Winners of the MSUM Read Aloud Awards selected by over 21,000 regional children.
The children have spoken and for the eleventh year have chosen the best books when read out loud to them in MSUM’s Read Aloud program. This year’s two winners feature a story about two boys, a very clever dog, and their search for buried treasure, and a humorous twist on how to turn lemons into lemonade when you are punished and sent to your room.
The 2015 winner of the Wanda Gág Book Award for the preschool to eight-year-old category is Sam & Dave Dig a Hole written by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen and published by Candlewick Press. The Wanda Gág honor book for 2015 is A Perfectly Messed-Up Story written and illustrated by Patrick McDonnell.
The 2015 winner of the Comstock Book Award for the 9 to 12-year-old category is What to Do When You’re Sent to Your Room written by Ann Stott, illustrated by Stephen Gilpin and published by Candlewick Press. The Comstock honor books for 2015 are The Bambino and Me written by Zachary Hyman and illustrated by Zachary Pullen; Gifts from the Enemy written by Trudy Ludwig and illustrated by Craig Orback; and Rags: Hero Dog of WWI: A True Story written by Margot Theis Raven and illustrated by Petra Brown.
Eighteen regional teachers and librarians, along with 240 MSUM students read aloud 286 picture books to 21,988 children during the year. The winners and honor books are determined after the Read Aloud Committee examines feedback from readers, which includes responses from children to each of the books. Each book in the competition is read aloud to various groups of children numerous times. The intent of the program is to increase literacy and promote reading aloud to children and to recognize outstanding authors and illustrators each year. A total of 217,941 children have participated in the MSUM Read Aloud Book Awards program in the past ten years. Each year after the award winners are selected, the MSUM Curriculum Materials Center (CMC) donates a large portion of the picture books to area libraries and nonprofits. To date, over 7,000 picture books have been donated.
The awards program is administered by the staff of the MSUM Livingston Lord Library’s Curriculum Materials Center (CMC), which holds a large collection of children’s books and resource materials for in-service teachers. The book award project is partially funded by the Solomon G. Comstock Memorial Fund of the Minneapolis Foundation and the Wanda Gág Book Award Fund of the MSUM Alumni Foundation.
Pam Werre, Curriculum Materials Center Librarian/Read Aloud Committee Chair
Livingston Lord Library
Minnesota State University Moorhead
1104 Seventh Avenue South
Moorhead, MN 56563
Phone: 218.477.5818
FAX: 218.477.5924
werrepa@mnstate.edu
http://web.mnstate.edu/cmc/
http://www.mnstate.edu/cmc/comstock-read-aloud-initiative.aspx