n. A short composition performed in an offhand or extemporized style.

And the winner is...

The winner of the 2012 Newbery Medal is Jack Gantos for Dead End in Norvelt (Farrar). Inside Out & Back Again (Harper/HarperCollins) by Thanhha Lai and Breaking Stalin's Nose (Holt) by Eugene Yelchin were named Newbery Honor books.

Chris Raschka is the recipient of the 2012 Caldecott Medal for A Ball for Daisy (Schwartz & Wade/Random). Three titles were cited as Caldecott Honor books: Bhckout (DisneyHyperion) by John Rocco; Grandpa Green (Roaring Brook) by Lane Smith; and Me. . .Jane (Little, Brown) by Patrick McDonnell.

The winner of the 2012 Coretta Scott King Author Award is Kadir Nelson for Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans (Balzer + Bray/ HarperCollins). The honor awards went to Eloise Greenfield for The Great Migration: Journey to the North (Amistad/HarperCollins), illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist, and Patricia C. McKissack for Never Forgotten (Schwartz & Wade/Random), illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon.

Shane W. Evans is the recipient of the 2012 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for Underground (Porter/Roaring Brook). The honor award went to Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson.

Ashley Bryan was named the winner of the 2012 Coretta Scott King/ Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement.

The 2012 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal goes to Melissa Sweet for Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer ofMacy's Parade (Houghton). Four honor books were named: BUck & White (Calkins Creek/ Boyds Mills) by Larry Dane Brimner; Drawing from Memory (Scholastic) by Allen Say; The Elephant Scientist (Houghton) written by Caitlin O'Connell and Donna M. Jackson, photographs by Caitlin O'Connell and Timothy Rodwell; and Witches'.: The Absolutely True Story of Disaster in Salem (National Geographic) by Rosalyn Schanzer.

Tales for Very Picky Eaters (Clarion) by Josh Schneider won the 2012 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award. Honor books were / Broke My Trunk'. (Hyperion) by Mo Willems; / Want My Hat Back (Candlewick) by Jon Klassen; and See Me Run (Holiday) by Paul Meisel.

Eerdmans is the recipient of the 2012 Mildred L. Batchelder Award for Soldier Bear by Bibi Dumon Tak, translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson, illustrated by Philip Hopman. The publisher of one honor book was also selected: Delacorte for The Lily Pond by Annika Thor, translated from the Swedish by Linda Schenck.

Michael Morpurgo has been chosen to deliver the 2013 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture.

The 2012 Andrew Carnegie Medal went to Children Make Terrible Pets (Weston Woods), produced by Paul R. Gagne and Melissa Reilly Ellard.

Rotters (Listening Library) by Daniel Kraus, narrated by Kirby Heyborne, is the recipient of the 2012 Odyssey Award. Honor citations went to Ghetto Cowboy (Candlewick/Brilliance Audio) by G. Neri, narrated by JD Jackson; Okay for Now (Listening Library) by Gary D. Schmidt, narrated by Lincoln Hoppe; The Scorpio Races (Scholastic Audio) by Maggie Stiefvater, narrated by Steve West and Fiona Hardingham; and Young Fredle (Listening Library) by Cynthia Voigt, narrated by Wendy Carter.

John Corey Whaley is the recipient of the 2012 Michael L. Printz Award for Where Things Come Back (Athen eum).

Four honor books were recognized: Why We Broke Up (Little, Brown), written by Daniel Handler, illustrated by Maira Kaiman; The Returning (Dial) by Christine Hinwood; Jasper Jones (Knopf) by Craig Silvey; and The Scorpio Races (Scholastic) by Maggie Stiefvater.

Susan Cooper received the 2012 Margaret A. Edwards Award in recognition of the Dark Is Rising sequence.

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley received the 2012 William C.

Morris Award. Four other books were finalists for this award: The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Greenwillow) by Rae Carson; Paper Covers Rock (Delacorte) by Jenny Hubbard; Under the Mesquite (Lee & Low) by Guadalupe Garcia McCaIl; and Between Shades of Gray (Philomel) by Ruta Sepetys.

The 2012 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award goes to The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism, & Treachery (Flash Point/ Roaring Brook) by Steve Sheinkin.

Four other books were finalists for the award: Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Shvery, Freedom, and Science (Clarion) by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos; Bootkg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition (Flash Point/Roaring Brook) by Karen Blumenthal; Wheeh of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (with a Few Fht Tires Along the Way) (National Geographic) by Sue Macy; and Music Was IT: Young Leonard Bernstein (Charlesbridge) by Susan Goldman Rubin.

The 2012 Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature Award goes to Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy (Simon) by BiI Wright. Four honor books were selected: a + e 4ever (Lethe Press) by Hike Merey; Money Boy (Groundwood) by Paul Yee; Pink (HarperTeen) by Lili Wilkinson; and "With or Without You (Simon Pulse) by Brian Farrey.

The 2012 Pura Belpré Author Award goes to Guadalupe Garcia McCaIl for Under the Mesquite. Honor citations were awarded to Xavier Garza for Maximilian & the Mystery of the Guardian Angel: A Bilingual Lucha Libre Thriller (Cinco Puntos); and Margarita Engle for Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck (Holt).

Duncan Tonatiuh won the 2012 Pura Belpré Illustrator Award for Diego Rivera: His World and Ours (Abrams). Honor citations were awarded to Rafael López for The Cazueh That the Farm Maiden Stirred (Charlesbridge), written by Samantha R. Vamos; and Sara Palacios for Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match I Marisol McDonald no combina (Children's Book Press), written by Monica Brown, translated from the Spanish by Adriana Domínguez.

The winners of the 2012 Schneider Family Book Award are Close to Famous (Viking) by Joan Bauer and Wonderstruck (Scholastic) by Brian Selznick in the middle school category, and The Running Dream (Knopf) by Wendelin Van Draanen in the teen category.

Walter Dean Myers has been named the new National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. Myers will serve in the position during 2012 and 2013 and has chosen "Reading Is Not Optional" as his platform's slogan. Founded and sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, die Children's Book Council (CBC) and their foundation, Every Child a Reader, the position was created "to raise national awareness of the importance of young people's literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education and the development and betterment of die lives of young people."

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos is die recipient of the 2012 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction.

Alison Lester and Boori Monty Pryor have been named Australia's first laureates for children's literature.

The winner of the 2012 Charlotte Zolotow Award is Me. . fane by Patrick McDonnell. Three honor books were named: Apple Pie ABC (Disney-Hyperion) by Alison Murray; Meet the Dogs of Bedlam Farm (Holt) by Jon Katz; and Naamah and the Ark at Night (Candlewick), written by Susan Campbell Bartoletti and illustrated by Holly Meade.

The 2012 NCTE OrbisPictus Award goes to Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer ofMacy's Parade by Melissa Sweet. Five honor books were named: Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Ear hart (Schwartz & Wade/Random) by Candace Fleming; Father Abraham: Lincoln and His Sons (Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills) by Harold Hölzer; Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People (Holt), written by Monica Brown, illustrated by Julie Paschkis; Terezin: Voices from the Holocaust (Candlewick) by Ruth Thomson; and The Mangrove Tree: Planting Trees to Feed Families (Lee & Low) by Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore.

The Association of Jewish Libraries announced that the 201 1 Sydney Taylor Book Awards will go to Michael J.

Rosen and Robert Sabuda, author and illustrator of Chanukah Lights (Candlewick); Susan Goldman Rubin, author of Music Was IT: Young Leonard Bernstein; and Robert Sharenow, author of The Berlin Boxing Club (HarperTeen).

Horn Book diary

An update on the activities of Horn Book contributors, reviewers, and staff.

Contributor and reviewer Kathleen T. Horning compiled a bibliography in November 201 1 for the Cooperative Children's Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Education titled "Around the World in 80 Books: Selected Literature from the Past Decade for Children and Young Adults." Arranged by geographic region of the world and including books published between 2001 and 201 1, this list gives readers "a glimpse not only of life in or the history of other parts of the world, but also of what children and teens elsewhere may be reading." To see which books made the list visit http: // wioc. wise, edu/even ts/childlit/ docs/2011-Horning.pdf.

Reviewer Sarah Ellis is currently serving for four months as writer-in-residence at the Toronto Public Library.

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