From: Betty Tisel <tiselfar>
Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:37:06 -0600

Hi folks,

At what point will there be too many awards?

I think most reading "laypeople" - parents and kids - are familiar with the Newbery, and sometimes the Caldecott. They may notice the other gold and silver stickers on books but may not take the time to read the name of the awards. (Then there are those fake medals that appear on books - my favorite being on the Dumb Bunnies books: "This book is TOO DUMB to win an award)

I don't know how closely the "average" librarian, teacher, or bookseller (I know, you're all above average, it's true!) tracks the totality of ALA awards. But at some point it starts to feel a bit diluted. I guess it means for those of us who do read to the bottom of the press release, it's our job to not only promote the winning and honor books, but also the awards themselves: to mention the name of the award and briefly, its purpose, when recommending one of the books.

There must be more than one way to promote the creation of high-quality books by authors and illustrators from many backgrounds and about many subjects and kinds of people. Perhaps we rely too much on the awards.

Nonetheless, I eagerly read about the winners of, for example, the Schneider Family Book Award, and other less "famous" awards, and hope that bookbuyers in every domain also pay attention to the winners of each award, not just the Biggies.


Betty Tisel parent, voracious reader, school library volunteer, clne volunteer email coordinator, book advocate Minneapolis MN
Received on Mon 21 Jan 2008 11:37:06 AM CST