Will Sarah Come?	Commended
	Amy Schwartz	How to Catch an Elephant	Commended
	Joyce Carol Thomas	You Are My Perfect Baby	Commended
	Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha	Trashy Town	Commended
2001	Kate Banks	The Night Worker	Winner
	Christopher Myers	Wings	Honor
	Peggy Christian	If You Find a Rock	Commended
	Doreen Cronin	Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type	Commended
	Joy Harjo	The Good Luck Cat	Commended
	Kimiko Kajikawa	Yoshi's Feast	Commended
	Sandra L. Pinkney	Shades of Black: A Celebration of Our Children	Commended
	Nancy Van Laan	When Winter Comes	Commended
2002	Margaret Willey	Clever Beatrice	Winner
	Emily Jenkins	Five Creatures	Honor
	Lenore Look	Henry's First-Moon Birthday	Commended
	Margaret Read MacDonald	Mabela the Clever	Commended
	Marisabina Russo	Come Back, Hannah!	Commended
	Catherine Stock	Gugu's House	Commended
	Janet S. Wong	Grump	Commended
2003	Holly Keller	Farfallina & Marcel	Winner
	Susan Marie Swanson	The First Thing My Mama Told Me	Honor
	Nancy Andrews-Goebel	The Pot That Juan Built	Commended
	Kate Banks	Close Your Eyes	Commended
	Kevin Henkes	Owen's Marshmallow Chick	Commended
	Juan Felipe Herrera	Grandma and Me at the Flea / Los Meros Meros Remateros	Commended
	Kate McMullan and Jim McMullan	I Stink!	Commended
	Jean Davies Okimoto and Elaine M. Aoki	The White Swan Express: A Story About Adoption	Commended
	Alice Schertle	All You Need for a Snowman	Commended
	David Shannon	Duck on a Bike	Commended
	Karma Wilson	Bear Snores On	Commended
	Janet S. Wong	Apple Pie 4th of July	Commended
2004	Amy Schwartz	What James Likes Best	Winner
	John Coy	Two Old Potatoes and Me	Honor
	Rebecca O'Connell	The Baby Goes Beep	Honor
	Won-Ldy Paye and Margaret H. Lippert	Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile	Honor
	James Rumford	Calabash Cat and His Amazing Journey	Honor
	George Shannon	Tippy-Toe Chick, Go!	Honor
	Kate Banks	Mama's Coming Home	Commended
	Deborah Chandra and Madeleine Comora	George Washington's Teeth	Commended
	Denise Fleming	Buster	Commended
	Jeron Ashford Frame	Yesterday I Had the Blues	Commended
	Steve Jenkins and Robin Page	What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?	Commended
	Naomi Shihab Nye	Baby Radar	Commended
	Lynne Rae Perkins	Snow Music	Commended
	Andrea U'Ren	Mary Smith	Commended
	Mo Willems	Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!	Commended
2005	Kevin Henkes	Kitten's First Full Moon	Winner
	Lauren Thompson	Polar Bear Night	Honor
	Mo Willems	Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale	Honor
	Jacqueline Woodson	Coming On Home Soon	Honor
	Karen Beaumont	Baby Danced the Polka	Commended
	Caralyn Buehner	Superdog: The Heart of a Hero	Commended
	Oliver Dunrea	BooBoo	Commended
	Alan Durant	Always and Forever	Commended
	Karen English	Hot Day on Abbott Avenue	Commended
	Mary Ann Hoberman	Whose Garden Is It?	Commended
	Dave Horowitz	A Monkey Among Us	Commended
	Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan	Bittle	Commended
	Carole Lexa Schaefer	The Biggest Soap	Commended
2006	Mary Ann Rodman	My Best Friend	Winner
	Patricia C. McKissack and Onawumi Jean Moss	Precious and the Boo Hag	Honor
	Jon J Muth	Zen Shorts	Honor
	William Bee	Whatever	Commended
	Mara Bergman	Snip, Snap! What's That?	Commended
	Bob Graham	Oscar's Half Birthday	Commended
	Norton Juster	The Hello, Goodbye Window	Commended
	Stephen Michael King	Mutt Dog!	Commended
	Leslie Patricelli	Binky	Commended
	Elivia Savadier	No Haircut Today!	Commended
	Sandy Turner	Cool Cat, Hot Dog	Commended
	Mo Willems	Leonardo, the Terrible Monster	Commended
2007	Peter McCarty	Moon Plane	Winner
	Lenore Look	Uncle Peter's Amazing Chinese Wedding	Honor
	Linda Smith	Mrs. Crump's Cat	Honor
	Kristen Balouch	Mystery Bottle	Commended
	Shari Becker	Maxwell's Mountain	Commended
	Eve Bunting	One Green Apple	Commended
	Margaret Chodos-Irvine	Best Best Friends	Commended
	Robin Cruise	Little Mamá Forgets	Commended
	Kevin Henkes	Lilly's Big Day	Commended
	Lola M. Schaefer	An Island Grows	Commended
	Sarah Weeks	Overboard!	Commended
	Jeanne Willis	Gorilla! Gorilla!	Commended
2008	Greg Foley	Thank You, Bear	Winner
	Jonathan Bean	At Night	Honor
	Lynne Rae Perkins	Pictures from Our Vacation	Honor
	Carole Lexa Schaefer	Dragon Dancing	Honor
	Maribeth Boelts	Those Shoes	Commended
	Robin Cruise	Only You	Commended
	Bob Graham	"The Trouble with Dogs..." Said Dad.	Commended
	Janice Harrington	The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County	Commended
	Kevin Henkes	A Good Day	Commended
	Emily Jenkins	What Happens on Wednesdays	Commended
	Patricia C. McKissack	The All-I'll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll	Commended
	Sara Pennypacker	Pierre in Love	Commended
	Mary Quigley	Granddad's Fishing Buddy	Commended
	Lisa Wheeler	Jazz Baby	Commended
2009	Bob Graham	How to Heal a Broken Wing	Winner
	Jim Averbeck	In a Blue Room	Honor
	Jen Bryant	A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams	Honor
	Fran Manushkin	How Mama Brought the Spring	Honor
	James Rumford	Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad	Honor
	Uri Shulevitz	How I Learned Geography	Honor
	Elizabeth Alalou and Ali Alalou	The Butter Man	Commended
	Mary Amato	The Chicken of the Family	Commended
	Andy Cutbill	The Cow That Laid an Egg	Commended
	Greg Foley	Don't Worry Bear	Commended
	Kevin Henkes	Old Bear	Commended
	Megan McDonald	Hen Hears Gossip	Commended
	Charles R. Smith, Jr.	Dance with Me	Commended
	Gwendolyn Zepeda	Growing Up with Tamales	Commended
2010	Carmen Tafolla	What Can You Do With a Paleta?	Winner
	Florence Parry Heide	Princess Hyacinth (The Surprising Tale of A Girl Who Floated)	Honor
	Kevin Henkes	Birds	Honor
	David Ezra Stein	Pouch!	Honor
	Mem Fox	Hello Baby!	Commended
	Keiko Kasza	Ready for Anything	Commended
	Vaunda Micheaux Nelson	Who Will I Be, Lord?	Commended
	Melissa Stewart	Under the Snow	Commended
2011	Rukhsana Khan	Big Red Lollipop	Winner
	Bob Graham	April and Esme: Tooth Fairies	Honor
	Sandra Markle	Hip-Pocket Papa	Honor
	Phillip C. Stead	A Sick Day for Amos McGee	Honor
	Mo Willems	City Dog, Country Frog	Honor
	Monica Brown	Chavela and the Magic Bubble	Commended
	Greg Foley	Willoughby & the Moon	Commended
	Kevin Henkes	My Garden	Commended
	Anna Grossnickle Hines	I Am a Backhoe	Commended
	Chris Raschka	Little Black Crow	Commended
	Karen Lynn Williams	A Beach Tail	Commended
2012	Patrick McDonnell	Me... Jane	Winner
	Susan Campbell Bartoletti	Naamah and the Ark at Night	Honor
	Jon Katz	Meet the Dogs of Bedlam Farm	Honor
	Alison Murray	Apple Pie ABC	Honor
	Linda Ashman	Samantha on a Roll	Commended
	Albert Bitterman	Fortune Cookies	Commended
	Mini Grey	Three By the Sea	Commended
	George Ella Lyon	All the Water in the World	Commended
	Margaret H. Mason	These Hands	Commended
	Meg Medina	Tía Isa Wants a Car	Commended
	Joyce Sidman	Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature	Commended
	Sue Soltis	Nothing Like a Puffin	Commended
	Melissa Sweet	Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade	Commended
	Hyewon Yum	The Twins' Blanket	Commended
2013	Jacqueline Woodson	Each Kindness	Winner
	Mary Logue	Sleep Like a Tiger	Honor
	Mara Rockliff	Me and Momma and Big John	Honor
	Rachel Vail	Flabbersmashed about You	Honor
	Julie Danneberg	Monet Paints a Day	Commended
	Shane W. Evans	We March	Commended
	Kate Feiffer	No Go Sleep!	Commended
	Candace Fleming	Oh, No!	Commended
	Denise Fleming	underGROUND	Commended
	Susan Hood	Spike, the Mixed-Up Monster	Commended
	Ginnie Lo	Auntie Yang's Great Soybean Picnic	Commended
	Kelly Starling Lyons	Tea Cakes for Tosh	Commended
	Doreen Rappaport	Helen's Big World: The Life of Helen Keller	Commended
2014	Lemony Snicket	The Dark	Winner
	Jonathan Bean	Building Our House	Honor
	Tameka Fryer Brown	My Cold Plum Lemon Pie Bluesy Mood	Honor
	Suzanne Collins	Year of the Jungle	Honor
	Pat Zietlow Miller	Sophie's Squash	Honor
	Jacqueline Woodson	This Is the Rope: A Story from the Great Migration.	Honor
	Jonathan Bean	Big Snow	Commended
	Floyd Cooper	Max and the Tag-Along Moon	Commended
	Bob Graham	The Silver Button	Commended
	Yuyi Morales	Niño Wrestles the World	Commended
	Eileen Spinelli	When No One Is Watching	Commended
	Susan Stockdale	Stripes of All Types	Commended
	Jessica Young	My Blue Is Happy	Commended
2015	Jenny Offill	Sparky	Winner
	Katherine Applegate	Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla	Honor
	Elizabeth Bluemle	Tap Tap Boom Boom	Honor
	Tonya Bolden	Beautiful Moon: A Child's Prayer	Honor
	Pat Mora	Water Rolls, Water Rises = El agua rueda, el agua sube	Honor
	Barney Saltzberg	Chengdu Could Not, Would Not Fall Asleep	Honor
	Laura Gehl	One Big Pair of Underwear	Commended
	Thelma Lynne Godin	The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen	Commended
	George Ella Lyon	What Forest Knows	Commended
	Mary Lyn Ray	Go to Sleep, Little Farm	Commended
	Laura Purdie Salas	Water Can Be...	Commended
	Melissa Stewart	Beneath the Sun	Commended
	Jamie A. Swenson	If You Were a Dog	Commended
	Audrey Vernick	Edgar's Second Word	Commended
	Brian Won	Hooray for Hat!	Commended
2016	Margarita Engle	Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music	Winner
	Kathi Appelt	When Otis Courted Mama	Honor
	Lauren Child	The New Small Person	Honor
	Matt de la Peña	Last Stop on Market Street	Honor
	Lindsay Mattick	Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear	Honor
	Sean Taylor	Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise	Honor
	Molly Bang	When Sophie's Feelings Are Really, Really Hurt	Commended
	Monica Brown	Maya's Blanket / La manta de Maya	Commended
	Edwidge Danticat	Mama's Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation	Commended
	Bob Graham	How the Sun Got to Coco's House	Commended
	Kevin Henkes	Waiting	Commended
	Anne Vittur Kennedy	Ragweed's Farm Dog Handbook	Commended
	Margaret McNamara	A Poem in Your Pocket	Commended
	Miranda Paul	Water Is Water: A Book about the Water Cycle	Commended
	Alicia Potter	Miss Hazeltine's Home for Shy and Fearful Cats	Commended
	Mary Lyn Ray	Goodnight, Good Dog	Commended
2017	Carole Boston Weatherford	Freedom in Congo Square	Winner
	Sherman Alexie	Thunder Boy Jr.	Honor
	Candace Fleming	Giant Squid	Honor
	Jarvis	Alan's Big, Scary Teeth	Honor
	Micha Archer	Daniel Finds a Poem	Commended
	Kate Berube	Hannah and Sugar	Commended
	Maribeth Boelts	A Bike Like Sergio's	Commended
	Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell	Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood	Commended
	Irene Dickson	Blocks	Commended
	Renata Galindo	My New Mom & Me	Commended
	Katrina Goldsaito	The Sound of Silence	Commended
	Gemma Merino	The Cow Who Climbed a Tree	Commended
	Adam Rex	School's First Day of School	Commended
	Duncan Tonatiuh	The Princess and the Warrior	Commended
2018	Bao Phi	A Different Pond	Winner
	Atinuke	Baby Goes to Market	Honor
	Gaia Cornwall	Jabari Jumps	Honor
	Amy Hest	Buster and the Baby	Honor
	Bob Raczka	Niko Draws a Feeling	Honor
	Cynthia Rylant	Herbert's First Halloween	Honor
	Lesa Cline-Ransome	Before She Was Harriet	Commended
	Elisha Cooper	Big Cat, Little Cat	Commended
	Julia Durango	The One Day House	Commended
	Margarita Engle	All the Way to Havana	Commended
	Julie Fogliano	When's My Birthday?	Commended
	Kevin Henkes	In the Middle of Fall	Commended
	Laura McGee Kvasnosky	Little Wolf's First Howling	Commended
	Joyce Sidman	Round	Commended
2019	Marla Frazee	Little Brown	Winner
	David Ezra Stein	Honey	Honor
	Hyewon Yum	Saturday Is Swimming Day	Honor
	Grace Lin	A BIG Mooncake for Little Star	Commended
	Matt de la Peña	Carmela Full of Wishes	Commended
	Jacqueline Woodson	The Day You Begin	Commended
	Yuyi Morales	Dreamers	Commended
	Maxine Beneba Clarke	The Patchwork Bike	Commended
	Brian Lies	The Rough Patch	Commended
	Oge Mora	Thank You, Omu!	Commended
	Ryan T. Higgins	We Don't Eat Our Classmates	Commended
	Kevin Henkes	Winter is Here	Commended
2020	Cheryl Minnema	Johnny's Pheasant	Winner
	Kevin Noble Maillard	Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story	Honor
	Kao Kalia Yang	A Map into the World	Honor
	Matthew Forsythe	Pokko and the Drum	Honor
	Oge Mora	Saturday	Honor
	Jean Reidy	Truman	Honor
	Martin Jenkins	Beware of the Crocodile	Commended
	Micha Archer	Daniel's Good Day	Commended
	Cori Doerrfeld	Goodbye, Friend! Hello, Friend!	Commended
	Isabel Quintero	My Papi Has a Motorcycle	Commended
	Kate Read	One Fox: A Counting Book Thriller	Commended
	Sydney Smith	Small in the City	Commended
	Shabazz Larkin	The Thing About Bees: A Love Letter	Commended
2021–2022	Meg Medina	Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away	Winner
	Atinuke	Catch That Chicken!	Honor
	Hilda Eunice Burgos	The Cot in the Living Room	Honor
	Jordan Scott	I Talk like a River	Honor
	Julie Fogliano	My Best Friend	Honor
	Elizabeth Lilly	Let Me Fix You a Plate: A Tale of Two Kitchens	Honor
	Jennifer K. Mann	The Camping Trip	Commended
	Joanna Ho	Eyes That Kiss in the Corners	Commended
	Alice Faye Duncan	Just like a Mama	Commended
	Maribeth Boelts	Kaia and the Bees	Commended
	Tom Gauld	The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess	Commended
	Tami Charles	My Day with the Panye	Commended
	Winsome Bingham	Soul Food Sunday	Commended
	Kevin Henkes	Sun Flower Lion	Commended
	Lesléa Newman	Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with a Tail	Commended
	Rajani LaRocca	Where Three Oceans Meet	Commended

Recipients of Multiple awards, honors, and commendations

Kevin Henkes and Bob Graham are the only two authors to receive all three citations and are the two authors who have received the most citations overall (10 and 8, respectively). No author has yet to receive multiple awards. Jonathan Bean is the only author to receive two citations in one year. In 2014 he received an honor for Building Our House and a commendation Big Snow.

Multiple honors

Three authors have received two Zolotow Honors: Jonathan Bean, James Rumford, Mo Willems, and Jacqueline Woodson.

Multiple commendations

One author has received nine Zolotow commendations.

• Kevin Henkes, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2016, 2018, 2019

Two authors have received four Zolotow commendations.

• Denise Fleming, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2013
• Bob Graham, 2006, 2008, 2014, 2016

Multiple authors have received two Zolotow commendations: Kate Banks, Maribeth Boelts, Monica Brown, Elisha Cooper, Robin Cruise, Greg Foley, George Ella Lyon, Patricia C. McKissack, Mary Lyn Ray, Joyce Sidman, Melissa Stewart, Mo Willems, and Janet S. Wong.