2005 Beatty Award Winner
Gennifer Choldenko will be awarded the 2005 John and Patricia Beatty Award for her book Al Capone Does My Shirts, a finely crafted novel set on the island of Alcatraz in 1934. This award is given annually to the author of a children's or young adult book (published in the preceding year) which best promotes an awareness of California and its people, culture and history.
In this appealing book, Choldenko effectively captures the fascination that the outside world had with Alcatraz and its notorious prisoners, and contrasts it with the strictly regimented and monotonous daily life of the island's inhabitants - including not only the inmates, but also the many civilians (penitentiary employees and their families) who lived on The Rock. Bringing the setting to life is Moose Mulligan and his family, arriving on Alcatraz so his father can work in proximity to the special school in San Francisco that Moose's autistic sister will attend. Moose's life is made interesting - and difficult - by his family and friends, the warden, and by a certain larger-than-life inmate.
The John and Patricia Beatty Award, established in 1987 by Patricia Beatty, has been given annually since 1989. Since then BWI Books has co-sponsored the award with the California Library Association. The winning author receives an engraved plaque, along with a prize of $500, which is presented at the annual CLA Conference's Beatty Award Breakfast. Ms. Choldenko will be present to receive her award this November.
The 2005 Beatty committee consists of Katrina Neville, formerly of San Diego County Library; Jill Patterson from the La Habra Branch Library; Ann Pentecost of the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library; Sue Struthers of Riverside Public Library; and Chair Laura Remer of Chabot Elementary School in Oakland. The committee read nearly 75 titles, picture books and chapter books, fiction and nonfiction. About 20 will be added to the Eureka! Bibliography, accessible from CLA's website. Other books considered with particular interest were: The Coast Mappers by Taylor Morrison; and One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones.
Congratulations to Bay Area author Gennifer Choldenko for her unique award-winning book Al Capone Does My Shirts, which is also a 2005 Newbery Honor Book. She will be speaking and reading from this book on May 6 in Oakland's Montclair District at A Great Good Place for Books.