By
Gayleen Rabakukkfor
Cynthia Leitich Smith's
CynsationsIn updating the
Awards for Children’s and YA Literature By State for
Cynthia Leitich Smith’s author website, I discovered several programs and librarians taking unique or creative approaches to build interest in the books.
Here’s a closer look at a few of those programs:
Emporia State University hosts a
Read-In and Sleepover for students to meet the winners of the
William Allen White Award (named in honor of
the Kansas newspaper editor whose autobiography won the Pulitzer Prize in 1947.)
About 80 students meet the winning authors, play board games and go swimming in the campus pool. Sleeping bags are spread out on the floor of the rec center where there’s a lights-out-at-10-p.m. policy, but with so many avid readers in attendance, there’s sure to be lots of flashlights under the covers.
On Saturday morning, about 500 students attend the Celebration that includes art activities provided by the
Emporia Arts Council, skits from ESU theater students, and a school spirit competition. A ceremonial presentation of the William Allen White Book Award by student representatives follows.
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| KS William Allen White Award winner Sharon Creech with 3-5 graders |
State budget cuts in recent years have made it impossible for some schools to attend the ceremony. Kappa Delta Pi (ESU’s student honor society) is putting together a travel grant program to make it possible for more schools to attend.
Georgia Children’s Book Awards hosts a two-day conference aimed at showing teachers and librarians ways the books can be used in the curriculum, along with presentations by authors and illustrators. For those who can’t make the conference,
an outline of curriculum ideas.
The conference also includes the final round of the
Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl. In 1986, library media specialist
Helen Ruffin developed a competitive game format to question students about content of the nominees. She envisioned teams of students from different schools competing to test their knowledge. The competition grew and renamed in her honor following her retirement.
In 2004, a committee composed of
Georgia Association of Educators and
Georgia Library Media Association members set out to take the program statewide. Today, more than 600 schools across the state compete in regional, then division competitions before the finals are held at the conference.
Competition is also a reading incentive in
Hawaii’s Children’s Choice Book Award, the Nene (in honor of Hawaii’s state bird.) Students compete in
Kahoot! games or
Nene Jeopardy. (Kahoot is a free game-based learning platform for creating a collection of questions on a specific topic. Learn more about it
here.)
Pearl Harbor Elementary Librarian
Denise Sumida started using "Jeopardy" games with her library classes in 2005 to build excitement about the nominees. She is also a Nene committee member.
She said, “Starting in 2008, I began video conferences with other schools as a way to promote the books, connect with other libraries/students, and to advocate for the Nene Award program.”
Games played in October, November and December are based on the winning book, while January, February and March games focus on the nominees.
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| Nene Awards, honoring students for Kahoots, digital & poster contests |
Video conferencing allows schools to compete against one another without leaving the classroom, easing scheduling issues and eliminating travel costs.
“In general, students love to see themselves on camera and Google Hangouts allows us to view the broadcasts on YouTube,” Sumida added. “The Nene nominees are usually really popular at my school and the extra incentive of participating in a video conference encourages the students to read from the list.”
She’s seen an increase in reading participation since introducing the video conferencing with other schools. Last year, they began using Kahoot to focus on individual student knowledge of the Nene winner and the top three scorers were recognized at the Nene Ceremony.
Sumida advises other librarians thinking about introducing games to start small. She said:
- "I did video conferences with other Nene Committee librarians’ schools first. Only two schools connecting at a time.
- "If time permits, test out 'Jeopardy'/Kahoot questions on your students to make sure they are clear and developmentally appropriate.
- "Test video conference connections ahead of time. This seems simple, but if the video conference time is 30 minutes and it takes 15 minutes to connect, that’s only 15 minutes of playing time. With updates to computers, software, and cameras, it’s best to test it out without the students there waiting and getting frustrated."
In addition to the games, the Nene award also features an art contests for an
animated film or a
comic strip related to the winning book.
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| Rolla, Kansas students celebrating the White Awards at Emporia State University |
What does your school or library do to get students excited about the book awards in your state?
We’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
Cynsational NotesGayleen Rabakukk holds a master of fine arts in writing for children and young adults from
Vermont College of Fine Arts. She co-moderates the middle grade book club for
Austin SCBWI and loves making discoveries – both on and off the page.
Always eager to track down a story, she has worked as a newspaper reporter, editor and freelance writer. Gayleen is married and has two caring and outspoken daughters. Their Austin, Texas home is filled with books and rescue dogs. You can find her online at or on Twitter
@gayleenrabakukkCongratulations to Gayleen on recently signing with
Andrea Cascardi at Transatlantic Agency!
By
Cynthia Leitich Smithfor
Cynsations I'm honored to announce that
Gayleen Rabakukk has been chosen as the summer-fall 2016 Cynsations intern. Thanks to all who applied!
Here's more from Gayleen:
By
Gayleen Rabakukkfor
Cynthia Leitich Smith's
Cynsations“You mean you both just sit there and write? On different things? And don’t talk?”
“Yes,” I tell my non-writing friends.
I realize how odd that may sound. There was a time when I would have thought it was strange, too. For many years, I’d done all my writing alone. I’d published lots of newspaper and magazine articles, exploring topics ranging from exotic pets to forensic science.
Eventually, I felt the pull to make something that would last longer than the weeks a magazine article is around, so I tried my hand at adult mysteries, (one of my favorite genres) and eventually young adult novels.
Looking for help with the transition from journalist to novelist, I became active with the
Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc. (OWFI), volunteering at their annual conference and serving on the board as a grant writer. After a few rejections, I decided instead of guessing what “narrative voice” and “connecting with the character” meant, I would go back to school and really learn how to write for children and young adults.
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| Sharon |
I applied to
Vermont College of Fine Arts, doubting that this Oklahoma journalist would be accepted.
When I got a call from
Sharon Darrow one afternoon welcoming me to the program, I couldn’t believe it!
My initial residency was filled with firsts: first time in New England, first time my nostrils froze, and the first time I really had deep, serious conversations about writing.
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| Rita & Gayleen |
I ended up in a small workshop led by
Tim Wynne-Jones where I learned about objective correlatives and adding layers of meaning to your writing. I learned so much I thought my head would explode.
That feeling continued, to varying degrees, throughout my four semesters. The more I learned, the more I realized I didn’t know.
Each semester I had a new advisor.
Jane Kurtz,
Cynthia Leitich Smith,
Rita Williams-Garcia and
Franny Billingsley taught me how to write, how to read, and how to apply what I learned to my own work.
I squeezed writing and reading children's literature into every spare moment I could find: audio books during my daily commute, writing on lunch breaks and in the evenings, reading on the treadmill. Fortunately, my youngest learned how to cook, otherwise my family might have starved while I was a grad student.
After graduation, I tried to stay on track, but the writing demands of my day job had increased and I didn’t have as much time for children's books.
The Supreme Court of Oklahoma wanted me to write a book about the art collection at the Oklahoma Judicial Center. It would definitely be published, and in a format that would be around for a long time. This was what I had set out to do so many years ago: create work that would last longer than a magazine article.
Almost immediately after that project ended, another one came along: the
Oklahoma County Medical Society was looking for a writer to document their history. Once again, it was a book that would definitely be published, with guaranteed monetary compensation.
It wasn’t children's literature, but it would prove that I could generate steady income as a writer (at least during that year-long project.)
I learned so much writing those books: from research techniques to the dynamics of working with a collaborator, yet something was missing. I wanted to recapture that sense of camaraderie I’d felt in Vermont.
Most of my writing efforts up to that time had been solitary. Sure, I had writer friends and occasionally exchanged manuscripts with several of them.
I paid my membership fees to OWFI and
SCBWI, but I had never really embraced the idea of being part of the “writing community.”
After all, I told myself, writing is a solitary pursuit – I’m the one putting words on the page, no one can really help me with that. Vermont was a magical Brigadoon: like-minded writers all gathered on a hilltop for a fortnight. That sort of thing just didn’t happen in the real world.
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| Meredith & Gayleen |
Then a geographical shift led me to a paradigm shift. Last July, my family and I moved to Austin, Texas and I quit my day job. This put me in close proximity to
Meredith Davis, a fellow VCFA classmate and other alums. The first time she suggested we get together to write, I was a little skeptical, but I gave it a shot. I said “yes” and apparently, that’s all it took for me to realize the benefits of writing in a community.
Now these group writing times take precedent on my weekly calendar. Sometimes it’s just Meredith and me meeting at a coffee shop, other times it’s an organized potluck retreat with half a dozen writers. At the end of the day, it’s still just me putting those words on the page, but I’m learning that spending time with other children's writers provides a creative energy that recharges my batteries and keeps me coming back to the page, day after day – long after I’ve left the coffee shop.
It’s enormously increased my productivity: in the last year, I’ve worked through two complete revisions of a middle grade steampunk manuscript, drafted a new middle grade mystery, started a new historical manuscript and finished a nonfiction picture book.
In an effort to draw others into this awesome community, I recently began co-moderating the middle grade book club for our
SCBWI chapter. Our goal is “reading for writing,” so we analyze and discuss character motivations, plot and point of view in depth. It all takes place on Facebook, which means I get to work it into my schedule wherever it fits, instead of trying to make it to a meeting at a certain time.
There are several book club members I’ve never met in person, but we’re connected through our book discussions, and I continue to grow in both my knowledge and passion for children’s literature.
Some days I’m still trying to figure out how to connect with readers, but I’ve learned a lot about the importance of connecting with a community. Writing discussions aren’t just reserved for snowy hilltops, they can happen in coffee shops, libraries and even on Facebook.
You just have to say "yes."
