JANE ADDAMS CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARDS ANNOUNCED
APRIL 27, 2013…
Recipients of the 2013 Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards were announced today
by the Jane Addams Peace Association.
Each Kindness, written by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by E.B.
Lewis and published by Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin, is the
winner in the Books for Younger Children Category. We’ve Got a Job: The 1963
Birmingham Children’s March, written by Cynthia Levinson and published
by Peachtree Publishers, is the winner in the Books for Older Children
category.
Each Kindness Small actions, or the lack of them, can be haunting
as is the case for Maya and for Chloe in their rural elementary school. This
open-ended, profound tale created in free verse and sober watercolors glimpses
interactions between Chloe and Maya, the new girl arriving midyear in broken
sandals, before the teacher invites students to ponder their kindnesses.
We’ve Got a Job In 1963, four thousand young African American
students, from elementary through high school, voluntarily went to jail in one
of the most racially violent cities in America. Focusing on four of these
students, this photo essay recounts the riveting events throughout the
Children’s March.
Two books were named Honor
Books in the Books for Younger Children category.
Dolores Huerta: A Hero to Migrant
Workers, written by
Sarah Warren and illustrated by Robert Casilla, published by Marshall Cavendish
Children, has been named an Honor Book for Younger Children. In California in
the 1950s, teacher Dolores Huerta was concerned for her students. Learning the
conditions of the migrant families, Dolores became a determined activist who
fought for labor rights through her words and actions.
We March, written and illustrated by Shane W. Evans, and
published by Roaring Brook Press, a Neal Porter imprint of Macmillan, has been
named an Honor Book for Younger Children. Simple and powerful illustrations
capture the excitement and hope for even the youngest reader of the 1963 March
on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The colorful crowd of 250,000 demonstrates
their strength and unity in marching to Martin Luther King’s historical speech
for racial equality.
Marching to the Mountaintop: How
Poverty, Labor Fights and Civil Rights Set the Stage for Martin Luther King
Jr’s Final Hours, written by Ann
Bausum and published by National Geographic, is named an Honor Book for Older
Children. A long sanitation worker strike began in 1968 following the deaths of
two sanitation workers on the job sanitation workers in Tennessee. The strike
became part of the larger civil rights movement and brought Martin Luther King,
Jr. to Nashville to support the workers in their fight for for integration,
safety, better pay and union protection.
Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved
Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World by Sy
Montgomery, published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, is named an Honor
Book for Older Children. This biography
with much first person input from Ms. Grandin herself explains how her autistic
mind works, how her peers and family perceive her, and her relentless efforts
as an activist.
A national committee chooses winners and honor books
for younger and older children. Members of the 2012 Jane Addams Children’s Book
Award Committee are Marianne Baker (Chair, Barboursville, VA), Ann Carpenter (Harwich,
MA), Julie Olsen Edwards (Soquel, CA), Lauren Mayer (Seattle, WA), Beth McGowan
(DeKalb, IL), Sonja Cherry-Paul (Yonkers, NY), Tracy Randolph (Sewanee, TN),
Lani Gerson (Watertown, MA), Susan Freiss (Madison, WI), and Jacqui Kolar
(Chicago, IL). Regional reading and discussion groups of all ages participated
with many of the committee members throughout the jury’s evaluation and
selection process.
The authors and illustrators of the
2013 Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards will be honored on Friday, October 18, 2013 in New York City. Details about the award event and
about securing winner and honor book seals are available from the Jane Addams
Peace Association (JAPA.) Contact JAPA Executive Director Linda B. Belle,
777 United Nations Plaza, 6th Floor, NY, NY 10017-3521; by phone
212.682.8830; and by email japa@igc.org.
For
additional information about the Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards and a
complete list of books honored since 1953, see www.janeaddamspeace.org.