LEE BENNETT HOPKINS POETRY AWARD
The Pennsylvania Center for the Book, the University Libraries, and the Pennsylvania School Librarians' Association are pleased to announce the winner of the 2008 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, as well as honor award winners.
2008 Winner:
2008 Honorees:
Lee Bennett Hopkins Award Criteria
2008 Press Release (html)
2008 Press Release (PDF)
This year's winner is Carole Boston Weatherford for Birmingham, 1963 (Wordsong, an imprint of Boyds Mills Press)
The award and a $1000 prize will be presented on May 2 at the Pennsylvania School Librarians' Association Conference in Hershey, Pennsylvania. We thank the PSLA for their sponsorship again this year.
Judges' Comments:
"A small readable book with sparse, elegant verse that will captivate and enlighten young readers to a heartbreaking event in our nation’s history. Told from the viewpoint of a ten year-old narrator, Birmingham, 1963 is an intimate look at the events that preceded the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.”
"The free verse is interspersed with photos in soft gray and sets a somber tone for this tragic event. The impact is extremely emotional and personal made so by the fact that the bombing occurs on the birthday of the narrator: 'The day I turned ten/There was no birthday cake with candles;/Just cinders, ash, and a wish I were still nine.'"
Another judge commented, “This is a story quietly told, deeply felt, and beautifully presented. The poems carry intense emotion in the voice of a narrator who speaks as someone who lived through the events and has now become an adult-this creates a place of safety for children to come to understand what happened without re-living the terror.”
Additionally, judges gave honor awards to:
John Grandits for Blue Lipstick (Clarion Books, a Houghton Mifflin Company imprint)
Judges' Comments:
"Teenage Jessie’s feisty and insecure emotions are cleverly narrated and displayed in a series of concrete poems beginning on the cover. For example, in 'Volleyball Practice,' the poem bounces back and forth over a volleyball net, and in 'All My Important Thinking Gets Done in the Shower', long lines of verse burst forth from a shower head."
"The careful and clever presentation of the concrete poems on the pages of this will draw readers in, and they will discover much to enjoy within its pages: 'The H-U-P Song' for a child who knows the ABCs (but not in the right order); the poem for a cat to play with (then eat); and the wall poems (more permeable by the end of the book) are particularly creative."
Joyce Sidman for This is Just to Say (Houghton Mifflin Company)
Judges' Comments:
"These poems of apology and forgiveness will help children find words to express remorse about things they may have done, and then lead them into the 'river of forgiveness' to learn that it is possible to forgive and be forgiven. The characters come to life as individuals, and the classroom becomes a community of poets. The illustrations give a delightful light touch to the whole."
"The author uses a variety of poetic forms throughout including haiku, pantoums, two-part poems, and rhymes. Delightful sketches are sprinkled throughout and complement each poem. Children will certainly be able to identify with many of the situations presented."