Cook Prize winner Deborah Heiligman

Inspiration was the unofficial theme of Bank Street College of Education’s annual book awards ceremony on May 22 at New York City’s Bank Street School for Children. Several of the honorees for the 42nd annual Irma S. Black Award for excellence in children’s literature and the third annual Cook Prize for excellence in presenting STEM principles shared their sources of inspiration for writing. During her acceptance of the Cook Prize for her book The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos (Macmillan, 2013), Deborah Heiligman related the story of how her son Aaron Heiligman Weiner was “The Boy Who Loved Math." Through her son’s fascination with math, she initially became aware of the mathematician Paul Erdos and discovered he would be be a fun topic for a book. Watch Heiligman's speech here:

Sarah Levine, who received Cook Honor for Bone by Bone: Comparing Animal Skeletons

Sara Levine, who received a Cook Honor for her book Bone by Bone: Comparing Animal Skeletons (Lerner, 2013), told the audience of her time as a veterinary student and having to carry a large box of animal bones on the Boston T train. During that trip, she actually opened the box and explained the bones to other passengers on the train. That trip became the nucleus for her story. Black Award honoree, Bill Lepp, explained that the inspiration for The King of Little Things (Peachtree, 2013) came from playing with his son who exclaimed that he was “The King of Big Things.” Lepp then asked, “Well, who am I?”   His son responded, “The King of Little Things”. Hence, a book idea was born. The keynote speakers of the day, Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett, who are co-authors of Battle Bunny (S. & S., 2013), took a break from their stand up comedy routine to explain the back story for their subversive, illustrated work. Scieszka and Barnett displayed numerous examples of art and books that have been defaced by both children and adults, producing hilarious results. The two then explained that they created Battle Bunny by first producing a gentle early reader called Birthday Bunny, about a rabbit whose friends appear to have forgotten his birthday but who surprise him at the end with a party, a book that appears to have been gifted to a fictional child named Alex. The authors then described how, through pencil cross-outs and additions, they had Alex deface the sappy Birthday Bunny book, turning it into a funny and immensely entertaining story of a bunny with violent plans to dominate the forest. The duo later returned to comedic form as they both accepted the Irma Black Award for Mo Willems. Willems is spending the year in Paris and was not able to accept the award for his book That Is Not a Good Idea (HarperCollins, 2013). Watch Scieszka and Barnett accept the Irma Black Award for Mo Willems: The Irma Black Award, an annual children’s choice award, invites first- and second-graders from schools and libraries around the world to vote for one of four picture books that best uses words and illustrations to tell a story. More than 7,500 students from as far away as Sicily and Pakistan participated in this year’s event. Third- and fourth-grade students at the Bank Street School for Children, which is affiliated with the Bank Street College of Education, nominated four titles as part of a picture book evaluation curriculum that asked students to critically examine the art and words in picture books to determine whether they were relevant to younger children.

Keynote speakers Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett

“The kids gain so much,” Allie Jane Bruce, children’s librarian at Bank Street told SLJ. “They become book critics who know how to judge whether the words and pictures are working together to achieve something that neither can on their own.” In the book selection process, the students have a critical discussion about a book and through the process they learn to respectfully disagree with each other. Bruce says she feels that the most important thing is that “they come out of the experience with a strong love of story and respect for picture books as an incredible art form. “ Administered by the Bank Street College of Education with support from SLJ, the Cook Prize is named after Bank Street educators Don Cook of the Graduate School of Education, and Michael Cook (no relation) of The Bank Street School for Children. The winner is selected in a manner similar to that of the Irma Black award, with third and fourth grade teachers and librarians reading the books aloud, and discussing and encouraging students to vote for their favorite STEM book out of four finalists. Full list of this year’s winner and honorees can be found here.