Dan Santat named winner of the 2018 Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children

for AFTER THE FALL

Jason Chin named winner of the 2018 Orbis Pictus Award for Nonfiction

for GRAND CANYON

December 1, 2017– Each year, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) presents several awards to recognize outstanding books written for all age levels. Earlier this month at a book awards luncheon held during their 107th Annual Convention, they announced the winners of the 2018 Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children and the 2018 Orbis Pictus Award for Nonfiction for Children.

Dan Santat was named the winner of the 2018 Charlotte Huck Award for his novel AFTER THE FALL (Roaring Brook Press), the inspiring epilogue to the beloved classic nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty. The Charlotte Huck Award was established in 2014 to promote and recognize fiction that has the potential to transform children’s lives by inviting compassion, imagination, and wonder. The award honors Dr. Charlotte Huck, a professor at Ohio State University who devoted her career to promoting the role of children’s books in young people’s academic, social, and emotional development. Each year, the committee selects a winner, up to five honor books, and recommended titles appropriate for ages 3-12.

“Charlotte Huck was a passionate advocate for children’s books as transformative teaching tools,” says Erika Dawes, chair of the Charlotte Huck award committee. “Books like these award winners, books that foster imagination and wonder and encourage perspective-taking and compassion, fill a critical need in our classrooms.”

Jason Chin was named winner of the 2018 Orbis Pictus Award for his book GRAND CANYON (Roaring Brook Press), an illuminating look at one of the planet’s most fascinating features. The Orbis Pictus Award, established in 1989, is the oldest children’s book award for nonfiction and it pays homage to John Amos Comenius’s Orbis Sensualium Pictus, a text from 1658 that broke new ground as the first children’s nonfiction book in to use both words and illustrations to share information. Each year, the committee selects a winner, up to five honor books, and recommended titles ideal for classroom use from K-8. 

“John Amos Comenius’s work did not end in the 17th century,” says Mary Ann Cappiello, chair of the Orbis Pictus selection committee.  “Annually, the Orbis Pictus Award reminds us that the act of finding out is a worthwhile endeavor. We must model the search for robust source materials, the examination of multiple perspectives, and the joy of sharing information through words and images. Our work has never been more important.”

Honor and Recommended Books in each category were also announced at the awards luncheon, where the 2017 winners (Jason Reynolds and Melissa Sweet) delivered keynotes. Dan Santat and Jason Chin are invited to speak at next year’s Annual Convention.

To learn more about eligibility and criteria for the Charlotte Huck Award for Fiction for Children, visit:http://www2.ncte.org/awards/charlotte-huck-award/.

To learn more about eligibility and criteria for the Orbis Pictus Award for Nonfiction for Children, visit:http://www2.ncte.org/awards/orbis-pictus-award-nonfiction-for-children/

NCTE is the nation’s most comprehensive literacy organization, supporting teachers across the preK–college spectrum. Through the expertise of its members, NCTE has served at the forefront of every major improvement in the teaching and learning of English and the language arts since 1911.

SURCE National Council of Teachers of English