2017 Gold Moonbeam Children's Book Award: For dedication to children's books and literacy and for inspired writing, illustrating and publishing. The world can be a scary place. Anxious adults want children to be aware of dangers, but shouldn't kids be aware of kindness too?

Michael Leannah wrote Most People as an antidote to the scary words and images kids hear and see every day. Jennifer Morris's emotive, diverting characters provide the perfect complement to Leannah's words, leading us through the crowded streets of an urban day in the company of two pairs of siblings (one of color). We see what they see: the hulking dude with tattoos and chains assisting an elderly lady onto the bus; the Goth teenager with piercings and purple Mohawk returning a lost wallet to its owner; and the myriad interactions of daily existence, most of them well intended. Most People is a courageous, constructive response to the dystopian world of the news media.

Fountas & Pinnell Level M