Attendees were sworn to secrecy when journalists were given a sneak preview of the children’s nature books that will be honored with Blueberry Awards from the Evanston Public Library during a luncheon at Prairie Grass Café in Northbrook on Feb. 29.
The 35 winners of these prestigious honors will be officially announced at 7 p.m. March 14 at the Robert Crown Community Center, 1801 Main St., Evanston. The free event, which will be co-hosted by the Evanston Ecology Center, is open to the public but registration is required at epl.org.
Library Assistant Martha Meyer is the founder of the Blueberry Awards and lead of the Blueberry Awards Committee.
Meyer said she founded the award program after years of presenting nature books to teachers.
“That was kind of my library specialty. Every year I was disappointed that there were no awards for the ones that I thought were fantastic,” she said. “I thought, ‘Why am I waiting for someone important to do this at the national level? Why don’t I just start it and see where it goes from there?’”
Meyer said they began talking about the awards in 2020 and announced the first winners in March of 2022 for books from the previous year. The name Blueberry Awards is a play on the prestigious Newbery literary awards given by the Association for Library Service to Children, as part of the American Library Association
“In the last two years, we selected 32 books,” Meyer reported. “This year, there were so many good ones we decided to increase the number to 35 books.”
They honor so many books to reflect the different ages of the children in the target audience of ages 3 to 10-plus.
“There’s usually one winner and about 24 honored books and 10 changemakers,” Meyer said.
Meyer and her committee spent the entire year reading advance copies of every children’s book that was published about nature in 2023.
“I make sure that we have scientists and climate people in addition to librarians (on the committee) so that we can judge not only the literary value, not only how the pictures and the words go together, but the science of it, and the applicability,” Meyer said.
Committee Member Betsy Bird, the library’s collection development manager and a children’s book author, is a great source of book candidates because of her role as a school library journal blogger.
“I get a lot of pre-pub galleys and books before they’re published,” Bird said. She also reads books and evaluates them as part of her committee duties.
Bird has high praise for the Blueberry Awards.
“There’s really nothing else like it,” Bird declared. “When you look at national children’s book awards, they’re usually given out by the American Library Association. They give out a fair number of them but they don’t have anything to do with the environment or ecological responsibility or even just caring for nature.”
Meyer said the criteria for selecting winners includes the excellence of the literature, the excellence of the photography or illustrations and the accuracy of the science.
“It also can not evoke climate anxiety,” she added. “We give extra points if any of the books have to do with some of the goals that the city of Evanston has for its climate action plan.”
Meyer said that she wouldn’t have been able to go forward without her great committee.
The committee members in addition to Meyer and Bird are: Julie Rand, Evanston Public Library Librarian; Bridget Petrites, Library Assistant at Evanston Public Library; Kim Daufeldt, Librarian at Evanston Public Library and children’s nonfiction buyer; Laura Antolin, Children’s Engagement Librarian at Evanston Public Library; Bea Echeverria, Library Assistant at Evanston Public Library Crown Branch and climate programmer, and marine biologist; Cara Pratt, City of Evanston Sustainability and Resilience Manager; Karen Bireta, School District 65 Sustainability Coordinator; Ethan Johnson, Program Coordinator at the Evanston Ecology Center; and Margaret Isaacson, formerly at the Evanston Ecology Center who had to resign because of the responsibility of a new job with the City of Evanston.
The March 14 event will include talks about the honored books as well as book giveaways. In addition, there will be an opportunity for the audience to vote for an Audience Choice Award.
“We will also have a chance for folks to gather around a bonfire outside in the rear garden of the Robert Crown Center,” Meyer said. “There will be s’more-making.”
There will also be a book walk of the winning book.
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
