The purpose of this Sydney Taylor Award is to encourage the publication of outstanding books of Jewish content for children. It spotlights books that are of the highest literary standards and includes authentic content of Judaism.
This award was created in 1968 under a different name, The Shirley Kavitz Children's Book Award. It was renamed the Sydney Taylor Award in 1978.
The style of the award has changed over the years. It originally awarded only one book per year. In 1981 they started recognizing two books per year, one picture book and one novel. There is a committee that carefully evaluates the books and selects a winner.
The criteria for the award includes:
Literary and artistic merit,
positive Jewish content and focus,
age appropriateness in terms of style, vocabulary, content, format, and illustration,
and accuracy.
2006 winners:
Younger reader: Hanukkah at Valley Forge by Steven Krensky illustrated by Greg Harlin
Teen winner: Julia's Kitchen by Brenda Ferber
Some honor award winners 2006 (young reader):
I Am Marc Chagall by Bimba Landmann
Rebecca's Journey Home by Brynn Olenberg Sugarman
When we went to the library to check out some of the Sydney Taylor Award books, there were not very many available. We found one younger read book and two juvenile fiction book (teen reader). One of the two teen reader books was checked out which made us happy! :) Unfortunately we didn't find the majority of the books listed on the website that won this award.
When looking up the Sydney Taylor Award on the internet we found no "official website" but there was information about it on the "Association of Jewish Libraries" website. When you go to this website you will find a long list of books that have either been awarded or honored in regards to this award.
please check out www.jewishlibraries.org for more info!
Monday, October 15, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Insider/Outsider Debate
This week we had an interesting discussion about how important it is to have Native American people writing stories and children's literature, not just people who think they know about Native Americans. When I first think about the insider/outsider debate, i immediately think that only insiders should be writing about the ethnic group that they belong to. i feel this way because then they will be giving the reader a true understanding about what it is like to be a part of that group instead of just what it seems like to be a part of that group.
It is hard to say whether a person who isn't in a specific culture should be writing about that culture. I feel like this might lead to stereotypes coming out because the person who is writing about it hasn't experienced what a person from that cutlure has experienced. I feel like the reader will get a better understanding and a truer feeling about a culture if the person who wrote it has really experienced what they are writing about.
I would never try to write a story about something that i have never experineced. I would feel fake and i would be nervous about portraying something that i have never experineced and don't know if it really is like what i am saying.
I would like to know what other people feel about this subject and i am interested to hear about this in class.
Dana
It is hard to say whether a person who isn't in a specific culture should be writing about that culture. I feel like this might lead to stereotypes coming out because the person who is writing about it hasn't experienced what a person from that cutlure has experienced. I feel like the reader will get a better understanding and a truer feeling about a culture if the person who wrote it has really experienced what they are writing about.
I would never try to write a story about something that i have never experineced. I would feel fake and i would be nervous about portraying something that i have never experineced and don't know if it really is like what i am saying.
I would like to know what other people feel about this subject and i am interested to hear about this in class.
Dana
Sunday, September 16, 2007
First Post
Hi!
My name is Dana Greaves and I'm a senior in Elementary Education at MSU. My specialization is in Language Arts and I'm really interested in literacy.
I am excited about this class because I took TE 348 and i loved the class. I find that except over the summer, i don't have a lot of time to read books for pleasure and when i take youth lit. classes is allows me to find interesting books and discuss them and i actually enjoy and look forward to reading the books in class.
I don't have a lot of experience with diverse literature and that was one main reason why i wanted to take this class. I think that i will learn a lot about what good diverse literature is and why it is so important to have diverse literature in your classroom.
I'm really excited about this class and to learn as much as i can about diversity in youth literature!
-dana
My name is Dana Greaves and I'm a senior in Elementary Education at MSU. My specialization is in Language Arts and I'm really interested in literacy.
I am excited about this class because I took TE 348 and i loved the class. I find that except over the summer, i don't have a lot of time to read books for pleasure and when i take youth lit. classes is allows me to find interesting books and discuss them and i actually enjoy and look forward to reading the books in class.
I don't have a lot of experience with diverse literature and that was one main reason why i wanted to take this class. I think that i will learn a lot about what good diverse literature is and why it is so important to have diverse literature in your classroom.
I'm really excited about this class and to learn as much as i can about diversity in youth literature!
-dana
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