2017 Ezra Jack Keats Award Winners
2017 Writer Award
Jeri Watts
Jeri Watts published her first picture book, Keeper, 20 years ago. She has written in other genres since then, but came back to picture books for A Piece of Home. As a professor and veteran public school teacher, Jeri knows the stories that pass through those classrooms: This book was inspired by a student. A lifelong Virginian, Jeri lives with her husband in Lynchburg.
A Piece of Home
Candlewick Press

When Hee Jun’s family moves to West Virginia from Korea, it’s hard to adjust. In Korea Hee Jun was a “regular” boy; now he is different. Everything is different. In time, he learns English and makes friends. At a friend’s, he spots flowers like those in his grandmother’s garden in Korea. He brings a shoot to his grandmother, and they plant ”a piece of home.”
2017 Illustrator Award
Micha Archer
As an illustrator, Micha Archer earned one of the first EJK Book Award Honors. With Daniel Finds a Poem, she became an author as well. Both words and pictures suit her talent: A child’s curiosity is an apt theme for this former kindergarten teacher, and the imagery, rich in color, texture and ingenuity, reflects Micha’s career as an artist and designer. Micha lives in rural Massachusetts.
Daniel Finds a Poem
Nancy Paulsen Books
