CCBC-Net Archives
Sibert Award
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Hendon, Alison <A.Hendon>
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 15:11:43 -0400
Julie wrote: I live in North Carolina, and have a son in the elementary schools here. A middle school librarian in my book group who works in our local school district told me that the current and several past winners of the Sibert Award are on the middle school summer reading list. Unfortunately, my son's third grade list only included fiction. This omission may speak to the bias against nonfiction that Milton Melter cited in his landmark Horn Book article of 1976, "Where Do All the Prizes Go: The Case For Nonfiction." In the article, Meltzer lamented the fact that the Newbery Medal had only been awarded to an informational book five times since its inception in 1922. Meltzer felt that nonfiction was considered utilitarian or artless, and called for a separate award for nonfiction books for children. It took 25 years but we now have the Sibert!
One of the problems with using nonfiction for summer reading lists is that for our list, the book must be in paperback. I had a conversation with Marc Aronson and also some publishers about this issue at ALA - the publishers still seem to think that nonfiction won't sell in paperback. Au contraire, the books will never be on our summer reading list (or on Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults) if they're only in hardcover. It's not that we WANT to have a fiction list...
Alison
Received on Mon 11 Jul 2005 02:11:43 PM CDT
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 15:11:43 -0400
Julie wrote: I live in North Carolina, and have a son in the elementary schools here. A middle school librarian in my book group who works in our local school district told me that the current and several past winners of the Sibert Award are on the middle school summer reading list. Unfortunately, my son's third grade list only included fiction. This omission may speak to the bias against nonfiction that Milton Melter cited in his landmark Horn Book article of 1976, "Where Do All the Prizes Go: The Case For Nonfiction." In the article, Meltzer lamented the fact that the Newbery Medal had only been awarded to an informational book five times since its inception in 1922. Meltzer felt that nonfiction was considered utilitarian or artless, and called for a separate award for nonfiction books for children. It took 25 years but we now have the Sibert!
One of the problems with using nonfiction for summer reading lists is that for our list, the book must be in paperback. I had a conversation with Marc Aronson and also some publishers about this issue at ALA - the publishers still seem to think that nonfiction won't sell in paperback. Au contraire, the books will never be on our summer reading list (or on Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults) if they're only in hardcover. It's not that we WANT to have a fiction list...
Alison
Received on Mon 11 Jul 2005 02:11:43 PM CDT
