Wednesday, July 15, 2009

New Award?

The folks over at readertotz would love to see an award created for the best board book for babies! Read a little more about why and vote for what it should be called...

Do you think there are too many awards? How do having awards fit in with the reality of publishing today? Do you like awards?

I have a "Beyond the Newbery" class scheduled for August 19--if you'd like to learn more about youth literature awards and see some recent winners, ask your supervisor for time to attend!

3 comments:

Alyson said...

If African-American author (Coretta Scott King)Kadir Nelson would write a beautifully illustrated (Caldecott), well written(Newbery) nonfiction (Seibert) book about a Jewish (Sydney Taylor), special needs (Dolly Gray)child adopting a puppy (Henry Bergh) from the pound, we could cut down on lots of the awards.

Thanks to Melissa's post, I am knee deep in updating the awards on the kidsite and must vehemently state that we do not need any more awards!!!!

Alyson said...

Melissa,

I must amend my comment, I got lost in the award material on the kidsite and let my grumpiness get to me. Do you think an award is needed for board books? If I am buying a board book for a baby, I am going to buy a sturdy book with cute photos of a babies, animals, toys... Do I need a recommendation that a particular title is "award winning?"

MelissaZD said...

Alyson, I have been thinking about this! On the one hand, we have PLENTY of awards already.

On the other hand, I struggle every week to find great books to share at baby storytime.

Maybe an award would help me find great titles I'm missing now?

Maybe award winning board books would be permitted to stay in print longer than 12 months so I could replace my good ones when they fall apart?

Plus, publishers insist on throwing any bestselling picture book into the board format, which leaves many new parents a poor impression of what's actually developmentally appropriate for that first year.

An award might be a rallying point for teaching parents what is good for babies?

Borders bookstores are cutting back their children's collections in favor of more toys. Maybe an award sticker on a board book might help it in the battle for shelf space?