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William Allen White
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For additional information, visit the following sites:
The William Allen White Award
The William Allen White Children's Book Award, established and directed by
Emporia State University, was founded in 1952 by the late Ruth Garver Gagliardo,
a specialist in Children's Literature, to honor the memory of one of the state's
most distinguished citizens by encouraging the boys and girls of Kansas to read
and enjoy good books. The White Awards Program is supported in part by the
Trusler Foundation.
When the William Allen White Children’s Book Award Executive Committee meet on June 5, 1999, it was decided that there would be two awards presented commencing in 2001. One White Award Medal would be presented to the author of the winning book selected by third through fifth graders. The second medal would be presented to the author of the winning book selected by sixth through eighth graders.
Boys and girls in the third through the fifth grades in Kansas schools are encouraged to read as many books as possible from the Master List for those grades. Students in the sixth through eighth grades in Kansas schools are encouraged to read as many books as possible from the Master List for those grades. When a student has read two books from the appropriate Master List, he or she is eligible to vote for the annual White Award winner in that category. Bookmarks, which reproduce the Master Lists, are sent to all elementary schools, middle schools and special schools in Kansas during the summer for distribution to the students. Bookmarks are also sent to public libraries in Kansas.
Voting takes place annually during March. Votes are recorded by each school or district on the official voting report forms for the third through fifth grades and sixth through eighth grades furnished by the White Award Program. The winner is announced in April.
William Allen White Award winners 2004
Grades 3-5: Ghost Sitter, Peni R. Griffin, Dutton
Grades 6-8: Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps, Andrea Warren, Harper Collins
Press Release
Books by Griffin, Warren selected as 2004 White Book Award Winners
EMPORIA, Kansas – A story about the ghost of a ten-year-old girl and her friendship with a girl who comes to live in the house she haunts and a story about a twelve-year-old Polish boy who survives the Nazi concentration camps have been selected as the 52nd annual William Allen White Children’s Book Award Winners.
Ghost Sitter by Peni R. Griffin is the 2004 White Award winner in the third to fifth grade category and Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps by Andrea Warren is the winner of the sixth to eighth grade 2004 White Award, according to Joyce N. Davis, Dean of the University Libraries and Archives at Emporia State University and Executive Director of the White Awards Program. The White Awards Program, which is the nation’s first statewide reader’s choice award, is directed by Emporia State University and is supported by the Trusler Foundation.
More than 55,000 Kansas boys and girls in the third through eighth grades participated in the voting for this year’s awards. The boys and girls voted for their favorite book from master lists chosen by the White Awards Book Selection Committee, which is made up of representatives of educational institutions in Kansas, Kansas educational and professional organizations concerned with children, classroom teachers, and school or public librarians working with children.
Griffin’s Ghost Sitter, winner of the third through fifth grade award, is the story of ten-year-old Susie, a ghost who does not realize she was killed 50 years ago in a fireworks accident. Susie cannot understand why people, including her own family, move in and out of her house, and why no one, except very young children, ever seem to notice that she is there. When ten-year-old Charlotte moves into the house with her family, including a younger brother, she and her new friend Shannon try to help Susie understand that she has died so that she can stop haunting the house and move on. Alternating between Susie and Charlotte’s points of view, this thrilling but not-too-scary ghost story provides just enough tension and emotional impact as all three girls learn valuable lessons about family and friendship.
Peni R.Griffin is the author of many books for children and young adults and claims that her audience generally is herself at age ten. She learned a love of reading during long car-trips as a child and reads true ghost stories “extensively,” during which she noticed that “ghosts seldom understand that they’re dead, and haunt all sorts of places, even suburban tract homes, not just Gothic mansions.” She was born in Texas and currently lives there in a 90 year-old house with her husband, a housemate, and two cats, but she also lived many places in between.
Warren’s Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps, winner of the sixth
through eighth grade award, is the story of Jack Mandelbaum, who is imprisoned
with his family in the Nazi concentration camps after being forced to flee from
his Polish neighborhood at the age of twelve. Told from fifteen-year-old Jack’s
point of view, the story describes the horrifying living conditions and the
bonds created between fellow prisoners as they struggle to survive. Using black
and white photographs from the era to provide a visual historical context for
the story, Warren creates a true-to-life tale about courage, friendship, and
family ties, during a time of dreadful violence, and about a boy attempting to
stay alive long enough to be reunited with his family.
Andrea Warren, a Kansan, says, “I’m always looking behind facts and dates in
search of how extraordinary times impact ordinary people. I think the most
engaging way to study history is by seeing it through the eyes of participants.
Each of us wants to know, If that had been me at that time, in that place, what
would I have done? What would have happened to me?" Among Warren's honors are
the prestigious Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Orphan Train Rider: One Boy's
True Story, which was also selected as an ALA Notable Book. She won the Midland
Authors Award for Pioneer Girl, Growing Up on the Prairie. A former teacher and
journalist, Warren writes from her home in the Kansas City suburb of Prairie
Village, Kansas.
Since 1952, more than 2,800,000 votes have been cast by the children of Kansas
to select the annual winners of the White Book Awards. The White Award Program
was founded by Ruth Carver Gagliardo, a specialist in Children’s Literature, to
honor the memory of one of the state’s most distinguished citizens by
encouraging the boys and girls of Kansas to read and enjoy good books.
Gagaliardo’s dedicated and inspired leadership guided the White Award Program
from 1952 until her death on January 5, 1980.
Ghost Sitter
Ghost Sitter
Ghost Sitter. Peni R. Griffin; Dutton, 2001
Grade Level: 3 - 5
ISBN & Cost: 0525466762 $14.99
Synopsis: Susie and Charlotte are both taking care of Charlotte’s little brother Brandon. The only problem is that Susie died 50 years earlier and won’t or can’t understand that she is dead. This ghost story is seen from both Susie and Charlotte’s viewpoints.
General Review: The suburban setting and the ordinary activities in this story make it all the more eerie. It is a fun ghost story for the middle of summer.
Author Information: http://www.txdirect.net/~griffin/0writing.htm
Discussion Questions: Standard 3, Benchmark 3
Why is Susie waiting in the house? Who is she waiting for? Have
you ever been left somewhere by yourself and wondered when your family was
coming back to get you?
How do you celebrate the 4th of July? How is Charlotte’s family planning to
celebrate the holiday?
Charlotte wanted to find out about a family that lived in her house many years
ago. Where did she look for information and how did she find it?
How did Susie and Gloria feel when they finally are together again? How did that
meeting change both of the sisters?
Activity Suggestions:
Look up the fireworks regulations in your area? Talk about safe ways to
celebrate. Standard 1, Benchmark 4
Research your town or neighborhood’s history from 50 years ago. Look in
newspaper articles or books about that time. What was your area like? Did your
house exist? How has the area changed in 50 years? Standard 1, Benchmark 4
Do a unit on babysitting safety. Check with the Red Cross or a local hospital to
see if they have babysitting clinics available. Make a list of babysitting tips
and a fact sheet to fill out. Standard 1, Benchmark 4
Surviving Hitler
Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps
Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps. Andrea Warren; HarperCollins,
2001.
Grade level: 6 - 8
ISBN & Cost: 0688174973 $16.99
Synopsis: The story of Jack Mendelbaum’s childhood in Poland,
young adulthood in the Nazi concentration camps, and new life in Kansas City
following his liberation from the camps constructed from interviews with him and
those who know him.
General Review: Mendelbaum’s story is simply yet thoroughly told, making it an ideal introduction to Holocaust survivor stories for young readers. The author’s background information on concentration camps, multimedia recommendations, and index which follow Mendelbaum’s story make it useful as a resource as well.
Themes: Holocaust, World War II, Jewish religion
Author information:
SATA Vol. 98;
http://www.andreawarren.com
Discussion Questions:
Standard 3, Benchmark 3
1. Describe Jack’s life in Gdynia before he moved to Grandfather’s.
2. Life changed for Jack and the Jewish community when the Nazis conquered
Poland in September 1939. What things could he no longer do?
3. What vow did Jack make on his first night in Blechhammer concentration camp?
4. The advice given to Jack by other prisoners keeps him alive. What were some
of the “rules” he followed?
5. Name some of the things Jack has done since he moved to America.
Activity Suggestions:
1. Mr. Mendelbaum told the author, “I speak hoping I can make a
difference.” Write a letter to him and share your thoughts and feelings after
reading the book. Standard 5, Benchmark 3
2. Make a timeline of the important events in Jack’s life, starting with life in
Gdynia in 1939 and ending with his trip to Poland with Uncle Sig in 1999.
Standard 3, Benchmark 1
3. Visit the website of the organization Jack co-founded in Overland Park, KS,
http://www.mchekc.org/index.htm Standard 1, Benchmark 4
4. Read one of the books recommended for your age group in the back of the book.
Standard 5, Benchmark 1
2004-2005 Master List (3rd-5th)
Byars, Betsy. Keeper of the Doves.
New
York: Viking Press.
Hardback ISBN: 0670035769
Subject Areas: Historical Fiction, Family
Synopsis: In the late 1800s in Kentucky, Amie McBee and her four sisters both
fear and torment the reclusive and seemingly sinister Mr. Tominski, but their
father continues to provide for his needs.
Cooney, Doug. The Beloved Dearly.
New
York: Simon and Schuster
Hardback ISBN: 0689831277
Paperback ISBN: 0689863543 (from Aladdin Library)
Subject Areas: Family, Humor
Synopsis: Although his father has forbidden it, Ernie, a twelve-year-old
business tycoon, makes a tidy profit in the pet funeral business, but when he
refuses to give his star employee a raise and the business starts to fall apart,
it takes the death of his own dog to bring everyone back together.
Creech, Sharon. Ruby Holler. New York:
Joanna Cotler Books
Hardback ISBN: 0060277327
Subject Areas: Family, Tall Tales
Synopsis: Thirteen-year-old fraternal twins Dallas and Florida have grown up in
a terrible orphanage but their lives change forever when an eccentric but sweet
older couple invites them each on an adventure, beginning in an almost magical
place called Ruby Holler.
Fuqua, Jonathan Scott. Darby.
Cambridge, MA : Candlewick Press
Hardback ISBN: 0763614173
Paperback ISBN: 0744590566 (from Walker Books)
Subject Areas: Historical Fiction, Race Relations
Synopsis: In 1926, nine-year-old Darby Carmichael stirs up trouble in Marlboro
County, South Carolina, when she writes a story for the local newspaper
promoting racial equality.
Giff, Patricia Reilly. Pictures of Hollis Woods.
New York : Wendy Lamb Books
Hardback ISBN: 0385326556
Subject Areas: Family, Orphans, Realistic Fiction
Synopsis: A troublesome twelve-year-old orphan, staying with an elderly artist
who needs her, remembers the only other time she was happy in a foster home,
with a family that truly seemed to care about her.
Hopkinson, Deborah. Pioneer Summer.
New York : Aladdin Paperbacks
Library Binding ISBN: 068984350X
Paperback ISBN: 0689843496
Subject Areas: Historical Fiction, Kansas
Synopsis: Congress has ruled that settlers in Kansas Territory will decide
whether Kansas will enter the Union as free or a slave state. Charles Keller's
papa is an abolitionist, and he's moving the family to Kansas so he can cast his
vote for freedom.
Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie. Lumber Camp Library.
New York : HarperCollins
Hardback ISBN: 0060293217
Paperback ISBN: 0064442926 (Available Nov 4, 2003 from HarperTrophy)
Subject Areas: Historical Fiction, Literacy, Family
Synopsis: Ruby wants to be a teacher, but after her father's death in a logging
accident she must quit school to care for her ten brothers and sisters, until a
chance meeting with a lonely old blind woman transforms her life.
Kochenderfer, Lee. The Victory Garden.
New York : Delacorte Press
Hardback ISBN: 0385327889
Paperback ISBN: 0440417031 (from Yearling Books)
Subject Areas: Historical Fiction, World War II, Kansas
Synopsis: Hoping to contribute to the war effort during World War II,
eleven-year-old Teresa organizes her friends to care for an ill neighbor's
victory garden.
Levy, Constance. Splash! Poems of Our Watery World.
New York : Orchard Books
Hardback ISBN: 0439293189
Subject Areas: Poetry, Nature
Synopsis: More than thirty poems celebrate water in its myriad forms, from the
ocean to a droplet of dew.
Lisle, Janet Taylor. How I Became a Writer and Oggie
Learned to Drive. New York : Philomel Books
Hardback ISBN: 0399233946
Paperback ISBN: 0142501670 (from Puffin)
Subject Areas: Brothers, Family, Authorship
Synopsis: As sixth-grader Archie and his six-year-old brother Oggie shuttle back
and forth between their separated parents' two homes, Archie tries desperately
to take care of Oggie and to pretend that everything is normal.
Pretlusky, Jack. Scranimals.
New York
: Greenwillow Books
Hardback ISBN: 0688178197
Subject Areas: Poetry, Nonsense Verses
Synopsis: A collection of poems use wordplay to combine bird, beasts,
vegetables, and flowers into imaginary creatures.
Ryan, Pam Munoz. When Marion Sang. New
York : Scholastic Press
Hardback ISBN: 0439269679
Subject Areas: Biography, Music, Multicultural Literature
Synopsis: An introduction to the life of Marian Anderson, extraordinary singer
and civil rights activist, who was the first African American to perform at the
Metropolitan Opera, whose life and career encouraged social change.
Spinelli, Jerry. Loser. New York :
Joanna Cotler Books
Hardback ISBN: 0060001933
Paperback ISBN: 0060540745 (from HarperTrophy)
Subject Areas: School Story, Self-Acceptance, Family
Synopsis: Even though his classmates from first grade on have considered him
strange and a loser, Daniel Zinkoff's optimism and exuberance and the support of
his loving family do not allow him to feel that way about himself.
Whipple, Laura. If the Shoe Fits: Voices From
Cinderella. New York : Margaret K. McElderry Books
Hardback ISBN: 0689840705
Subject Areas: Poetry, Fairy Tales
Synopsis: Poems celebrating and recasting the story of Cinderella from different
points of view.
2004-2005 Master List (6th-8th)
Avi. Crispin: the Cross of Lead. New
York : Hyperion Books For Children
Hardback ISBN: 0786808284
Paperback ISBN: 0786816589 (from Hyperion Press)
Subject Areas: Historical Fiction, Orphans
Synopsis: Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in
fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life
juggler who holds a dangerous secret.
Bauer, Joan. Stand Tall. New York : G.
P. Putnam's Sons
Hardback ISBN: 039923473X
Subject Areas: Realistic Fiction, Divorce, Family, Self-image
Synopsis: Tree, a six-foot-three-inch twelve-year-old, copes with his parents'
recent divorce and his failure as an athlete by helping his grandfather, a
Vietnam vet and recent amputee, and Sophie, a new girl at school.
Bruchac, Joseph. The Winter People.
New York, N.Y. : Dial Books
Hardback ISBN: 0803726945
Subject Areas: Historical Fiction, Multiculturalism
Synopsis: As the French and Indian War rages in October of 1759, Saxso, a
fourteen-year-old Abenaki boy, pursues the English rangers who have attacked his
village and taken his mother and sisters hostage.
Carey, Janet Lee. Wenny Has Wings.
New
York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Hardback ISBN: 0689842945
Subject Areas: Death, Family
Synopsis: Having had a near-death experience in the accident that killed his
younger sister, eleven-year-old Will tries to cope with the situation by writing
her letters.
Draper, Sharon M. Double Dutch. New
York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Hardback ISBN: 0689842309
Paperback ISBN: 0689842317 (from Aladdin Library)
Subject Areas: School Story, Friendship
Synopsis: Three eighth-grade friends, preparing for the International Double
Dutch Championship jump rope competition in their home town of Cincinnati, Ohio,
cope with Randy's missing father, Delia's inability to read, and Yo Yo's
encounter with the class bullies.
Ferris, Jean. Once Upon a Marigold.
San Diego : Harcourt
Hardback ISBN: 0152167919
Paperback ISBN: 015050841 (from Harcourt)
Subject Areas: Fractured Fairy Tale
Synopsis: A young man with a mysterious past and a penchant for inventing things
leaves the troll who raised him, meets an unhappy princess he has loved from
afar, and discovers a plot against her and her father.
Fleischman, John. Phineas Gage.
Boston
: Houghton Mifflin
Hardback ISBN: 0618052526
Subject Areas: Non-fiction science
Synopsis: A non-fiction illustrated text exploring the history of a man who
survived brain trauma but developed a new personality as a result, and the
influence that his case had on the study of brain science, brain damage, and
personality disorders.
Gantos, Jack. What Would Joey Do? New
York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Hardback ISBN: 0374399867
Paperback ISBN: 0060544031
Subject Areas: School Store, Disabilities
Synopsis: Joey tries to keep his life from degenerating into total chaos when
his mother sends him to be home-schooled with a hostile blind girl, his divorced
parents cannot stop fighting, and his grandmother is dying of emphysema.
George, Kristine O’Connell. Swimming Upstream:
Middle School Poems. New York : Clarion Books
Hardback ISBN: 0618152504
Subject Areas: Middle School, Poetry
Synopsis: A collection of poems capture the feelings and experiences of a girl
in middle school
Hiaasen, Carl. Hoot.
New York : Alfred
A. Knopf
Hardback ISBN: 0375821813
Paperback ISBN: 0375829164 (from Knopf)
Subject Areas: Environment, Owls, Florida
Synopsis: Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in
another boy's attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed
construction site.
Hobbs, Will. Wild Man Island. New York
: HarperCollins Publishers
Hardback ISBN: 0688174736
Paperback ISBN: 0380733102 (from Harper Trophy)
Subject Areas: Wilderness, Survival, Alaska, Adventure, Kayaking
Synopsis: After fourteen-year-old Andy slips away from his kayaking group to
visit the wilderness site of his archaeologist father's death, a storm strands
him on Admiralty Island, Alaska, where he manages to survive, encounters
unexpected animal and human inhabitants, and looks for traces of the earliest
prehistoric immigrants to America.
Martin, Ann M. A Corner of the Universe.
New York : Scholastic Press
Hardback ISBN: 0439388805
Paperback ISBN: 0439388813
Subject Areas: Family, Mental Illness
Synopsis: The summer that Hattie turns twelve, she meets the childlike uncle she
never knew and becomes friends with a girl who works at the carnival that comes
to Hattie's small town.
Mikaelsen, Ben. Red Midnight. New York
: HarperCollins Publishers
Hardback ISBN: 0380977451
Paperback ISBN: 0380805618 (from RAYO)
Subject Areas: Adventure, Immigration, Survival
Synopsis: After soldiers kill his family, twelve-year-old Santiago and his
four-year-old sister flee Guatemala in a kayak and try to reach the United
States.
Paterson, Katherine. The Same Stuff as Stars.
New York : Clarion Books
Hardback ISBN: 0618247440
Paperback ISBN: 0060557125 (from Harper Trophy)
Subject Areas: Family and Siblings, Self-Reliance
Synopsis: When Angel's self-absorbed mother leaves her and her younger brother
with their poor great-grandmother, the eleven-year-old girl worries not only
about her mother and brother, her imprisoned father, the frail old woman, but
also about a mysterious man who begins sharing with her the wonder of the stars.
Seely, Debra. Grasslands. New York :
Holiday House
Hardback ISBN: 082341731X
Subject Areas: Kansas, Historical Fiction, Family
Synopsis: In the 1880s, thirteen-year-old Thomas moves west from the
aristocratic Virginia home of his grandparents to a poor Kansas farm to live
with a father he barely remembers and his new stepfamily.
Seidler, Tor. Brothers Below Zero. New
York : L. Geringer Books
Hardback ISBN: 0060291796
Paperback ISBN: 0064409368 (from Harper Trophy)
Subject Areas: Brothers, Artists, Family, Self-Respect
Synopsis: Having lived for years in the shadow of his younger, more talented
brother, middle schooler Tim takes painting lessons from his beloved Great Aunt
Winifred and discovers that he is a gifted artist.
Tolan, Stephanie S. Surviving the Applewhites.
New York : HarperCollins
Hardback ISBN: 0066236029
Paperback ISBN: 0064410447 (from HarperTrophy)
Subject Areas: Eccentrics, Family
Synopsis: Jake, a budding juvenile delinquent, is sent for home schooling to the
arty and eccentric Applewhite family's Creative Academy, where he discovers
talents and interests he never knew he had.
300 E. Myrtle St; Independence, KS 67301 - Phone: 620.332.1875 - All Rights Reserved ©2006 - Last Update: 07/28/2010