William Allen White Legacy Day and the William Allen White Children’s Book Award winners were celebrated in Emporia on Saturday Oct. 4.
“We’re trying to let people know what’s going on with legacy day, and that’s kind of what we wanted—to let people around the state hear the name of William Allen White again,” said Beverley Buller, William Allen White Children’s Book Awards committee chairperson.
This is the 62nd year of the Children’s Book Award.
“90% of the WAW award winners are still in print… randomly, it would be more like 50% [of books] so either Kansas school children are very good at predicting what is going to become a classic or… Kansas school children picking that book makes it become a classic,” said John Sheridan, Dean of Library and Archives.
To choose the nominees, twenty teachers, parents and principals select books they would like to see on the William Allen White list, and make a commitment to reading at least 50% of the books. This past year, 160 books were nominated.
“Then we bring the group of 20 people to Emporia Saturday and Sunday, I feed them breakfast and lunch, no supper, and lock the door and tell them we don’t leave this room until we have the final list,” Sheridan said.
The final list this year had 18 books. At a VIP Reception held at the end of the day, winning authors Don Brown and Helen Frost had their winning books available, as well as books they had written in the past.
“[My book “America is Under Attack” is] about September 11th for kids roughly 9 to 11, and it came out on the 10th year anniversary, and so it’s nice that the kids of Kansas enjoy it,” Brown said.
Frost’s book “Hidden” was selected by grades 6-8.
Two books about White were on display as well- “A Prairie Peter Pan: The Story of Mary White” and “From Emporia: The Story of William Allen White” by Buller.
“I wrote the first one because there were no books [about White] in school libraries for children,” Buller said. “So, they want to know who’s William Allen White…how did this book award become named after him.”
The motto of the award itself is: ‘Bringing authors, books, and children together.’ The authors had to agree that if they won, they would come to Emporia. Children got to talk to the authors all by themselves in a private session the night before Legacy Day.
“One of the questions last night was, ‘how many of you envision yourself being a published author one day?’ 80% of the kids raised their hands. What a wonderful aspiration, and if we can do something to encourage them, think about the possibilities” Sheridan said.