Winners of the 53rd Jane Addams
Children's Books Awards

Delivering Justice: W. W. Law and the Fight for Civil Rights, written by Jim Haskins and illustrated by Benny Andrews, and published by Candlewick Press, is the winner in the Books for Younger Children category.

 

Let Me Play: The Story of Title IX, the Law that Changed the Future of Girls in America, by Karen Blumenthal and published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster is the winner in the Books for Older Children category. 

 

Poems to Dream Together=Poemas Para Soñar Juntos, written by Francisco X. Alarcón, illustrated by Paula Barragán, and published by Lee and Low Books, Inc., has been named an honor book in the Books for Younger Children category. Read the Award Presentation Remarks.

The Crazy Man, by Pamela Porter, published by Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press.

 

 

Sweetgrass Basket, by Marlene Carvell, published by Dutton Children’s Books/a Division of Penguin Young Readers Group

 

 

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Introduction to the 2006 Awards Ceremony

Thank you, Ann, and thanks to the Jane Addams Peace Association and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom for sponsoring these awards that, for the 53rd year, honor Jane Addams – her principles and, in fact, her radicalism. As Chair of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award committee, Iwould like to acknowledge Michele Zayla for her music, the special efforts of the JAPA Board in providing books for purchase and signing, and all the members of the award committee.   Here today are Eliza Dresang, Tallahassee Florida, Susan Griffith, Mt. Pleasant Michigan, and Patricia Wiser, Sewanee Tennessee. Other members, spread across the country, from Alaska to Massachusetts, are listed on your program and are here in spirit. (Photo of Donna Barkman, by Phil Loney.)

Jane Addams is the reason we are here today, because of the traditions she established in the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, which then created its education arm, the Jane Addams Peace Association, and following that, our awards.  Those traditions clearly resonate in today’s cultural and political climate, creating connection and continuity, and demanding our attention and action.  Jane Addams was a radical woman.  Even now, that phrase offers a bit of a jolt.  “Radical” invites images of the public sphere, of revolution, and of loud, angry speakers and crowds. (Nies, 1977, p. xi) “Woman” still engenders the private, quiet sphere of home, nurturing, and support. (Nies, 1977, p. xi)  According to Judith Nies, radicals are not just social activists, but social artists, unearthing hidden truths by working with social movements (1977) – and who fulfills that definition better than Addams?  Radicals have a “fresh vision” (Nies, 1977, p. xi) for the world – a characteristic paramount in all of Addams’ work.

Many biographers have tried to reduce her to the limiting stereotype of “woman,” especially in these titles and subtitles:  “Beloved Lady,” “World Neighbor,” and “A Useful Woman.” (Joslin, 2004, p. 12)  These titles belie her unrelenting work toward reform, even revolution, in many fields (immigration, poverty, education, labor, woman suffrage, racial inequality, and of course pacifism) to platitudes of femininity.  They subvert and even bury her radicalism, her fresh vision.  Saint Jane, reporters called her.  (Reardon, 2006) “She’s remembered as a sweet lady who wanted to help poor people and is forgotten as a woman who was critical of capitalism and the military and war,” writes one Addams biographer. (Victoria Bissell Brown, as cited in Reardon, 2006). (Photo of Ann Pendell at podium, by Phil Loney.)

J. Edgar Hoover characterized Addams as “’the most dangerous woman in America’,…dangerous because of her pacifism, because of her challenges to the status quo.” (Louise W. Knight, as cited in Reardon, 2006)  Because of her refusal to be a partisan. (Reardon, 2006)

She co-founded and was the first president of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in 1915.  As the U.S. moved into the First World War, the League was vilified by those who supported the armed conflict, and Addams was to become known as “Red Jane.” (Joslin, 2004, p. 202)  Even as late as 1927, she was enduring public attacks, one claiming that she “stands for everything Bolshevist, except perhaps murder and robbery.” (Joslin, 2004, p. 215)  In response to a speech in which she opposed the military draft, an American Legion commander accused her “of having advocated stripping the uniforms from West Point cadets.” (Joslin, 2004, p. 214) He “attacked Hull House as a rallying post for radicals and communists and linked their activities to an international plot to destroy civilization.” (Joslin, p. 214) After the war, she was even demonized for pleading for food for German children. (Reardon, 2006) Her refusal to retaliate ultimately calmed the storm. In 1931, she was the first woman to the win the Nobel Peace Prize, not because she was a homebody, but because she put herself in the public sphere and spoke and wrote courageously against the injustices and cruelties of war. (Photo of Jane Addams Children's Book Awards Committee at Award Cemerony, by Phil Loney.)

She held her tongue and her pen against the most outrageous charges, seeking common ground, believing that responding would only fuel the flames.  She did sometimes display anger, for instance, when her trips with other women through Europe, country to country, offering mediation, were misinterpreted by the press:  she scolded reporters and publishers for distortion of facts and silencing opposition to the war. (Joslin, 2004) And another example: a tart letter she wrote to one of her editors: “…you were constantly trying to say what you think would be a good thing for me to say and not what I really was trying to say although it may easily have been an inferior thing.” (Joslin, 2004, p. 255)

We are delighted to note that there is a resurgence of interest in Jane Addams and, concomitantly, in our awards: four major adult biographies have been published within the last five years and two biographies for children; the Illinois legislature has designated December 10th as a commemorative day in her honor (coincidentally the U.N. Human Rights Day). (Reardon, 2006) And we have a reinvigorated alliance with the Hull House Museum in Chicago that will be featuring and promoting our award-winning books in their exhibits. (Photo of award winner Karen Blumenthal and her daughters at the Award Ceremony, by Phil Loney.)

Jane Addams was a lady, a neighbor, and she was certainly useful.  She may even have been saintly, but she was not a pushover.  She was radical, - a social artist who worked with unstinting dedication and struggled against overwhelming odds and who catalyzed a tradition that is palpable in this room today: the commitment of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award to peace, justice, community and equality – evident in the books we honor here, books about people who struggle against odds, who work for justice and against discrimination, and whose fresh (and radical) vision is the poetry of peace. (Photo of Ruth Chalmers and Linda Belle, by Phil Loney.)

Sources: 
Nies, J. (1977). Seven women: Portraits from the American radical tradition. New York: Viking Penguin.
Joslin, K. (2004). Jane Addams: A writer’s life.  Chicago: University of Illinois Knight, L. (2005). Citizen: Jane Addams and the struggle for democracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Reardon, P.T. (2/11/2006). Why you should care about Jane Addams: Yesterday’s hero would be odd today.  The Chicago Tribune.

Donna Barkman
October 20, 2006

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Presentation remarks
at the 2006 Awards Ceremony

The following presentation remarks were made at the
October 2006 Awards Ceremony, upon the presentation of of the
53rd Jane Addams Children's Books Awards.

Presentation remarks for Poems to Dream Together/Poemas para soñar juntos, written by Francisco Alarcón, illustrated by Paula Barragán, published by Lee & Low Books, Inc. (Eliza Dresang giving presentation remarks.)

 

The 2006 Jane Addams Honor Book for Younger Readers, Poems to Dream Together/Poemas para soñar juntos by acclaimed Chicano poet Francisco Alarcón, three time winner of the Pura Belpré Award, illustrated by renowned artist Paula Barragán and published by Lee & Low Books, Inc., is an enduring gift of hope and humanity for all of us.

The words of the young boy who appears on the cover and in the first and last illustrations leave no doubt that the dreams expressed in these poems are to share.  The boy wakes to his welcoming family, and as he drifts back to sleep at the end of the day, his family has become all of humankind. "Reality we dream together," he tells us. "Reality we dream together" is the compelling charge of this book.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of these 19 brief poems and the accompanying introspective illustrations lies in the multi-faceted nature of the dream-sharing they portray. (Francisco Alarcón receiving the award, by Phil Loney.)

For example, universal: "In my dreams. . . all humans and all living beings come together as one big family of the earth."  Or personal: "My grandma/ peels prickly pears/--the delicacies/ of the desert/since she knows/these succulents/ are also my favorite/. . .my grandma can't/ stop winking at me."

The words of these lyrical poems are precisely chosen and a pleasure to read in both Spanish and English.  The illustrations represent the color and vitality of the Latino culture and the creativity of the artist. (Photos of Francisco Alarcón, by Phil Loney.)

And, both words and pictures express so many of the themes of Jane Addams books.  I've selected two additional examples with which to close.

Illustrating the theme of solving problems courageously and non-violently from Dreamer of the Fields: to Cesar Chávez (1927 – 1993), "we can really make life more/just and better for all people/without violence and through/actions in solidarity and peace." (Photo of Louise May accepting award for Paula Barragán, by Phil Loney.)

And last of all, a phrase that would have been especially dear to Jane Addams, "In my dreams, there is no word for war."

Francisco Alarcón and Paula Barragán, thank you for this enduring dream you've shared with us and congratulations!

Eliza T. Dresang, October 2006

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Honor Presentation to Marlene Carvell for Sweetgrass Basket

 In Sweetgrass Basket, Marlene Carvell tells the compelling story of two Mohawk sisters, students at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.   In free verse, their alternating voices draw us into the confused suffering endured by so many children, wrenched from family and home to train for a “better” life. At one point, Mattie muses, “I did not need Miss Prentiss to teach me to sew and mend.  My mother did that.” Mattie  and Sarah are at the mercy of adults who embody prejudice, ignorance, and fear. Even sympathetic teachers are afraid to speak up when “stubborn” youngsters are forced to march in place for hours or left wet and cold as punishment for trying to run away. (Photo of Pat Wiser giving presentation remarks, by Phil Loney.)

The  symbolic  sweetgrass basket, a smuggled treasure  woven by their late mother  for keeping “womanly things,”  carries through the theme of longing  for a way of life, for home  --  in the Mohawk language,  akwesasne.  Mohawk words woven into the text add poignant cultural dimension, as does the sweetgrass basket itself.  The author’s note on her husband’s four great-uncles at Carlisle brings even more depth to the girls’ story. (Photo of Pat Wiser award to Marlene Cavell, by Phil Loney.)

Thanks to Dutton Children’s Books for publishing this powerful and thought provoking narrative.  It invites young readers to witness the effects of prejudice and injustice, to empathize with the trauma and fear of the sisters, to reflect on what happens when one culture sees itself as superior to another.

The Jane Addams Book Award Committee commends  --  and thanks  --   Marlene Carvell for this important work.   We are pleased to present this honor citation for your outstanding contribution to literature for young people.

Pat Wiser
Jane Addams Book Award Committee

October 20, 2006

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Honor Award Presentation for a Book for Older Children

Pamela Porter’s The Crazy Man, published by Groundwood Books, is a tender portrait of a twelve year old girl, her family and their Saskatchewan community during the 1960s.  On the family farm, Emmie chases her dog Prince from the path of a field discer driven by her father.  Suddenly, her foot lands right in front of the end disc.  Emmie wakes in the hospital to find she has lost more than her health.  Her distraught father has killed her dog and walked away from her and her mother. (Photo of Susan C. Griffith giving presentation remarks, by Phil Loney.)

Left with “a critically injured child, no money, no crop and bins full of wheat not worth a hill of beans,”  Emmie's mother slips into depression followed by grim determination to survive.  This determination leads her to take risks:  She hires Angus, a patient from the mental hospital in town, to work the fields.

The presence of Angus, tall with a shock of orange hair, stirs up prejudice and intolerance.  In spite of his knowledge of farming and his hard work, he is called a mental case, referred to as a gorilla, questioned for one theft, falsely jailed for another and literally driven out of town in a snowstorm.  But his gentle spirit and disarming ways endear him to his staunch supporter Emmie and, in turn, to her mother who finally welcomes him at the family dinner table.  (Photo of Pamela Porter, by Phil Loney.)

Pamela Porter’s lyrical narrative poetry makes clear that courage and open-mindedness are not blessings bestowed on a few, they grow and must be nurtured, question by question, choice by choice as we live our lives.

For showing us the human dimensions of overcoming prejudice and breaking cycles of fear, I am pleased to present this Addams Honor Citation to Pamela Porter for her novel The Crazy Man.

Susan C. Griffith
October 20, 2006

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Award presentation for the Winning Book for Older Children

Here is an informational book as full of cliffhangers as a novel.  Written by Karen Blumenthal, published by Atheneum, a Simon & Shuster imprint, this is our winner in the Books for Older Children category.  LET ME PLAY: THE STORY OF TITLE IX, THE LAW THAT CHANGED THE FUTURE OF GIRLS IN AMERICA is amazingly ambitious (note the subtitle) and deliciously personal – with details not of her own life, but of the careers and desires and triumphs of dozens of women and girls.  (Photo of Donna Barkman giving presentation remarks, by Phil Loney.)

Its clever design, with cartoons, comic strips, profiles, photographs, and many charts of the progress of girls’ participation, in sports and in education, tells a story that has already been forgotten by most, if ever known.  Jennifer Capriati, a U. S. tennis star, said in 2002 that she’d never heard of Title IX. 

Blumenthal dramatizes how, by the skin of our teeth, women were included in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, yet much discrimination persisted against women in employment and education at all levels, from paper routes to professorships. (Photo of Karen Blumenthal, by Phil Loney.)

To get further and better legislation passed, many heroic women (later joined by some men) worked assiduously: Edith Green, Patsy Mink, Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug.  It took eight more years of persuasion, demands, and finesse to pass the law called Title IX.  Its beginning: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”  Although much of the controversy over its implementation has focused on athletics, note that it says any education program,

Unfortunately, the rights won under Title IX legislation are still precarious.  As recently as 2005, the Department of Education added a loophole allowing schools to opt out of equal treatment.  We must make sure that Blumenthal will not have to write a sequel!  As she chronicles women’s fight for education rights, she lifts us up with energy, authority, and humanity.  Pass this book on to the girls and women in your lives.  (Photo of Karen Blumenthal, by Phil Loney.)

I am delighted to present this award to the author, Karen Blumenthal.

Donna Barkman
October 20, 2006

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Award presentation to the Winning Book for Younger Children.

Westley Wallace Law took the advice of his wise and supportive Grandmother.  When he was angry at the discrimination he observed and encountered in the segregated south, she always spoke with him: “No matter how you are treated, you have no excuse not to ‘be somebody,’ …to be a leader of our people.”  That’s the foundation of our winning book in the category of Books for Younger Children, DELIVERING JUSTICE: W.W.LAW AND THE FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, WRITTEN BY JIM HASKINS, ILLUSTRATED BY BENNY ANDREWS, PUBLISHED BY CANDLEWICK PRESS.

As a young man, W. W. became an activist: he coached black citizens in Voting Schools so they could pass the test; he trained students for non-violent sit-ins; and he led his community in the 1960 Great Savannah Boycott, when huge numbers of blacks threw away their credit cards and refused to shop at segregated stores, thus demonstrating that black people meant business.  Stores closed as a result. (Photo of Donna Barkman presenting award to Kathleen Haskins, for the late Jim Haskins, by Phil Loney.)

Because he was a member of the NAACP, he was refused work as a schoolteacher.  He chose then to be a mail carrier and while performing those duties, he spoke quietly and persuasively with whites on his route and convinced them that he loved Savannah and he wanted it to be so much better.

Because of his influence, black and white leaders, including city officials, joined forces, cooperatively accomplishing a stunning goal: Savannah was the first southern city to declare all citizens equal, three years before the Civil Rights Act.  And did so, peacefully. (Photo of Kathleen Haskins giving presentation remarks, for the late Jim Haskins, by Phil Loney.)

Jim Haskins tells Law’s story with powerful and moving simplicity, one short chapter to a page.  Each page is illuminated by Benny Andrews, whose oil and collage paintings show Law and his “people” – as his Grandmother predicted – with strength, dignity, and even some whimsy.

An afterword answers questions about his later years, but the story’s final lines sum up this inspiring biography: “Westley Wallace Law delivered more than just the mail to the citizens of Savannah; he delivered justice, too.”
It is my pleasure to present the winner’s award to Kathleen Benson Haskins, on behalf of her late husband.

It is my pleasure to present the winning award to Joan Powers, editor of Delivering Justice, on behalf of Benny Andrews. (Photo of Joan Powers, on behalf of Benny Andrews, by Phil Loney.)

Donna Barkman
October 20, 2006

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Book Signings by Karen Blumenthal and Marlene Carvell

Photos by Phil Loney.

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You can read the remarks made at the
2005 Awards Ceremony by clicking here.

Congratulations to the 52nd Jane Addams
Children's Book Awardees
Youme Landowne, Ann Bausum, Karen English, Bruce Edward Hall, James Rumford, and Deborah Ellis.

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Links to the 2004 and Previous Years' Winners...

Click here for our Press Release about the 2004 Winners.

Click here for a list of previous winners of the
Jane Addams Children's Book Award.