Story is a powerful tool for teaching humane concepts like compassion, responsibility, and respect. Good books provide context, create empathy, and give children characters to identify with, care about, and learn from. Stories can even inspire moral action and good citizenship.
Each year, Humane Society Youth recognizes an exceptional children's book with a humane focus on animals or the environment with the KIND Children's Book Award.
The 2008 winner was Before You Were Mine (2007), written by Maribeth Boelts and illustrated by David Walker.
Honor books for 2008 were:
- The Tale of Pale Male: A True Story, written and illustrated by Jeanette Winter
- Max Talks to Me, written by Claire Buchwald and illustrated by Karen Ritz
- Dogku, written by Andrew Clements and illustrated by Tim Bowers
- Luck, written by Jean Craighead George and illustrated by Wendell Minor
- White Owl, Barn Owl, written by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Michael Foreman
- Fred Stays with Me!, written by Nancy Coffelt and illustrated by Tricia Tusa
- Champ, written by Marcia Thornton Jones
For more information on these titles you should read the entire annotated list for 2008. You can also view the list of winners and honor books from previous years (1995-2007) for some outstanding choices.
In the meantime, perhaps we can try to predict some of the titles that will appear on the 2009 list. My suggestions include poetry, nonfiction and a picture book.
- Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival, written Kirby Larson and Mary Nethery and illustrated by Jean Cassels
- Stella Unleashed: Notes From the Doghouse, written by Linda Ashman and illustrated by Paul Meisel
- The Dog Who Belonged to No One, written by Amy Hest and illustrated by Amy Bates
Will you play along with me? What was your favorite book published in 2008 with a "humane focus on animals or the environment"?
Oh, if you only reviewed children's fiction...We would like to send you a review copy of Planet Of Dogs, the first book in our Planet of the Dogs series.
ReplyDeleteThe series is recommended for children 6-12 and dog lovers of all ages.
For sample chapters and more information on the series, please visit www.planetofthedogs.net.
For information on the concepts behind our books and our involvement in therapy dog reading programs, please visit http://barkingplanet.typepad.com.
If you are interested, please email us a postal address at barkingplanet@aol.com and we will be pleased to send you the book.
Or, after visiting our sites you would prefer to review the series, including Castle In The Mist and Snow Valley Heroes, A Christmas Tale, let us know, and we will send you the series.
Happy holidays teacher and mom,
Robert McCarty
Barking Planet Productions
Try:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.humaneeducationteacher.org/Booklist.html
This is a lovely award, isn't it? I only know about it because I do an awards database for the Children's Literature Network. Otherwise, I never would have heard of it, either.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading your post, Stella Unleashed (Linda Ashman) was the first thing that came to my mind. Glad to see it included in your list!