2020 Comstock and Wanda Gág Read Aloud Book Awards Announced
For the sixteenth year, children have chosen the best read aloud picture books in Minnesota State University Moorhead’s Comstock-Gág Read Aloud Book Awards program.
The 2020 winner of the Comstock Read Aloud Book Award for older children, ages 9-12, is Sulwe written by Lupita Nyong’o and illustrated by Vashti Harrison. Based on Nyong’o’s personal experiences, this is the story of a young girl who is uncomfortable with the darkness of her skin. Through a blend of realism and mythology, Sulwe’s story reminds readers that beauty is based on a person’s nature and character, not on their appearance.
Two titles were named as Comstock Honor Books: Elvis Is King! written by Jonah Winter and illustrated by Red Nose Studio, and Sergeant Billy: The True Story of the Goat Who Went to War written by Mireille Messier and illustrated by Kass Reich.
The 2020 winner of the Wanda Gág Read Aloud Book Award for younger children, toddlers to age 8, is Circle written by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen. The book asks a simple but profound question: “If you close your eyes, what shape do you see?” In a story that uses simple text and illustrations, readers engage in a discussion of complex ideas while using their imagination.
Two titles were named as Wanda Gág Honor Books. Hey, Dog written by Tony Johnston and illustrated by Jonathan Nelson and A Tiger Like Me written by Michael Engler, illustrated by Joëlle Tourlonias, and translated from German by Laura Watkinson.
The awards program is administered by the staff of the MSUM Livingston Lord Library’s CMC, which holds a large collection of children’s books and resource materials for in-service teachers. The book awards project is partially funded by the Solomon G. Comstock Memorial Fund of the Minneapolis Foundation and the Wanda Gág Book Award Fund of the MSUM Alumni Foundation.
For more information. contact:
Pam Werre, CMC Librarian/Comstock-Gág Read Aloud Book Awards Committee Chair
Livingston Lord Library
Minnesota State University Moorhead
1104 Seventh Avenue South
Moorhead, MN 56563
Email: werrepa@mnstate.edu
Website: mnstate.edu/cmc/
