Notable (Poetry) Books for a Global Society 2015

Just this week the IRA (now ILA) committee (for CL/R) announced its latest list of "Notable Books for a Global Society." I was so pleased that they included 8 poetry books on their list of 25 titles published in 2014. Let's see which ones they highlighted, shall we?

Caminar
Harlem Hellfighters
Silver People
Voices from the March
Brown Girl Dreaming
Like Water on Stone
The Red Pencil
A Time to Dance

The pdf of the annotated list complete with book covers here:

I noticed that these are all novels in verse (except Harlem Hellfighters)! Which is lovely, but where are the anthologies that reflect global world views and connections? That's the next challenge for us! But each of these books is truly distinctive, beautifully written and offers a fascinating window into a culturally rich story. Don't miss them!

Here's complete bibliographic info for these 8 titles:

Brown, Skila. 2014. Caminar.Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

Engle, Margarita. 2014. Silver People: Voices from the Panama Canal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Lewis, J. Patrick. 2014. Harlem Hellfighters. Mankato, MN: Creative Editions.

Lewis, J. Patrick and Lyon, George Ella. 2014. Voices from the March: Washington, D.C., 1963. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.

Pinkney, Andrea Davis. The Red Pencil.  New York: Little, Brown.?

Venkatraman, Padma. 2014. A Time to Dance. New York: Penguin.

Walrath, Dana. 2014. Like Water on Stone. New York: Delacorte.

Woodson, Jacqueline. 2014. Brown Girl Dreaming. New York: Penguin.?

If you want more information about this SIG (Special Interest Group) and the history of the Notables list, here's a nugget from their website:

"The Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association formed the Notable Books for a Global Society Committee in 1995. Under the guidance of Yvonne Siu-Runyan, who originated and spearheaded the project, the committee undertook to identify outstanding trade books that it felt would help promote understanding across lines of culture, race, sexual orientation, values, and ethnicity.

The Notable Books for a Global Society (NBGS) list was developed to help students, teachers, and families identify books that promote understanding of and appreciation for the world's full range of diverse cultures and ethnic and racial groups. Although advances in technology allow us to communicate quickly with people around the world and the growth of world trade brings us increasingly into contact with far-flung members of the "global village," today's society is rife with tension, conflict and ignorance of others different from us. If we hope to meet the many challenges that face us in the 21st century, we must recognize the similarities and celebrate the differences among all races, cultures, religions, and sexual orientations, and appreciate that people can hold a wide range of equally legitimate values.

Each year, the Committee selects twenty-five outstanding books for grades K-12 that reflect a pluralistic view of world society. These twenty-five titles represent the year�s best in fiction, nonfiction and poetry."

Plus criteria for selection are there as well as all the lists since 2010.

Well done, Chair Janet Wong and committee members!

I'm heading to the Midwinter conference of the American Library Association where more big (Newbery, Caldecott, etc.) awards will be announced on Monday (Feb. 2). I'll be sure to post news about any poetry titles that are included! Stay tuned. 

Meanwhile, where is the Poetry Friday party today? Over at These Four Corners. Thanks for hosting, Paul!