COMMONALITIES IN CONTENT OF WINNERS OF

INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARDS

Diversity Challenge Resilience: School Libraries in Action - The 12th Biennial School Library Association of Queensland, the 39th International Association of School Librarianship Annual Conference,

incorporating the 14th International Forum on Research in School Librarianship,

Brisbane, QLD Australia, 27 September – 1 October 2010.

INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION

CRITERIA FOR EXAMINATION OF BOOKS

� Recipient of an international or regional award

(state, province) between 2000-2010.

� Inclusion on an international book list such as

the USBBY Outstanding International Books or the USBBY Outstanding International Books or

the White Ravens

� Books were categorized by

� Format

�Genre

ANALYSIS

� 89 award winning books were chosen for an

initial examination

� 40 books were chosen for a more in depth

analysis. All of these books were child selected analysis. All of these books were child selected

awards rather than adult selected.

WHAT WAS EXAMINED

� Type of protagonist (human, animal with human

characteristics, etc.

� Age of protagonist

� Gender of protagonist (if important to the story)� Gender of protagonist (if important to the story)

� Theme/Plot (very general)

� Philosophy or spiritual beliefs or personal

values

� Traditions or customs unique to country

AN OVERVIEW OF CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARDSAN OVERVIEW OF CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARDS

EARLY AWARDS

� US—Newbery, 1922

� UK—Carnegie, 1937

� US—Caldecott, 1938

NZ—Esther Glen Award, 1945� NZ—Esther Glen Award, 1945

� Australia—Book of the Year Awards, 1946

� Canada—Book of the Year for Children, 1947

� UK—Kate Greenaway, 1946

ADULT SELECTED VS. CHILD SELECTED AWARDS

�Most national awards are adult selected while

child selected awards tend to be state or

regional awards.

CHILD SELECTED AWARDSCHILD SELECTED AWARDS

UNITED STATES AWARDS

� Every state except for Mississippi has a state book award

� The Pacific Northwest Young Reader’s Award is the oldest, first given in 1940. Five states and 2 Canadian provinces participate in this award.Canadian provinces participate in this award.

� Kansas gave the first single state award in 1952 and Hawaii was second in 1959.

� US chapter of IRA also has a yearly Children’s Choice Reading List with 12,500 students choosing the list.

AWARDS FROM OTHER ENGLISH SPEAKING

COUNTRIES

� These awards include, but are not limited to:

�Ontario, Canada—Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Award,

1976

� Australia—KOALA (Kids Own Australian Literature � Australia—KOALA (Kids Own Australian Literature

Awards, 1981

� UK—Read House Children’s Book Award, 1981

�Queensland, Australia—BILBY (Books I Love Best

Yearly), 1990

WHAT THE AWARDS TELL US ABOUT CHILDREN WHAT THE AWARDS TELL US ABOUT CHILDREN

AND READING

GENRE

� In the initial 89 books examined

�Realistic fiction—35

� Fantasy—26

� The remain books, all with fewer than 10 � The remain books, all with fewer than 10

winners, were myth/legend/folktale, science

fiction, historical fiction, mystery, and poetry

� Over half of the books were picture books

COUNTRIES WHOSE WINNERS WERE EXAMINED

� Besides the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and

New Zealand, awards from the following

countries were examined:

� Serbia, Slovenia, Ireland, Slovakia, Nicaragua, � Serbia, Slovenia, Ireland, Slovakia, Nicaragua,

Iran, Philippines, Croatia, Kenya, Sri Lanka,

South Africa, France, Scotland, Wales

� Several international awards were also

examined.

GENERALITIES: AWARDS CHOSEN BY ADULTSGENERALITIES: AWARDS CHOSEN BY ADULTS

WHAT WON

� Books that reflect a country’s culture—

especially myth, legend, and folktale

� Books about children using their imagination

� Books that teach lessons� Books that teach lessons

� Picture books with animal characters

� Chapter books dealing with serious issues

CHILDREN’S CHOICE AWARDSCHILDREN’S CHOICE AWARDS

WHAT WAS EXAMINED

� Looked at 40 books—20 picture and 20

chapter books. These books were all from

English-speaking countries because I could not

verify the selection procedure for the other verify the selection procedure for the other

awards.

WHAT CHILDREN CHOSE—PICTURE BOOKS

�More likely to choose humorous titles

� Picture book winners generally had animal

characters with human characteristics.

�More picture book characters were male than �More picture book characters were male than

female.

� Plot and theme frequently dealt with solving

problems and handling emotions.

� Culturally neutral

WHAT CHILDREN CHOSE—CHAPTER BOOKS

� 14 books were fantasy

� 14 books were volumes from series

� 3 books—Twilight, The Lightning Thief, and Eragon

won awards from at least 2 countrieswon awards from at least 2 countries

� A number of the winners have been made into

movies

� Protagonist most likely to be male

� Parents and adults usually absent or ineffectual

CONCLUSIONSCONCLUSIONS

� There is not much overlap in child chosen and adult chosen winners.

� This overlap not only includes titles, but themes and type of book

Obviously, this initial research barely scraped the � Obviously, this initial research barely scraped the surface of the subject and much more work needs to be done:

� Awards from more countries

� Discovery of award criteria

� Number of books examined