William Allen White
Children’s Book Award
3rd-5th Grade
2010 - 2011
Background
 History:
• Established in 1952 Ruth Gagliardo
• Directed by Emporia State University

Purpose:
• Honors William Allen White, a Pulitzer Prize
winning journalist from Kansas
 Encourages Kansas children to read and enjoy high
quality literature

Distinction:

Thought to be the first book award program in the
country decided by children
Nominated Books
 Must be
published within the past year
 Authors must be
from the United States,
Canada or Mexico
 Text must be
fiction, non-fiction or poetry
 Selection committee
chooses books for
their originality, vitality, accuracy and
sincerity
Participation
 Who:
3rd – 8th grade Kansas students
 What:
Read 2 nominated books
 Where:
 When:
 Why:
Check them out at the library
Read all year long and be ready
to vote by April 15th
To select the 2009-10 winners!
2009-10 WAW Winner
3rd-5th Grade
How To Steal A Dog
by Barbara O’Connor
2009-10 WAW Winner
th
6 -8th Grade
Cracker, The Best
Dog in Vietnam
by Cynthia Kadohata
William Allen White
Children’s Book Award
3rd-5th Grade Master list
2010-2011
The Adventure of Sir Lancelot the Great
By Gerald Morris
One of King Arthur’s most
famous knights comes to life in
this light-hearted, playful tale.
He has always dreamed of
joining King Arthur’s Court
because of their clean armor!
He defeats all comers through a
series of comic adventures and
complimentary illustrations
enhance the telling.
Buffalo Song
By Joseph Bruchac
This story of the first efforts to
save the vanishing bison
(buffalo) herds from extinction
in the United States in the 1870s
and 1880s is based on the true
experiences of Samuel Walking
Coyote, a Salish (Kalispel)
Indian who rescued and raised
orphaned buffalo calves. This
wildlife conservation is still
happening today.
Chancey of the Maury River
By Gigi Amateau
After being abandoned,
Chancey, an albino Appaloosa
horse, finds a new home with
Claire who needs him as much
as he needs her, but as his
eyesight deteriorates, he and
Claire start anew as a
therapeutic team. Suspense
comes into play when students
are healed by the team’s
adventures.
Eleven
By Patricia Reilly Giff
Sam can barely read, but he
discovers an old newspaper
clipping just before his
eleventh birthday that
triggers childhood memories.
With the help of a new friend,
he and Caroline build a castle
together for a school project
and unravel the mysteries of
his past.
42 Miles
By Gracie Vaughn Zimmer
As her thirteenth birthday
approaches, JoEllen decides to
bring together her two separate
lives--one as Joey, who enjoys
weekends with her father and
other relatives on a farm, and
another as Ellen, who lives with
her mother in a Cincinnati
apartment near her school and
friends.
Freedom Train
By Evelyn Coleman
Twelve-year-old Clyde Thomason's
older brother is a guard on the
Freedom Train, which is carrying
the Bill of Rights and other
documents throughout the country in
1948. Clyde also learns about rights
and freedom in his real life when he
is saved from a beating by an
African American boy, and later
returns the favor when men in their
Atlanta suburb decide to show the
"Nigras" their place. History comes
alive in this fictional tale.
Masterpiece
By Elise Broach
Marvin, a beetle, makes a
miniature drawing for James,
a human, for his eleventh
birthday. The friends soon
work together to help recover a
famous Durer drawing stolen
from the Metropolitan Museum
of Art. The theft makes the
adventure between Marvin and
James a real “page turner.”
Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story
of Wangari Maatha
By Claira A. Nivola
Wangari Maathai came home
to Kenya after college only to
find the streams dry, the people
malnourished, and the trees
gone. What she did to turn
things around in her homeland
led to her founding of the Green
Belt Movement and winning the
2004 Nobel Peace Prize.
Swindle
By Gordon Korman
After an unscrupulous collector
cons him out of a valuable
baseball card, sixth-grader
Griffin Bing puts together a
band of misfits to break into the
collector’s heavily guarded store
and steal the card back. The
planned heist takes a few twists
and turns that keep you on the
edge of your seat until the last
page.
William Allen White
1868-1944
William Allen White
Children’s Book Award
3rd-5th Grade
2010 - 2011