The Vermont Golden Dome Book Award (formerly the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award) annually recognizes one new American children's book selected by the vote of Vermont schoolchildren. It was inaugurated in 1957.[1][2]

The award is co-sponsored by the Vermont State PTA and the Vermont Department of Libraries and was originally named after the Vermont writer Dorothy Canfield Fisher. In 2020, it was temporarily renamed the "VT Middle-Grade Book Award" before schoolchildren voted to officially call it the "Vermont Golden Dome Book Award".

Selection process and award

Each spring a committee of eight adults selects a "Master List" of thirty books first published during the previous calendar year. The list is announced at the annual Dorothy Canfield Fisher Conference, usually in May,[3] and is available at Vermont school and public libraries for children who wish to participate over the next eleven months. The following spring, those children who have read at least five of the thirty books are eligible to vote for the award, with a deadline in mid-April. The award ceremony is scheduled after the end of the school year, usually late June. Thus the award is always for books published two years previously.[3]

The winning writer is invited to visit Vermont to speak with children about the experience of writing for children.[1][2]

Awards in other categories

Vermont sponsors two other statewide book awards determined by the votes of younger and older students.

The Red Clover Book Award recognizes a picture book published two years earlier. Voters are children in grades K–4 who have read, or heard read aloud, all 10 books on the list. The Red Clover BA was established by 1997–98, if not earlier, and its 2014 winner was announced by May. It is the centerpiece of a one-day conference in October.[4][5]

The Green Mountain Book Award is voted by high school students (grades 9–12, routinely ages 14–18) either through a school library or individually online, deadline May 31. Students are asked to vote only once and to read at least 3 from a list of 15 books (for 2014, published 2008–2012; for 2015, published 2011–2013). The Green Mountain BA was inaugurated in 2006.[6][7]

Winners

One book by a single writer has won the Vermont Golden Dome Book Award every year since 1957.[8]

Award winners
Year Author Title Ref.
1957 Mildred Pace Old Bones, the Wonder Horse
1958 Beverly Cleary Fifteen
1959 Margaret Carver Leighton Comanche of the Seventh
1960 Phoebe Erickson Double or Nothing
1961 Thelma Bell Captain Ghost
1962 Evelyn Sibley Lampman City under the Back Steps
1963 Sheila Burnford The Incredible Journey
1964 Zachary Ball Bristle Face
1965 Sterling North Rascal
1966 Beverly Cleary Ribsy
1967 Phillip Viereck The Summer I Was Lost
1968 Jacqueline Jackson The Taste of Spruce Gum
1969 M. W. Thompson Two in the Wilderness
1970 Walt Morey Kävik the Wolf Dog
1971 Betty K. Erwin Go to the Room of the Eyes
1972 Melvin Ellis Flight of the White Wolf
1973 Donald E. Caufield Never Steal a Magic Cat
1974 George Woods Catch a Killer
1975 Betsy Byars The Eighteenth Emergency
1976 Jean Merrill The Toothpaste Millionaire
1977 Stella Pevsner A Smart Kid Like You
1978 Lois Duncan Summer of Fear
1979 Susan Beth Pfeffer Kid Power
1980 David Budbill Bones on Black Spruce Mountain
1981 James Howe Bunnicula
1982 Francine Pascal The Hand-Me-Down Kid
1983 Judy Blume Tiger Eyes
1984 Pat Rhoades Mauser A Bundle of Sticks
1985 Beverly Cleary Dear Mr. Henshaw ‡
1986 Robert Kimmel Smith The War With Grandpa
1987 Elizabeth Winthrop The Castle in the Attic
1988 Mary Downing Hahn Wait Till Helen Comes
1989 Gary Paulsen Hatchet
1990 Amy Ehrlich Where It Stops, Nobody Knows
1991 Lois Lowry Number the Stars ‡
1992 Jerry Spinelli Maniac Magee ‡
1993 Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Shiloh ‡
1994 Bruce Coville Jennifer Murdley's Toad
1995 Susan Cooper The Boggart
1996 Mary Downing Hahn Time for Andrew
1997 Barbara Park Mick Harte Was Here
1998 Peg Kehret Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio
1999 Gail Carson Levine Ella Enchanted
2000 Louis Sachar Holes ‡
2001 Christopher Paul Curtis Bud, Not Buddy ‡
2002 Kate DiCamillo Because of Winn-Dixie
2003 Sharon Creech Love That Dog
2004 Jerry Spinelli Loser
2005 Kate DiCamillo The Tale of Despereaux ‡
2006 Mary Downing Hahn The Old Willis Place
2007 Carl Hiaasen Flush
2008 Jeff Kinney Diary of a Wimpy Kid
2009 Cynthia Lord Rules
2010 Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games
2011 Wendy Mass 11 Birthdays
2012 Raina Telgemeier Smile
2013 Wendelin Van Draanen The Running Dream
2014 R. J. Palacio Wonder
2015 Chris Grabenstein Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
2016 Cece Bell El Deafo
2017 Jory John and Mac Barnett The Terrible Two [9]
2018 Alan Gratz Projekt 1065 [10]
2019 Alan Gratz Refugee [11]
2020 Katherine Arden Small Spaces

Multiple awards

Several writers have won more than one DCF Award: Beverly Cleary in 1958, 1966, and 1985; Mary Downing Hahn in 1988, 1996, and 2006; Jerry Spinelli and Kate DiCamillo and Alan Gratz twice each.

Seven times from 1985 to 2005 (‡), and no others, the schoolchildren selected the winner of the annual Newbery Medal (dated one year earlier, established 1922). That award by the Association for Library Service to Children recognizes the year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children". The first agreement of Vermont children with U.S. children's librarians was their 1985 selection of Dear Mr. Henshaw by Cleary and there were six more such agreements during the next twenty years to 2005.[12]

Controversy and renaming

Dorothy Canfield Fisher

In 2018, there was a call from the Vermont Library Board to change the name of the award to no longer honor Dorothy Canfield Fisher, following a report that she had ties to Vermont's eugenics movement.[13][14] In April 2019, the Vermont Department of Libraries announced that the award would be renamed in 2020.[15] It was temporarily renamed the "VT Middle-Grade Book Award".[16][17] In November 2020, it was officially renamed the "Vermont Golden Dome Book Award" after a vote by Vermont elementary school students.[18][19]

References

  1. 1 2 "DCF Children's Book Award" (homepage). Google Docs. Retrieved 2014-04-20.
  2. 1 2 Bang-Jensen, Valerie (2010). "A Children's Choice Program: Insights into Book Selection, Social Relationships, and Reader Identity". Language Arts. 87 (3): 169–76.
  3. 1 2 "DCF Children's Book Award". Vermont Department of Libraries. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Red Clover Book Award" Archived May 5, 2014, at the Wayback Machine (homepage). Vermont Department of Libraries. Retrieved 2014-05-04.
  5. ↑ "Red Clover Award Program" Archived May 5, 2014, at the Wayback Machine (homepage). Mother Goose Programs (mothergooseprograms.org). Retrieved 2014-05-04.
  6. ↑ "Green Mountain Book Award" Archived May 5, 2014, at the Wayback Machine (homepage). Vermont Department of Libraries. Retrieved 2014-05-04.
  7. ↑ "Green Mountain Book Award" Archived May 5, 2014, at the Wayback Machine (homepage). Google Docs. Retrieved 2014-05-04.
  8. ↑ "Past Winners" Archived May 5, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Google Docs. Retrieved 2014-05-04.
  9. ↑ "Winners of the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award" (PDF). libraries.vermont.gov.
  10. ↑ Noyes, Amy Kolb (April 30, 2018). "'Projekt 1065' Wins 2018 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award". Vermont Public Radio. Archived from the original on June 27, 2020.
  11. ↑ Noyes, Amy Kolb (June 4, 2019). "Dorothy's List: Alan Gratz Wins Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award For Second Straight Year". Vermont Public Radio. Archived from the original on June 7, 2019.
  12. ↑ "Welcome to the Newbery Medal Home Page!". Association for Library Service to Children. Retrieved April 20, 2014 – via American Library Association.
  13. ↑ Walsh, Molly (June 21, 2017). "Vermont Considers Dumping Dorothy Canfield Fisher Over Ties to Eugenics Movement". Seven Days. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  14. ↑ Walsh, Molly (January 11, 2018). "Library Board Pushes to Rename Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award". Seven Days. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  15. ↑ Noyes, Amy Kolb. "Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award To Be Renamed In 2020". VPR.org. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  16. ↑ "VT Middle-Grade Book Award". Vermont Department of Libraries. Archived from the original on June 27, 2020.
  17. ↑ "Library News". Essex Westford School District. Archived from the original on June 27, 2020.
  18. ↑ "Vermont Golden Dome Book Award". Vermont Department of Libraries. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  19. ↑ "Vermont students select new middle-grade book award" (Press release). VTDigger. November 12, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.