The Children's Literature Lecture Award (known as the May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture from 1970-2020) is an annual event sponsored by the
Association for Library Service to Children
The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) is a division of the American Library Association, and it is the world's largest organization dedicated to library service to children. Its members are concerned with creating a better future ...
(ALSC), a division of the
American Library Association
The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...
. The organization counts selection as the lecturer among its "Book & Media Awards", for selection recognizes a career contribution to
children's literature
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader.
Children's ...
. At the same time, the lecturer "shall prepare a paper considered to be a significant contribution to the field of children's literature", to be delivered as the Children's Literature Lecture and to be published in the ALSC journal ''
Children & Libraries''.
[
The lecture was established in 1969 to honor the educator ]May Hill Arbuthnot
May Hill Arbuthnot (August 27, 1884 – October 2, 1969) was an American educator, editor, writer, and critic who devoted her career to the awareness and importance of children's literature. Her efforts expanded and enriched the selection of bo ...
.[ Arbuthnot was one creator of "]Dick and Jane
''Dick and Jane'' are the two main characters created by Zerna Sharp for a series of basal readers written by William S. Gray to teach children to read. The characters first appeared in the ''Elson-Gray Readers'' in 1930 and continued in a sub ...
" readers and she wrote the first three editions of ''Children and Books'' (Scott, Foresman
Scott Foresman was an elementary educational publisher for PreK through Grade 6 in all subject areas. Its titles are now owned by Savvas Learning Company which formed from former Pearson Education K12 division. The old Glenview headquarters o ...
1947, 1957, 1964). When informed of the new honorary lecture in her name, 'she recalled "that long stretch of years when I was dashing from one end of the country to the other, bringing children and books together by way of the spoken word."'[ It was renamed the "Children's Literature Lecture Award" in January 2020.About the Children's Literature Lecture Award]
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The lecturer may be an "author, critic, librarian, historian, or teacher of children's literature, of any country". The Children's Literature Lecture Award Committee selects one from a list of nominations, a process currently completed in January 15 to 18 months before the event. Then institutions apply to be the host: any "library school, department of education in college or university, or a children's library system". Several months later the same committee selects the host institution from the applicants.[
]
Lectures
Repeat lectures
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee, UWM, or Milwaukee) is a public urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and a member of the University of Wiscon ...
has hosted two lectures.
Two lecture titles allude to '' The Secret Garden'', a 1911 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (24 November 1849 – 29 October 1924) was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (published in 1885–1886), '' A Little ...
.
See also
References
External links
2009 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture
—example event poster
{{ALA(library)
Annual events in the United States
Recurring events established in 1969
American children's literary awards
American Library Association awards
Lectures
1969 establishments in the United States
English-language literary awards