Jamestown News Library Column

               October 8 , 2008

               by Carol Reed

              It’s time to begin reading this year’s nominations for the North Carolina Children’s Book Award! Each year, children in schools and public libraries have the opportunity to nominate new books for this award. Then during March, they get to vote for their favorite. The book which gets the most votes is the winner. The authors/illustrator are honored and presented with the awards at an annual conference of media specialists and librarians in October in Winston-Salem.

              The children take this election very seriously. They have the chance to express their opinions during the book discussions, but do not try to influence their classmates during the actual voting. We tell them that voting is private. They make up their own minds. This is the only award where the children decide the winners. Adults choose the winners of the Newbery, Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Printz and many other children’s book awards. In this contest, the children decide.

              There are two levels in this competition: a junior book category for grades three through six; and a picture book category for Kindergartners through third grade. Jamestown Public Library recently purchased most of these nominated books.

              One of my favorites in the junior books is Gary Paulsen’s Lawn Boy. Here we have a twelve-year-old who just wants to earn enough money to purchase a new tire for his bike. When his daffy grandmother gives him a used riding mower for his birthday, the story really gets going. Since his front yard is mostly dirt, he asks a neighbor for a job. That begins the snowball effect. Soon the whole town wants this one boy to mow their lawns. He hires more and more people to help, including a recluse who dabbles in the stock market. Luckily the stocks all go up until this child has more money than he knows what to do with. How should he break this news to his parents? What does he do with a heavy weight boxer bought by the accountant? And what can he do about the bullies who want this turf for their own? This is Paulsen at his lightest and most fun.

              Another of the nominees is Soft Rain: A Story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears, by Cornelia Cornelissen. She writes, from a young girl’s point of view, about the Real People’s life before and during the forced march from North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee, in 1835. Soft Rain repeats the stories that her grandmother tells, and worries about her grandmother who was left behind, too old to make the trip. She explains how different the food and the clothing are, and how they have to walk barefoot after their moccasins wear out. Soft Rain, her mother, aunt and cousin are taken to the stockade first, separated from the rest of the family. Long after her cousin dies from the white man’s sickness, Soft Rain finally finds her father, little brother and uncle. The story ends hopefully, after they arrive at their new Reservation in Oklahoma.

              Rules, by Cynthia Lord, combines Disabilities Month with Junior Book Awards. All Catherine wants is a normal life, which is impossible when your family revolves around your autistic brother’s needs. She has spent years trying to teach her brother some simple rules, like “a peach is not a fuzzy apple” and “keep your pants on in public.”  This funny coming-of-age story will satisfy boys and girls in upper elementary school.

              Many more award nominee books are waiting to be read. Come see us soon, on the corner and up the hill, at the library!