The Hans Christian Andersen Award is perhaps the most prestigious international prize given for children's literature. Instituted in 1956 and awarded every other year, its laureates included such luminaries as...

Uh... Well, we've definitely heard of Astrid Lindgren, and Tove Jansson rings a bell, but... uh... Maybe we are not as well-read on children's literature as we assumed?

Even the American winners aren't exactly household names: Meindert DeJong, Scott O'Dell, Paula Fox, Virginia Hamilton, Katherine Paterson? Before anyone asks: none of them are Jews.

There was at least one Jew among the winners, however (and before sleuths accuse us of excluding Maurice Sendak; yes, he won the Hans Christian Andersen Award, but for illustration, not writing): Uri Orlev. The Polish-born Israeli author was honored in 1996. Orlev's stories tell about the Warsaw ghetto, which he survived, as well as life in the new country of Israel, which he experienced.

Well, it's not too late, is it? Better start on that children's novel ASAP!

Sigh.