Commonalities in content of International children's book awards

COMMONALITIES IN CONTENT OF WINNERS OF INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARDS Diversity Challenge Resilience: School Libraries in Action - The 12th Biennial School Library Association of Queensland, the 39th International Association of School Librarianship Annual Conference, incorporating the 14th International Forum on Research in School Librarianship, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 27 September – 1 October 2010.

INTRODUCTION

CRITERIA FOR EXAMINATION OF BOOKS Recipient of an international or regional award (state, province) between 2000-2010. Inclusion on an international book list such as the USBBY Outstanding International Books or the White Ravens Books were categorized by Format Genre

ANALYSIS 89 award winning books were chosen for an initial examination 40 books were chosen for a more in depth analysis. All of these books were child selected awards rather than adult selected.

WHAT WAS EXAMINED Type of protagonist (human, animal with human characteristics, etc. Age of protagonist Gender of protagonist (if important to the story) Theme/Plot (very general) Philosophy or spiritual beliefs or personal values Traditions or customs unique to country

AN OVERVIEW OF CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARDS

EARLY AWARDS US—Newbery, 1922 UK—Carnegie, 1937 US—Caldecott, 1938 NZ—Esther Glen Award, 1945 Australia—Book of the Year Awards, 1946 Canada—Book of the Year for Children, 1947 UK—Kate Greenaway, 1946

ADULT SELECTED VS. CHILD SELECTED AWARDS Most national awards are adult selected while child selected awards tend to be state or regional awards.

CHILD SELECTED AWARDS

UNITED STATES AWARDS Every state except for Mississippi has a state book award The Pacific Northwest Young Reader’s Award is the oldest, first given in 1940. Five states and 2 Canadian provinces participate in this award. Kansas gave the first single state award in 1952 and Hawaii was second in 1959. US chapter of IRA also has a yearly Children’s Choice Reading List with 12,500 students choosing the list.

AWARDS FROM OTHER ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES These awards include, but are not limited to: Ontario, Canada—Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Award, 1976 Australia—KOALA (Kids Own Australian Literature Awards, 1981 UK—Read House Children’s Book Award, 1981 Queensland, Australia—BILBY (Books I Love Best Yearly), 1990

WHAT THE AWARDS TELL US ABOUT CHILDREN AND READING

GENRE In the initial 89 books examined Realistic fiction—35 Fantasy—26 The remain books, all with fewer than 10 winners, were myth/legend/folktale, science fiction, historical fiction, mystery, and poetry Over half of the books were picture books

COUNTRIES WHOSE WINNERS WERE EXAMINED Besides the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand, awards from the following countries were examined: Serbia, Slovenia, Ireland, Slovakia, Nicaragua, Iran, Philippines, Croatia, Kenya, Sri Lanka, South Africa, France, Scotland, Wales Several international awards were also examined.

GENERALITIES: AWARDS CHOSEN BY ADULTS

WHAT WON Books that reflect a country’s culture— especially myth, legend, and folktale Books about children using their imagination Books that teach lessons Picture books with animal characters Chapter books dealing with serious issues

CHILDREN’S CHOICE AWARDS

WHAT WAS EXAMINED Looked at 40 books—20 picture and 20 chapter books. These books were all from English-speaking countries because I could not verify the selection procedure for the other awards.

WHAT CHILDREN CHOSE—PICTURE BOOKS More likely to choose humorous titles Picture book winners generally had animal characters with human characteristics. More picture book characters were male than female. Plot and theme frequently dealt with solving problems and handling emotions. Culturally neutral

WHAT CHILDREN CHOSE—CHAPTER BOOKS 14 books were fantasy 14 books were volumes from series 3 books—Twilight, The Lightning Thief, and Eragon won awards from at least 2 countries A number of the winners have been made into movies Protagonist most likely to be male Parents and adults usually absent or ineffectual

CONCLUSIONS

There is not much overlap in child chosen and adult chosen winners. This overlap not only includes titles, but themes and type of book Obviously, this initial research barely scraped the surface of the subject and much more work needs to be done: Awards from more countries Discovery of award criteria Number of books examined

Commonalities in content of International children's book awards

by International Association of School Librarianship on Oct 15, 2010

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Commonalities in content of International children’s book awards — Presentation Transcript