Quick, kids. Let’s bring your favorite author to Rhode Island!
Third to fifth graders get the vote this month…for their favorite books!
February is when 3rd to 5th graders get the vote…to choose the annual Rhode Island Children’s Book Award winner, that is. The state invites the author to receive his or her medal at a special ceremony in October.
The time to vote is now through March 2 at many of the state’s public libraries.
The winning author receives a medal and an invitation to visit Rhode Island in October for a ceremony. The polls are open Feb. 1 through March 2 at several public libraries including, in South County: Ashaway, Exeter, Hope Valley (Langworthy), and Richmond (Clark). Check to see if your local library has a poll.
The voter must have read at least three of the 30 nominated books. The range is magnificent. As Kathleen Odean notes in the Providence Journal notes, the fiction books alone “focus on sports, school, friendship, immigrants, orphans, war, superstitions, witches, monsters, quests and much more.”
And, Odean continues, “Kids who prefer facts to fiction will find a true story about an orchestra with instruments made from trash, a picture book biography of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a memoir of Little League star Mo’ne Davis and … ‘Wet Cement: A Mix of Concrete Poems.’”
Look for the books at your public or school library. The Rhode Island Center for the Book persuaded publishers to donate copies to schools, too.
The Rhode Island Middle School Book Award, for students in 6th through 8th grade, will open voting in March.
