Press Release Fun: The Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards

Non-fiction fans rejoice.  I got your Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards hook-up.  From the CCBC (links are my own):

All are invited to attend the presentations of the 55th Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards
Friday, October 17, 2008 at 2:30 PM
New York City
777 United Nations Plaza (2nd Floor) on the corner of 44th St. and 1st Ave.

This annual event offers a memorable afternoon of presentations, responses by honorees or their representatives and opportunities to meet and talk with each honored guest.  This year, Award winners Emily Arnold Mc Cully and Larry Dane Brimner and honorees Mitali Perkins, Jamie Hogan and Lita Judge will be joining us.  A reception and book signing will follow the presentations; all honored books will be available for purchase.

The Escape of Oney Judge:  Martha Washington’s Slave Finds Freedom, written and illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully and published by Farrar Straus Giroux is the winner in the Books for Younger Children Category.

We Are One: The Story of Bayard Rustin by Larry Dane Brimner, published by Calkins Creek, an imprint of Boyds Mills Press, Inc., is the winner in the Books for Older Children Category. 

Honor books include, in the Books for Younger Children Category, One Thousand Tracings:  Healing the Wounds of World War II, written and illustrated by Lita Judge, published by Hyperion Books for Children. 

Three books have won honors in the Books for Older Children category:  Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis, published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc., Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Perkins, with illustrations by Jamie Hogan and published by Charlesbridge, Birmingham, 1963 by Carole Boston Weatherford is published by Wordsong, an imprint of Boyds Mills Press, Inc.

Plan now to join everyone who will offer their congratulations on October 17th to the authors, artists, editors and publishers of the fine books being honored this year.  Many within the children’s book community are already planning to attend, as are members of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Reservations are not needed. Please come and enjoy!

Since 1953, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award annually acknowledges books published in the U.S. during the previous year. Books commended by the Award address themes or topics that engage children in thinking about peace, justice, world community, and/or equality of the sexes and all races. The books also must meet conventional standards of literary and artistic excellence.

A national committee chooses winners and honor books for older and younger children.  Members of the 2008 Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards Committee are Susan C. Griffith, Chair (Mt. Pleasant, Michigan), Barbara Bair (Washington, D. C.), Ann Bower (Harwich, Massachusetts), Sonja Cherry-Paul (Yonkers, New York), Eliza T. Dresang (Tallahassee, Florida), Oralia Garza de Cortes (Pasadena, California), MJ Grande (Juneau, Alaska), Daisy Gutierrez (Houston, Texas), Margaret Jensen (Madison, Wisconsin), Jo Montie (Minneapolis, Minnesota), Sarah Park (Long Beach, California), Pat Wiser (Sewanee,Tennessee) and Junko Yokota (Skokie, Illinois). Regional reading and discussion groups participated with many of the committee members throughout the jury’s evaluation and selection process.

For additional information about the Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards and a complete list of books honored since 1953, see www.janeaddamspeace.org   The Jane Addams Peace Association houses the UN office of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. For information about JAPA and the book awards, visit www.janeaddamspeace.org.  For information about WILPF, visit www.wilpf.int.ch/. For more information about the Award event, contact JAPA Executive Director Linda B. Belle, 777 United Nations Plaza, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10017-3521; 212-682-8830; japa@igc.org.

Susan Griffith, Chair, Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Committee

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