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Multicultural Book Awards
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From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu>
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:28:57 -0600
As part of our CCBC-Net discussion for the first part of March, we not only wanted to talk about the 2010 award winners for the Coretta Scott King, Pura Belpre, and American Indian Library Association youth literature awards, but we wanted to discuss the value that these and other multicultural literature book awards offer librarians, teachers, parents, and others.
I am so glad to be able to turn to the body of work recognized by awards such as these when I am looking for books that reflect accurate, authentic cultural experiences in literature for children and teens. They are one of my starting points when I am responding to a request for books by or about a particular culture or group, and such a great resource to be able to direct university students and others looking for multicultural literature resources.
But beyond that, they are a great resource when I am looking for books on any subject, as a way to incorporate engaging, reliable multicultural literature into myriad topics, subjects, and themes. I can turn to other sources, and other award and best-of-the-year lists, and find multicultural titles among them, but I don't always know if and how carefully those books have been assessed when it comes to cultural accuracy and authenticity, as much as I'd like to think it's a responsibility every award or best-of committee takes seriously. And of course opinions about any book will differ even among those making an informed evaluation, so I appreciate the knowledgeable consensus of opinion multicultural literature award books represent. So if I want to recommend multicultural titles with which I'm not familiar with confidence, I turn first to multicultural literature award books. Then I turn to other resources that focus on evaluating multicultural literature.
These awards offer an invaluable and essential perspectives on literature for children and teenagers. They heighten the visibility of multicultural literature, too, in ways that I hope make a difference to sales, and to the long-term commitment of publishers to continue to publish new multicultural books and seek out new talent so the body of work reflecting our rich diversity as a nation (and world) continues to grow.
Megan
-- Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 600 N. Park Street, Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
608/262-9503 schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
Received on Thu 11 Mar 2010 12:28:57 PM CST
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:28:57 -0600
As part of our CCBC-Net discussion for the first part of March, we not only wanted to talk about the 2010 award winners for the Coretta Scott King, Pura Belpre, and American Indian Library Association youth literature awards, but we wanted to discuss the value that these and other multicultural literature book awards offer librarians, teachers, parents, and others.
I am so glad to be able to turn to the body of work recognized by awards such as these when I am looking for books that reflect accurate, authentic cultural experiences in literature for children and teens. They are one of my starting points when I am responding to a request for books by or about a particular culture or group, and such a great resource to be able to direct university students and others looking for multicultural literature resources.
But beyond that, they are a great resource when I am looking for books on any subject, as a way to incorporate engaging, reliable multicultural literature into myriad topics, subjects, and themes. I can turn to other sources, and other award and best-of-the-year lists, and find multicultural titles among them, but I don't always know if and how carefully those books have been assessed when it comes to cultural accuracy and authenticity, as much as I'd like to think it's a responsibility every award or best-of committee takes seriously. And of course opinions about any book will differ even among those making an informed evaluation, so I appreciate the knowledgeable consensus of opinion multicultural literature award books represent. So if I want to recommend multicultural titles with which I'm not familiar with confidence, I turn first to multicultural literature award books. Then I turn to other resources that focus on evaluating multicultural literature.
These awards offer an invaluable and essential perspectives on literature for children and teenagers. They heighten the visibility of multicultural literature, too, in ways that I hope make a difference to sales, and to the long-term commitment of publishers to continue to publish new multicultural books and seek out new talent so the body of work reflecting our rich diversity as a nation (and world) continues to grow.
Megan
-- Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 600 N. Park Street, Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
608/262-9503 schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
Received on Thu 11 Mar 2010 12:28:57 PM CST
