Contacts:


Larra Clark/Macey Morales


ALA Media Relations


312-280-5043/4393

For Immediate Release


January 23, 2006

Sally M. Walker wins 2006 Sibert Informational Book Award

(SAN ANTONIO) Sally M. Walker, author of “Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley,” was named the winner of the 2006 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award for the most distinguished informational book for children published in 2005. The announcement was made at the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio, January 23, 2006.

In 1864, the H. L. Hunley became the first submarine to sink an enemy ship.
It then vanished.
For 131 years, the Hunley’s fate remained a mystery. Walker has crafted a seamless account of historical and scientific sleuthing to reveal the secrets of the Hunley and her crew, all the while demonstrating the interdisciplinary nature of the problem-solving process in our modern world. Walker combines the drama of a wartime shipwreck with compelling scientific writing to create a work of true distinction. The book is published by Carolrhoda Books, Inc., a division of Lerner Publishing Group.

“Walker’s unique integration of history and science will appeal to the natural curiosity of young readers,” said Sibert Chair Kathy Simonetta.

The author of more than 20 books for young readers, Walker’s previous books have twice been named Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children and she was a 2001 recipient of a Children’s Choice Award. She lives in DeKalb, Ill.

One Sibert Honor Book was named: “Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow,” written by Susan Campbell Bartoletti and published by Scholastic Nonfiction, an imprint of Scholastic.

Readers will be riveted by the chilling history meticulously documented in Bartoletti’s book. By weaving the personal stories of 12 young Germans into the larger fabric of Nazism and World War II, Bartoletti elevates understanding of Hitler’s strategic plans of manipulation to a new level and offers contemporary youth the opportunity to question the choices they might have made in the same situation.

The award is sponsored by Bound to Stay Bound Books, Inc., of Jacksonville, Ill., in honor of Robert F. Sibert, its longtime president. Sibert is known for his early work in establishing standards of bookbinding. The annual award is administered by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of ALA.

Members of the 2006 Sibert Informational Book Award Committee are: Chair, Kathy Simonetta, Indian Trails Public Library District, Wheeling, Ill.; Rose Dawson, Alexandria Library, Alexandria, Va.; Cheri Dobbs, Detroit Country Day School,
Beverly Hills, Mich.; Marcia Kochel, Olson Middle School, Bloomington, Minn.; Penny Markey, County of Los Angeles Public Library; Miriam Martínez, University of Texas at San Antonio; Cecilia P. McGowan, King County Library System, Bellevue, Wash.; Kate McLean, Mary Jacobs Memorial Library, Somerset County Library System, N.J.; and Carol K. Phillips, East Brunswick Library, N.J.

For more information on the Sibert Informational Book Award and other ALA literary awards, please visit
www.ala.org.