The ALA/ALSC recently announced their Youth Media Awards, resulting in much excitement.
The teacher librarians at a Minnesota private school with three campuses help their students look for excellence in children’s books by holding their own award process each year. Called The BEARdecotts, after their school mascot, the educators select books for a short list that they then share with their students over several months, reading aloud, reading individually, making critical analyses, and finally voting on the most worthy books.
Many of the choices this year reflect a theme of anxiety, an emotion that is prevalent among young students everywhere.
The books in this year’s short list are listed below, in no particular order.
The winners at the two elementary schools are:
Potato Pants! by Laurie Keller and Drawn Together by Minh Le and Dan Santat
Is this a literacy experience you’d like to replicate in your school?
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Patchwork Bike
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Sea Creatures from the Sky
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Shaking Things Up: |
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Imagine Read Bookology’s recommendation for this book. |
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Wall in the Middle of the Book
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Julián is a Mermaid
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A Big Mooncake for Little Star |
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Potato Pants! The top choice by students at one of the two elementary schools, winner of the 2019 Beardecott. |
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Me and My Fear |
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Drawn Together The top choice by students at one of the two elementary schools, winner of the 2019 Beardecott. |
Lovely choices! Hooray for teaching readers to evaluate and appreciate picture books:)