Pete Seeger honored by library group

A book by Pete Seeger about a young musician who loses his hearing and a wordless story about an underwater camera were among the winners of children’s book prizes announced Monday by the American Library Assn.

The John Newbery Medal for outstanding contribution was awarded to Susan Patron’s “The Higher Power of Lucky,” the adventures of a 10-year-old girl and her search for a higher power. Previous winners of the Newberys, started in 1922, include Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time” and Louis Sachar’s “Holes.”

The Randolph Caldecott Medal for best picture book went to “Flotsam,” a seaside story about photos taken by a vintage underwater camera, narrated exclusively through pictures by David Wiesner, now a three-time Caldecott winner.

Seeger and co-author Paul DuBois Jacobs received the Schneider Family Book Award for “books that embody the artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.” Their book, “The Deaf Musicians,” tells of a young boy who forms a jazz group with other deaf performers, becoming a sensation for their nightly subway concerts.