STOLEN CHILDREN’S ART
The LA Police Department maintains a website with links to stolen children’s book illustrations, mostly taken from local galleries. Check with your own local Art Theft Detail to see if they also maintain websites that can assist in recovering stolen children’s book art. The LAPD website is www.lapdonline.org/art_theft.


CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARDS
Brazilian author Lygia Bojunga Nunes is the 2004 recipient of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Ms. Nunes is part of the South American tradition of magical realism and fantasy-filled storytelling. The Lindgren award, administered by the Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs, carries an annual prize of more than $650,000.

I Face the Wind by Vicki Cobb, illustrated by Julia Gorton and published by HarperCollins, has been named a Sibert Honor Book for 2004.

The 2004 Kerlan Award was presented in April to Lois Lowry for her singular attainments in the creation of children’s literature.

The Lee Bennett Hopkins Children’s Poetry Award for 2004 went to The Wishing Bone and Other Poems (Candlewick) by Stephen Mitchell and illustrated by Tom Pohrt. Honor Books were: Animal Sense (Knopf) by Diane Ackerman and illustrated by Peter Sis; Blues Journey (Holiday House) by Walter Dean Myers and illustrated by Christopher Myers; The Pond God and Other Stories (Front Street) by Samuel Keyser and illustrated by Robert Shetterly; and The Way A Door Closes (Henry Holt) by Hope Anita Smith and illustrated by Shane W. Evans.