Re: [LM_NET] Share: Award winning books-- boring?

[Gail Smith <gssmith.ergc@GMAIL.COM>]

My students generally prefer the Caudill and Monarch (our Illinois book
awards) winners when compared with the Newberry winners.  I think it is
because those awards, and others of their kind, are selected by children who
have actually read the books instead of a group of librarians picking books
on "merit" or some misguided notion of what children "should" like.  Our
state award list is made up of books nominated by students and teachers and
voted on by students who have read a minimum number of books from the
lists.  I find it a much more successful way to reward books that the
students actually like and will read.

Gail Smith, NBCT
Librarian & Technology Facilitator
Edison Regional Gifted Center, Chicago
gssmith.  ergc at gmail.  com
Currently reading:  The Lost Symbol


On Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 12:43 PM, Thomas Kaun <tomkaun@gmail.com> wrote:

> Interesting insight, Darlene. "Out of the mouths of babes..."
> You said: "What does that say about the awards, who selects them and about
> keeping books around just because they won an award in 1970 !?" Probably
> about the same thing that an adult novel which won the Pulitzer Prize in
> 1937. All materials should be judged on their own merits. That means some
> books, which become "classics," continue in the collection even if they are
> old but awards do not a classic make!
> Tom Kaun
>
> Thomas T. Kaun, Teacher Librarian
> Bessie Chin Library @ Redwood High School
> 395 Doherty Drive, Larkspur, CA 94939
> tomkaun@gmail.com | Library Web site: http://rhslibrary.org | Professional
> development blog: http://tomlmt2.blogspot.com/ | Library news blog:
> http://libraryleaves.blogspot.com | Twitter: besschinlibrary
> President
> CSLA - NS
> All California students need strong school libraries.
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 10:03 AM, Darlene Yasick <lib027yas@sbcglobal.net
> >wrote:
>
> > Thoight I'd share this:
> > My granddaughter (9) came to me with a book last night and said she
> didn't
> > want to read it because it looked boring and I could have it. I asked her
> > where she got it from and was told that one day when she was absent they
> got
> > RIF books and someone picked this one out for her but the cover just
> looked
> > too boring. It's a Betsy Byars book and the cover has two kids (dated
> > looking) looking at a pool with a swan in it. She pulled out other books
> she
> > had received for Christmas or picked herself to show me interesting
> covers (
> > She is an avid and above grade level reader).
> >
> > I noticed that there was an award medal on the cover ( Newbery) and
> pointed
> > out that the book had won an award. From the other room my 12yr old
> grandson
> > chimed in with " if it won an award, it probably is boring!" ( not a
> reader
> > unless you hook him!) Hum? What does that say about the awards, who
> selects
> > them and about keeping books around just because they won an award in
> 1970
> > !?
> >
> > Darlene Yasick
> > Retired LMS
> > Wyoming, MI
> >
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