New Hampshire children, from preschoolers to third graders, have voted If I Built a House the winner of the 2014 Ladybug Picture Book Award.
If I Built a House received 10,231 votes out of the 23,093 cast by children across the state. It was written and illustrated by Chris Van Dusen, and is published by Dial Books for Young Readers. This book was a runaway winner, garnering 7,430 votes more than its closest competitor.
Sponsored by the Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library, the Ladybug Picture Book Award was established to promote early literacy and to honor the best in recent children’s picture books. Previous winners have included Eric Litwin’s Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes, Keiko Kasza’s My Lucky Day and Memoirs of a Goldfish written by Devin Scillian and illustrated by Tim Bowers. A full list of past winners is available at ladybug.nhbookcenter.org.
Earlier in 2014, The Ladybug Picture Book Award Committee, which is made up of children’s librarians from around New Hampshire, selected ten picture book titles as nominees for the award. Throughout the summer and fall, librarians and teachers shared the books with children at storytimes, developed colorful displays of the titles and encouraged families to borrow and read the books at home.
Beginning in November, to coincide with elections, New Hampshire preschools, elementary schools and public libraries invited children to vote to select the award winner. Voting took place at 170 schools, libraries and day care centers around the state.
The Ladybug Picture Book Award Committee has begun working on its nominations for the 2015 Award. To be considered for nomination, a picture book must meet the following criteria: be published in its current edition within the last three years, be in print; have an author and illustrator living in the United States, possess strong child appeal and have artistic quality with text that supports the illustrations. No titles that have previously been selected as nominees will be considered.
Nominations are only accepted from New Hampshire libraries, including school libraries. For more information about the award, please visit the website of the Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library at nhbookcenter.org.
