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[CCBC-Net] The Newbery/Sibert Awards
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From: Norma Jean Sawicki <nsawicki>
Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:40:42 -0500
It is with some sadness, and a sense of deja vu, that I have read the postings about nonfiction...a genre I loved as a children?s book publisher, and in my private life, as a reader of biography and American history. In the children?s book community, fiction has always reigned supreme... nonfiction, a stepchild. After all, what is nonfiction but a bunch of information strung together is one way or another. That the Sibert Award is given to ?an informational book? says it all...informational , a classification that could apply to an encyclopedia or a dictionary.
Never mind that excellent nonfiction has a strong narrative pull, and the writer, a gifted storyteller. Let?s make sure the visual material counts, counts a lot...and the more visual material, the better....the visual material will make the ?information? more palatable.
To compare the Newbery and the Sibert is the same as comparing apples and oranges. The Sibert has neither the stature nor the sales impact of the Newbery...it is light years behind. As a publisher, I never thought of selling books as a criminal activity...sales means readers...the more sales...the more readers.
Not only are we rapidly becoming a nation of illiterates but a nation in which college graduates do not know basic American history...a concern discussed in Congress. We now have, in every profession, people who believe they are well educated but are not; a couple of examples being that of a Congressman from the south who said on national television that the Republican Party is responsible for the civil rights legislation, and too, illiterate notes from teachers to students that were published two or three years ago in a New York City newspaper.
The blame lies not with the kids but with the so-called gatekeepers in every area of a child?s life, starting in preschool. Some...not all, publishers, too...who behave as if nonfiction is something the cat dragged in but would not drag out. A genre for the ?institutional market?...institutional meaning school and public libraries....that slow date. Never mind that ?selling? books is sometimes a self- fulfilling prophecy. As for blame...instead of blame, ?attitude? may be exactly right. A good hard think on the part of everyone involved, in one way or another, with children?s books, may be overdue. Sorry for the rant... Norma Jean
Received on Mon 21 Jan 2008 08:40:42 AM CST
Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:40:42 -0500
It is with some sadness, and a sense of deja vu, that I have read the postings about nonfiction...a genre I loved as a children?s book publisher, and in my private life, as a reader of biography and American history. In the children?s book community, fiction has always reigned supreme... nonfiction, a stepchild. After all, what is nonfiction but a bunch of information strung together is one way or another. That the Sibert Award is given to ?an informational book? says it all...informational , a classification that could apply to an encyclopedia or a dictionary.
Never mind that excellent nonfiction has a strong narrative pull, and the writer, a gifted storyteller. Let?s make sure the visual material counts, counts a lot...and the more visual material, the better....the visual material will make the ?information? more palatable.
To compare the Newbery and the Sibert is the same as comparing apples and oranges. The Sibert has neither the stature nor the sales impact of the Newbery...it is light years behind. As a publisher, I never thought of selling books as a criminal activity...sales means readers...the more sales...the more readers.
Not only are we rapidly becoming a nation of illiterates but a nation in which college graduates do not know basic American history...a concern discussed in Congress. We now have, in every profession, people who believe they are well educated but are not; a couple of examples being that of a Congressman from the south who said on national television that the Republican Party is responsible for the civil rights legislation, and too, illiterate notes from teachers to students that were published two or three years ago in a New York City newspaper.
The blame lies not with the kids but with the so-called gatekeepers in every area of a child?s life, starting in preschool. Some...not all, publishers, too...who behave as if nonfiction is something the cat dragged in but would not drag out. A genre for the ?institutional market?...institutional meaning school and public libraries....that slow date. Never mind that ?selling? books is sometimes a self- fulfilling prophecy. As for blame...instead of blame, ?attitude? may be exactly right. A good hard think on the part of everyone involved, in one way or another, with children?s books, may be overdue. Sorry for the rant... Norma Jean
Received on Mon 21 Jan 2008 08:40:42 AM CST
