If You Only Knew
Ellen Fader -- School Library Journal, 8/1/1999
How can you get on the Newbery or Caldecott committee? A book-awards insider shares her secrets.
Ellen Fader (ellenf@nethost.multnomah.lib.or.us), the 1998 chair of the Newbery Award committee, is youth services coordinator at Multnomah County Library in Portland, OR.
Is it necessary to be a library superstar in order to get picked for the Newbery or Caldecott Award committee? What's the likelihood of an "ordinary," rank-and-file librarian finding herself behind the scenes, casting a ballot for the nation's best children's books? New librarians (and not-so-new ones) often wonder.
Librarians also often wonder what to make of the occasional grumbling they hear. Is it true, for instance, that some colleagues continually volunteer for the awards committees, but never get tapped? (Yes.) Or that the same old faces are selected year after year? (See below.) Or that a librarian has to, um, "know" a past or present committee member ? (It does help.)But don't despair. While there is no guarantee that you'll eventually wind up on one of these committees, the truth is there are a number of steps you can take to increase the odds.
First Things First
The first step toward landing on one of these committees is to join the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). Why? Because everybody who serves on the Newbery and Caldecott committees must be an ALSC member. (For membership information, see ALSC's Web site at www.ala.org/alsc/howtojoin.html; e-mail alsc@ala.org; or call 800-545-2433, ext. 2163.)
Here's how the committee selection process works. The Newbery and Caldecott committees each consist of 15 members. Eight of the 15 (including the committee chair) are elected by ALSC's members; the remaining seven are appointed by ALSC's president. (See "How to Get on the Ballot.") In the early 1990s, ALSC's board of directors passed a rule prohibiting members from serving on an awards committee more than once every five years -- so much for the same-faces-year-after-year theory. (The one exception is the committee chair, who, if elected, may serve more frequently.)
Trade Secrets
Here are some tips that will help you become a committee member:
Read widely and develop a solid background in children's literature. The more you know about children's books (both the stories and the art), the easier it will be for you to recognize the most distinguished ones.
Broaden your knowledge. Visit museums and art galleries. Look closely at works of art and learn about the techniques that were used to create them. Read Art and Design in Children's Picture Books: An Analysis of Caldecott Award-Winning Illustrations (ALA, 1986); it's an essential resource. And learn more about how to evaluate books by poring over Evaluating Children's Books: A Critical Look, edited by Betsy Hearne and Roger Sutton (University of Illinois, 1993).
Write annotations and reviews of books that your library or school district is considering purchasing or has recently acquired. This develops your skill in writing concisely.
Write reviews for professional journals. Both School Library Journal and Voice of Youth Advocates use volunteer reviewers. (Contact each journal for guidelines about how to become a reviewer. For SLJ, see www.slj.com/about/reviewerinfo.asp or phone 212-463-6759; to contact VOYA, see www.scarecrowpress.com/voyasubmit.html or phone 301-459-3366, ext. 5700.) ALSC members will get to recognize your byline and be more likely to vote for you when they see your name on an ALSC ballot. For practical advice on how to make your reviews shine, read Kathleen T. Horning's From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children's Books (HarperCollins, 1997). If your review gets rejected, read the published reviews more carefully to see what you're doing wrong. Don't give up.
Write articles about books for your local newspaper or a magazine. Getting articles published adds valuable accomplishments to your rA"sumA", and it demonstrates that you can meet deadlines and write coherently.
Serve on your library or school's book-selection committee. Getting practice in understanding what makes a book appropriate for different clientele and collections is good practice in recognizing excellence.
Join an online discussion group on children's books. Learning how to express yourself in writing by exchanging opinions with others online is a practical way to get ready for serving on the Newbery or Caldecott committee. Start with the Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) online discussion group, an electronic forum that encourages "awareness and discussion of issues essential to literature for children and young adults." (See www.soemadison.wisc.edu/ccbc for information on CCBC and book-related links.)
Join an adult discussion group about children's books. These groups give their members opportunities to practice the extremely important skills of making your point by using cogent examples from the text or illustrations; considering others' viewpoints; and understanding that not everyone sees a book the same way you do.
Participate in a book-discussion group with young adults. Develop your understanding of how adolescents read and comprehend the books they are reading. While neither the Newbery or the Caldecott Award fall into the category of "children's choice," interacting with young people about what they like, what they don't like, and why, goes a long way in developing your own particular point of view.
Take part in a mock Newbery or Caldecott Award committee. Concentrate on the books under consideration only in relation to the predetermined award criteria for either the Newbery or Caldecott Medal. Leave behind your usual, day-to-day concerns such as: Can I read this to toddlers and preschoolers? Will these pictures be easy to see for the 35 children who come to story hour? Will this novel work when read aloud to a class of fourth graders? Think solely about the excellence of the book compared to the other top-notch works published within the same year.
Serve on state or regional book awards committees. The people who will be evaluating your suitability to serve on an awards committees will see that you have experience applying awards criteria to books.
Attend children's literature conferences. Many universities and some public libraries and library associations sponsor a children's literature conference each year. You will get to hear authors and illustrators speak, and gain insight into the creative process. Sometimes editors also lecture, which may help you expand your knowledge of current publishing trends. And conferences occasionally send out advance reading lists for discussion groups, giving you yet another opportunity to fine-tune your book-discussion skills.
Observe book-evaluation committees firsthand. At ALA conferences, for example, watch the Notable Children's Books Committee in action. Unlike the closed meetings of the Newbery and Caldecott committees, which operate in secrecy, the Notables meetings are set up so that observers can listen to children's literature experts debate and argue the merits of the year's best books.
Join other ALSC committees. Fill out an ALSC committee volunteer form, which requires you to explain why you should serve on a committee. Get to know some ALSC members. Hone your group-participation skills. When you are ready for more responsibility, let ALSC leaders know that you are willing to chair a committee. Willingness to serve on some of the lower-profile committees demonstrates your commitment to ALSC and to children.
The Phone Is Ringing
Finally, the day may come when someone from the nominating committee will call and ask if you'll allow your name to be placed on the ballot for a book-award committee. Or the ALSC office may send you a letter on behalf of ALSC's president, asking you to serve.
Congratulations! You are just the person the Newbery or Caldecott committee is looking for. You can look forward to an exhilarating and busy year. Empty some bookshelves to hold the mounds of new books you will soon be reading. Practice explaining that all eligible books are under consideration and no, you cannot reveal what the committee is discussing. And last but not least, be ready to explain to someone who wants to serve on an awards committee exactly how you got started.
HOW TO GET ON THE BALLOT |
| You, or others who know your qualifications, such as your colleagues, a supervisor, or even a university professor, may contact any of the members of the ALSC Nominating Committee and ask to have your name placed on the Newbery or Caldecott ballot. (To contact the nominating committee, see www.ala.org/alsc/roster/nominate.html.) Elections are held in the spring to elect seven committee members and a chair of each committee.
In the fall, the remaining seven members of each committee are appointed by ALSC's president. (To get in touch with the president, visit www.ala.org/alsc/roster/execcomm.html.) Division members can write or e-mail the president to put their names forward, explaining why they consider themselves to be a strong candidate. |
