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Sibert Award
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From: Julie Corsaro <juliecorsaro2>
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 14:02:43 -0400
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!
I believe that most libraries buy award winning books for children, including the Sibert winners. I always have-and I've never had any difficulty finding Sibert books in other libraries. Perhaps, the next step is better promotion of nonfiction books for children. It's somewhat ironic that nonfiction was not included on my son's summer reading list since it was heavily promoted in the classroom this past school year. While I wasn't thrilled with the reason-preparation for taking the year-end state reading exam-I was happy with the result. The exclusion of nonfiction from a summer reading list is also discouraging since informational books are favorites of so many boys, and they need to see their reading interests and choices validated.
Julie Corsaro
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Received on Mon 11 Jul 2005 01:02:43 PM CDT
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 14:02:43 -0400
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!
I believe that most libraries buy award winning books for children, including the Sibert winners. I always have-and I've never had any difficulty finding Sibert books in other libraries. Perhaps, the next step is better promotion of nonfiction books for children. It's somewhat ironic that nonfiction was not included on my son's summer reading list since it was heavily promoted in the classroom this past school year. While I wasn't thrilled with the reason-preparation for taking the year-end state reading exam-I was happy with the result. The exclusion of nonfiction from a summer reading list is also discouraging since informational books are favorites of so many boys, and they need to see their reading interests and choices validated.
Julie Corsaro
_________________________________________________________________ FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar ? get it now! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/
Received on Mon 11 Jul 2005 01:02:43 PM CDT
