September/October 2006
Alien Cannibalism, Blossoming & Cleavage: Our First Year on the Nutmeg Teen Award Selection Committee
Linda Williams
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In the 11th year of Connecticut’s children’s choice book award for grades 4-6, the Nutmeg Award steering committee restructured itself in a way that allowed them to add a "Teen Award" targeting grades 7-8. Patterned after the Ohio Buckeye Award , the Nutmeg Award presents ten nominees each February for children to read and vote on the following January. Supporters had been asking for an additional level for many years.
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It was tricky getting started. In previous years, the winning author was invited to Connecticut for a big "author ceremony." The ceremony drew a large crowd, and often teachers arranged to have students attend as a reward for participating. Authors were now scheduling appearances years ahead, and the most we could offer was two to three months. We’d had an author unable to come in 2003, and the 2004 author had only one date available. The committee passed a resolution to end the tradition due to the difficulty of scheduling with each year’s winner. We felt the decision was not one that would meet with wholehearted acceptance. To soften the blow, the committee planned to reveal the new award level at the same time the change was announced to supporters. In order to accomplish this, a selection committee would have to be well underway prior to making the announcement. Though I was chair of the steering committee at the time, I volunteered to chair the first grade 7-8 selection committee as well. Without giving away the big announcement, I chose my selection committee.
Some of the public librarians on the steering committee volunteered to read for the new selection committee. Finding media specialists was trickier. Although media specialists had enthusiastically participated in selection committees since the inception of the award, they had yet to move into positions on the steering committee. In the interest of maintaining the surprise aspect, posting to our statewide listservs was not an option. Fortunately a few calls to media specialists that I knew or knew of me through my work met with positive response, and I had a committee of willing readers.
The initial committee consisted of five public children’s and YA librarians, four middle school media specialists, and myself, a Children’s Services Consultant for the Connecticut State Library. While not a certified media specialist, I specialized in school libraries in library school, volunteered in an elementary school library for several years, and worked as a library assistant in a large high school library for a year. I hope my experience helped me to be a good and fair leader.
Chairing a book nomination committee which includes both school and public librarians was interesting and challenging. Public librarians have fewer worries about potentially controversial material, since we do not serve in loco parentis. The climate of censorship in this beginning decade of the 21st century is far more daunting for some school librarians. As chair, I believed that part of my role was to balance the concerns of both groups. Being overconservative in our choices could make the new award level a flop; the kids wouldn’t read the winners. Being underconservative could mean some schools would not promote them. Again, the award would flop. Tricky!
The committee is charged with reading 80 titles published during the 5 years prior to the vote and available in paperback at the time of the announcement. Ten titles of various genres and reading levels are nominated. As chair, I selected the 80 titles that the committee would read. I included as wide a selection as possible. Young Adult titles, by definition, include "edgy" subject matter that matches the interests of teen readers. I found myself considering how each title might play in the school arena. Would media specialists feel they could purchase and promote a title in their schools? Would the teachers in a school encourage their students to read it?
The committee met four times, having read 20 titles previous to each meeting. The discussion was lively and thoughtful. There were differences of opinion between school and public librarians.
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The Teen Level of the Nutmeg Award targets seventh and eighth grades, but many middle schools include fifth and sixth grade students. School librarians worried that purchase and promotion of a title for seventh and eighth grades could land that title in the hands of fifth grade students. For example, when we read Pete Hautman’s Sweetblood, a story about a diabetic teen who invents an interesting explanation for diabetes (– she conjectures it was the root of the vampire myths), the public librarians wholeheartedly voted for it. However, the main character attends a party where there is alcohol, so some school librarians argued that this made it less suitable. While public librarians could expect that parents would monitor their children’s library choices, school librarians could not.
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Bloody Jack by L. A. Meyer (Harcourt 2002) was another title with trouble spots. "Jacky" Faber is a girl who loses her family in a London plague at the end of the 18th century. She dresses as a boy and signs on as a ship’s boy on a Navy frigate. The exciting story covers ship details – and how "Jacky" keeps her gender a secret as her body matures and she gets her first period. The school group loved the book, but felt uncomfortable with the details of "Jacky’s" blossoming.
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The most unsettling difference, was one that I have thought about often since my year with the committee. We read William Sleator’s Parasite Pig (Dutton 2002), sequel to Interstellar Pig. The science fiction book was well-reviewed, even receiving a starred review from The Horn Book. I’d be the wrong person to write a quick synopsis because I couldn’t get past the first few chapters. The story opens with a graphic description of crablike aliens stringing people up by their feet and breaking off pieces, like fingers and legs, to munch on. I may be unreasonably squeamish, but I was surprised when school librarians (not as much, from the public librarians) responded to it enthusiastically
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During the same meeting, we discussed Mariah Frederick’s The True Meaning of Cleavage (Atheneum 2003), a story of two girls, friends who have shared a passion for science fiction movies since they met in seventh grade. In high school, one remains true to her former interests and the other develops an interest in boys. I loved the book, felt it was spot-on in its description of girls’ experience. Despite its title, the story did not focus on body parts or sexual development. But the jacket photo, a close-up shot of a young woman with a v-neck shirt, combined with the title word "cleavage" was enough of a deterrent to keep the book from consideration.
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What troubled me in discussions of both titles was that issues of violence were less likely to meet with objection than issues of sex. Because public school librarians may serve in loco parentis while public librarians charge parents with overseeing their children’s choices in the library, there was a definite split between what the two librarian groups felt willing to support. It was an interesting commentary on what school librarians face because they must anticipate being accountable to parents in their choices.
The rewarding thing about chairing this group was that we all worked together so well. While discussions could get heated (a little), all were willing to listen to the concerns of other members of the group, and cast their votes with sensitivity. In the end, my reminder was that schools are the biggest supporters of the Nutmeg Award. Without the enthusiastic support of the schools, public libraries could not keep the award growing and developing. We all gained a greater sensitivity for the concerns of our colleagues in both types of libraries.
Serving on a Nutmeg selection committee offers a unique opportunity for school and public librarians to gain insight into the differences and similarities of their jobs. Sharing the responsibility for selecting the year’s nominees creates a valuable discussion forum where their unique concerns can be discussed. Each librarian ends the experience with a greater understanding of the work of his/her counterpart. While discussion of some titles resulted in "agree to disagree" as to appropriateness, the list that was eventually chosen included titles that were satisfying as quality YA literature that would appeal to teens, and lend themselves to being promoted by both school and public libraries.
And the results? The first year of the new award, 103 schools and libraries participated in the voting. A promising start!
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Linda Williams is the Children's Services Consultant for the Connecticut State Library. Her special interest in summer reading assignments has led to articles for Voice of Youth Advocates and the ALAN Review.
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