Multicultural Literature Awards

There seems to be a little bit of a debate in the children's literature community about book awards for multicultural literature. In class this last week we were assigned to groups for researching a different book award. My group was assigned the Sydney Taylor Award, an award given to outstanding examples of Jewish children's literature. In the rationale for the award, the Association of Jewish Libraries, stated that the purpose of the award was to "inspire authors, encourage publishers, inform parents and teachers, and intrigue young readers." The AJL also stated that the Sydney Taylor award is meant to, "engender pride in Jewish readers while building bridges to readers of other backgrounds." Some would argue that multicultural awards actually draw clearer lines among groups, but in this statement from the AJL, the goal is actually quite the opposite. While I myself am not Jewish, I like that there are organizations such as the AJL who have these award systems to help educate others about our differences. It is important to recognize that there are different groups, races, ethnicities, cultures, etc. and these awards help to shed a positive light on each groups' unique qualities without stereotyping and without racism. The awards enable a sense of pride to know that you can pick up a good book about one of "your own," or if you are an outsider to the group you know that you will be reading without false judgements. This is the beauty of these awards and I am thankful they are here.