
We don’t know about you, but here at EBYR, we’re all still glowing after the Youth Media Awards presentation yesterday at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Chicago.
Eerdmans books took home not one but three major awards: the Batchelder Award went to Mikis and the Donkey, and both the Sibert Medal and a Caldecott Honor went to The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus.
To share our delight (or, in the spirit of Roget: our rapture, our joy, our ecstasy, and our felicity), we’re giving away a fantastic prize package this week on Eerdlings.
Enter our Caldecott Honor Prize Pack giveaway between now and midnight Thursday for your chance to be one of two lucky readers who will each receive the following goodies:
- A limited edition Melissa Sweet poster, featuring hand-lettered word lists featured on the endpapers for The Right Word.*
- A copy of The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus.
- A copy of A River of Words: The Story of Williams Carlos Williams (Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet’s previous Caldecott Honor-winning collaboration).
- A stack of bookmarks featuring cover art from The Right Word.**

Contest Details
To enter, click through to our Rafflecopter giveaway page. You’ll have the option of logging in with Facebook or email; you can then choose from several possible methods of entry. You may use multiple entry methods to increase your odds of winning, and Twitter users may earn additional entries by tweeting about the giveaway each day between now and January 15.
You must be 18 years or older and a legal resident of the United States to enter.
The entry period for the giveaway begins at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, February 3, 2015, and ends at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, February 5. Three winners will be selected at random and notified by email by 5:00 p.m Friday, February 6.
* When we say, “limited edition” we mean, “We thought we were completely out of these gorgeous things, but oh, look, here are two more we found under someone’s desk! It’s almost a shame to give them away, but since everyone wants one and we only have two, it is the only fair and right thing to do with them.”
** Yes, these are technically always free — you could order a stack now, if you want — but since we expect they’ll be flying out the door this week, including them in the prize package guarantees that our giveaway winners will have some set aside for them.
Her artwork is so varied and creative! My nieces and nephews would love it.
I like how it appears to be taken from a journal or sketchbook. The hand-lettering is perfect; as she noted in her interview – to typeset it or reproduce Roget’s writing would not have been as visually interesting for the entire book. I also really like the softness to the colors and the slightly vintage feel to the imagery.
Thanks for a chance to win!
There are so many things that I love about Melissa’s illustrations… mostly the ways that her artwork is reflective of the artists/people she portrays – specifically Williams and Roget. The visual truly enhances the text in ways that could never be done with words alone. She manages to create multiple dimensions and every time I read one of her books I see new things. CONGRATS!!!
Melissa’s art is fresh and creative, and she works hard to capture the essence of her subjects.
I teach college linguistics as well as children’s literature. I have my linguistics class read the novel “Frindle” by Andrew Clements. This could be another wonderful children’s book to use in my class on language. Yay! And Congratulations on the awards!
Melissa Sweet is my favorite illustrator… and, not only is she an extraordinary artist, she is a lovely and generous person!
I am so happy that The Right Word was recognized during award season! I LOVE Melissa Sweet’s illustrations!
A perfect team – Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet. I thought Melissa would not be able to surpass the art in her marvelous Balloons Over Broadway but she proved me wrong. The art here is beyond marvelous. Caldecott honor for the art, and the Sibert award – Awesome.
I have been an admirer of Melissa’s art for a long time. Having had the chance to meet her (quite a few times!) it is wonderful to know the process behind her beautiful watercolor work, and the deep thought she puts into every project!
I love the illustrations!
Longtime fan of a Melissa Stewart since Balloons over Broadway. Would love to have this for our kids at school.
Am so excited about this book. My favorite thing about the artwork? Making words come alive!
The pictures make me smile! I know they will make my son smile too!
Her art work is astonishing. Love everything about it. Thanks for the chance!
It is so bright and colorful and the kids will love it
Melissa Sweet’s artwork is creative and tells the story. We love Balloons over Broadway – such bold colors and interesting spreads – as well as A Splash of Red, Firefly July and many others!
The creativity of the illustrations are unique and engaging.
I love how colorful the illustrations are