CBC Invites Kids to Vote for Children's Choice Book Awards
SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 3/24/2008 10:43:00 AM
The Children’s Book Council (CBC) is inviting kids to help select their favorite book, author, and illustrator as part of the organization’s first "Children's Choice Book Awards."
The CBC, a trade association for children’s book publishers, has released a list of 25 nominees in five categories. Students can cast their ballots at a special online site through May 4, and the winners will be announced at a Children's Book Week (May 12-18) gala on May 13.
The event is a new feature of Children's Book Week, which was recent moved from November to May. The CBC also just named Jon Scieszka the inaugural National Ambassador for Young People's Literature , as part of a program sponsored by the CBC and the Library of Congress.
"The program will allow children from across the country to discover what other children like to read," says Robin Adelson, executive director of the CBC, says of the choice awards. "We believe that by empowering children to express their opinions, it will positively impact their perspective and interest in books and bring a renewed excitement to reading."
The Children's Choice Book Award finalists are:
K-12 Favorite Books Category:
Dino Dinners (Holiday House) by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom
Five Little Monkeys Go Shopping (Clarion) by Eileen Christelow
Frankie Stein (Cavendish) by Lola M. Schaefer
Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark (Cartwheel Books/Scholastic) by Ken Geist, Tucker’s Spooky Halloween (Candlewick) by Leslie McGuirk
Grades 3-4 Favorite Book
Babymouse: CampBabymouse (Random House) by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm
Big Cats (Enslow) by Elaine Landau
Monday With a Mad Genius (Random House) by Mary Pope Osborne
The Richest Poor Kid (Advance Publishing) by Carl Sommer
Wolves (Bearport) by Duncan Searl
Grades 5-6 Favorite Book
Beowulf: Monster Slayer (Lerner) by Paul D. Storrie
Encyclopedia Horrifica (Scholastic) by Joshua Gee
Ghosts (Lerner) by Stephen Krensky
The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley (Kane/Miller) by Amy Lissiat and Colin Thompson
When the Shadbush Blooms (Tricycle) by Carla Messinger with Susan Katz
2007 Author of the Year
Anthony Horowitz, Snakehead (Alex Rider Adventure) (Philomel/Penguin)
Erin Hunter, Warriors, Powers of Three: The Sight (Harper)
Jeff Kinney, Diary of Wimpy Kid (Abrams)
Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan’s Curse (Disney)
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Scholastic)
2007 Illustrator of the Year
Jan Brett, Three Snow Bears (Putnam/Penguin)
Ian Falconer, Olivia Helps with Christmas (S&S)
Robin Preiss Glasser, Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy (Harper)
Brian Selznick, The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Scholastic)
Mo Willems, Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity (Disney)
The finalists were chosen by the International Reading Association-CBC Children’s Choices program. Publishers submit titles to be evaluated and voted on by 10,000 children. The author and illustrator of the year finalists were selected from a review of bestseller lists by the CBC and CBC Foundation.
