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Aesop Prize and Aesop Accolades facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The Aesop Prize and Aesop Accolades are special awards given each year. They honor the best English-language books for kids and young adults. These books, both fiction and non-fiction, must be about folklore. The awards come from the Children’s Folklore Section of the American Folklore Society.

About the Aesop Awards

The Aesop Prize and Accolades celebrate books published in the two years before the award. Winners are announced every October at the yearly meeting of the American Folklore Society. The Aesop Prize was first given out in 1992. The Accolades started a year later, in 1993.

How Books Are Chosen

Books are picked for the Aesop awards based on a few important rules:

  • Folklore must be a main part of the book's story. It should also be important in the pictures, if there are any.
  • The folklore in the book needs to show the culture and ideas of the people it comes from in a true way.
  • The book should help readers understand folklore better. Also, the folklore should make the book better.
  • The book should be well-written and drawn, just like the best children's books. It should also be very interesting to young readers.
  • The book must clearly say where the folklore stories came from. All notes and references should be inside the book.

Recent Award Winners

Here are some of the books that have won the Aesop Prize and Accolades in recent years:

2022 Awards

2022 Aesop Prize

  • Blancaflor, The Hero with Secret Powers: A Folktale from Latin America. Written by Nadja Spiegelman. Illustrated by Sergio García Sánchez.
  • A Bedtime Full of Stories: 50 Folk Tales and Legends from Around the World. Written by Angela McAllister. Illustrated by Anna Shepeta.

2022 Aesop Accolades

  • The Man of the Moon: And Other Stories from Greenland. Retold by Gunvor Bjerre. Illustrated by Miki Jacobsen.
  • Across the Rainbow Bridge: Stories of Norse Gods and Humans. Written by Kevin Crossley-Holland. Illustrated by Jeffrey Alan Love.

2021 Awards

2021 Aesop Prize

  • Feathered Serpent and the Five Suns: A Mesoamerican Creation Myth. Written and Illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh.

2021 Aesop Accolades

  • The Shaman’s Apprentice. By Zacharias Kunuk. Illustrated by Megan Kyak-Monteith.
  • The Book of Secrets. Written and Illustrated by Mat Tonti.
  • El Cucuy is Scared, Too! By Donna Barba Higuera. Illustrated by Juliana Perdomo.

2020 Awards

2020 Aesop Prize

  • The Fabled Life of Aesop, by Ian Lendler. Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski.

2020 Aesop Accolades

  • Under the Cottonwood Tree: El Susto de la Curandera, by Paul and Carlos Meyer. Art by Margaret Hardy.
  • Lola: A Ghost Story, by J. Torres. Illustrated by Elbert Or.
  • The Moose of Ewenki, by Gerelchimeg Blackcrane. Illustrated by Jiu Er.
  • A World of Spooky Stories: 50 Tales to Make your Spine Tingle, by Angela McAllister. Illustrated by Madalina Andronic.

2019 Awards

2019 Aesop Prizes

  • Peg Bearskin, as told by Mrs. Elizabeth Brewer. Adapted by Philip Dinn and Andy Jones. Illustrated by Denise Gallagher.
  • Raisins and Almonds: A Yiddish Lullaby, by Susan Tarcov. Illustrated by Sonia Sánchez.

2019 Aesop Accolades

  • Honu and Moa, by Edna Cabcabin Moran.
  • Takaanaaluk, by Herve Paniaq. Illustrated by Germaine Arnaktauyok.
  • Riding a Donkey Backwards: Wise and Foolish Tales of Mulla Nasruddin, retold by Sean Taylor and the Khayaal Theatre. Illustrated by Shirin Adl.

2018 Awards

2018 Aesop Prize

  • The Dragon Slayer: Folktales from Latin America, by Jaime Hernandez. Illustrated by F. Isabel Campoy.

2018 Aesop Accolades

  • Spirited Away: Fairy Stories of Old Newfoundland, by Tom Dawe. Illustrated by Veselina Tomova.
  • Muskrat and Skunk: A Lakota Drum Story, retold and illustrated by Donald F. Montileaux.
  • Norse Myths: Tales of Odin, Thor, and Loki, by Kevin Crossley-Holland. Illustrated by Jeffrey Alan Love.
  • Wordwings, by Sydelle Pearl.

First Award Winners (1992-1993)

1993 Aesop Prize

  • Cut From The Same Cloth: American Women In Myth, Legend, And Tall Tale, text by Robert D. San Souci. Illustrated by Brian Pinkney.
  • Love Flute, text and illustr. by Paul Goble.

1993 Aesop Accolades (This was the first year the Accolades were awarded)

  • Big Men, Big Country: A Collection Of American Tall Tales, text by Robert Paul Walker. Illustrated by James Bernardin.
  • The Green Gourd: A North Carolina Folktale, text by C.W. Hunter. Illustrated by Tony Griego.
  • Ishi's Tale Of Lizard, text by Leanne Hinton. Illustrated by Susan L. Roth.
  • Northern Lights: The Soccer Trails, text by Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak. Illustrated by Vladyana Krykorka.
  • Sundiata: Lion King Of Mali, text and illustr. by David Wisniewski.
  • Surtsey: The Newest Place On Earth, text by Kathryn Lasky. Photographs by Christopher G. Knight.

1992 Aesop Prize

  • Aesop And Company With Scenes From His Legendary Life, text by Barbara Bader. Illustrated by Arthur Geisert.
  • Days Of Awe: Stories For Rosh Hashanah And Yom Kippur, text by Eric A. Kimmel. Illustrated by Erika Weihs.

See Also

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