CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD WINNERS

* The two highest honors for children's literature were announced this week in Los Angeles at the Midwinter Meeting of the American Library Association (ALA). Author Lois Lowry was awarded her second John Newbery Medal for ``The Giver,'' and illustrator Allen Say won the Randolph Caldecott Medal for his paintings in ``Grandfather's Journey.'' Both books are published by Houghton Mifflin.

A young boy's life in a Utopian world is the subject of Ms. Lowry's current book. The Boston author won the same award in 1990 for ``Number the Stars.'' Mr. Say's winning illustrations accompany the text he wrote describing his grandfather's emigration to the United States from Japan.

The Newbery and Caldecott Medals are named for Englishmen, but given only to United States residents. First awarded in 1922 and 1938, respectively, they recognize the most distinguished contribution to American children's literature, and the most distinguished American picture book for children, published in the previous year.

The Association for Library Services to Children, a division of the ALA, administers the annual awards, and their selection committees also named several runners-up for each medal. The Newbery Honor Books for 1994 are: ``Crazy Lady,'' by Jane Leslie Conly (HarperCollins), ``Dragon's Gate,'' by Laurence Yep (HarperCollins), and ``Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery,'' by Russell Freedman (Clarion).

The 1994 Caldecott Honor Books are: ``Peppe the Lamplighter,'' illustrated by Ted Lewin, written by Elisa Bartone (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books), ``In the Small, Small Pond,'' written and illustrated by Denise Fleming (Henry Holt & Co.), ``Owen,'' written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes, (Greenwillow Books), ``Raven: a Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest,'' written and illustrated by Gerald McDermott (Harcourt Brace), and ``Yo!Yes?,'' written and illustrated by Chris Rosehka (Orchard Books).

Awards for outstanding books by African-American authors and illustrators in the past year were also recognized. The Coretta Scott King Author Award went to ``Toning the Sweep,'' by Angela Johnson (Orchard Books). The Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award went to Tom Feelings for his first full-color book, ``Soul Looks Back in Wonder'' (Dial Books), with text by various African-American poets.