Category: Children's Book Award

2024 Kansas Authors Club Children's Book Award

10/26/2024

Henry, Like Always

by Jenn Bailey

"It’s a great first chapter book for children detailing something with which all children struggle: a change to their usual schedule. It is so relatable for all children, especially those who dislike or resist change, and someone of any age could learn a lesson from it. The artwork is beautiful and meaningful, and the message of finding your own way to solve a problem and embracing what makes each one of us unique is applaudable"
–Judge Michaela Karr, professor and mom

Jenn Bailey with 2024 Book Contest Manager Lindsey Bartlett

Learn More: Henry, Like Always

The Kansas Authors Club Children’s Book Award was created in 2018 to honor the best book written with an audience of children in mind. The Children’s Book Award is sponsored in memory of Craig Grant. Craig was a champion of public education. He believed reading is basic to sharing our thoughts and feelings, understanding and accepting our differences and sameness, and helping us to learn about our world.

2023 Kansas Authors Club Children's Book Award - Meowsterpieces, by Jenn Bailey

10/14/2023

Order Meowsterpieces

Join Mama Cat and her playful kittens as they take inspiration from some of the world's great masterpieces to learn the art of being a cat in author Jenn Bailey and illustrator Nyangsongi's picture book Meowsterpieces.

Discover how to be adored in The Birth of Venus by Boticelli; learn how to be brave in Hokusai's Under the Wave off Kanagawa; and taught how to be gentle with Henry Ossawa Tanner's The Banjo Lesson. Meowsterpieces is a book for art lovers, cat lovers, and everyone in between! And with extensive back matter that includes information about each of the original artworks, it's educational, too.

The artworks featured include The Study of a Student by Laura Wheeler Waring; The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci; The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli; The Night Watch by Rembrandt van Rijin; Nighthawks by Edward Hopper; A Sunday on la Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat; Bedroom in Arles by Vincent van Gogh; Jockey on a Galloping Horse by Eadweard Muybridge; The Dancing Class by Edgar Degas; Children's Games by Pieter Bruegel the Elder; Under the Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai; The Banjo Lesson by Henry Ossawa Tanner; and New York Construction Workers Lunching on a Crossbeam by Charles Clyde Ebbets.

Jenn Bailey is an award-winning author and editor who has her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her books have received the ALA Schneider Family Honor award, Bank Street Book of the Year award, been chosen as Junior Library Guild Selections, been star-reviewed by Kirkus, The Horn Book, and Publishers Weekly, and been included in numerous state reading lists, among other accolades.

Jenn is a frequent guest lecturer and workshop leader for SCBWI, Heartland Writers for Kids and Teens, and the One Year Adventure Novel workshops. Jenn is published by Chronicle Books; Arcadia Press; Magic Cat Publishing; Little, Brown and Company; and Levine Querido and is represented by Erica Silverman with The Stimola Literary Agency.

Learn More - KAC Children's Book Award

Judge Angie Reed, M.L.S.
Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library
Teen Librarian

You will know Librarian Angie Reed before you meet her as her passion for her profession shines in service to the young people in our community. She finds purpose in her work with teens and is committed to creating a place of inspiration and safety for young people to be themselves. Angie’s undergraduate studies include a B.A. in Library Science and Media with a Minor in Identity Studies, and she holds a Master of Library Science from Texas Woman’s University. In her spare time, she can be found walking her dog Nadia while listening to an audio book or holed up at home binge-watching a good show.

2022 Children's Book Award Winner

11/3/2022

Note from the Judge:
The recipient of the Kansas Authors Club Children’s Book Award is Janey Olsen, Famous Artist of the Beach, written and illustrated by H.C. Friesen with original paintings by Grace Baity. Janey Olsen shares with its readers what it means to be an artist. The protagonist, who turns ten during this formative summer vacation, is inspired by her innate desire to create art, and she is supported in her efforts by other artists in her family, including a mother who makes and sells jewelry and a cousin who is an emerging photographer. These are people who understand, take seriously, support, and value this child’s artistic impulses. Janey experiments with different media while aspiring to be recognized at the upcoming Festival of the Arts, and we are privy to her development as we turn the pages of the volume and see the charming and engaging pictures that she is making. Almost every page has some visual enhancement, nurturing and perpetuating the theme of the novel. In the process of honing her craft, Janey learns how to see others more clearly, becoming a kinder and more generous person and learning to value collaboration and community rather than competition. Friesen offers a strong sense of her novel’s setting, North Carolina’s Outer Banks, including visual attributes such as a map, photographs, and evocative illustrations throughout the volume. Moreover, her volume offers wonderful resources in its back matter, including Janey’s own list of tips for “How to Be a Famous Artist of the Beach” as well as Friesen’s rich resource unit for drawing and coloring a lighthouse, among other materials. Beautiful endpapers enhance the total design of her volume. Altogether, this is a well-unified and beautiful book, and its form astutely enhances its themes.

Professor Anne K. Phillips
2022 Kansas Authors Club Children’s Book Judge

Anne K. Phillips is Professor of English at Kansas State University. A specialist in children’s and adolescent literature, she has published and edited numerous works on authors such as Louisa May Alcott, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Louise Erdrich, Andrew Clements, and others. She teaches courses such as illustration in children’s literature, film adaptations of children’s classics, American history through family sagas in children’s literature, and more. A Past President of the international Children’s Literature Association, the Modern Language Association’s division on children’s literature, and the Louisa May Alcott Society, Phillips has served on the Kansas Notable Books Committee and the William Allen White (Kansas children’s choice award) Selection Committee.

H.C. and Rob Friesen: Holly is the author of Janey Olsen Famous Artist of the Beach, winner of the 2022 Kansas Authors Club Children's Book Award.

Kansas Authors Club Children's Book Award Winners

Save the Date: Author Talk with Adelaide Bauman, August 9 at 7:00 pm

7/26/2022

“Zara the Zebu: My Quest to Self-Publish a Whimsical, Instructive, and Inspiring Children's Book”

Join 2021 Children's Book Award Winner, Adelaide Bauman, author of Zara the Zebu, who will review the entire process of creating, planning, writing, designing, and publishing an award-winning children's book.

"As a first time author with a very fresh perspective, I hope that my experience- from storyboarding, to finding and working with an illustrator, to the editing process and beyond, will offer you insights into possible avenues, hang-ups, and victories you may choose and experience when working to self-publish your own children's book, or perhaps inspire you to work with one of our great Kansas publishers instead. Either way, it is my hope that by sharing my experience, I can help another future author find their way to holding their very own book in their hands!"

--Adelaide Bauman, D3 member

You must register in advance to receive a link for this meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

"ZARA THE ZEBU is charming and well-written. Child listeners and readers will relate to Zeni’s goal of forming a friendship with Zara and the obstacles she has to overcome to earn the calf's trust. This is a story of persistence and growing empathy, presented in a lively and child-like way. Zeni solves her problem herself, with supportive adults in the background, which gives agency to her as the main character. The bright color palette of the illustrations complements the story. The portrayal of Zeni in text and illustration is appealing and culturally sensitive. Congratulations, Adelaide, on a wonderful book!"

-Sue Lowell Gallion, 2021 Kansas Authors Club Children's Book Award Judge
2021 Children’s Book Award JudgeMy choice for the winner of the Children's Book Award is Zara the Zebu, by Adelaide Bauman, illustrated by Vita Kalmutska.

ZARA THE ZEBU is charming and well-written. Child listeners and readers will relate to Zeni’s goal of forming a friendship with Zara and the obstacles she has to overcome to earn the calf's trust. This is a story of persistence and growing empathy, presented in a lively and child-like way. Zeni solves her problem herself, with supportive adults in the background, which gives agency to her as the main character. The bright color palette of the illustrations complements the story. The portrayal of Zeni in text and illustration is appealing and culturally sensitive. Congratulations, Adelaide, on a wonderful book!

Sue Lowell Gallion
2021 Children’s Book Award JudgeMy choice for the winner of the Children's Book Award is Zara the Zebu, by Adelaide Bauman, illustrated by Vita Kalmutska.

ZARA THE ZEBU is charming and well-written. Child listeners and readers will relate to Zeni’s goal of forming a friendship with Zara and the obstacles she has to overcome to earn the calf's trust. This is a story of persistence and growing empathy, presented in a lively and child-like way. Zeni solves her problem herself, with supportive adults in the background, which gives agency to her as the main character. The bright color palette of the illustrations complements the story. The portrayal of Zeni in text and illustration is appealing and culturally sensitive. Congratulations, Adelaide, on a wonderful book!

Sue Lowell Gallion
2021 Children’s Book Award Judge

2021 Kansas Authors Club Children’s Book Award

10/9/2021

Zara the Zebu
by Adelaide Bauman

My choice for the winner of the Children's Book Award is Zara the Zebu, by Adelaide Bauman, illustrated by Vita Kalmutska.

ZARA THE ZEBU is charming and well-written. Child listeners and readers will relate to Zeni’s goal of forming a friendship with Zara and the obstacles she has to overcome to earn the calf's trust. This is a story of persistence and growing empathy, presented in a lively and child-like way. Zeni solves her problem herself, with supportive adults in the background, which gives agency to her as the main character. The bright color palette of the illustrations complements the story. The portrayal of Zeni in text and illustration is appealing and culturally sensitive. Congratulations, Adelaide, on a wonderful book!

Sue Lowell Gallion
2021 Children’s Book Award Judge

Sue Lowell Gallion is an award-winning children’s author of picture books, nonfiction books, and early readers. Her newest picture book is PUG & PIG AND FRIENDS, illustrated by Joyce Wan, published by Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster, releasing August 17, 2021. Sue lives in Leawood, Kansas, and is a native of the Kansas City area.

PUG MEETS PIG was published in 2016 and received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. It won the Missouri Library Association Building Block Award in 2018. The second in the series, PUG & PIG TRICK-OR-TREAT, received starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and Kirkus.

In 2020, Sue’s first nonfiction title, OUR WORLD, A FIRST BOOK OF GEOGRAPHY, illustrated by Lisk Feng, was published by Phaidon Press as an international edition and a French edition. OUR WORLD is a large format globe shaped novelty board book which opens up to form a 360- degree globe. The book was named one of Parents magazine’s top books of 2020, was included in the Washington Post’s 2020 holiday gift guide. A second title in the “A First Book” series is in production now and will release in 2022.

Sue's other books include ALL EXCEPT AXLE (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster) and the Tip and Tucker early reader series (Sleeping Bear Press), co-authored with Liberty,, Missouri, author Ann Ingalls.

Sue is passionate about the importance of books for children. She is a long-time volunteer with Lead to Read KC, a program that matches adults with first or second graders for weekly reading sessions in urban schools. She also serves as a volunteer author for the Church of the Resurrection’s education ministry and does author visits to partner schools throughout the city. She also enjoys doing author visits at libraries, schools, and bookstores around the country, in person or online. She is active in the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and served as regional advisor for Kansas and Missouri.

Sue also loves sharing books with her three grandchildren, who live nearby. For more information on Sue and her books, check out Sue’s website at suegallion.com. Sue has lists of favorite books for kids on her Goodreads page. Follow her on Twitter @SueLGallion, on Instagram as @suelowellgallion, or on Facebook as Sue Lowell Gallion.

2024 Kansas Authors Club Children's Book Award

Henry, Like Always

2023 Kansas Authors Club Children's Book Award - Meowsterpieces, by Jenn Bailey

2022 Children's Book Award Winner

Save the Date: Author Talk with Adelaide Bauman, August 9 at 7:00 pm

2021 Kansas Authors Club Children’s Book Award

Zara the Zebu
by Adelaide Bauman

Categories

Archives

2024 Kansas Authors Club Children's Book Award

Henry, Like Always

2023 Kansas Authors Club Children's Book Award - Meowsterpieces, by Jenn Bailey

2022 Children's Book Award Winner

Save the Date: Author Talk with Adelaide Bauman, August 9 at 7:00 pm

2021 Kansas Authors Club Children’s Book Award

Zara the Zebuby Adelaide Bauman

Categories

Archives

Zara the Zebu
by Adelaide Bauman