Candlewick Press is pleased to announce that Kate DiCamillo’s novel, Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures, illustrated by K.G. Campbell, is the 2014 Newbery Medal winner. The book has spent fourteen weeks on the New York Times and National Indie bestseller lists since its release in September 2013, has received five starred reviews, and garnered many Best of Year nods including Publishers Weekly, Amazon, and NPR as well as being named a New York Times Notable Book. This is the second Newbery win for DiCamillo: she was the winner for The Tale of Despereaux in 2004, and also received a Newbery honor for Because of Winn-Dixie in 2001.
The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. Flora & Ulysses is a laugh-out-loud story filled with eccentric, endearing characters and featuring an exciting new format — a novel interspersed with comic style graphic sequences and full-page illustrations, all rendered in black and white by up-and-coming artist K. G. Campbell.
In their starred review, Booklist said, ““Newbery-winner DiCamillo is a master storyteller not just because she creates characters who dance off the pages and plots, whether epic or small, that never fail to engage and delight readers. Her biggest strength is exposing the truths that open and heal the human heart. She believes in possibilities and forgiveness and teaches her audience that the salt of life can be cut with the right measure of love.”
“Using an unusual mix of narrative prose, comics, and illustration to tell a tale of dreams and hope, in Flora & Ulysses Kate DiCamillo reaches out to all kinds of young readers with a new and boundary-breaking approach. We are so grateful to the committee for recognizing Kate’s daring and beautiful work with this wonderful award,” said Karen Lotz, President and Publisher of Candlewick Press.
Kate reflects on the good news in Publishers Weekly here.