2014 Ezra Jack Keats Book Award
Writer Award
Tea Party Rules, Ame Dyckman, Viking
Can a cookie-loving bear cub be friends with a girl who likes to make all the rules? It takes some doing in this sweetly funny story with a subversive twist.
Ame Dyckman always wanted to write children’s books but took some time before deciding to pursue her dream. Now she’s on a roll with her second book, Tea Party Rules, a sly look at how kids play. The setting is classic—a tea party in the woods with a bear cub—but the push-and-pull between the characters is realistic enough to turn the fairy tale elements on their head. Ame lives with her family in Lawrence, New Jersey.
Illustrator Award
Rain, Christopher Robinson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
A happy little boy and a grumpy man experience the same rainy day very differently—until a random encounter influences both of them for the better.
Christian Robinson is all about attitude—positive attitude. A playful spirit is evident even in his more serious work illustrating biographies for children. The expressive style of his pictures, reminiscent of folk art, seems to speak directly to young readers, whether in stories from our cultural history or in the tale of a little boy spreading cheer in Rain! Christian lives and works in San Francisco.
2014 Ezra Jack Keats Book Award Committee
- Caroline Ward
EJK Committee, Chair - Rita Auerbach
- Carolyn S. Brodie
- Nina Crews
- Pat Cummings
- Ginny Moore Kruse
- Marisabina Russo
- Lisa Von Drasek
- Paul O. Zelinsky
Ex-Officio Members
- Deborah Pope, Executive Director Ezra Jack Keats Foundation
- Ellen Ruffin, Curator
de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection
