In my dive into the publishing industry, I wanted to take a quick sidestep to focus on children’s literature awards—namely, what are some of the recognitions out there for children’s literature? What are some awards or book lists that involve the reading demographic, children, in their voting?
My older nephew participates in a school club called the “Battle of the Books.” Through this, he is part of a team on his school that competes against other schools in his district in a Jeopardy-style book competition. The students all read a list of books, then compete in teams to answer trivia and analysis questions. The year I went to see him compete, they had all read the nominees for that year’s Red Cedar Book award. A link to the school district’s page talking about the competition is below:
The Red Cedar Book Award (The Award), brought to you by British Columbia’s Young Readers’ Choice Awards Society (YRCABC), aims to encourage students in grades 4-7 to read more, to create an awareness of Canadian books and authors, and to develop a reader’s ability to judge published works. The Award adheres to two core principles – being child-centered and promoting Canadian books written for kids. The Award also values and supports Intellectual Freedom, Literacy, Diversity, Inclusiveness, Integrity, Community, and Sustainability.
From: www.redcedaraward.ca
At the end of the competition, the participants in the Battle of the Books voted on which book the district would cast a vote for in the award. I thought this was such a unique and fun way to get students engaged in reading, exploring new Canadian literature, and practicing their analysis and comprehension abilities. Seeing this made me wonder what other community-centred book lists were out there. A similar program is the Forest of Reading, as introduced in the video below:
Over the past few years, I have developed a love for Canadian literature as a genre. I think it is so interesting seeing the explorations of contemporary Canadian identity through writing—maybe part to one of my favourite undergrad courses, “Contemporary Canadian Fiction.”
I find these community-centred book lists and awards, like those in the Forest of Reading and the Red Cedar Award, to be really fun ways to get students engaged in their own backyard and see what’s being written in the spaces around them. In addition, many of these texts explore the history of the land we now know as Canada and its history—exploring themes of Indigeneity, belonging, and the historic (and current) injustices faced by many peoples. Making the reading even more meaningful by connecting to the land and communities we see every day. Promoting literature that explores these topics in engaging and meaningful ways is such an important endeavour. Book lists and awards like these provide educators, such as myself in the future, with a snapshot of what is being written in the here and now. Perhaps even giving inspiration into (possibly cross-curricular) novel study topics.
While not directly about publishing, I wanted to spend this inquiry post exploring a little bit about the “why” of publishing and the “after” process of a book’s reception. To continue on the theme of Canadian literature, my next inquiry posts will dive specifically into the Canadian publishers: what are the resources in our backyard?
Until next time, I’ll be meandering through the forest that is the Forest of Reading lists to get inspiration for my own future classroom library!
