Kids stuff: Award-winning books

"When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb Books, $15.99) won the John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature. It's the story of a sixth-grade girl in Manhattan who starts receiving mysterious notes that accurately predict the future.

"Going Bovine" by Libba Bray (Delacorte, $17.99) won the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. It's about a 16-year-old who finds out he has mad cow disease and then takes a crazy road trip with a punk rock angel, a dwarf and a yard gnome.

"The Lion & the Mouse" by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, $16.99), for ages 4 to 8, won the Randolph Caldecott Medal for most distinguished American picture book for children. It's an essentially wordless adaptation of the Aesop's fable.

"Benny and Penny in the Big No-No!" by Geoffrey Hayes (Toon-Books, $12.95) got a (Theodor Seuss) Geisel Award honoring authors and illustrators for books written for emergent readers. For ages 4 to 8.