Book Awards

I thought that the conversation about the different book awards was very interesting. The majority of awards that we covered I had ot heard of before. I liked the way that each group focused on one award, and then shared the main points with the class. I found this to be useful and more managable than fully researching six different awards! I also liked that there were books from the collection that we are redaing for class that have recieved the awards we researched. It was nice to be able to associate a familiar title with the various awards.

In terms of how the awards are given, I think that they should be given for particular types of literature. I also think that everyone who writes a particular type of literature should be considered for the awards. I think it is important to view all authors equally. In my opinion insiders and outsiders should both be considered. Just becasue an author may be writing from an outsider perspective does not mean that they are unable to create quality work.

I also found it interesting that many of the award winning books that we picked up from the library did not have the award symbol on the front cover. In the case of the Schneider Family book award, the reason for this was because the award was so new, and the books were printed before the award was created. I know that it would be impossible to keep up with all of the new awards, but it would be nice to know that the book you check out was a winner of a book award!

final project

For the final project I want to focus on disabilities. I am a special education major so I am very interested in reading/finding books that incorporate characters with various disabilities. I am hoping to narrow my focus even further to find books about autism. I am not sure if this will work becasue I don't know if there is enough material on this topic, but I sure hope there is! If anyone wants to collaborate on the topic of disabilities in general, or more specifically on autism, that would be awesome. Also, even if you are not focusing on disabilities, but know of any good books that may be useful, I would really appreciate you sharing the titles with me! Good luck to everyone on your search for great books!

schneider family book award

There is not an official website for the Schneider Family Book Award, but there are other resources that provide information about the award; such as www.ala.org/ala/awardsbuket/schneideraward/schneidercriteria.htm and www.ala.org/ala/awardsbuket/schneideraward/schneiderawardmanual.doc . The second link is a manual. It answers questions about the history of the award, discusses the responsibilities of the members of the committee, and provides insight to their ideas about what to look for in a good book.

The Schneider Family Book Award is a newer award and has only been given out since 2004. It was started by Dr. Catherine Schneider, who has been blind since birth. She wanted to sponsor an award that would show that the disability is a part of the character’s life, not the focus of their life.

The Schneider Family Book Award honors an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child or adolescent audiences. Three annual awards are given in birth through grade school (age 0-8), middle school (age 9-13), and teens (age 14-18). The disabilities can be physical, mental, or emotional. The most important piece of criteria of the award is that it is not aimed to have the audience sympathize with the characters. Instead, it is aimed to portray their perspectives and everyday life experiences.

Some books that have received this award are: Dad, Jackie, and Me, written by Myron Uhlberg and illustrated by Colin Bootman and Looking Out for Sarah, by Glenna Lang. You can look up past award winners at www.ala.org/ala/awardsbuket/schneideraward/schneiderawardrecipients.htm

using a blog

When I first heard that we were going to be using blogs in TE 448, I was a bit nervous. I have never blogged before, and the thought of starting to use a blog did not thrill me. It seems like I just finally got used to posting things on angel, and now a new and unfamiliar form of sharing my thoughts was thrown into the mix. After I created my blog site, however, I realized that the whole idea of blogging is not really that big of a deal. I am not saying that I like it, but I can see that it is useful for communicating ideas from and about class with my peers. On occasion I will click onto a couple of different peoples blogs to see what they think about a particular topic, but I have not yet posted a blog in response to someone else's posting. Although i am still a bit skeptical about blogging, I am trying to give it a fair chance. For the purpose of this class I think it can help open your mind to other opinions. It is a good tool to help see what other people besides yourself are thinking about the different topics we cover. Overall, I think blogs are useful for TE 448, but I will probably steer clear of them after this class.