Sydney Taylor Book Award

Here is the information that my group found on the Sydney Taylor Book Award:

Why and When?

The Sydney Taylor Award was established in 1968 by the Association of Jewish Libraries and was called the "Shirley Kravitz Children's Book Award."  However, they renamed the Award to "Sydney Taylor Book Award" in 1978, after the death of Sydney Taylor, author of "All-of-a-Kind Family" Series.

Who Receives The Award?

They Sydney Taylor Book Award recognized the best in Jewish Children's Literature.  Jewish Authorship is not necessary.

Medals are awarded annually for outstanding books that authentically portray Jewish experience.  Gold medals are presented in two categories: Older Readers and Younger Readers.  Silver medals are presented to Honor books in both categories.  

Books deemed worth of attention are considered "Notable Books" and are presented in both categories.  

Who Sponsors the Award?

The Sydney Taylor Book Award is sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries.

Selection Committee:

A panel of Judaic Children's Librarians evaluate both fiction and non-fiction.

Criteria for awarding:  Every book is evaluated in three categories-

1. Positive Jewish content and focus

2. Authentic detail and accurate research

3. Quality of writing and its ability to engage the interest of the target age group.

All of the above information was obtained from the Association of Jewish Libraries website.

Insider/Outsider Debate

Hello everyone,

I wanted to continue our discussion/debate on insider vs. outsider and who is qualified to write about different cultures.  I realize that publishers do lean towards publishing books by an outsiders perspective and I am not going to be able to change that.  However, as a future teacher, I will be able to filter the literature that I read and introduce to my students.  I will have to be educated and research each piece of literature I bring to the classroom so I know how to use the literature in the best way.  I think people will continue to argue over and over again about who is qualified to write about a culture but the bottom line is talked about in Cai (1998) saying that it is the teachers responsibility to use the literature in the most appropriate way; whether it was written in an insider or an outsiders perspective.

There is also the continuing debate over "authentic" and "culture."

There is more to culture than race yet, the only debate about an insider/outsider perspective on multicultural literature is on race.

Multiculturalism debate

I had mixed feelings about this weeks readings on defining the term multiculturalism.  First of all, I want to say that I was shocked by the reactions to Patrick Shannon's piece.  All of the reactions were very interesting to read because all of the authors wanted to defend themselves by saying that Shannon (1994) took their work out of context as well as misinterpreted and distorted their work.  I respect all four authors for trying to clarify the term multiculturalism in children's literature.

Before reading this week, I have to admit that I mostly thought of multiculturalism literature referring to different races.  However, I now believe that multiculturalism literature refers to not only race but also gender, religion, class, etc.  As a future teacher, I understand that there is not going to be a selection of books that cover all of these areas of multiculturalism so, there are going to be books that I introduce to my students to do refer to just one of the areas of multiculturalism, for example, race.  A single book can not cover all aspects of culture, which is why it is important for all teachers to be aware of the cultures addressed in children's literature and it is also very important that teachers include a variety of cultures found in the books they include in their libraries and lessons.

When I was in school, my teachers covered multicultural literature into the classroom, however, the amount covered was not as much as I would have liked to see now that I am going to be a teacher myself.  My teachers covered African American literature mostly during Black History month but that is not the only time African American literature can be read to the class and included in lessons.  I did like Sims Bishop (1994) argument saying "multicultural children's literature is the same as children's literature."  This is very true, teachers should include a variety of cultures in the children's literature books they chose to include in their lessons.  I am glad that we had to read these controversial articles on multicultural literature because they have opened my eyes and made me conscious of the literature I will include in my teachings.