From: Hatfield at jcl.lib.ks.us <Hatfield>
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 19:51:35 -0600

I am speaking only for myself, but I was also a member of the 2002 Belpre committee. I also wondered if our selection of "Esperanza Rising" would be diluted by the fact that it was published in 2000 and may be languishing in oblivion on library shelves. However, I was gratified at the response that the announcement of "Esperanza" as the winner of the Belpre at the press conference (and I think so was everyone else on the committee). The loud applause, the oohs and ahhs and cheers made me realize that we had chosen well. Many people who had read "Esperanza" in 2000 obviously still remembered it and were still touched by the story.

I have also been pleased by the responses I have heard from those who have read "Breaking Through" and "Iguanas in the Snow." Francisco Jiminez' books that reminisce about his childhood ("The Circuit" and several picture books adapted from that book) have touched the lives of many people who have read of his family's struggle for survival and his ultimate success in life. Like "Iguanas in the Snow," these books are both simple and complex. The simple, direct writing belies the complexity of the concepts and feelings that these books express.

The committee did not consider "in-print" status. However, I held a Mock Belpre discussion at my library and was dismayed to find that many of the books that had been submitted to us were not in our catalog or in the catalog of our neighbor library in Kansas City, MO. Books by the smaller publishing houses are not as easily found on our library shelves, mainly because they are not as likely to get reviewed. I hope that the attention of the Belpre award will not only spur publishers to print books by Latino authors, but will also encourage reviewers to examine books by Latino authors and by small publishers.

I think the "in print vs. out-of-print" issue is more crucial in the area of the statewide children's choice awards. Our local state award frequently has one or two titles on the list that are hard to get because they were published 2 years before the nominations list is published for the public.

And I'm sure that if "Esperanza Rising" or the other Belpre books were on the "out-of-print" list, their publishers would scramble to get them back into print as soon as the award is announced!

Jean Hatfield Associate Director for Program Services Johnson County Library Box 2933 Shawnee Mission KS 6620133 913&1#45 hatfield at jcl.lib.ks.us



 Message----From: Kathleen Horning [mailto:horning at education.wisc.edu] Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 11:18 AM To: ccbc-net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Subject: [CCBC-Net] Pura Belpre Award


I have a question for Belpre Award chair Eliza Dresang, or any other members of the Belpre Award committee (past or present).

Since the Belpre Award is unusual in that it is only given out every two years, what, if any, impact do you feel the two-year award cycle has on the process?

Conceivably in the future, the award could at some time be given to a book that has already gone out of print. Does the Belpre Committee have to consider in-print status?

I'd like to pose a related question to any of our colleagues in publishing. Does an award that goes to a book that's been out for two years cause as much excitement and gain the same level of attention?


Kathleen T. Horning (horning at education.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center University of Wisconsin-School of Education 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706 608&3930 FAX: 608&2I33 www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/

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Received on Tue 26 Feb 2002 07:51:35 PM CST