Schoolchildren from all over the state were in Emporia over the weekend to celebrate the magic of books and to meet the authors they voted to win this year’s William Allen White Children’s Book Awards.
After meeting the winning authors and parading from the Emporia State campus to W.L. White Auditorium, the students gathered to hear speeches from the winners of the 57th Annual White awards.
Two awards are given out each year, one for a book geared toward those in grades three to five and one for a book written for students in grades six to eight. Massachusetts author Sara Pennypacker won the third-fifth grade award for her book, “Clementine,” the first in a series of books about the adventures of a third-grade girl.
For the sixth, seventh and eighth grade level, New York author Jennifer Roy won for her book, “Yellow Star.”
“There is no more meaningful award for an author than one like this, that comes from the readers,” Pennypacker said in her acceptance speech. “I look behind me because I think there’s going to be a princess standing behind me, and she’s going to be mad because I stole her life.”
To read complete story see the print edition or the online print edition.