New York Times best-selling author Sharon Draper is the winner of the Tulsa Library Trust’s 2015 Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers’ Literature. She will accept the award at a public presentation at Hardesty Regional Library’s Connor’s Cove, 8316 E. 93rd St., Aug. 28, 2015 at 7 p.m. She also will present awards to winners of the 2015 Young People’s Creative Writing Contest awards at the ceremony. Her visit culminates the 2015 children’s and teen summer reading programs.
Tulsa County teachers have an opportunity to sign up for “Mr. Henry’s Books Teacher Workshop” scheduled for Feb. 28, 9 a.m.-Noon, at the Hardesty Regional Library. The workshop is recommended for fourth- through eighth-grade teachers. Registration is $10. Participants will receive a continental breakfast plus 50 classroom copies of Draper’s novel “Out of My Mind.” Lesson plans on how to use Draper’s books for a variety of school subjects will be available. One participant will win a classroom visit from Draper on Aug. 28.
Draper is being recognized for writing more than 30 books for children and teens. Before establishing her successful career as a writer, Draper taught for more than 25 years in Cincinnati public schools as a language-arts teacher sharing the beauty and power of words. She was selected as Ohio’s Outstanding High School Language Arts Educator, Ohio Teacher of the Year, and National Teacher of the Year in 1997.
Accepting the challenge from one of her students to enter a literary contest, she submitted the short story, “One Small Torch,” and was awarded the first prize of $5,000 and the publication of her story. This literary recognition fueled her desire to use stories to help students comprehend the complex relationships throughout society.
“Tears of a Tiger,” her first young adult novel published in 1994, received numerous awards, including the American Library Association/Coretta Scott King Award for an outstanding new book. It also was honored as an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults. “Forged by Fire,” the sequel to “Tears of a Tiger,” earned the 1997 Coretta Scott King Award, as well as the American Library Association’s Best Book Award. “Darkness Before Dawn,” the third installment in the trilogy, received the Children’s Choice Award from the International Reading Association.
The U.S. State Department and the International Reading Association selected Draper’s book “Copper Sun” for the 2009 Reading Across Continents program. This work of historical fiction follows 15-year-old Amari, forced on a slave ship bound for the Carolinas, as she struggles with life as a slave on a plantation. The Reading Across Continents program encourages students from Nigeria, Ghana and the U.S. to foster an interest in reading and culture.
Draper’s most awarded book, “Out of My Mind,” was published in 2010 and was at the top of the New York Times’ bestseller list for nine weeks. Fifth-grade student Melody struggles to overcome the physical limitations from Cerebral Palsy and communicate her insightful observations. From critics to parents and educators, Draper was applauded for her authentic story of love and perseverance.
“Out of My Mind” received the Josette Frank Award by the Children’s Book Committee of the Bank Street College of Education. This award for fiction honors a book of outstanding literary merit in which young people deal in a positive and realistic way with difficulties in their world and grow emotionally and morally. “Out of My Mind” also has been translated into more than 10 languages in selected to 32 state reading lists.
The Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers’ Literature gives formal recognition, on behalf of the Tulsa County community, to a nationally acclaimed author who has made a significant contribution to the field of literature for young adults. The award, presented by the Tulsa Library Trust, consists of a $7,500 cash prize and an engraved crystal book. It is presented as the culmination of the children’s and teen summer reading programs.
Past winners include: Jack Gantos (2014), Jim Murphy (2013), Jacqueline Woodson (2012), Kathryn Lasky (2011), Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (2010), Christopher Paul Curtis (2009), Louis Sachar (2008), Kate DiCamillo (2007), Sharon Creech (2006), Avi (2005), Susan Cooper (2004), Russell Freedman (2003), Richard Peck (2002), E.L. Konigsburg (2001), Jerry Spinelli (2000), Jane Yolen (1999), Cynthia Voigt (1998), Gary Paulsen (1997), Walter Dean Myers (1996), Lois Lowry (1994), Katherine Paterson (1993), Madeleine L’Engle (1992) and S.E. Hinton (1991).
For more information on the Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers’ Literature or Mr. Henry’s Books Teacher Workshop, call the AskUs Hotline, 918-549-7323, or visit the library’s website, www.tulsalibrary.org.
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