As many of you know, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award program is being renamed. The Vermont Department of Libraries formed a committee last spring, consisting of teachers, students, and Dept. of Libraries staff. Students from around the state submitted name ideas and I was hoping the committee would have a new name before school starts, but instead they have picked their top 10 and will let students vote on the final name. I'll be sure to share the voting information when it becomes available.
For now, regardless of the name, there are new award books to read this year! As usual, read them and enjoy them. When you read five or more books you get to vote on your favorite one. The book that gets the most votes from students around the state gets an award.
(Click on any book to view the book trailer.)
Check out some of the winners from past years:
2020 - Small Spaces, by Katherine Arden
2019 - Refugee, by Alan Gratz
2018 - Projekt 1065: A Novel of World War II, by Alan Gratz
2017 - The Terrible Two, by Jory John & Mac Barnett
2016 - El Deafo, by Cece Bell
2015 - Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, by Chris Grabenstein
We were so lucky to have author Lindsey Stoddard visit DBS yesterday! She is the author of Just Like Jackie (a Dorothy Canfield Fisher book award nominee) and Right as Rain, both excellent YA novels based (in whole or in part) in Vermont. Lindsey spoke with 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. She told them how she finds inspiration, how she has fed and watered "seeds" from her past that then grew into novels, and how they should look to their own experiences for inspiration as well. We even got a sneak peek at her newest book, coming out this summer. The kids were super excited. They had great questions and I now have a long reserve list for her books in the library. :)
Thank you Lindsey for signing everything they threw at you and inspiring our budding authors!
Students at DBS were on the mark with both awards! For the Red Clover book award, The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors, by Drew Daywalt, won the vote at DBS and went on to win the state-wide vote as well.
This funny book explains the back story of these three great warriors and without fail every child starts playing the game as soon as the book is over.
The older kids were busy reading Dorothy Canfield Fisher book award nominees all year and when they got the chance to vote the results were a tie: Refugee and Ban This Book, both written by Alan Gratz! When the votes were tallied across the state, Refugee took the win.
Refugee is a powerful story of three separate children, in three separate periods of time, escaping their dangerous homelands and seeking refuge in a safer place.
Sadly we can't go to the award ceremony this year, but I hosted a little celebration in the library for those who read and voted in the Dorothy Canfield Fisher award. We had brownies, ice cream, and a fun Skype session with Terry Lynn Johnson, author of Falcon Wild! She talked about falconing, mushing (dog sleds!), and her new book. The kids had lots of great questions for her.
The 2019/20 list is out for both awards and the books are in. I'm looking forward to sharing them with students next fall.
Did you know that NPR has a podcast series for kids called Dorothy's List? Once a month they focus on one of the book from the Dorothy Canfield Fisher book award list. They visit children in school to find out what they think of the book, what projects they're doing related to the book, and what questions they might have for the author. Then they ask the author! This is a great introduction to the books and an engaging podcast series for kids and adults alike. Check it out on NPR!
Author Alan Gratz wrote the book that won the Dorothy Canfield Fisher book award last year. He has TWO books on this year's list! He wasn't able to attend the award ceremony, but he did send this video for Vermont students!
Fourth and fifth graders voted last week and The Land of Forgotten Girls, by Erin Entrada Kelly, was the winner at DBS! There were 21 kids who read at least five of the nominated books and got to vote. One motivated kiddo read all 29 books from the list! The Land of Forgotten Girls won by a small margin. It seems there wasn't a landslide winner like there was last year. It was also our Battle of the Books winner in 4th grade this year.
The Vermont Department of Libraries tallied the votes from all of the voters throughout the state and the official winner is Projekt 1065, by Alan Gratz! I loved this book! It was so exciting! It was also a semi-finalist in our Battle of the Books in 5th grade this year.
Alan Gratz has two books on next year's Dorothy Canfield Fisher book award list: Ban This Book, and Refugee. Check out the whole list and get a jump start on your reading!
The Battle of the Books took a little longer than expect, but we made it to the end and celebrated!
The fourth grader winner were able to defend their book, The Land of Forgotten Girls, by Erin Entrada Kelly to the end, convincing their peers that their book is best.
4th grade winning book
Fifth was a cliff-hanger for a few extra weeks, but the winners put together a cute (spoiler alert worthy) news report to help their book win the battle. Congrats to When Friendship Followed Me Home, by Paul Griffin.
5th grade winning book
Each team got to invite friends and we all celebrated with a pizza and brownie lunch. Crazy kids! :)
4th and 5th grade Battle of the Books winners, plus their invited guests.
Next week all the 4th and 5th grades will be taking a Battle of the Books survey. I can't wait to see what they have to say.
We will also be voting for the Dorothy Canfield Fisher book awards next week. All of the books in the Battle of the Books this year are on the Dorothy Canfield Fisher book award list.
I am very excited to start a Battle of the Books program at Dothan Brook School. I have seen a lot of ideas kicking around on the Internet and it took me a year to wrap my brain around it, but now I've got it and the kids are getting excited!
We are going to do four rounds, elimination style. Fourth and fifth graders will be working in pairs to convince the rest of their class that the book they chose is the best! They are trying to convince the rest of the kids to read their chosen book.
Round one, with everyone participating, will be to create a poster in art class that represents their book. Posters will be displayed in pairs in the library and their classmates will vote on which ones make them want to read the book the most. Winners will move on to round two.
Round two is to do a dramatic reading in front of their class, round three is to act out a scene from the book, and round four is to create a technology project.
I have mentioned to the project to the kids a few times in the past few weeks, but gotten lukewarm response. This week the kids are picking their books and the excitement is definitely building! Fifth graders have picked their books and fourth will be picking later this week.
Check out this silly intro I created using PowToons. I've been showing each class at library time.
This is a learning experience for all of us, but I hope everyone has fun!
School started this week and we have all been busy! I rearranged the library and added some decorations, which the kids have enjoyed finding. The fish had babies just in time to entertain the students (and make them ask questions about survival rates!) It has been a great first week, with one more day to go! I'm so happy to be at Dothan Brook School again this year and to see so many happy, smiling faces returning.
Welcome back! Where will READING take YOU this year?
I moved the Dorothy Canfield Fisher book display this year. The more flexible locations allows for taller books and more kids to browse at the same time. It's also a little more prominent and, hopefully, easier for the kids to find. We will be doing a fun Battle of the Books with these books this year, so I'd love to get as many fourth and fifth graders as possible reading them.
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Awards display
Fourth and fifth graders are starting the library year off with a QR code scavenger hunt. They had to find 24 locations around the library, scan the QR code to find out the word for that location, then put the words in order to get a quote. It's a fun activity with a Harry Potter quote at the end, but unfortunately the quote was a little above most of their heads. They enjoyed the search though! Next time I'll make my own version and use a different quote. :)
Technology AND freedom to roam the library?! Score!!
This year the students and teachers have all been divided into five "houses," indicated by color. I'm in the Blue house. At our first school-wide assembly on Tuesday all of the kids learned what house they are in and then we did some fun activities with our houses.
I took ten lucky readers to the the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award Ceremony today. The weather was perfect and we had so much fun!! The ceremony was held at the beautiful Vermont Technical College in Randolph, Vermont. We took a bus with the White River School librarian and students.
We arrived early enough to have snack in the sunshine before the ceremony.
Group photo on this beautiful day!
Snack and a book? Yes, please!
Then we went into Judd Hall where the ceremony was held. We claimed good seats up front, then headed to the book display to pick up some new books. While the audience was arriving, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher committee had a display cycling through all of the books that have won the award over the past 60 years. The kids were excited to see many favorites on the list!
Ten kids reading new books while waiting patiently for the speaker. Best field trip ever!
The ceremony started with recognition for our own Harper Robinson who won the Dorothy Canfield Fisher 60th Anniversary art contest! She was presented with two different autographed books and a certificate. It was so nice that her parents were able to join us for the ceremony as well.
Harper (center) with Cass Mabbot, Youth Services Consultant (left) and Hannah Peacock, chair of the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award Committee (right)
The winner this year is The Terrible Two, by Jory John and Mac Barnett. Unfortunately they couldn't be at the ceremony in person, but Mac Barnett joined us via Skype all the way from Oakland, California! He was up early and he "even put on real pants for you guys!" (he said has he stood up to show everyone he was wearing blue jeans). He spoke for a few minutes about the book, about working with Jory John, and about his last trip to Vermont. He also read a passage from The Terrible Two. He is a very funny and engaging person.
Then the kids got to ask questions. We learned that he is having work done on the house and laughed at the contractors coming and going behind him. We learned that he has a dog, who ended up hanging out in the car for a little while (windows down, no worries!) because he was too noisy in the house.
The kids had great questions. They asked why he became a writer, to which he replied that he loves books, he loves reading, and he loves sleeping late! They asked where he gets his inspiration and he said that it's important to figure out what you care about and then figure out how to make others care too. He keeps a notebook with him and whenever he sees something inspiring or something that tugs at his heart a little bit, he writes it down. They also asked what is his favorite thing to write about and the audience had a good laugh when he said that he likes writing about people messing up, failing, or doing the wrong thing. He was a joker growing up and loved playing jokes on his mom. Now he has fun writing about them instead.
The Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award Committee presented Mac Barnett with a painting done by a local Vermont artist (I didn't catch the name).
It's an award, homage to his book, and painting all in one!
When the ceremony was over we headed back outside for lunch in the sunshine and shade. Then it was back on the bus and back to school - just in time for recess!!
The fourth graders
The boys
The girls, who were laughing so hard I couldn't get a good picture!
I think everyone had fun! Most of them came back with a new book and a few funny moments to remember. I came back with the same number of kids I left with, all in the same good condition, so I consider this, my first field trip, to be a success!! I'm already looking forward to next year's ceremony!
Spring is here and we are all hoping these April showers bring May flowers!
In the library we finished reading the Red Clover books and voted for our favorite. Here at DBS The Blue Whale was the winner. Voting closed around the state today, so we should know pretty soon which book won for the whole state.
The lists for next year have been announced. These would be a great start for your summer reading! Next year's fourth and fifth graders can count the Dorothy Canfield Fisher books they read over the summer as part of their voting goal for next school year!
In other award news, our very own Harper Robinson won the Dorothy Canfield Fisher 60th anniversary poster contest!
Harper's artwork will appear on Dorothy Canfield Fisher media and publications celebrating their 60th anniversary. Harper will receive autographed copies of the 2016/17 winning book and special recognition at the award ceremony. Congratulations Harper!
The 2017/18 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award nominees list is out! I bought all 30 for the library, and extra copies of some of them! Hopefully we'll have less of a backlog than we had this school year.
Dothan Brook Schools participates in the Dorothy Canfield Fisher book awards each year. According to Wikipedia:
The Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award annually recognizes one new American children's book selected by the vote of Vermont schoolchildren. ...
The award is co-sponsored by the Vermont State PTA and the Vermont Department of Libraries and named after the Vermont writer Dorothy Canfield Fisher. Each spring a committee of eight adults selects a "Master List" of 30 books first published during the previous calendar year. Next spring, those children who have read at least five of the 30 books are eligible to vote for the award. The winning writer is invited to visit Vermont to speak with children about the experience of writing for children. Read more on Wikipedia or the Vermont Department of Libraries website
We have all of this year's nominees in the library and I will be talking about them with fourth and fifth graders. Please encourage your child to give them a try! I'll have a brochure for them to use to track which books they've read and what they thought of them.
This year the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Committee has also put up a blog for students to track which books they have read and discuss them with other student readers. Check it out! It's also a great place to go for a quick description of each book.
