From: Kathleen T. Horning <horning>
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:15:47 -0600

Interestingly, Maia, many of the things you suggest are things that were once done for the Batchelder Award. I've been looking through a lot of back issues of the official ALSC journal, which was then called "Top of the News," and there are lots of interesting articles about the Batchelder Award that show that, in the past, things were done quite differently. The Batchelder Committee was charged with creating the short list of eligible titles and then ALSC members were invited to vote. The book with the highest number of votes won.

Also, the award winner was announced in April on International Children's Book Day, and libraries across the country competed to win the privilege of being one of the libraries that made the official announcement. In order to compete, they had to demonstrate that they had planned programs that raised an awareness of the Batchelder Award in their communities. I remember former CCBC Director Ginny Moore Kruse talking about the extensive programs they did when she worked for the Brown County Public Library in Green Bay, Wisconsin, that led to them being selected as one of the official announcement sites. She said by the time of the announcement, the local community had invested so much in reading the nominees and learning about books published in other countries that there was real excitement about the announcement.

KT

Kathleen T. Horning Director Cooperative Children's Book Center 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 N. Park St Madison, WI 53706

Phone: 608-263-3721 FAX: 608-262-4933

horning at education.wisc.edu http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/



Kathleen T. Horning wrote:
> I'm posting this for Maia Cheli-Colando:
>
> Annette,
>
> The main difficulty I see is that "The Batchelder Committee is
> constrained by the fact that every eligible book is considered a
> shortlist book, and we are not allowed to publish the shortlist."
>
> I think that if someone were to maintain a perusable list of those books
> as they were published/announced, that would be tremendously useful to
> the public. I would highly recommend a colorful and info-filled website
> (and a Facebook group page wouldn't hurt either <g>).
>
> We need three parts of participation here, right?
> (1) We need the information online, preferably direct from
> publishers/editors or authors/translators. Without that contribution,
> it's awfully hard for the rest of us (even folks somewhat "in the know")
> to follow.
>
> (2) We need invested "leaders" - librarians, booksellers, peace and
> tolerance activists, whatnot. I think that there will be enough (2)
> folks if you give us (1). :)
>
> And then you need (3) an interested audience. A comprehensive website
> would go far towards explaining the Batchelder's appeal to a new crop of
> folks. You might also reach out directly to peace and tolerance folks
> -- UU Churches would be one great place to start; also look for peace
> choirs and democracy clubs, and cities with strong sister city
> involvements, etc. I would ask publishers (and not just for kids books)
> who directly work with foreign titles to include a blurb about the
> Batchelder and about the website in their newsletter. (I subscribe to
> several newsletters focused on particular areas of the world, and could
> see a Batchelder announcement fitting in well there.) I think that your
> one-sheet draft is a great start... I imagine there are many akin,
> illustrated glossies that are sent to teachers and libraries? What
> about getting journalists to pick up the idea in their local papers?
> (Yes, we would, especially if we had somewhere to send folks. I think
> there are a number of full and part-time journalists on CCBC and
> childlit, for starters.)
>
> Back to websites... the ALA page linked from the draft memo is useful
> but not outreaching - I think it wouldn't pull you inwards if you
> weren't already well engaged. So perhaps a separate site, that has (a)
> information on past winners (cover, photo of author, synopsis, excerpt,
> and author/translator/editor interview if possible), (b) a section on
> running your own mock Batchelder, and (c) an area for submitting new
> FWIT listings via form would be cool. It could become quite interactive
> - might even increase the amount of info available to the committee. :)
> And you might even find a few folks who would blog periodically on
> titles they were reading throughout the year.
>
> I hope that the award does grow in visibility! It only came on my radar
> a few years back, and that was due to an invested editor who put effort
> extra effort into getting a work out to the academic community.
> (Thanks, Cheryl!)
>
> All the best to you and the committee,
> Maia
>
>
Received on Tue 24 Feb 2009 03:15:47 PM CST