Next week is Children’s Book Week, and there’s still time for your kids to vote for their favorite books.
Book Week, currently administered by the nonprofit Every Child a Reader, and sponsored by Children’s Book Council, has been around since 1919, when a couple of wealthy New York philanthropists decided to celebrate children’s books.
For the last five years, Book Week has featured the Children’s Choice Book Awards, with winning books voted on by kids in six categories:
- Kindergarten to Second Grade Book of the Year
- Third to Fourth Grade Book of the Year
- Fifth to Sixth Grade Book of the Year
- Teen Choice Book of the Year
- Author of the Year
- Illustrator of the Year
Your kids can vote for the 2012 finalists at bookweekonline.com.
Finalists for the younger readers are determined through the Children’s Choices program, a joint project of the Children’s Book Council and the International Reading Association since the 1970s. Teen Choice finalists are voted on by teen readers at TeenReads.com, an online home for teens to learn about new books and share their thoughts about what they read. Author of the Year and Illustrator of the Year finalists are compiled by the Children’s Book Council from Bookscan, New York Times bestseller lists, and USA Today bestseller lists.
Bookstores around the country will be holding readings and events to celebrate Book Week. There’s only one official bookstore partner in the Chicago area – at The Book Stall at Chestnut Court in Winnetka. Their events are:
- May 8, 4:30 p.m.: John Madormo, author of The Homemade Stuffing Caper
- May 9, 4:30 p.m.: Cat Patrick reads from and signs copies of her new YA thriller Revived
- May 12, 3:00 p.m.: Marianne Malone, for Stealing Magic: A Sixty-Eight Rooms Adventure
Call your local children’s bookstore to see if they’re having any events related to Book Week.
Better World Books, the online book seller that recycles used books and promotes literacy around the world, is also celebrating Book Week. Better World Books has re-used or recycled over 80 million pounds of books and raised over million for global literacy and local libraries. You can help them celebrate Book Week by donating your used books, most of which go to Books for Africa and Feed the Children.
Join the conversation
Check out Chicago Parent on
Facebook
and Twitter @ChicagoParent
