A/N: I have had a rewarding time volunteering at a school library. The librarian there is an absolutely lovely lady who built the library from the ground up, from a hodge-podge collection of donated books to the carefully and lovingly curated collections it holds today. She has the wisdom of years of working with children and teenagers in a library setting, so I thought it would really help me develop professionally by asking her for some insight on the topic of book awards and whether they are relevant for children’s librarianship.

Snail Archer

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I conducted a semi-structured interview with a school librarian who shall remain anonymous. She works with students from kindergarten to year 10 (in Australia, so ages 6 to 16 for any international readers). I asked her some questions about book awards. The following is a rough transcript of her replies. Please read and be enlightened.

What are Book Awards?

For a book to win an award, there are various panels in Australia and around the world. Panels are made up of people in the industry, often publishers, writers, and book reviewers – generally people invested in child and youth literature. Most of them begin with a long list. I’m not sure how they get to there. The panel reads them, confers, then cuts to a short list. From there, depending on the award, there are various levels of awards. For example, one winner within each category, highly commended, and so on. Book awards help book buyers and librarians in particular to have trust in a book, that’s its worth buying and will be a good book. Often in children’s book awards, you see the same authors coming up year after year. This is understandable if they’re established and respected authors in their niche or age group. But I think it’s good that to counter this, there is also a debit author/illustrator category award which allows for first timers to be seen and grow.

What kind of Book Awards to you pay attention to? Which ones are useful and in what ways?

The children’s book council awards are Australian, relevant to picture books and early childhood, primary and young adult, so relevant to categories I’m dealing with. Internationally there’s the IBBY award (International Board on Books for Young People). They have an Australian branch, are non-profit and a charity, from 1966. If I read or see one that’s been on there, it will pique my interest, but I mainly use the book council.

How do you use Book Awards?

When the long list comes out, start with that, because the short list only has six for each category. I have a look and think of ‘can I use that here or not?’ or ‘do I already have it?’. If I already have it, I’m pleased to see that. The books are usually published a year before the awards, so I’m pleased to already have them. Any that haven’t already been bought, I usually go and buy, especially for primary and high school. It is good they have category for nonfiction, as they give good reviews there and I can find the latest books on nonfiction subjects.

Any negatives about book awards? Any ways they can be improved?

Only a personal thing that the recommended age range when you get into high school are too young for the content. Sure, everyone’s got their own levels and I’m on the conservative end. I’ve had students say that. But publishers’ recommendations on the back of the book or the blurb or having a review from a young child will have you believe it’s for younger than you would give it to.

(^You can see in the bottom left corner the age recommendation of 8-12 for Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger. However, after careful review, the school librarian decided that it was suitable for children ages 12 and up because the book deals with some mature themes including the kidnapping and (magical) torture of children.)

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Pictures:

https:// www. facebook.com/theCBCA/photos/a.231257823733940/1852953561564350/

https:// www. facebook.com/photo/?fbid=492656079562902&set=a.452905860204591

https:// twitter. com/TheCBCA/status/1508715079667265536/photo/1

https:// www. amazon.com/Flashback-7-Keeper-Lost-Cities/dp/1481497448