Media Contact: Karen Arthur, 212-961-3331, 347-224-5160, karthur@bankstreet.edu 

BANK STREET COLLEGE HONORS THREE TOP CHILDREN'S BOOKS

Non-Fiction Choice: The Triumph of Ordinary Heroes of the 1950's Selma Bus Boycott 

NEW YORK, NY.- March 7, 2007--- The Children's Book Committee (CBC) of Bank Street College of Education will award prizes for its choices of the three best books of the year -- one non-fiction and two fiction -- on Thursday, March 15. The event will begin with a buffet breakfast at 9:30 am followed by an award ceremony in the Daniel Tabas and Evelyn Rome Tabas Auditorium at 610 West 112 Street on the Upper West Side.

"This year, the CBC has chosen the intensely moving and emotive Freedom Walkers, a book that literally makes us walk in the walkers' shoes, as its Non-Fiction choice. In Fiction, we have awarded two prizes, one to the amusing and moving Clementine, the other to the light-hearted and buoyant Manny Files," comments Alice Belgray, Chair, Bank Street Children's Book Committee.

This year's selections are:

Children's Non-Fiction: The Flora Stieglitz Straus Award which honors a work of Non-Fiction that inspires young readers.

Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, by Russell Freedman, winner of the Newbery Medal, three Newbery Honors, Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, Regina Medal, and many other awards. This "outstanding history of the mid-1950's boycott depicts regular people and forgotten local crusaders working together to make the boycott possible and triumphant." (School Library Journal)  Freedman presents "the experience of what it was like to be there, on the bus and on the street. With the eloquent accounts of the legendary heroes -- Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King and more -- are the stories of other important activists." (Booklist)

Children's Fiction: The Josette Frank Award which honors a book of literary merit in which children deal with difficulties in a positive and realistic way and grow emotionally and morally.

1) Clementine, written by Sara Pennypacker, with "engaging pen-and-ink drawings" (School Library Journal) by Marla Frazee, is a rollicking and heartwarming story of "an ingenuous third-grader with a talent for trouble and a good heart." (Booklist)

2) The Manny Files, by Christian Burch, is a "warm and funny story" (Booklist) about third-grader Keats, often compared to his "perfect" older sister, and the quirky and innovative male nanny (the "manny") hired by his parents, who helps him gain confidence. 

The Children's Book Committee also announces the publication of its The Best Children's Books of the Year, 2007 Edition, which contains over 600 annotated titles. It is divided into over thirty age and subject categories for children aged infant to fourteen and is an excellent guide to choosing the appropriate books for children. All the listed books have been reviewed by the experts at the nonprofit Children's Book Committee, Bank Street College of Education. The Committee's members include educators, librarians, authors, illustrators, and parents. Many of the books are also read and evaluated by a cadre of young reviewers, who range in age from two to fourteen. The book is $6.50, plus shipping and handling. It is available from the Bank Street College Bookstore, Broadway and 112 St., 212-678-1654, or at www.BankStreetBooks.com. 

For information about the CBC, contact Alice Belgray, 212-875-4540, Abelgray@BankStreet.Edu

The mission of Bank Street College is to improve the education of children and their teachers by applying to the educational process all available knowledge about learning and growth, and by connecting teaching and learning meaningfully to the outside world.  In so doing, we seek to strengthen not only individuals, but the community as well, including family, school, and the larger society in which adults and children, in all their diversity, interact and learn.  We see in education the opportunity to build a better society.