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Prizing Balance

International School

Librarian Networks:

Annual Book Award Initiatives

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Nadine Bailey

@intlnadine�nadinejuliabailey@gmail.com�nadine_bailey@wab.edu

Western Academy of Beijing

China

Katie Day

@librarianedge

katie.appleton.day@gmail.com

katie.day@tts.edu.sg

Tanglin Trust School

Singapore

IBBY Congress - Moscow�September 2021

These slides: bit.ly/ibby prizing balance

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These slides: bit.ly/ibby prizing balance

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International Schools are �Diverse places

Students balancing on seesaw by Nadine Bailey of WAB Middle school students

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50-100+

0-60%+

Up to 80

Typical �Intl School Profile

Different nationalities

Local Students

Home languages

Shelfie Photos by Mako Borres of �WAB Middle school students

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Language informs thought

1999 / 2001 / 2009

2018 / 2020

1950’s

Third Culture Kids

internationalism

international-�mindedness

2018

transnational youth

cosmopolitanism

[a la Danau Tanu]

Download free intro here

Since the 1950s the term used to describe our kind of students was “third culture kids” -- referring to children growing up outside their parents’ home country -- who acquire a third identity which is a mix of their parents’ culture and the culture of the country they are growing up in.�

More recently Danau Tanu did an ethnographic study of students in an international school in Indonesia for her PhD thesis in anthropology, now published as the book “Growing Up in Transit.”��She argues for the term “transnational youth” --- which she defines as -- “any young person who is affected by international mobility either directly, by moving from country to country, or indirectly, by growing up in a transnational environment such as the international school where the people around them are highly mobile.”

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Schools & Libraries Function as an Oasis to families in transit

Photo by Willian Justen de Vasconcellos on Unsplash

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Post colonial legacy of the English

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Our students deserve mirrors

New, relevant books reflecting their multicultural, transnational, intersectional diversity
#notourdiversity

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Prizes focus attention

Why do we have awards?

Why do we need more?

Photo by Uriel Soberanes on Unsplash

Why do we have awards? And why do we need more?

Prizes focus attention -- especially on wonderful new books. That’s the purpose behind the IBBY Honour Lists every two years. But unfortunately those aren’t necessarily accessible to our students.�

There are many latest/greatest awards for English-language books, with the most prominent ones being associated with a particular nation, e.g., the Newbery & Caldecott in the US, and the Carnegie & Greenaway in the UK. So which ones should an international English-medium school choose to promote?

Back in 2007 some international school teacher-librarians in Japan got together and decided to create their own annual award. As they said - quote: �

“We felt that too many children were being pushed the old classics by class teachers and it was time for their eyes to be opened to all the great recent fiction from around the world. We also felt we live in publishing bubbles: American schools see mostly American books, British British ones and so on. We wanted to give them a bigger, international range.”

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Annual book awards run by international school librarian networks

Singapore

Japan

Hong Kong

China

Thailand

Vietnam

Korea

Switzerland

Europe

(Belgium, Czech, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Germany)

India

Africa

* Click on logo for link to award website

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Shortlists for each category

How recent? All the international school librarian book awards specify how “old” a book must be, e.g., published in English within the last 2 years or 3 years or 5 years?

How many books per category? 4 books? 6 books? 8 books? More?

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Baskets

Don’t think “the best”, think:

How we conceptualise the balance of books in a shortlist according to the various desirable elements and aspects of the criteria

Photo by Mary zighmi on Unsplash

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Variables to check for balance:

Genres - on the reality continuum

Unrealistic fiction
Realistic fiction
Non-fiction

Local / Regional / Global
Diversity / Social issues
Appeal to range of genders
Translation
Format

Graphic / Wordless
Verse novel / Poetry

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Appeal (desirability)

Availability�(viability)

Accessibility�(feasibility)

NB: The intersection of desirability, feasibility, and viability is a Design Thinking construct

Reader

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Both Katie and I are founding jury members for the Neev Book Award, celebrating voices in children’s literature emerging from India, and it has allowed us to discover books we wouldn’t otherwise have access to.�

For example, the picture book “I Will Save My Land,” is available via Book Depository, to cite a popular online bookstore that has free shipping to many countries.�

However, “Year of the Weeds,” a mature/YA category novel, is only available outside India as an ebook (on Overdrive) and then only in some countries.�

“Oonga,” another mature/YA category novel, isn’t available for purchase outside of India.�

It is a loss that our children can’t have access to these well written topical books. Through their strong human interest connections, they activate empathy and integrate with our social justice curriculum related to the sustainable development goals.

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We have a responsibility to introduce children to things they don't yet know they will love.�Dr. Edith Ackermann

Source: The Librarian Edge

“

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Sifting down to a shortlist

Formats

SHORTLIST

LONGLIST

Countries / Languages

Genres

Diversity

Librarians gather potential / “recent” titles

Variety of genres (fantasy, scifi, mystery, biography, narrative nonfiction

Variety of source countries and languages (translations)

Diverse representations - of gender, ability, cultures, etc.

Variety of formats (e.g., graphic, verse novel, etc.)

Balanced shortlist of 4-8 ?? titles

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Essential ingredients:

Capacity & crowdsourcing

Inter/national librarian networks

Moodle: InTL Lead
Facebook: Int’l School Library Connection
Twitter: #intlchat, #intllead

Transnational organisations:

IBBY
GLLI (Global Literature in �Libraries Initiative)
Project: World Kit Lit

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Promotion to Community

Shortlists more important �than a “winner”

Reading

Events to encourage students & teachers to read the selection

Books added to class libraries

Involvement

Quiz type competitions

Reader’s Festivals

Alternative book covers

Reviews

Book Trailers etc.

.

Voting/Winners

Within a school

Within a country

After all that work then, there is always the risk that books will not be taken up by the community unless we make it enticing for our students and teachers to read and engage with the books. For each award, or school this can take a different form, from inter-class competitions, to reader’s cups, battle of the books, creating alternative book covers or trailers and of course voting for the students’ favourites. We’ve found authors also to be very enthusiastic in responding to student questions through twitter or taking part in a (virtual) or actual author visit - this is also a wonderful opportunity for students to engage with authors and the writing process and discover authors are real people (and not dead!).��But it’s important to stress that it’s not about any book becoming a winner -- in a school or a network or a country. It’s about the whole shortlist, that balanced basket of books, selected with our students in mind.

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Roadmap

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3

5

6

4

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Baskets & categories established

Short-list created & read by selection committee

Individual librarians promote in their schools

Long-list of books suggested & distributed for reading

Final selection communicated & purchased by schools

Students vote on their favourite

Events like Readers Cup or Book Bowl or Battle of the Books

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Examples from Red Dot, Panda, Sakura & Siam awards:

Translations shortlisted (Older/Junior Readers)

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Examples from Red Dot, Panda, Sakura & Siam awards:

Translations shortlisted (Mature/YA Readers)

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Books win, readers win, authors win.

In conclusion, our award programs aren’t about one book winning, but about every reader winning. ��Having students vote for a “winner” is just a trick to get them to read all the books on the shortlist -- that’s the real prize. �

Teachers win as we now have multiple copies of recent books that students relate to -- which can be incorporated in their class libraries and reading circles and teaching.��And the experience of being involved in an annual book award process is the personal reward for the teacher-librarians, allowing us to read widely and think hard about how diversity can be reflected for our students in our carefully chosen balanced baskets of books every year.��For every international school librarian network and their international school students, the reward is the reading and sharing that happens in a community of readers.

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These slides: bit.ly/ibby prizing balance

Script document for slides

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Awards comparison

Award	Region	Year started	Categories	Titles per category	Yrs limit?	# Schools	Connected events
Sakura	Japan	2007	5 + 3*	15-21**	4	16	Art competition / Book Bowl
Panda	China	2008	7 + 1***	10	4	45	Kids Read Quiz�Panda Madness
Red Dot	Singapore	2009	4	8	4	30	Readers Cup
Nile	Africa	2009	3	5	3	8	--

* 5 English-language + 3 Japanese language CATEGORIES

** e.g., 20 Eng pic bks, 20 Eng chapter books, 16 Eng graphic novels, 21 Eng MS Fiction, 15 Eng HS Fiction, 15 Jap pic bks, 15 Jap chapter books, and 15 Jap MS/HS books

*** 7 English + 1 Chinese CATEGORIES

* Click on logo for link to award website

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Awards comparison

Award	Region	Year started	Categories	Titles per category	Yrs limit?	# Schools	Connected events
Morning Calm	Korea	2012	4	5	3	21	Battle of the Books
Golden Cowbell	Switzerland	2013	4	4-8	2	?
Golden Dragon	Hong Kong	2014	5	4	3	30+
Jarul	India	2016	1	10	10	8

*

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Awards comparison

Award	Region	Year started	Categories	Titles per category	Yrs limit?	# Schools	Connected events
Iris	Europe*	2017	4 + 4**	6-15	?	22	Book Bowl
Siam	Thailand	2017	4	6	5	30	--
Gold Star	Vietnam	2020	4	5	3	11	Battle of the Books

* Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Luxembourg, France, Netherlands, Germany

** 4 English + 1 Dutch + `1 French + 2 German CATEGORIES

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Link to all shortlisted Neev books in all categories - since the award started in 2018

Click on images for links to webpages

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Global Literature in Libraries Initiative

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2021 winners

2021 Honor books

LINK

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Project: World Kid Lit

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ibby.org

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Prizing Children’s Literature:

The Cultural Politics

of Children’s Book Awards

edited by

Kenneth B. Kidd & Joseph T. Thomas Jr.

2016

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Read parts of it via Google Books

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Thank you!