Abstracts, Seminar 14

The abstracts are copied as received.


Literary Awards

  • “Stories, Jane Addams and Social Justice” (Abstract 2)
Assistant Professor Susan C. Griffith, Ph.D., Michigan USA

 

  • “Between Honouring Literary Excellence and Promoting Reading – over 50 Years of German Youth Literature Award” (Abstract 44)
Dr. Hannelore Daubert , Germany

 

  • “New Book Awards: Best Picture Books for Reading Aloud” (Abstract 78)
Professor Carol Hanson Sibley , MN , USA

 

  • “Celebrate a New Children´s Literature Award Encouraging Environmental Stewardship: The Green Earth Book Award” (Abstract 124)
Assistant professor, Ph.D. Patricia Dean & Associate professor, Ph.D. Ernest Bond, MD, USA

 

 

(2)

Stories, Jane Addams and Social Justice

In the aftermath of World War II, with the belief that “the future of the world lies in ‘hearts too young for enmity',” the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom established the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. This annual award commends children's books with themes of peace and social justice published in the United States . Focusing on key Addams Award winners from 1954 to the present, this exploration describes, critiques and contextualizes stories used to represent leaders of struggles for human rights, children facing injustice, and conflicts caused by prejudice and repression throughout the world. In doing so, it offers an historical overview of how social justice and injustice have been presented to children in the United States and raises questions about the blending of social justice with the literary arts.

 

Dr. Susan C. Griffith teaches children's literature and writing in the elementary school in the Department of English Language and Literature at Central Michigan University , Mt. Pleasant , Michigan , U.S.A. She is an educator, librarian and children's literature specialist who has worked with prospective and practicing teachers for the past twenty years. She has been a member of the Jane Addams Children's Book Award Committee since 2004 and is now its chair. She received her doctorate in Educational Studies from Lesley University ( Cambridge , Massachusetts , U.S.A).

 

 

Susan C. Griffith, Ph.D. griff2sc@cmich.edu

Assistant Professor

Department of English Language and Literature

Anspach 215

Central Michigan University

Mt. Pleasant, Michigan 48859

United States of America

 989-774-3146

989-774-1271 Fax

 

 

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Between honouring literary excellence and promoting reading - over 50 years of German Youth Literature Award

 

Hannelore Daubert

 

The The German Youth Literature Award, the only state prize for literature in Germany , was awarded in October 2006 for the 50 th time. This prize is intended to support the development of children´s literature, to keep public interest in it alive and to encourage public discussion of it. The 50-year history of this award is also the history of the development of children´s literature in Germany . The decisions of the jury over this time document changes in cultural history and reflect altered concepts of childhood as well as modifications in emphasis within the criticism of children´s literature.

 

The prize, for which books in translation are eligible as well as books by German authors and illustrators – for this is an international award – is chosen by two mutually independent juries. An autonomous youth jury, drawn from reading clubs from all over Germany awards its own youth jury prize. A jury of critics, consisting of nine adult experts in children´s literature awards the prize in four actegories: picturebooks, children´s books, books for young people and non-fiction. The autonomous youth jury was established in 2003 to face the everlasting conflict between the two aims of the prize: on one hand to honour literary/artistic excellence, and on the other, to encourag and promote reading. In the best-case scenario theses two principles can be brought together, but the best-case scenarion does not always exists.

 

In the currently very varied prize landscape in Germany there are three features that distiguish the “Deutsche Jugendliteraturpreis” (DJLP): its internationality, its diversity and its credibility.

 

 

Dr. Hannelore Daubert is a lecturer in children´s literature at Goeth- University in Frankfurt ( Germany ), author and editor of scholarly publications, former president of IBBY Germany (2000 – 2006) and current member of the IBBY EC.

 

attached you find my proposal for a short presantation of the German Youth Literature Award (Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis), which may be a modell for those who are thinking about establishing an award for children´s literature in their country. There are many interesting facts to talk about (the permanent tension between honouring literary execellence on one hand and promoting reading on the other, or the changing images, what will be a “good” book over the last 50 years and of course our actual raeding promotion projct based on the prize books “Readers are winners”).

 

Dr. Hannelore Daubert

Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität

Campus Westend

Institut für Jugendbuchforschung

Grüneburgplatz 1

60323 Frankfurt/Main

 

Telefon: +49 69 798 33008

Fax:      +49 69 798 32996

 

Email: daubert@em.uni-frankfurt.de

Homepage: http://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/~daubert

 

 

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New book awards: Best picture books for reading aloud

 

Abstract:

 

Participants will learn about two children's book awards that recognize the best recently published picture books to read aloud to children, one award (Comstock Book Award) for books for children eight to twelve-years-old and one award (Wanda Gag Book Award) for books aimed at younger children. The presenter will share the goals of the awards and the process for selecting these annual awards, as well as provide an annotated bibliography of the book award winners and honor books since 2005. Also, highlighted will be the popularity of picture books by international authors/illustrators, including those from Canada , Colombia , Denmark , France , Germany , Korea , and Spain .

 

These annual book awards are sponsored by the Curriculum Materials Center at Minnesota State University Moorhead in Moorhead , Minnesota , USA . Selecting the books for the two awards is a community project with about 150 university students, preschool and elementary teachers, and public and school librarians reading aloud each year. Readers provide feedback on each book. Nearly 20,000 children listen to these read aloud picture books each year. As far as we know, these awards are the only read aloud awards based on field testing books with children. More information about this program is available on the website: http://www.mnstate.edu/cmc/ComstockReadingAloudInitiative.htm .

 

Biographical data: Carol Hanson Sibley, who administers the Read Aloud Award Program, is a Professor at Livingston Lord Library, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Moorhead , Minnesota , USA . At the Library she is responsible for resources for Teacher Education students, who are preparing to teach children from birth through high school age. Her specialty is literature for children and young adults. She also teaches undergraduate and graduate course in literature for young readers.

 

Contact details:

Carol Hanson Sibley

Livingston Lord Library

Minnesota State University Moorhead

1104 Seventh Avenue South

Moorhead , MN , USA 56563

Telephone: 218.477.2347

FAX: 218.477.5924

Email: sibley@mnstate.edu

 

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Celebrate a New Children's Literature Award Encouraging Environmental Stewardship: The Green Earth Book Award

 

Abstract:

With the future of our earth in peril, there is no better way to work toward preservation than through our children. And what better way to empower children to make a difference in the world than through children's literature? This is the premise that inspired the inception of the Green Earth Book Award, an award given in three categories to children's literature that embraces the environment through a combination of story and stewardship.

 

The children's literature award was the inspiration of the Newton Marasco Foundation, an environmental non-profit organization whose mission is to encourage people to “Go Green” and learn ways to sustain the environment. The first award was given in 2005, chosen from a field of about 60 books. In 2006, the award was expanded to include young adult literature. In 2007, awards were given in three groups: Children's Literature, Young Adult Literature, and Nonfiction. Nearly 200 books were submitted for judging.

 

During our presentation we will share the award-winning books and criteria used in the selection process. It is our hope that an international presentation at the IBBY Conference will encourage international authors/illustrators who publish in the US to submit work for future consideration for this prestigious award.

 

 

Presenters

Patricia Dean, Ph.D. (on the selection committee for the Children's Literature portion of the Green Earth Book Award)

Assistant Professor, Department of Teacher Education

Seidel School of Education & Professional Studies

Salisbury University

1101 Camden Avenue

Salisbury , MD 21801

USA

pkdean@salisbury.edu Work phone: 001.410.548.5756; Home Phone: 001.410.334.2320

 

Ernest Bond, Ph.D. (A member of USBBY; on the selection committee for all three areas of the Green Earth Book Award)

Associate Professor, Department of Teacher Education

Seidel School of Education & Professional Studies

Salisbury University

1101 Camden Avenue

Salisbury , MD 21801

USA

elbond@salisbury.edu Work Phone: 001.410.548.3257