“The Report Card” by Andrew Clements and “So B. It” by Sarah Weeks are the newest winners of the William Allen White Children’s Book Award, Emporia State University announced Thursday.
This is the third White Award for Clements, who won in 1999 for “Frindle” and in 2002 for “The Landry News.” His latest winner, “The Report Card” is about a young genius named Nora who hides her intelligence so she won’t be singled out. Only the school librarian realizes the truth: that Nora is determined to prove that test scores have nothing to do with intelligence.
“So B. It” is about Heidi, whose mother is mentally handicapped, possessing a vocabulary of 23 words. Her mother’s life is a mystery, right down to her real name — when first asked by a neighbor, her mother said simply “So be it.” So when Heidi finds some old Christmas photos from Liberty, N.Y., she decides to go there in order to piece together her past at last.
The White awards will be presented Sept. 29 at William Lindsay White Auditorium. The Lee Beran Recreation Center will host a sleepover for attending schoolchildren on Friday night.
The awards are chosen each year by Kansas schoolchildren from a master list of 30 books. "The Report Card" was chosen for the third through fifth grade award, while "So B. It" won the sixth through eighth grade award.