On March 10th, the Bank Street Children’s Book Committee held its annual “Best Children’s Books of the Year” awards ceremony, which honored the recipients of three distinctive awards for outstanding children’s literature.
The winners included: Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights by Carole Boston Weatherford for the Flora Steiglitz Straus Award for nonfiction; My Seneca Village by Marilyn Nelson for the Claudia Lewis Award for poetry; and The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley for the Josette Frank Award for fiction. After introductions by Bank Street staff, the respective authors and illustrators took the stage to accept their awards, tell their stories, and discuss the work that went into creating the winning books.
“My mission as an author is to mine the past for family stories, fading traditions, and forgotten struggles,” said Carole Boston Weatherford, author of Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement. “Voice of Freedom is my way of honoring Fannie Lou Hamer, whose deeds and sacrifices still inspire and empower.”
The Bank Street Children’s Book Committee was founded to help parents, teachers, and librarians choose the books that children will find captivating and transforming. In selecting those that make the cut for the annual “Best Children’s Books of the Year” list, committee members consider literary quality, excellence of presentation, and the potential emotional impact of the books on young readers.