Nick’s Picks: Listen to Multicultural Book Award-Winning Authors

This post was originally published in Nick Glass’ monthly column for Curriculum Connections, an e-newsletter published by School Library Journal in partnership with TeachingBooks.net. Subscribe to this free newsletter here.

Students of all ages benefit from quality books that authentically portray a variety of cultures.

Librarians and teachers are aided in their efforts to diversify their collections through the work of the American Library Association’s affiliates and roundtables that recognize distinguished titles for children and teens.

For this month’s post, TeachingBooks.net contacted and recorded conversations with recent recipients of the following awards:

1) American Indian Youth Literature Award

2) Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature

3) Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award

Listen below to the awardees as they share their inspirations and influences, then explore some exceptional, ready-to-use instructional materials that support the integration of these quality titles into your curriculum.

Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, 2012 Picture Book Winner of the American Indian Youth Literature Award, shares how her reminiscences influenced her book The Christmas Coat: Memories of My Sioux Childhood (Holiday House, 2011, illustrated by Ellen Beier).

Jacqueline Guest, 2012 Middle Grades Winner of the American Indian Youth Literature Award, introduces her book Free Throw (Lorimer, 2011).

Adam Fortunate Eagle, 2012 Young Adult Winner of the American Indian Youth Literature Award, discusses his positive childhood experiences in Pipestone: My Life in an Indian Boarding School(University of Oklahoma, 2010).

Books honored by the 2012 American Indian Youth Literature Award include:

Tim Tingle’s Saltypie: A Choctaw Journey from Darkness into Light (illustrated by Karen Clarkson, Cinco Puntos, 2010)
Kekauleleana’ole Kawai’ae’a’s Kohala Kuamo’o: Nae’ole’s Race to Save a King (illustrated by Aaron Kawai’ae’a, Kamehameha Publishing, 2010)
Robert Lono Ikuwa’s Mohala Mai ‘O Hau: How Hau Became Hau’ula (illustrated by Matthew Kawika Ortiz, Kamehameha Publishing, 2010)
Margaret Manuel’s I See Me (Theytus Books, 2009)
Melanie Florence’s Jordin Tootoo: The Highs and Lows in the Journey of the First Inuit to Play in the NHL (Lorimer, 2011)
Anton Treuer, et al. Awesiinyensag: Dibaajimowinan Ji-Gikinoo’amaageng (Wiigwaas Press, 2010)
Victor Schilling’s Native Defenders of the Environment (7th Generation, 2011)

Explore all the 2012 American Indian Youth Literature Award resources and author interviews on TeachingBooks.net.

Ed Young, Winner of the 2012 Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature, Picture Book Category, relates how his childhood home inspired The House Baba Built: An Artist’s Childhood in China (Little Brown, 2011).

Wendy Wan-Long Shang, 2012 Children’s Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature, reads from her book, The Great Wall of Lucy Wu(Scholastic, 2011).

Holly Thompson, 2012 Young Adult Winner of the Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature, reads from her book, Orchards (Delacorte, 2011).

Books honored by the 2012 Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature include:

F. Zia’s Hot, Hot Roti for Dada-ji (Lee & Low, 2011)
Sheela Chari’s Vanished (Hyperion, 2011)
Gene Luen Yang’s Level Up (First Second, 2011)

Explore all the 2012 Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature resources and author interviews on TeachingBooks.net.

Bil Wright, 2012 Stonewall Book Award Medalist, explains that he wrote Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy (S&S, 2011) to portray a protagonist who was happy being himself.