The American Indian Library Association (AILA),
an affiliate of the American Library Association, has just announced the recipients of its 3rd American Indian Youth Literature Awards.
Best Picture Book is Thomas King’s A Coyote Solstice Tale, illustrated by Gary Clement, published by Groundwood Books, 2009.
Best Middle School Book is Meet Christopher: An Osage Indian Boy from Oklahoma. Written by Genevieve Simermeyer, with photographs by Katherine Fogden, Meet Christopher is published by the National Museum of the American Indian, in association with Council Oak Books, 2008. It is the fourth book in the “My World: Young Native Americans Today” series, in which each book is written and photographed by Native contributors and is available from the National Museum of the American Indian.
Best Young Adult Book is Lurline Wailana McGregor’s Between the Deep Blue Sea and Me: A Novel, published by Kamehameha Publishing, 2008. Click here, to read an extensive interview with the author. Joy Harjo, author of The Good Luck Cat and For a Girl Becoming, worked with McGregor on development of the screenplay that evolved into this book. On her blog, Harjo said:
“Though this is a particularly Hawaiian story, the issues, characters, and sensibilities are similar to indigenous people all over the world.”
Winners of the AILA Youth Literature Award will receive a cash award and a beaded medallion featuring the AILA awards logo. at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. on Monday, June 28th. For more information check out Deebie Reese’’s blog American Indians in Children’s Literature.