Children's Literature Lecture Award facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Children's Literature Lecture Award |
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|---|---|
| Presented by | Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association |
| Country | United States |
| First awarded | 1970 |
The Children's Literature Lecture Award is a special yearly event. It is supported by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). This group is part of the American Library Association.
The award honors people who have made big contributions to children's literature. The person chosen for the award is called the lecturer. They write a paper about children's books. This paper is then shared as the Children's Literature Lecture. It is also printed in the ALSC magazine, Children & Libraries.
History of the Award
This lecture series started in 1969. It was created to honor a teacher named May Hill Arbuthnot. The first lecture happened in 1970. May Hill Arbuthnot helped create the famous "Dick and Jane" reading books. She also wrote important books about children's literature.
She was very happy about the lecture named after her. She remembered traveling a lot to connect children with books through her talks. In January 2020, the lecture series was renamed the "Children's Literature Lecture Award."
How Lecturers Are Chosen
The person chosen to give the lecture can be an author, critic, librarian, historian, or teacher of children's literature. They can be from any country.
A special committee called the Children's Literature Lecture Award Committee picks one person. They choose from a list of nominees. This decision is made about 15 to 18 months before the lecture takes place.
After the lecturer is chosen, different places can apply to host the event. These can be library schools, university education departments, or children's library systems. A few months later, the same committee chooses the host location.
Past Lectures
Here is a list of the people who have given the Children's Literature Lecture and where they spoke:
| Year | Lecturer | Title | Host | City, State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Cynthia Leitich Smith | tba | tba | tba |
| 2025 | Kyle Lukoff | "What Do We Ask Books To Do" | Multnomah County Library | Portland, Oregon |
| 2024 | Rita Williams-Garcia | "A Funny Thing About Memory" | Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| 2023 | Bryan Collier | "Dreamwalker" | Dayton Metro Library University of Dayton |
Dayton, Ohio |
| 2022 | No lecturer selected due to delays in lectures caused by COVID-19 | |||
| 2021 | Rudine Sims Bishop | Due to "unforeseen circumstances", no lecture was given. Instead, a "virtual celebration of Dr. Bishop's work and her impact on the field of children's literature" was hosted by ALSC. | Hosted virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic | |
| 2020 | Neil Gaiman | Sacramento Public Library | Sacramento, California | |
| 2019 | Debbie Reese | "An Indigenous Critique of Whiteness in Children's Literature" | University of Wisconsin–Madison | Madison, Wisconsin |
| 2018 | Naomi Shihab Nye | "REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED - Our Lives of Reading & Writing" | Western Washington University Whatcom County Library System |
Bellingham, Washington |
| 2017 | Jacqueline Woodson | "What Gets Left Behind: Stories From The Great Migration" | South Carolina State Library The city of Columbia, South Carolina |
Columbia, South Carolina |
| 2016 | Pat Mora | "Bookjoy! ¡Alegría en los libros!" | Santa Barbara Public Library System | Santa Barbara, California |
| 2015 | Brian Selznick | "Love Is a Dangerous Angel: Thoughts on ... and Family in Children's Books" | DC Public Library | Washington, DC |
| 2014 | Andrea Davis Pinkney | "Rejoice the Legacy" | Children's Literature Research Collections University of Minnesota Libraries |
Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| 2013 | Michael Morpurgo | "War Boy to War Horse" | Nazareth College Youth Services Section of the New York Library Association |
Rochester, New York |
| 2012 | Peter Sís | "Reading in the Dark" | Miami University | Oxford, Ohio |
| 2011 | Lois Lowry | "Unleaving: The Staying Power of Gold" | St. Louis County Library | Ladue, Missouri |
| 2010 | Kathleen T. Horning | "Can Children's Books Save the World? Advocates for Diversity in Children's Books and Libraries" | Riverside County Library System | Riverside, California |
| 2009 | Walter Dean Myers | "The Geography of the Heart" | Langston Hughes Library at the Children's Defense Fund Alex Haley Farm | Clinton, Tennessee |
| 2008 | David Macaulay | "Thirteen Studios" | South Central Library System | Madison, Wisconsin |
| 2007 | Kevin Henkes | "Books As Shelter: Going Home Again and Again" | McConnell Center for the Study of Youth Literature, University of Kentucky SLIS | Lexington, Kentucky |
| 2006 | Russell Freedman | "The Past Isn't Past: How History Speaks, and What It Says to the Next Generation" | Williamsburg Regional Library The Library of Virginia Virginia Foundation for the Humanities |
Williamsburg, Virginia |
| 2005 | Richard Jackson | "Mutuality" | Free Library of Philadelphia Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School |
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| 2004 | Ursula K. Le Guin | "Cheek by Jowl: Animals in Children's Literature" | Maricopa County Library District Arizona State University Arizona Center for the Book |
Phoenix, Arizona |
| 2003 | Maurice Sendak | "Descent into Limbo" | Cambridge Public Library Children's Literature, Inc. |
Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| 2002 | Philip Pullman | "So She Went Into the Garden" | Le Frak Hall, Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies | Flushing, New York |
| 2001 | Susan Cooper | "Time and Again" | Scottish Rite Center Multnomah County Library |
Portland, Oregon |
| 2000 | Hazel Rochman | "A Stranger Comes to Town" | Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut | Storrs, Connecticut |
| 1999 | Lillian N. Gerhardt | "Editorial License: On Library Selection Connections" | San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science | San Jose, California |
| 1998 | Susan Hirschman | "Instead of a Lecture" | Richland County Public Library College of Library and Information Science at the university of South Carolina |
Columbia, South Carolina |
| 1997 | Katherine Paterson | "In Search of Wonder" | Northern State University | Aberdeen, South Dakota |
| 1996 | Zena Sutherland | "A Life in Review" | Dallas Public Library | Dallas, Texas |
| 1995 | Leonard Everett Fisher | "Imaginings and Images" | University of Wisconsin | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| 1994 | Margaret K. McElderry | "Across the Years, Across the Seas: Notes from an Errant Editor" | Coronado Public Library | Coronado, California |
| 1993 | Virginia Hamilton | "Everything of Value: Moral Realism in the Literature for Children" | Virginia Center for the Book | Richmond, Virginia |
| 1992 | Charlotte S. Huck | "Developing Lifetime Readers" | Montana Library Association annual conference | Bozeman, Montana |
| 1991 | Iona Opie | "The Nature and Function of Children's Lore" | Library of Congress | Washington, DC |
| 1990 | Ashley Bryan | "A Tender Bridge" | New Orleans Public Library | New Orleans, Louisiana |
| 1989 | Margaret Mahy | "A Dissolving Ghost: Possible Operations of Truth in Children's Books and the Lives of Children" | University of Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| 1988 | John Bierhorst | "Pushing up the Sun a Little" | University of Oklahoma | Norman, Oklahoma |
| 1987 | James Archibald Houston | "A Primitive View of the World" | Northern Illinois University | DeKalb, Illinois |
| 1986 | Aidan Chambers | "All of a Tremble to See His Danger" | University of Arkansas | Little Rock, Arkansas |
| 1985 | Patricia Wrightson | "Stones into Pools" | Indiana University Stone Hills Area Library Services Authority |
Bloomington, Indiana |
| 1984 | Fritz Eichenberg | "Bell, Book and Candle" | Minneapolis Public Library and Information Center | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| 1983 | Leland B. Jacobs | "Children and the Voices of Literature" | Center for the Study of Literature for Young People at the University of Georgia | Athens, Georgia |
| 1982 | Dorothy Butler | "From Books to Buttons: Reflections From the Thirties to the Eighties" | Florida State University | Orlando, Florida |
| 1981 | Virginia Betancourt | "Information: A Necessity for Survival: Strategies for the Promotion of Children's Books in a Developing Country" | Texas Woman's University | Denton, Texas |
| 1980 | Horst Kunze | "German Children's Literature From Its Beginning to the Nineteenth Century: A Historical Perspective" | University of Wisconsin | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| 1979 | Sheila Egoff | "Beyond the Garden Wall: Some Observations on Current Trends in Children's Literature" | University of South Carolina | Columbia, South Carolina |
| 1978 | Uriel Ofek | "Tom and Laura from Right to Left: American Children's Books Experienced by Young Hebrew Readers" | Boston Public Library | Boston, Massachusetts |
| 1977 | Shigeo Watanabe | "One of the Dozens" | Boise State University | Boise, Idaho |
| 1976 | Jean Fritz | "The Education of an American" | Los Angeles Public Library | Los Angeles, California |
| 1975 | Mollie Hunter | "Talent Is Not Enough" | Drexel University | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| 1974 | Ivan Southall | "Real Adventure Belongs To Us" | University of Washington | Seattle, Washington |
| 1973 | Bettina Hürlimann | "Fortunate Moments in Children's Books" | University of Missouri | Kansas City, Missouri |
| 1972 | Mary Ørvig | "One World in Children's Books" | University of Chicago | Chicago, Illinois |
| 1971 | John Rowe Townsend | "Standards of Criticism for Children's Literature" | Atlanta Memorial Arts Center | Atlanta, Georgia |
| 1970 | Margery Fisher | "Rights and Wrongs" | Case Western Reserve University | Cleveland, Ohio |
Interesting Facts
- The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee has hosted this lecture two times.
- Two lecture titles mention The Secret Garden. This is a famous book from 1911 by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
See also
- Jean E. Coleman Library Outreach Lecture
- Alice G. Smith Lecture
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Children's Literature Lecture Award Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.