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[CCBC-Net] Five Initial Reactions to the Awards
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From: Rita Auerbach <rita.auerbach>
Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 10:33:10 -0500
Eliza makes a compelling case for the decision in the late 1980's to maintain the 14-year-old limit for ALSC awards and notables. The problem, as I see it, is that that was about 20 years ago. In the intervening years, there has been a huge change in the sophistication of 14 year olds and in the books that are published for young people. If we were only dividing the world between children and adults, then clearly 14 year olds would be considered children. But if the divide is between children and young adults, then 14 year olds, high school students, are young adults and I would argue that there is no book published for young people that one could not find suitable for 14 year olds. I strongly believe that it is time for ALSC to revisit the age range for awards. This was quite a topic of conversation in San Antonio, and I am glad we are discussing it here. Rita Auerbach
----- Original Message ----- From: "Eliza T. Dresang" <edresang at mailer.fsu.edu> To: "Jill Davis" <jilldaviseditor at yahoo.com> Cc: "Hunt, Jonathan" <Hunt.Jo at monet.k12.ca.us>;
<ccbc-net at ccbc.ad.education.wisc.edu> Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2006 8:02 AM Subject: Re: [CCBC-Net] Five Initial Reactions to the Awards
Jill
In the late 1980s I was on a joint ALSC/YALSA Age DefinitionTask Force. Our purpose was to define
'child' and 'young adult' -- so the division overlap could be settled. After months of debate, we on the task force concluded that an exact dividing line was an impossibility. That is because childhood to young adulthood is a transition, a gradual process that has no precise demarcation line (such as the physical onset of puberty). And we further realized that a young person in that cross over zone, ages 12 - 14 may be a child one moment, hour or day and a young adult the next moment, hour, and day in psychological needs, in perspective, and in interests. And finally we realized in terms of resources that reader response differs from reader to reader so that the very same book may be read differently by a 'child' who is 12 from the reading by a 'young adult' who is 12.
In the end the Task Force decided that there was nothing to do but live with the overlap, realizing that it existed. There are many other topics, such as what should be on the Notables, on which perfect agreement will most likely never be reached. The age definition for child and young adult is most likely one of those topics. Some people feel strongly ALSC should cut the awards at 12. I disagree with that because there are many fine books that can be read by a young person who is still largely a 'child' in that cross over age range.
As for the Partridge book about John Lennon or Woody Gutherie, I can assure you that these books were considered even though I was not on the Sibert Committee and their deliberations are confidential. And I can also assure you that there is no definitive answer about whether the book was considered 'age appropriate' or not -- just as publishers struggle with this, so do librarians. I was in a local book discussion group that included the Lennon book, and the professionals in that group could not agree on this question.
I have been on a number of both ALSC ,YALSA, and other association evaluation committees, e.g., Newbery (chair), Caldecott, Belpr? (chair), Batchelder (Chair), Margaret A. Edwards
(current), Jane Addams (current). This debate is inevitable (about child versus young adult) -- it has come up on every committee on which I've served in relation to more than one book or author. But I can also assure you that the age label that the publishers give to a book does not influence the committee's decision about whether to consider the book. If you look at reviews, reviewers also give widely different age labels to almost every young people's book published and that also has no influence on the committee's decision. So the stance of these committees is to consider everything that might possibly be appropriate and to make their own determinations. And all committees, as I said, do not think alike on this 'grey zone' matter. It really gets down to some deep philosophical issues about whether children are safer knowing or not knowing. If a publisher thinks a committee might consider a book, it is better to bring it to their attention than to fear that it is not in the proper age range.
Hope this 'it is a mystery to everyone' response helps in relation to committee choices!
Eliza
Received on Wed 01 Feb 2006 09:33:10 AM CST
Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 10:33:10 -0500
Eliza makes a compelling case for the decision in the late 1980's to maintain the 14-year-old limit for ALSC awards and notables. The problem, as I see it, is that that was about 20 years ago. In the intervening years, there has been a huge change in the sophistication of 14 year olds and in the books that are published for young people. If we were only dividing the world between children and adults, then clearly 14 year olds would be considered children. But if the divide is between children and young adults, then 14 year olds, high school students, are young adults and I would argue that there is no book published for young people that one could not find suitable for 14 year olds. I strongly believe that it is time for ALSC to revisit the age range for awards. This was quite a topic of conversation in San Antonio, and I am glad we are discussing it here. Rita Auerbach
----- Original Message ----- From: "Eliza T. Dresang" <edresang at mailer.fsu.edu> To: "Jill Davis" <jilldaviseditor at yahoo.com> Cc: "Hunt, Jonathan" <Hunt.Jo at monet.k12.ca.us>;
<ccbc-net at ccbc.ad.education.wisc.edu> Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2006 8:02 AM Subject: Re: [CCBC-Net] Five Initial Reactions to the Awards
Jill
In the late 1980s I was on a joint ALSC/YALSA Age DefinitionTask Force. Our purpose was to define
'child' and 'young adult' -- so the division overlap could be settled. After months of debate, we on the task force concluded that an exact dividing line was an impossibility. That is because childhood to young adulthood is a transition, a gradual process that has no precise demarcation line (such as the physical onset of puberty). And we further realized that a young person in that cross over zone, ages 12 - 14 may be a child one moment, hour or day and a young adult the next moment, hour, and day in psychological needs, in perspective, and in interests. And finally we realized in terms of resources that reader response differs from reader to reader so that the very same book may be read differently by a 'child' who is 12 from the reading by a 'young adult' who is 12.
In the end the Task Force decided that there was nothing to do but live with the overlap, realizing that it existed. There are many other topics, such as what should be on the Notables, on which perfect agreement will most likely never be reached. The age definition for child and young adult is most likely one of those topics. Some people feel strongly ALSC should cut the awards at 12. I disagree with that because there are many fine books that can be read by a young person who is still largely a 'child' in that cross over age range.
As for the Partridge book about John Lennon or Woody Gutherie, I can assure you that these books were considered even though I was not on the Sibert Committee and their deliberations are confidential. And I can also assure you that there is no definitive answer about whether the book was considered 'age appropriate' or not -- just as publishers struggle with this, so do librarians. I was in a local book discussion group that included the Lennon book, and the professionals in that group could not agree on this question.
I have been on a number of both ALSC ,YALSA, and other association evaluation committees, e.g., Newbery (chair), Caldecott, Belpr? (chair), Batchelder (Chair), Margaret A. Edwards
(current), Jane Addams (current). This debate is inevitable (about child versus young adult) -- it has come up on every committee on which I've served in relation to more than one book or author. But I can also assure you that the age label that the publishers give to a book does not influence the committee's decision about whether to consider the book. If you look at reviews, reviewers also give widely different age labels to almost every young people's book published and that also has no influence on the committee's decision. So the stance of these committees is to consider everything that might possibly be appropriate and to make their own determinations. And all committees, as I said, do not think alike on this 'grey zone' matter. It really gets down to some deep philosophical issues about whether children are safer knowing or not knowing. If a publisher thinks a committee might consider a book, it is better to bring it to their attention than to fear that it is not in the proper age range.
Hope this 'it is a mystery to everyone' response helps in relation to committee choices!
Eliza
Received on Wed 01 Feb 2006 09:33:10 AM CST
