Carnegie Medal

Ruby Holler has won the 2002 Carnegie Medal. Previously, the Carnegie Medal committee commended Sharon Creech for Love That Dog. Read the press release here.

Newbery Medal

I was awarded the Newbery Medal for Walk Two Moons, described by Kathleen Horning, the Chair of the Newbery Award Committee as "An odyssey of unexpected twists and surprising conclusions."

Summary

It's the story of thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle, from Bybanks, Kentucky, who is traveling across the country to Idaho with her grandparents. Along the way, she tells them the story of "Phoebe Winterbottom, her disappearing mother, and the lunatic." She also tells you, the reader, another more serious story about her own mother and herself.

Inspiration

This story began as a follow-up to Absolutely Normal Chaos. In that book, Mary Lou Finney writes a summer journal, and as I began Walk Two Moons, I was merely speculating about what might happen when she turned in that summer journal to her English teacher. A few drafts later, Phoebe Winterbottom and her wild imagination leaped into the story, and she took over with tales of a disappearing mother and a lunatic. And then, shortly after rediscovering a fortune cookie message in the bottom of my purse (the message was "Don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins"), I began a new draft with a new character: Salamanca Tree Hiddle. The fortune cookie message inspired a journey (walking 'two moons') and a character who is a very small part Native American (the moccasins).

When I began Sal's story, all I knew was that she was a country girl and she was going on a trip. The rest of her story came out a little bit each day, as I sat down to write. I was too stubborn to throw away the earlier drafts with Mary Lou Finney and Phoebe Winterbottom, so they found their way into this new draft, along with Ben, the lunatic, Mr. Birkway, Margaret Cadaver, and Mrs. Partridge.

Newbery Life

I have often told the story of how I was living in England in 1995, and one cold, gray February day (about eight months after Walk Two Moons was published), I was struggling with the end of the next book, Chasing Redbird. As I stepped out into our tiny backyard to scream, the phone rang. On the other end of the phone was Kathleen Horning, calling from the American Library Association convention in Philadelphia. She informed me that Walk Two Moons had received the Newbery Medal. To say I was shocked is a vast understatement. I had no idea my book was even being considered, nor how the awards were made. I think I kept asking Kathleen Horning, "Are you kidding?" At the end of the call, the entire committee shouted (from the background), "Huzza, huzza!". When someone from my publisher called shortly afterwards, I asked, "How many of these medals are given out each year?" She replied, "One, Sharon. One." You might think I would be deliriously excited--and I was -- but I was also terrified, because I didn't know what to expect next. I was not prepared for the deluge of calls, faxes, and deliveries, for the requests for interviews and for information. It took me a long time to get over the surprise that people were interested in my book and in how it came to be written. People often ask if the Newbery Medal changed my life. The answer is: Yes, absolutely and completely. It gave me a feeling of immense freedom -- freedom to write, and freedom from the worries that many writers have (like 'Will a publisher want to print my book?' and 'Will anyone find my book?') It forced me to learn how to give a speech in public (something I dreaded in the beginning, but now enjoy). It also gave me the chance to travel to conferences and schools all over the world, meeting readers and teachers and librarians. It is an enormous gift, the Newbery Medal, and I am grateful for it.

© Sharon Creech