General Awards and Honors:

  • The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators National Magazine Writing Award
  • The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Nonfiction Book Grant
  • The Heekin Foundation’s Fellowship for Children’s Novel-in-Progress
  • The Washington Post Grant in the Arts
  • Target Stores Art in Communities Grant
  • Indiana University’s Keisler Prize for Poetry
  • Washington Performing Arts Society Arts in Schools Grants
  • The Arts and Humanities Council of Mont. Co.’s Artists in Schools/Artists in Residence Grants

Awards and Honors for Specific Books

THE CHICKEN OF THE FAMILY, Putnam, 2008

  • Winner of Buckeye Award (Ohio) 2010
  • Red Clover Book Award (Vermont) Master List (2009-2010)
  • Great Lakes Great Books Master List (Michigan) (2009-2010)
  • Beehive (Utah) Book Award Master List (2009-2010.
  • Korean Edition, JDM Joongang, 2009
  • Publishers Weekly Starred Review
  • Junior Library Guild Choice
  • Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Starred Review
  • Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon Choice (2008)
  • Charlotte Zolotow Award Committee’s Highly Commended title (2009)
  • Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choice (2009)
  • Read on Wisconsin! Book Club Choice Summer 2009
  • Selected for Society of Illustrator’s Original Art Show 2008
  • Starred review Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books March issue
  • Dollywood’s Imagination Library program selection.
  • The Chicken of the Family Musical, co-written by Mary Amato and Richard Washer was produced by Charter Theater in Arlington, VA and by the Jefferson City, MO, library in 2009.

THE NAKED MOLE-RAT LETTERS, Holiday House, 2005.

  • Mark Twain 2008 masterlist
  • William Allen White 2008 masterlist
  • Sequoyah 2008 masterlist
  • Charlotte 2008 masterlist
  • Land of Enchantment 2008 masterlist
  • Rebecca Caudill 2010 masterlist
  • Scholastic Book Club paperback edition.
  • German edition (DTV, 2007)
  • Japanese edition (Tokuma Shoten, 2011)
  • e-book edition 2011

THE WORD EATER, Holiday House, 2000.

  • The Grand Canyon (AZ) Reader Award (2004)
  • Scholastic Book Club paperback edition
  • Korean editions, (Design House, 2001)  (JDM Joongang,2008)
  • Maud Hart Lovelace 2007 masterlist
  • Sasquatch 2003 masterlist
  • Sunshine 2004 masterlist
  • Land of Enchantment 2003 masterlist

EDGAR ALLAN’S OFFICIAL CRIME INVESTIGATION NOTEBOOK, Holiday House, 2010

  • Scholastic Book Club edition 2011
  • Tennessee Volunteer State Award 2012-2013 Intermediate Division Masterlist
  • e-book edition, 2011

INVISIBLE LINES, Egmont USA, 2009

  • California Young Readers medal nominee (Grades 6-9) 2012-2013.
  • Truman (Missouri) Master list 2011-2012
  • German Edition (Carlsen) forthcoming

PLEASE WRITE IN THIS BOOK, Holiday House, 2006

  • Children’s Choices (IRA and CBC) for 2007
  • Book of the Month Club edition, 2007
  • November pick for Read On! Wisconsin http://readon.wi.gov/
  • Maud Hart Lovelace (Minnesota) masterlist 2011-2012

THE RIOT BROTHERS SERIES:

SNARF ATTACK, UNDERFOODLE, AND THE SECRET OF LIFE, Holiday House, 2004.

  • e-book edition, 2011
  • Scholastic Book Club paperback edition
  • Chinese edition forthcoming
  • Korean editions (JDM Joongang, 2008)
  • Sequoyah 2008 masterlist
  • Sasquatch 2008 masterlist
  • Danish edition, Gyldendal, 2010
  • Optioned by Muddy Girl Productions for TV pitch, 2007-8
  • Pick of the Decade for 4th grade, NJ State Library

DROOLING AND DANGEROUS, Holiday House, 2006

  • Chinese edition forthcoming
  • KC 3 Reading Award sponsored by the Greater Kansas City Association of School Librarians 2008-2009
  • Bank Street Children’s Book Committee Best Children’s Book of 2007 in humor category for ages 5-9
  • Children’s Choices (IRA and CBC) for 2007 Drooling and Dangerous
  • Korean editions (JDM Joongang, 2008)
  • Danish edition, Gyldendal, 2010
  • Optioned by Muddy Girl Productions for TV pitch, 2007-8

STINKY AND SUCCESSFUL, Holiday House, 2007

  • Chinese edition forthcoming
  • Missouri KC3 Book Award Winner 2009-2010
  • Danish edition, Gyldendal, 2010
  • Korean edition, JDM Joongang, 2009
  • Optioned by Muddy Girl Productions for TV pitch, 2007-8

TAKE THE MUMMY AND RUN, Holiday House, 2009

  • Chinese edition forthcoming
  • Danish edition, Gyldendal, 2010
  • Optioned by Muddy Girl Productions for TV pitch, 2007-8