Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret, a combination of purely visual sequential storytelling and prose passages, has won the prestigious Caldecott Medal for 2008.  The American Library Association awards the Caldecott Medal to the best picture book, and the selection of The Invention of Hugo Cabret was hailed by a number of librarians who were interviewed on NPR as a major departure from the past and a considerable expansion of the scope of the Caldecott award. 

The 544-page Hugo Cabret, one of the most innovative books to appear in 2007 in any genre, is published by Scholastic.  It also won a Quill Award, in the category of children's chapter book (see 'Making Comics Wins Quill Award').

The ALA also honored a traditional graphic novel, Jeff Lemire's Essex County Vol. 1: Tales From the Farm, by presenting it with the Alex Award, which recognizes adult books that provide a vital message to teens (Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis won the Alex in 2004).  Two volumes of the Essex County series, which deftly mixes slice-of-life elements with magical realism to tell a coming-of-age saga set on an Ontario farm, are available from Top Shelf Productions (and Diamond Book Distributors).