Skip to main content

Better than Billy Idol


LITTLE REBEL CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARDS 2016


Subversive, intelligent children's books.  Could I find a better topic to talk about?

 The Little Rebels Children's Book Awards (administered by the UK's Letterbox Library as part of the Alliance of Radical Booksellers) are a relatively new thing, having been around for only a few years (since 2013 it seems).  Is this because it is only recently that authors have felt the need to tackle big societal issues in children books?  I pondered this for a while and then realised that Dr. Seuss would argue with me (and win) on that point.

 Let me start by saying that although I think the title "Little Rebels" is awesome, I am actually going to say that I think there should be nothing deemed "rebellious" about reading literature that encourages us to think and form our own opinions.  In fact, I dislike my own description of the nominees as "subversive", but I'll maintain that adjective to argue my point.  Subversion as a concept has such underhanded and negative connotations.  This is not the kind of judgement I wish to pass on these books.  They are informative, they are novel (pun fully intended) and they encourage questioning and thought.  Working in a school, I see a lot of teaching of facts and information, with the purpose being memorisation of that information to apply and/or recite under controlled circumstances.  The art and science of questioning, inquiry, debate and critical thought are there...... but do they feature boldly enough?  And so it falls to literature to fill in the gaps; to promote deeper thought, expose new and unknown situations, highlight things that once were or might have been or could be in the future.  To make you question the status quo, and in so doing, yourself.

 OK, so I may have got a wee bit philosophical there, we are only talking of children's literature, but never underestimate how perceptive children can be - especially if you ask the right questions to guide them to think more deeply.  What better way to start that process than with a book that tackles just the kinds of themes you want to discuss?

 Below is a link to the award's Wordpress site, including previous nominee lists and the current 2016 list:

 Little Rebels Award

 Get rebellious people, now is the time!

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Using librarian skills to uncover a network of dodgy shopping sites!

In all my posts over the years I'm not sure if I ever mentioned I am an avid steampunker.  Like many of my quirky fellow librarians, I love a good dress up and recently found myself searching for a great pair of boots to go with the Steampunk Aviator Superhero costume I'm assembling (trust me, it will work!). One evening whilst idly thumbing through Pinterest I found a picture of these undeniably AWESOME combat-boot style boots.  I followed the link to the website ( www.chichola.com ) and although it didn't look dodgy and offered PayPal, I am a cautious online shopper and always check the customer reviews first.  They were 1000% abysmal.  Like the kind of reviews that say SCAM, THEFT and CAN I LEAVE 0 STARS.  So despite loving the shoes, I was definitely not parting with my money on this occasion. Fast forward a couple of months and I see an ad for Victorian-style cosplay boots in my Insta feed.  Did I mention that I am an avid steampunker? ...
24 comments
Read more

Academic vs. Public

For those of you who have followed my story from the beginning (yeah, just me!) the whole idea of The Ambidextrous Librarian is that I am a newbie librarian working two jobs; one in a public library and the other academic.  I try to blog about my experiences and provide a bit of insight into each library environment, maybe provide other newbies with a bit of an idea what each is like.  My version of worldly wisdom and all that! But enough intro - I'm sure you're dying to hear my thoughts. Since the beginning of the year I have been getting a lot of shifts at the academic library. These were very welcome, not just for the extra bucks but because the job gave me interesting things to do - long term projects that require me to plan and create and research and present things. I've made it sound all very high-brow but let's not get too excited, it's basically just a Digital Literacy learning plan for struggling new tertiary students.  Still, I was part of a ...
2 comments
Read more

The Weekend Recharge

Yesterday, I decided to kick start my blog writing again and I joined #blogjune.  I have been ignoring my blog lately and have been regretting it and feeling more than a little bit guilty.  My reasons have been very noble.  I have been working. Working, working, working - with a little bit more working on the side. You see, I was recently promoted and made full time.  It's only a temporary secondment, but hey, it's good experience and good for the CV yadda, yadda.  But what I didn't realise was how much this change in circumstance would totally take it out of me.  Like, I am completely knackered.  How did I ever work full time in my previous career?  How does anyone work full time at all!?!  I have tried to explain this phenomena to my friends who have seen less and less of me these last few weeks.  Librarianship is very tiring.  It's physical, what with pushing the carts around and running around the library and shelving heavy bo...
2 comments
Read more